MAGA’s ‘Not Conservative’?

Well, is Trumpism conservative, or isn’t it?

Photo by the author. You can use it too.

Thomas Zimmer, a historian, just published an essay on Democracy Americana that addresses this recurring question. It’s called “The Modern Conservative Tradition and the Origins of Trumpism.” It’s about a 25-minute read.

It helped me better contextualize some of the ongoing authoritarian changes that I see in the United States.

Pinning Down What ‘Conservative’ Means

First, to give a 2-minute rundown of the parts of Zimmer’s essay that spoke to me:

The recent history of U.S. conservatism

Never Trump Republicans would like to say that Trump has “hijacked” the “venerable tradition of principled American conservatism.”

On the other hand, leftists would like to say that Trumpism “is what American conservatism, at its core, had always been — a movement fueled and defined by racial and cultural grievance, held together by anti-liberal sentiment.”

Zimmer says there’s truth to be found in both positions; we can see the “long-standing traditions and continuities” as well as “the more recent radicalization.”