Conservatism is a difficult word to define. As I use it, conservatism is the political school of philosophy established by Edmund Burke in the 1800s that has been moderately adapted through the centuries. As I see it, conservatism is identifiable by four pillars: laissez-faire economics, focus on family and community, institutional trust, and justice and order. Within my definition, a conservative would believe the following statements: the economy works best when the government does not intervene with the free market except to protect individuals and ensure free trade, a key role of the government is to protect families and communities since these are the foundation of a functional society, well-made institutions can be trusted and must be trusted for a successful nation, and society works best when the law is predictable, the legislature is sober-minded, and the people are civil.
My chief claim is that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not conservative. First, economics. President Trump’s chief economic accomplishments were increasing tariffs [1], employing economic warfare, and further establishing subsidies to prop up failing industries, hurting GDP [2]. He increased the national debt dramatically; debt increased under Trump more than any conservative president and more than almost all liberal presidents [3]. His 2024 presidential campaign doubles down on these efforts and artfully describes a contradictory socialist, isolationist, and capitalist agenda. On any given day you can find him spouting almost any economic dogma [4]. As a matter of family and community, President Trump’s campaign is unabashedly divisive. I have been an outspoken proponent of good-faith politics and bridge building so I may be unusually averse to his rhetoric but, describing culture as a war with allies and enemies rather than a free market of ideas, trades, and opportunities to gain cheap political points tears at the essential fabric of civilization. I also take personal issue with him rebuking churches for not “being faithful” because they did not immediately support his 2024 presidential campaign [5]. As a matter of institutional trust, President Trump proudly has none. One of his most prominent campaign platforms is his mission to “dismantle the deep state” [6] and his claims of widespread voter fraud that affected the 2020 election are unsubstantiated [7] and undermine institutional trust. As a matter of justice and order, Trump has been inconsistent and even self-serving. President Trump wants jurists to be originalists when striking down
Roe and progressive when considering the sedition clause of the 14th Amendment [8]. From 1970 to 2016 Trump was involved in over 4,000 lawsuits—many regarding sexual harassment, business malpractice, and contract disputes [9]. He is not and never has been “conservative” in manner. He made his money on a gambling empire [10], was in three “softcore pornos” in his 50s [11], started the first in-house casino strip club in Atlantic City [12], and has mocked religious people, including Christians, several times [13].
I am not arguing that Donald Trump was or will be a bad president. I am also not arguing that all his policies, pitfalls, and vices are irredeemable or indefensible. I am simply asserting that Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign is not a conservative bastion. Unfortunately for conservatives, without Nikki Haley, there is no potential, truly conservative candidate. Furthermore, over the past few years, congress has supplanted conservative Republicans with populist and postmodernist Republicans who confuse advocating for limited government with a deep-seated mistrust of government and who maintain philosophically inconsistent politics. The Trump-era Republican Party fights for whatever issue is relevant and salient—hence populism, and claims Republican victimhood with appeals to “systems of oppression” imagery, albeit typically not with those words or with the same connotation postmodernist Democrats invoke.
Contradictory to my pithy and provocative headline, conservatism is not dead. The vast majority of U.S. economists are capitalists and encourage some form of laissez-faire economic policy. Family and community values are not dead, just smoldering. Most of our community-shattering fights are over differing applications of family and community values, not over the necessity of those values in the first place. Although the 2024 election will likely be contentious, it will end and the world will move on. Failure of institutional trust is exhausting and most conspiracy theories are losing steam before creating devastating change. Conservatism is seeing a resurgence in law schools and among academics. Conservatism is alive, just politically weak. The way I see it, you can either be indifferent, lament the floundering influence of conservatism in politics, or happily celebrate Trump’s message for what it is—populism and postmodernism (both of which have reasonable supporters). However, it is incorrect to claim Trump is conservative—because he simply is not.