The Kristol Method

A reader writes:

Yes! You nailed Kristol’s “world-weariness to outrage." I’ve been trying to find a succinct way of expressing it. “Oh, come on now, none of this matters!” It’s his constant refrain whenever he’s asked to defend something awful (socialist! secret Muslim! terrorist pal!) one of his prot és or heroes says.

He believes in nothing and therefore thinks no one else believes in anything either.

That's a pretty accurate description of one kind of Straussian. Except they simultaneously claim to be the last defenders of objective truth.