Bet On It readers should remember Verlan Lewis, co-author of The Myth of Left and Right. Here’s his reaction to my recent piece on Koch vs. Trump. Enjoy.

I thought your latest on “Koch vs. Trump” was particularly insightful because it demonstrated the irrationality of political tribalism among those who identify as part of “The Left." For Democrats on Team Blue, Donald Trump and Charles Koch are both political bogeymen, and yet the two men are opposites in so many ways—both personally and politically.

As you point out, Trump is a dishonest, authoritarian narcissist whose guiding political principles are basically: “expand government’s power and concentrate those powers in my hands to do whatever serves my personal interests.” Koch, on the other hand, is an altruistic libertarian gentleman whose guiding political principles are basically: “restrict government’s power and decentralize those powers into other people’s hands to protect the equal liberty of all.”

Team Blue’s common hatred of two people so diametrically opposed cannot be explained by a “left-right” political spectrum (which strangely places opposites like Trump and Koch in the same ideological position on the “far right"), but can instead be explained by political tribalism. People in “Tribe Left” hate both Trump and Koch because they are both perceived—despite their many differences—as being “extremely right-wing” and, therefore, the supposed opposite of those in “Tribe Left.” This “left-right” delusion is based on the monist fallacy that there is just one issue in politics that can be usefully measured by a uni-dimensional spectrum.

The pluralist truth is that there is more than one issue in politics, and so on the dozens of issues that are debated in our political discourse a member of Team Blue, Trump, and Koch will each have their own unique bundle of issue positions. The Democrat and Trump will agree that entitlement spending should not be reformed and that more political power should be concentrated in the national government, while the Democrat and Koch will agree that immigration is good and higher tariffs are bad. Meanwhile, Koch and Trump will agree that income taxes should be lower. However, when it comes to international trade, immigration, budget deficits, entitlement spending, federalism, the separation of powers, the rule of law, individual liberty, the outcome of the 2020 election, and dozens of other issues, Trump and Koch actually take very different issue positions.

It is intellectually confusing and politically harmful to say that they are both “right-wing.” The sooner that those on Team Blue give up their silly “left-right” framework, the better for America.