Still Against the ‘Dead Consensus’
7th December 2022
In the aftermath of the Republican Party’s recent midterm elections debacle, right-liberal sharks are circling. These devoted acolytes of what a prominent 2019 First Things manifesto called the American Right’s “dead consensus” think they see blood in the water. Indeed, the “dead consensus” praetorian guard has apparently decided that now is the time for a counterattack against the more nationalist- and populist-inclined forces of what has broadly been dubbed the “New Right.” A recent anti-national conservatism fusillade from The Federalist‘s David Harsanyi is reflective of the broader subgenre.
The opportunistic timing of this ascendant strand of argumentation is as obvious as its logic is facile. The basic argument is: Trump the individual is largely inextricable from the substantive political commitments of the “New Right”; Trump was primarily responsible for the GOP’s ballot box losses last month; therefore the “New Right” is at “best” vicariously responsible itself, and at “worst” is merely hurting badly. Either way, Republicans’ midterm election disappointments present for beleaguered right-liberals a perfect opportunity to turn the tables and go on the offensive.