Conventional wisdom among the chattering class holds that the Democratic Party is in disarray and that the Republican Party is ascendant with a vigor that will not easily be overcome. That assessment is accurate, mostly, but dangerously incomplete. If conservatives hope to curtail the accumulated damage of decades of “progressive” ideology, we must not allow authentic conservatism to be obscured by the chaos of this populist moment. 

We should begin by clarifying our terms. Conservatism, properly understood, approaches all radical change with a humility that respects the wisdom of lessons learned by prior generations. It defends the institutions that reflect that accumulated wisdom, and it reforms only with caution. Indeed, the desire for boldness among modern conservatives arises from the discernment that strong correctives are in order merely because the radical Left has put at risk so much of the core values of Christianity. In stark contrast, in every direction, the cultural and political “progressives” perceive an urgent need for immediate change, and they pursue radical disruption of all the traditions and accumulated wisdom in institutions that conservatives tend to trust. 

Intuitively, conservatives are associated with caution and with reluctance to upend the establishment, while the Left is associated sometimes with seeking change, and challenging the establishment, for its own sake. Yet, the modern climate is largely a reaction to the confluence of two elements within the “progressive” agenda: (1) the complete ineptitude of the standard-bearers of the Left in offering only dogmatic narratives manifestly contradicting reality, and (2) the overwhelming sense that academic, corporate, and media culture within the establishment, instead of challenging the excesses of the political actors, had either acquiesced or actively engaged in perpetuating the false narratives. Thus, strangely enough, conservatives rightly desire bold change in order to restore sanity to our institutions and to build up the foundations of American greatness before the Left eliminates every last trace of accumulated wisdom from the planet. 

Populism, on the other hand, is not a coherent political philosophy at all, but rather an emotional mood — a temperament — often arising from dissatisfaction, frustration, and impatience with the status quo. It is reactionary rather than proactive. In a populist climate, action of any kind is valued more than inaction for nearly any reason. And therein lies the rub. It is conservatives who value boldness at this unique moment, and who are more forgiving than usual when bold action crosses the line into recklessness. But it is the Left that normally favors action for its own sake, and conservatives must be wary that the Left does not marry, with its desire to burn down the world and start over, its own populist champion capable of energizing “progressives” the way that Donald Trump animated conservatives. 

In the short term, the Republican Party has been overwhelmed by a grassroots raw emotionalism. The allure of bold action has seduced many conservatives into conceding to radical departures from their own traditional, philosophical preferences. But as with all emotionally-driven enterprises, the moment is precisely that — temporal, and thus temporary. The appeal of vengeance and reprisals against the corruption and abuses by the Left will not sustain a coherent policy agenda in an enduring manner. It will be necessary to remember and to emphasize that which defines conservatism, rather than merely the populist temperament that currently animates our movement. 

Our current president is so transactional, so focused on the “art of the deal”, that he is extremely well equipped to compel action. He embraces boldness, even at the risk of recklessness, because he is utterly un-intimidated by the destructive force that must occur before renovations can get underway. He has been busily gutting much of what the previous owners did that created such an appetite for our massive renovation project. 

But the “bones” of this building — of our nation — remain sound. Christianity remains at our core, the liberty to pursue Truth through faith and reason remains secure. The states remain laboratories of democracy. A written Constitution continues to limit the scope of federal power. But just a short while ago, the Left had been attacking on all four of these fronts. 

Inasmuch as the President is purely a populist and not truly a conservative, the task at hand must fall to folks like J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio. Both men are in many ways more equipped than Donald Trump to think long and hard about how to harness populist energy and point it toward re-establishing the foundations of American greatness. To make America truly great again, men like Vance and Rubio must articulate and defend the values and institutions from which America first rose to greatness. They must lead the nation into a future that does not forget that which authentic conservatism has worked so hard to preserve.