GOOGLE search question : [ Why did American leftist writer Gore Vidal finally end up despising New Atheist idol Christopher Hitchens ? ]

[Gore Vidal came to despise Christopher Hitchens primarily due to a profound ideological and personal betrayal following the September 11 attacks, which shattered their long-standing friendship and mentor-mentee relationship. While they were once closely aligned in their critique of American imperialism, Hitchens' shift toward neo-conservatism, support for the Iraq War, and public dismissal of Vidal as a "crackpot" led to a bitter, final split. Vanity Fair Vanity Fair +2 Key reasons for the breakdown include: Political Betrayal (The Post-9/11 Shift): Vidal, a staunch anti-imperialist, viewed Hitchens' support for the Bush wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as a total abandonment of their shared politics. Vidal famously remarked in 2010, "He's gone mad, our Poo" (a nickname for Hitchens), feeling Hitchens had become part of the imperial establishment they once opposed. "Vidal Loco" (2010 Vanity Fair Article): The rift became irrevocable when Hitchens published an article in Vanity Fair titled "Vidal Loco," which mocked and criticized Vidal for adopting "left-wing post-9/11 conspiracy theories". Hitchens accused his former mentor of "slumming it" in the "intellectual gutter" with proponents of 9/11 conspiracy theories. Stripping the "Dauphin" Title: Years prior, Vidal had named Hitchens his "delfino" (or dolphin/heir) and intellectual successor. After the 9/11, and particularly after the 2010 article, Vidal rescinded this endorsement, famously crossing it out in a copy of Hitchens' memoir, Hitch-22, and annotating it "NO, C.H.". Contrasting Views on Empire: While Hitchens argued that the US had a duty to intervene against regimes like Saddam Hussein's, viewing his shift as a maturation of his anti-fascist stance, Vidal viewed it as an unforgivable embrace of American imperialism. ] Vanity Fair Vanity Fair