Pat Buchanan

Patrick Joseph Buchanan ( bew-KAN-ən; born November 2, 1938) is an American retired writer, political commentator, and political advisor. He was an assistant and special consultant to U.S. presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan. An influential figure within paleoconservatism, a nationalist and traditionalist strain of conservatism in the United States, many observers consider Buchanan's politics a predecessor to Trumpism and the contemporary postliberal New Right. Buchanan was born in Washington, D.C. in 1938. In 1992 and 1996, Buchanan sought the Republican presidential nomination. In 1992, he ran against incumbent president George H. W. Bush, campaigning against Bush's breaking of his "Read my lips: no new taxes" pledge, as well as his foreign policy, his trade and immigration policy, and his positions on social issues. At the 1992 Republican National Convention, Buchanan delivered his "culture war" speech in support of the nominated President Bush. In 1996, he ran against eventual Republican nominee Bob Dole, but withdrew after getting only 21 percent of Republican primary votes. In 2000, he was the Reform Party's presidential nominee. His campaign centered on non-interventionism in foreign affairs, opposition to illegal immigration, and opposition to the outsourcing of manufacturing from free trade. He selected educator and conservative activist Ezola Foster as his running-mate. Despite his own terminology of self-identification, expressed in the desire to be called a "supporter of the doctrine of disengagement", his foreign policy views have been categorized as isolationist. In 2002, Buchanan co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause. He has been published in The Occidental Observer, Human Events, National Review, The Nation, and Rolling Stone. The original host on CNN's Crossfire, he was a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network, including the show Morning Joe until February 2012, later appearing on Fox News. Buchanan...