01/29/2016
This is Virginia Dare and you’re listening to VDARE RADIO.
It’s the second round of the #NROrevolt. National Review, in a desperate attempt to maintain relevance, decided to devote an entire issue to attacking Donald Trump. We are solemnly assured Trump is a “populist” who threatens authentic limited government conservatism. Thus, all good conservatives, in the tradition of William F. Buckley, must rally against Trump to defend the Constitution, liberty, and presumably Jesus Christ himself. At least that seemed to be the implication of Soros evangelical Russell Moore’s essay.
Of course, it’s hard to take National Review’s supposed devotion to limited government and the Constitution seriously when you are boasting essays by the likes of John Podhoretz and Bill Kristol. After all, it’s not like National Review was rallying to the side of Ron Paul when he was running for president as the self-proclaimed “champion of the constitution.” And after years of shilling for wildly expansive policy abroad and invasive security measures at home, how can anyone seriously believe National Review is what stands between the Republic and Trump’s supposed Caesar-ism?
What this is really about is an attempt to maintain control over the conservative movement itself. In strategic terms, National Review may have had no choice. If Cruz is able to defeat Trump in Iowa, National Review can claim they are strong and influential, able to change the course of the election. If Trump wins, National Review can say they are standing up for “true conservatism,” whatever that is. When even Rush Limbaugh is saying things like “nationalism” and “populism” are outperforming conservatism in terms of popularity, NRO has to protect its brand. And they are trying to make sure that whatever Donald Trump does, it will never happen again.
The problem is — it might work. What is called the #AltRight is perceived to be on the march. However, much of it is linked to the rise of Donald Trump himself. And Trump really is a kind of deus ex machina. He’s a billionaire who has spent decades building his brand and developing a direct connection with a mass audience. Sure, his nationalism and positions on trade and immigration are an important part of why he’s gotten so far. But the reason he is able to survive these crushing attacks by the media isn’t just because he “refuses to apologize.” It’s because he has the ability to communicate directly with his constituency, something almost no other Republican has.
We have to ask ourselves the question — what happens after Trump? Win or lose, in both the primary and the general election, we have to build something that isn’t simply riding the coattails of one extraordinary figure. Thanks to the writings of Sam Francis and others, we have some idea of the social base upon which we will build this movement. But to borrow a line from the truly awful band Green Day, the money’s on the other side. When Trump is no longer there, what we call Conservatism Inc. will still be there. It will continue to shill for the interests of the cheap labor lobby, it will still distract patriotic voters with pointless tangents, and it will still control access to the mainstream media.
There’s no way around it. The NRO Revolt will be like those peasant revolts of the Protestant Reformation, stomped out and starved by local lords, unless we can get some serious backing. We have to build institutions. That means raising money of course, and that is why I’m asking each one of you listening to this to give generously.
But it goes beyond that. We also need more elected officials, or at least more people running, getting the message out there. And while the money may not be there for a Congressional run or a Senate run, state offices, sheriffs, and local government offices are all there. Now is the time for a whole crop of Donald Trump Republicans to run for office and start building the movement from the ground up.
The hard reality is time is running out. In only a decade or so, any talk about “saving America” will be a moot point simply because of demographics. We have to start building a force on the ground now. After all, they might not be able to stump the Trump. But even the man we jokingly call the God-Emperor isn’t immortal.
This is a content archive of VDARE.com, which Letitia James forced off of the Internet using lawfare.