Kirn as a Political or Social Analyst

The November 2022 article on my classmate Walter Kirn portrays him as a passionate advocate for Middle America. But his vision of Middle America is a particular one. He is self-described (in a New York Times opinion piece, "Why I Dabble in Jeffrey Epstein Conspiracy Theories") as "the next thing to a conspiracy theorist" and claims that pedophile Jeffrey Epstein did not kill himself and may even now be alive. In the Wall Street Journal ("Walter Kirn Is Middle America's Defiant Defender") he sympathizes with Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two men and wounded another, as "a sort of boy, a little bit out of his depth."

Walter is a first-rate fabulist. To suggest he is a creditable political or social analyst is dubious at best.