Bill Kristol is the son of Irving Kristol, conservative essayist extraordinaire. Iriving was a giant, a mensch. Son Bill ... not so much. The Kristols, father and son, constitute a near-textbook example of intellectual regression toward the mean.
The monthly column Kristol pere wrote for The Wall Street Journal was a strong influence in my education in politics and economics. Trading on the family reputation, Bill has tried to walk in his father's footsteps, but his intellectual "legs" aren't up to the challenge.
With Fred Barnes, Bill founded a conservative magazine - The Weekly Standard - in 1995. It recently folded after taking a hardline #NeverTrump position during the 2016 election. The #NeverTrump wing of conservatism might be large enough to support a newsletter, it isn't large enough to prop up a magazine of opinion.
