Any hope for a 21st century recalibration of conservatism was dashed at last weekend’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference, where Trump was the featured speaker. The Republican Party is still having a tough time disassociating itself from Little Don.
Forget liberal hysteria over Trump; this is appalling for conservatives.
Appalling because the Trump phenomenon was never conservative, but rather a populist reaction—and a highly toxic and dysfunctional one at that—to the problematic politics of Obama and Hillary. (That the left fails to even consider the slightest grievance against their patron saints as carrying any legitimacy, or any motivation other than some conveniently perceived -ism, is one of its great intellectual failings—and also a political vulnerability.)
So Jan. 6, for all its tragedy, also presented a miraculous chance. A chance (with an assist from Trump’s own self-destructive impulses) to reclaim conservatism, to hunker down and ask hard questions.
What is conservatism?
The first of these questions is, or should be, pointedly existential: what is conservatism (I’d say start with Burke and Kirk and Buckley and Goldwater) and more importantly what should conservatism be now and moving forward?
Conservatism can be many things. It can attract, as Trump proved in 2020, large numbers of immigrants. Hispanics are by no means locked in as Democrats. As for the black vote, one can point to decades of failed policies by Democrats. Also, black Democratic voters in polling characterize their views as more moderate (43%) than liberal (29%). And nearly as many (25%) describe themselves as conservative. Put another way: blacks are more conservative and less liberal than the typical Democrat.
So there are real political openings among the populace. And, for those paying attention to it, there’s a real movement afoot to create a 21st century conservatism, which can be both pro-labor and intelligently pro-family.
We need to be clear: the grievance politics of the right cannot be explained simply as racist or sexist (unless of course you believe that the 70+ million who didn’t vote for Biden are those things). Their roots are real, they have much more to do with class and neglect and unemployment and globalization, and they will play a significant role in our culture for a long time—or at least until a certain policy-backed attention in those areas returns. And people across the political divide long for this return, and will consider voting for a candidate who vows to seriously address these issues.
But the only way for the Republican Party to move forward and credibly represent conservative values (which, lest one forgets, also advocates civility!) is to divorce itself from Trump. If it can’t it loses people like me: principled conservatives who would vote for Biden in a heartbeat if all you can do is pander to Trump for no reason other than political opportunism.
A generation of voters awaits.