Conservatism used to mean something. Now it’s just whatever Trump says.
Conservatism is the revered philosophy of the rule of law, limited government, personal responsibility, moral clarity, fiscal responsibility and family values.
Until your guy gets elected, that is. Then all bets are off.
What else explains the political rise of Donald Trump, who by sheer force of ego managed to rebrand the Republican Party from the “party of ideas” to the party of whatever dumb thing he just posted?
Case in point: Trump recently quoted Napoleon to justify lawlessness. He declared on social media, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” This is a dubious paraphrase at best, and one that reveals just how far the “law-and-order right” has drifted.
There was a time when conservatives warned against radical revolutions that topple tradition, at least partly because, as Edmund Burke predicted in 1790, they tend to end with a strong man elevating himself above the nation in the name of restoring order.
Today, Napoleon is no longer a cautionary tale — he is a conservative role model. And to his followers, Trump isn’t a reckless narcissist eroding constitutional norms. He is a misunderstood genius and a persecuted hero in the mold of Napoleon, albeit with more spray tan and fewer military victories.
This isn’t just intellectual laziness. It’s ideological bankruptcy. The same people who once decried progressive efforts to reinterpret the Constitution (i.e., a belief in a “living Constitution”) now embrace the idea that laws are merely suggestions — so long as the right person is breaking them.
Constitutional originalism? That was yesterday. Today, it’s all about results. If the law is inconvenient, just ignore it — or, better yet, redefine it.
This mindset extends beyond legal philosophy and into the realm of cultural politics. Take, for example, MAGA’s latest absurdity: attempting to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.” Is our nation’s real problem bodies of water with insufficiently patriotic names?
But my real beef here isn’t the name change itself; it’s the administration’s effort to compel media outlets like the Associated Press to use the term and to punish them for refusing.
Remember when conservatives railed against leftist speech policing? When progressives insisted on new pronouns, conservatives called it Orwellian. But now, when Trump is doing the dictating, suddenly it’s just good old-fashioned patriotism. The same people who fought against the concept of “deadnaming,” promoted by transgender rights activists, now demand that media outlets comply with their preferred nomenclature.
What’s next? Will they force the AP to bake them a gay wedding cake to celebrate it? Apparently, coercion is only a problem when someone else wields the stick.
And then there’s foreign policy — another arena where conservative principles have been tossed aside like one of Trump’s failed casinos. You would think a great negotiator would know better than to give away the store before the negotiation begins. But Trump’s approach to Russian leader Vladimir Putin is indistinguishable from that of a desperate salesman trying to cut a deal before the repo man shows up. Ukraine? Not America’s problem. NATO? Maybe obsolete. And Ukraine’s effort to reclaim its own territory? According to Trump, that’s “unrealistic.”
And the best part is that his supporters eat it up. The same people who used to binge watch “Red Dawn” and dress up in tricorne hats and rant about government tyranny now worship a guy who cosplays as Napoleon and kisses up to Putin.
Think I’m exaggerating? A congresswoman from New York just introduced a bill that would make Trump’s birthday a national holiday. Meanwhile, in West Virginia (where I live), they’re considering renaming the state’s highest point, Spruce Knob, as “Trump Mountain.” Because nothing celebrates Appalachian heritage like slapping a New York casino owner’s name on a recreation area.
This fawning devotion is starting to spread beyond Trump. Enter Elon Musk: the billionaire tech mogul-turned-conservative folk hero, who seems to be co-president (in between fathering children at an alarming rate).
Remember when conservatives fretted over the moral decline of society? They warned that the wealthy elite could afford to have illegitimate children, snort experimental drugs and generally behave like the Roman Senate before the empire collapsed — but the rest of us, not so much. These erstwhile conservatives insisted that society needed moral exemplars, not libertines with baby registries longer than a CVS receipt.
That argument evaporated the moment Musk started “owning the libs” and writing big checks supporting Trump’s presidential campaign.
At this point, conservatism — at least as practiced by the current Republican Party — isn’t about principles. It is about personalities. It’s about unquestioning loyalty to Trump, Musk and whatever bizarre rebranding of reality keeps them in power.
Hypocrisy isn’t a liability — it is a strategy. And if you happen to notice the contradictions, don’t worry. They’ll just rename reality until it aligns with their narrative.
After all, in today’s GOP, it’s not about what’s true. It’s about what’s useful.
Matt K. Lewis is a columnist, podcaster and author of the books “Too Dumb to Fail” and “Filthy Rich Politicians.”
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