The events that took place at the Capitol on January 6th are unparalleled in the twenty-first century. The last time that our seat of government was overrun occurred in 1812 when the British seized our Capitol and burned it to the ground. The riots will have consequences that go far beyond the mere destruction of property.
Naturally this awful event will have lasting influence on our public discussions and American politics, specifically for conservatives. Although the rioters certainly weren’t acting in a conservative manner, they were Trump supporters, and it will be Republicans who must pay the price and regroup. This begs the question; where do conservatives go from here?
Currently, the two major strands of conservatism within the Repulican party and the conservative media are rights based conservatism and populist conservatism.
Rights based conservatives today militate in favor of limited government and hail from the tradition of their modern champion, Ronald Reagan.
On the other hand, populists are not strong believers in limited government. Whereas rights based conservatives would argue in favor of free-markets, populists would argue that markets should be bent towards more conservative ideals such as protecting small town manufacturing jobs.
Influential populist commentator and Fox News host Tucker Carlson stated of free market capitalism that “Any economic system that weakens and destroys families is not worth having. A system like that is the enemy of a healthy society.”
Populism also stems from a belief that the political establishment is not listening to the needs of everyday Americans. Carlson and other populist conservatives often scornfully refer to those in D.C. as our “ruling class.”
Although the political establishment could certainly be cleared out from time to time, radical right wing populism can erode people’s faith in the democratic institutions that elect our leaders. This was illustrated by the emergence of the QAnon theory. This conspiracy promoted a version of radical populism that claimed that our ruling class were also satanic pedophiles who were running sex rings.
Those who stormed the Capitol last week were radical populists who believed that our “ruling class” had forgotten about them and were seeking to steal an election.
I am definitely not accusing Carlson or other mainstream populist conservatives of promoting a radical version of populism. They are no more responsible for the radicalization of fools than Joe Rogan or Ben Shapiro. In fact, many of them disavowed and were horrified by the violence on the Capitol. Those on the left who say that they are promoting this type of violence are divisive political hacks who want to shut down free speech.
However, after Wednesday’s events, their association with the populist rhetoric of Trump will likely reflect poorly on them and lead to the resurgence of rights based conservatism across the country and within the Republican party. In the 2024 election look out for Reaganesque conservatives like Nikki Haley to rise above the candidates rather than populists such as Tucker Carlson.
