Charles C. W. Cooke
Charles C. W. Cooke | |
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![]() Cooke in 2020 | |
Born | Charles Christopher William Cooke 4 November 1984 Cambridge, United Kingdom |
Citizenship | United States & United Kingdom |
Education | Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford (MA) |
Occupation(s) | Writer, broadcaster |
Years active | 2010–present |
Spouse | Kathryn Murdock (2014–present) |
Children | 2 |
Charles Christopher William Cooke (born 4 November 1984), is a British-born American journalist and a senior writer at National Review Online.
Early life and education
[edit]Cooke and his sister[1] grew up in Hemingford Abbots, a small village outside of Cambridge, England.[2]
Cooke is a graduate of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, where he studied Modern History and Politics under Gillian Peele and Clive Holmes.[3][4] Before attending Oxford, he attended King's College School, Cambridge, and read for his A-levels at Kimbolton School.[5] Cooke received a Bachelor of Arts from Oxford that was, later, promoted to Master of Arts by seniority, as is customary at Oxford and Cambridge for graduates.
Cooke emigrated to the United States in 2011, working as an intern for National Review.[6] He became a naturalized US citizen on February 23, 2018.[7]
Career
[edit]Cooke is the author of The Conservatarian Manifesto.[8] In addition to National Review, he has written for The New York Times,[9][10] The Washington Post,[11] and the Los Angeles Times.[12][13] Along with Kevin D. Williamson, he hosted the Mad Dogs and Englishmen[14] podcast. Cooke now hosts the Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast.[15] He has been described by The Atlantic as "perhaps the most confident defender of conservatism younger than George Will"[16] and "a principled conservative who is allergic to anything resembling groupthink."[17]
Political views and commentary
[edit]![]() | This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
A self-described "conservatarian", Cooke is known for his opposition to censorship,[18] his support for more robust federalism,[3][19] his disdain for the "imperial presidency,"[20] and his objections to the politicization of popular science.[21][22] On many issues, Cooke leans libertarian, such as his support for legalizing marijuana (and all other drugs),[23][non-primary source needed] prostitution,[24] and same-sex marriage,[25] and his opposition to both the Patriot Act[26] and the National Security Agency's metadata collection program.[27][28] Cooke opposes abortion, and has written that his position is rooted in science, rather than religion.[29] A staunch advocate of the right to keep and bear arms, he has described the "collective right" theory of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution as "utterly farcical"[30] and "the legal equivalent of Moon landing trutherism."[31] Cooke is a constitutional originalist[3] and a critic of the administrative state.[32] He opposes the death penalty.[33]
Cooke has regularly criticized what he has described as the conservative movement's blindspot on race. In 2015, he wrote that slavery and segregation "presented challenges that eclipsed those that were posed during the Revolution ... the crime of the British in America was to deny British conceptions of good government to a people who had become accustomed to it, and to do so capriciously. The crime of white supremacy in the South was, in the words of Ida B. Wells, to 'cut off ears, toes, and fingers, strips off flesh, and distribute portions' of any person whom the majority disliked, and to do so in many cases as a matter of established public policy."[34] In an essay the previous year, Cooke noted that "for most of America's story, an entire class of people was, as a matter of course, enslaved, beaten, lynched, subjected to the most egregious miscarriages of justice, and excluded either explicitly or practically from the body politic. We prefer today to reserve the word 'tyranny' for its original target, King George III, or to apply it to foreign despots. But what other characterization can be reasonably applied to the governments that, ignoring the words of the Declaration of Independence, enacted and enforced the Fugitive Slave Act? How else can we see the men who crushed Reconstruction? How might we view the recalcitrant American South in the early 20th century? 'It' did 'happen here.'"[35]
In May 2021, Cooke authored a piece debunking both COVID-19 fraud and political harassment claims[36] made by Rebekah Jones that was picked up by outlets such as NPR,[37] Reason,[38] and Business Insider.[39] Cooke's views were supported by Florida state investigators under Governor Ron DeSantis.[40] [41]
Writing in the National Review in June 2021, Cooke confirmed earlier reporting by Maggie Haberman of The New York Times that Donald Trump was telling associates he would be reinstated as president by August. He wrote, in part, "The scale of Trump's delusion is quite startling. This is not merely an eccentric interpretation of the facts or an interesting foible, nor is it an irrelevant example of anguished post-presidency chatter. It is a rejection of reality, a rejection of law, and, ultimately, a rejection of the entire system of American government.[42]
Personal life
[edit]Cooke lives in Florida with his wife and two sons. Although his wife and children are Catholic,[43][non-primary source needed] Cooke describes himself as an atheist.[44] Cooke is a fluent French speaker and a self-confessed "Francophile."[45]
Works
[edit]- Cooke, Charles C. W. The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right's Future. New York, Crown Forum, 2015. ISBN 9780804139724
References
[edit]- ^ "Of Grapes and Gaul". National Review. 17 November 2018.
- ^ "A Day for Remembering Not to Forget". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ a b c Cooke, Charles C. W. (2015). The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right's Future. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0804139731.
- ^ "Charles C. W. Cooke". National Review. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Café Americano // Of Mixtapes and the Wireless". us11.campaign-archive1.com. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Leibovich, Interview By Mark (18 March 2015). "Charles C. W. Cooke Can Fend for Himself". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
- ^ "My American Dream". National Review. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
- ^ "Conservatarians Welcome Both Cowboys, Community". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ Cooke, Charles C. W. (25 October 2014). "Do Black People Have Equal Gun Rights?". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Making Gun Use Safer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Cooke, Charles C. W. (9 December 2015). "The right to bear arms isn't up for debate". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Cooke, Charles C. W. (13 December 2016). "Post election, progressives are embracing conservative traditions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Cooke, Charles C. W. (17 June 2016). "Guns and the no-fly list: Whatever happened to due process?". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Mad Dogs and Englishmen Archives". Ricochet. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ Cooke, Charles C.W. (30 September 2022). "Introducing the Charles C.W. Cooke Podcast". National Review.
- ^ Friedersdorf, Conor. "Can Conservative Journalism Survive Populism?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
- ^ Friedersdorf, Conor. "Donald Trump Eats First". The Atlantic. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
- ^ "Free Speech without Apologies". National Review. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ John Locke Foundation (18 May 2015), National Review's Charles Cooke touts value of federalism, retrieved 1 January 2017
- ^ Cooke, Charles C. W. (25 July 2018). "Outraged by Trump's trade war? Tell Congress to take back its tariff power". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
- ^ North, Anna (August 2014). "What Happens When You Mess With Nerds". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ "A liberal nerd 'problem'". BBC News. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ^ "Charles C. W. Cooke on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Legalize Prostitution". National Review. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
- ^ "A Few Thoughts on Today's Obergefell Supreme Court Decision". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "The IRS's Curious Immunity". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Liberty in the Tentacular State". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "NSA Critics, Right All Along". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ C.W. Cooke, Charles (29 November 2021). "The Secular Case against Abortion". National Review. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ "Even Obama Understands the Second Amendment". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Slate Goes All in on Second Amendment Trutherism". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Our Presidents Are Beginning to Act Like Kings". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Against Capital Punishment | National Review". National Review. 8 May 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
- ^ "The GOP's Conspicuous Absence from Selma". National Review. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "The Great Equalizer". National Review. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
- ^ "Rebekah Jones, the COVID Whistleblower Who Wasn't". National Review. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
- ^ "Data Scientist Rebekah Jones, Facing Arrest, Turns Herself In To Florida Authorities". National Public Radio. 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
- ^ "Rebekah Jones, Florida's COVID-19 Whistleblower, Seems Like a Fraud". Reason. 13 May 2021. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ McLaughlin, Kelly. "The Florida COVID-19 data 'whistleblower' crashed the state's dashboard and locked out her manager before she was fired, the National Review reports". Business Insider. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ Bustos, Sergio; Kennedy, John. "State investigators dismiss Rebekah Jones's claims of Florida fudging COVID-19 data". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- ^ DeSantis, Ron; Bennett, Michael. "Investigative Report OIG 21-117". DocumentCloud. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
- ^ Charles C. W. Cooke (3 June 2021). "Maggie Haberman Is Right". National Review.
- ^ "Charles C. W. Cooke on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Yes, Atheism and Conservatism Are Compatible". National Review. Archived from the original on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Charles C.W. Cooke on Brexit, #NeverTrump, and the Future of National Review: New at Reason". 10 August 2016. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2017.