In this capstone episode of the “What Is the Right?” series, we consider the state of the Right today and where it’s headed in the years to come. In this limited series, we’ve explored the different factions and flavors that make up what we would broadly call “the Right” in America today. We’ve looked at freedom conservatives and the New Right, talked to libertarians and traditionalists, explored fusionism and MAGA, and we’ve considered how Catholic, Jewish, and Evangelical conservatives define themselves today.
Through it all, we’ve heard a variety of takes on where we stand, where we’re going, and how the ideological landscape has shifted. There are some clear fault lines, particularly between the New Right or National Conservative crowd and the Freedom Conservative/fusionist set, notably in how to utilize power in this current moment where it’s clear the right has power and political capital to spend. So what’s next? Can these factions come together in a new fusionism? If so, what does that look like? And if not, are we bound for a fracturing of the Right unlike we’ve seen in our lifetimes?
To explore these questions are two luminaries of the conservative movement, Yuval Levin and Chris DeMuth. Yuval is the Director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and a deep thinker on the Constitution, institutions in American government and civics, and conservative thought. Christopher DeMuth is the former head of the American Enterprise Institute. He helped to organize the first National Conservatism conference and remains active in the NatCon world, regularly speaking at events and writing op-eds on from a national-conservative perspective.