Blake Masters, the Republican Senate nominee from Arizona, has triggered a debate on the right (including here at National Review) for shifting his public posture on abortion. While softening rhetoric is a normal thing for a politician to do when transitioning from a primary to general-election candidate, the development is especially noteworthy coming from Masters, who during the primary was hailed as being part of the vanguard of a movement of new, more pugilistic, conservatives.
The emergent strain of conservatism has been described in many ways: MAGA, the New Right, National Conservatism, populist conservatism, and so on. In a column a few months ago, I used the term Fight Club Conservatism. My point was that the tactical divide among conservatives had become more powerful than specific ideological divisions. Many of the most bitter arguments taking place among conservatives at the moment boil down to the “fighters” arguing that traditional conservatives are too cozy with the ruling class, and too committed to existing institutions to do what is necessary to smash the Left. Those in the new crop of conservatives promise to be bold, not to back down from cultural fights, to embrace smashmouth politics, and to be twice as vicious to the Left as they are to the Right.
Comments