The ‘Conservatives’ for Harris Time Warp

If I finally cracked the code, finished my time machine, and went back to the year 2004, it might be fun to try apprising my newfound contemporaries of the political situation in 2024. I’d likely just be laughed back into the present while avoiding any damaging effects (presuming that I didn’t step on any butterflies). A Hawaiian state legislator elected as a Democrat in 2002 is now a major Republican power broker? Dick Cheney is supporting the Democratic presidential candidate? The Republican presidential candidate is the guy from The Apprentice? (“Who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis?”) And a Kennedy endorsed him?

The lingering on the public stage today of some features of 2004 might give a sense of continuity and even stability to our politics. But it’s a false one. Much has changed. It can be dizzying to remain rooted amid such tumult. One group has done a particularly bad job of it: so-called conservatives who have actively advocated for Kamala Harris. As with their peers, their advocacy reveals a worryingly contingent commitment to timeless verities. It ought to cause the rest of us to reconsider the recent past, and — as if they had a time machine of their own — it effectively rewrites the record of their alleged conservatism.

If I finally cracked the code, finished my time machine, and went back to the year 2004, it might be fun to try apprising my newfound contemporaries of the political situation in 2024. I’d likely just be laughed back into the present while avoiding any damaging effects (presuming that I didn’t step on any butterflies). A Hawaiian state legislator elected as a Democrat in 2002 is now a major Republican power broker? Dick Cheney is supporting the Democratic presidential candidate? The Republican presidential candidate is the guy from The Apprentice? (“Who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis?”) And a Kennedy endorsed him?

The lingering on the public stage today of some features of 2004 might give a sense of continuity and even stability to our politics. But it’s a false one. Much has changed. It can be dizzying to remain rooted amid such tumult. One group has done a particularly bad job of it: so-called conservatives who have actively advocated for Kamala Harris. As with their Catholic peers, their advocacy reveals a worryingly contingent commitment to timeless verities. It ought to cause the rest of us to reconsider the recent past, and — as if they had a time machine of their own — it effectively rewrites the record of their alleged conservatism.