That said, Buchanan has a shtick to maintain and a specific seat to occupy in the pantheon of Beltway pundits, and that's how he earns his living. Nobody will pay him to produce milquetoast. When I see him occasionally on Mc Laugh-In Hour I get the impression he thinks it's all a joke...
"Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss people." -- (attributed to) Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Likewise. Or that it's such a hopeless battle that he might as well be as outrageous as possible just to amuse himself.
Obviously Buchanan is not saying "we should side with the Islamists." He's making the point that in this vaunted "clash of civilizations" that so many seem to be hawking, our side ain't what it used to be.
You might say that it died under Wilson and was buried sometime around Vatican II.