A well-understood but not often discussed phenomenon: whether you're in law, punditry, or politics, you have a much likelier chance of success if you adopt aggressive conservatism. For two reasons:
1. There is an ecosystem of billionaire funding -- TONS of money sloshing around -- specifically devoted to supporting/elevating conservative voices. It's easy to get on the wingnut gravy train &, as long as you're faithfully partisan, almost impossible to get kicked off.
2. The talent pool is shallower. Most of the smart, conscientious, & well-read people will adopt variants of non-crazy mainstream views. If you do too, you're competing w/ all of them. But if you go right & can string two sentences together, you're already the cream of the crop.
You could cite examples until blue in the face. Look at Kavanaugh. Look at Kirk. Look at Boebert. Intellectual mediocrities w/ personality disorders struggle to succeed outside the RW bubble, but within it, their success is practically guaranteed -- if they stay on message.
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