"The right is so reactionary it goes nowhere"
About this Quote
The intent is not persuasion across ideological lines; it’s boundary-marking. Metzger isn’t trying to win a debate with conservatives so much as to energize an audience that wants its enemies framed as pathetic, obsolete, and historically doomed. The subtext is strategic: if the “right” is inert, then urgency and modernity belong to the speaker’s side by default. It borrows the cultural prestige of movement - progress, momentum, “history” - without needing to specify what the alternative program actually is.
Context matters because Metzger is infamous for extremist politics, which complicates the surface-level “anti-right” posture. The line reads less like a principled critique and more like factional theater: a way to dismiss rival right-wing currents as insufficiently radical or effective. That makes the jab feel less like democratic critique and more like internecine branding, where “reactionary” becomes a taunt for failing to seize power, not a warning about authoritarian impulse.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Metzger, Tom. (2026, January 16). The right is so reactionary it goes nowhere. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-right-is-so-reactionary-it-goes-nowhere-107834/
Chicago Style
Metzger, Tom. "The right is so reactionary it goes nowhere." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-right-is-so-reactionary-it-goes-nowhere-107834/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The right is so reactionary it goes nowhere." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-right-is-so-reactionary-it-goes-nowhere-107834/. Accessed 9 Feb. 2026.





