The Work of Fighting With Your (Political) Family

What a series of recent political feuds can teach us about the fine art of making it personal and taking it personal

Do the work

The best time to knife somebody in politics is when they think you're on the same team. Ask Trump about Musk. Ask Fetterman about the Democrats who thought they owned him. Ask Ed Gainey about getting bounced from the Pittsburgh mayor's office.

People who tell you intra-party feuding is bad are trying to sell you something. Bad for whom? They want you docile. They want you predictable. They want you to go along to get along while they pocket the real prizes. You can sit there and see the show while those of us in the know get to be the show.

I've been covering this game long enough to know better. I love watching the knives come out, watching the people stop acting polite and start getting real. That's when things get interesting. That's when people like me, who earn at least some of our daily bread by writing about the show, actually have something worth writing about.

The Fine Art of the Political Backstab

You want to understand modern politics? Forget the speeches about unity. Forget the handshakes at press conferences. Watch what happens when the cameras turn off and the real game begins.

I've documented these feuds for years. Much of my weekly UnHerd beat consists of writing about the left and right eating their own.¹ These conflicts, which used to play out in the Senate cloakroom but now happen in DMs and groupchats, reveal how power actually moves in this country. Every betrayal tells a story. Every backstab teaches a lesson. Every public feud that "surprises" the pundits has been brewing in private for months.

The smart ones know that conflict creates opportunity. Dead careers get resurrected through well-timed betrayals. Consider all the "redhunters" of the 1940s and 1950s: nobody politicians become somebody politicians by picking the right antagonist, real or imagined. Entire political movements get built on the corpses of former allies. You need somebody like Andrew Cuomo or Joseph McCarthy right up until you know you don’t…and then you’ve got to make your move.

Take this past month. Four very different political explosions, yet it’s like all the players were reading from the same unwritten script. All of them pretending to be shocked that their former allies would turn on them.

Please. These people plan their feuds like Chinese generals plan invasions of Taiwan (all the time/poorly).