You have conservatives, then you have the current Republican party. I tend to hold some pretty conservative views, and I can’t see how this Republican party is even remotely conservative
Please, someone tell me what is conservative at all about this party? I’m all ears
knotml on
Wasn’t that all too obvious in 2016? And with each passing year while Trump doubled down on fascism, The Heritage Foundation with their billionaire fascists cribbed Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and published Project 2025 inflected with give-no-quarter extreme Christian hate.
Where the fuck have you been, David Finch?
wellarmedsheep on
When a party has hitched itself completely to a mercurial leader who has no positions except self-aggrandizement it becomes a cult of personality.
The power vacuum when Trump finally dies will be wild.
Resies on
Nah it’s always been this ugly, just beneath the surface
damned-dirtyape on
For all the can be said about DonOLD, he understands the ‘basement dwellers’. They are socially conservative and economically liberal.
beard_meat on
This is the people who created the conditions for MAGA trying to rehabilitate the image of conservatism by pretending it was subverted or captured. The modern GOP is not only recognizably conservative, it’s more honest about what conservatism actually means and what it truly stands for. Conservatism in America is what it always has been. The only difference now is that it took off the small government, patriotic disguise.
TintedApostle on
It was a mess starting with Gingrich and probably Nixon really.
Shido_Ohtori on
Oh, it *very* much is.
The *sole* value of conservatism is respect for and obedience to [one’s perception of] traditionally established hierarchy, and today’s members of the Republican Party debasing themselves to Trump is absolute “respect for and obedience” to hierarchy. “Know your place” has always been their mantra; the upper echelons just never thought that their own place would be as rigid as those they had for people they considered [socially] inferior.
YgramulTheMany on
Yes, they’re conservative.
Yes, they’re right wing.
No, they’re not libertarian.
Edit: Now I think they *are* libertarian, in the ‘fuck you I got mine’, and ‘selfishness is a virtue’ kind of way.
sh4desthevibe on
They’re populist with some conservative-adjacent things…
But yeah, mostly populist.
PsyduckSexTape on
Their entire platform is literally, “we’ve latched on to the most pathetic, idiotic man child in the room. Whatever he’s wanting works for us.”
HelloKittyLedge on
Conservatism is whatever Fox or AM hate radio tells them it is, and they follow blindly without any critical thinking or long-term analysis
Transsexual_Menace on
Just change the name to the MAGA party or something like that, it’s just a cult of personality and should be named as such
dishwasher_mayhem on
I’m a traditional conservative…the type that existed before the Tea Party. We didn’t care if you were gay…we just wanted more civilian oversight. I’m a dem ow becuase IDK WTF happened to my party.
Reagan’s ascendency really was the death knell of actual conservatism.
BioDriver on
My dad is conservative. He voted McCain in 2008, Romney in 2012, didn’t vote in 2016, Biden in 2020, and now Kamala in 2024. He said the Republicans stopped being conservative with Trump and have become a cult.
Plastic-Pudding-2140 on
Lindsey was right about Don the Con destroying the GOP. Just about completed. ( is their wisdom in Harris “debating” him?)
GetOutTheGuillotines on
Wow, truly cutting edge stuff from the NYT. Next they’ll be telling us that the Harlem Shake fad is finally over.
notmyrealnameanon on
Did it use to be recognizably conservative? If so, then this is what conservatism produces and should be avoided for that reason.
Ok-disaster2022 on
I’m tired of these videos. Give me written articles.
The GOP hasn’t been conservative sine we elected the regressive Reagan. Their platform has been to repeal and undo all the mid central liberal achievements even those that were passed by Republican president’s and overseen by Liberal Republicans Chief Justices appointed by Republicans. Roe V Wade, Republican Chief Justice Warren Berger sided with the majority, he was appointed by Nixon.
2pierad on
My god these people are slow
1Originalmind on
The fuck they’re not.
Appropriate_Fun10 on
Agreed, but dudes in the GenZ sub don’t recognize it.
Evil_phd on
Centrists are Conservatives these days, split between the Progressive Left and the Regressive Right.
SevaraB on
Republicans aren’t the party of “no.” They’re the party of “not you.”
Are you not in finance, farming, or the defense industry? Then not you.
Are you not a white, heterosexual, cisgender practicing member of an evangelical Christian denomination? Then not you.
Are you childless by choice? Then not you.
Et cetera. Conservatism hasn’t been a central piece of their platform for a *long* time. They *have no* fiscal policy other than help their friends and hurt their opponents.
TJRex01 on
I really, really want to see Trump call for workers to seize the means of production, the end of private property, and the collectivization of agriculture and then see his cult explain how the Democrats are the real socialists. That would be outrageously funny to me.
BaronVonButthole on
Basically a clown car at this point…
cool_arrrow on
I’ve been voting democrat since 2016 and I know I’m not alone.
monkeybiziu on
The current iteration of the GOP is being run by fundamentally unserious and weird people, and until the current crop of politicos is pushed aside or ages out, the GOP will struggle.
There’s always been people that were in on the joke – the Mitch McConnell’s of the world – who understood that what the GOP told their voters and what they told their patrons were two different things. The base gets stuff like promising to ban abortion and build the wall, the patrons get deregulation and tax cuts. The thing is, they never had to follow through on the stuff to voters, because Fox News kept them ignorant and afraid,
Now the Mitch McConnell’s of the world have been replaced by the Marjorie Taylor Greene’s of the world – ignorant and afraid thanks to a steady diet of Fox News, and also willing to carry through on the stuff they’ve promised voters.
The problem is, the stuff they promise voters is electoral poison, and only moves the needle inside an increasingly shrinking minority kept afloat thanks to gerrymandering and the electoral college. This has created an artificial bottom for how low the party can actually go.
If Trump loses, if the GOP loses the House, and they fail to recapture the Senate, the bottom might fall out. If Thomas or Alito were to be forced to retire due to ethics, health, or other issues and conservatives lost SCOTUS, the GOP might find itself out of power for a generation and looked at as a spent force in politics – relevant at the state level, irrelevant nationally.
silenceiskey93 on
It’s a party of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, fear mongering, anti-science, antisemitism, lack of education, anti-democracy, anti constitution, pro wealthy, double speak when their supreme leader says so and causes their base to parrot the leaders thinking (instead of using their own ability to think freely and make decisions ) which only serves to suit that leader, anti freedom, pro government control of people, pro dictator and fascist principles, I could go on and on.
hypothetician on
“*Those* conservatives only did a bad job because they’re not conservative enough” – a phrase said by every conservative ever, everywhere in the world, shortly before voting for someone worse.
Clavister on
Katy asked if, in this era of worldwide transmission, it matters if candidates physically visit places. A lot of people would argue that Clinton’s failure to do so in 2016 cost her the Presidency…
JubalHarshaw23 on
It’s ChristoFascist and has been since Reagan handed them over to the Evangelicals. They were supposed to be taken control of by a Mega Church con man, but sold their souls to the anti-Christ instead.
wins0m on
The republican party is very recognizably conservative.
Conservatives have been and always will be primarily focused on maintaining the status quo of exploitation (specifically of labor or environment).
The mechanism of this exploitation matters little to them. As an example, none of these people are actually “capitalist” they just understand that capitalism brings them wealth and power. These are the same people who fought to protect slavery, they would find a way to justify it again if given the chance.
They can be dragged forward, kick and screaming, from one stage of social evolution to another. From hereditary monarchy to bourgeois capitalism. But the pressure from them is constant and downwards, towards more exploitation.
Trump is just a small piece of this much larger and frankly pretty obvious strain.
35 Comments
Seriously, I’ve been asking this for years now.
You have conservatives, then you have the current Republican party. I tend to hold some pretty conservative views, and I can’t see how this Republican party is even remotely conservative
Please, someone tell me what is conservative at all about this party? I’m all ears
Wasn’t that all too obvious in 2016? And with each passing year while Trump doubled down on fascism, The Heritage Foundation with their billionaire fascists cribbed Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and published Project 2025 inflected with give-no-quarter extreme Christian hate.
Where the fuck have you been, David Finch?
When a party has hitched itself completely to a mercurial leader who has no positions except self-aggrandizement it becomes a cult of personality.
The power vacuum when Trump finally dies will be wild.
Nah it’s always been this ugly, just beneath the surface
For all the can be said about DonOLD, he understands the ‘basement dwellers’. They are socially conservative and economically liberal.
This is the people who created the conditions for MAGA trying to rehabilitate the image of conservatism by pretending it was subverted or captured. The modern GOP is not only recognizably conservative, it’s more honest about what conservatism actually means and what it truly stands for. Conservatism in America is what it always has been. The only difference now is that it took off the small government, patriotic disguise.
It was a mess starting with Gingrich and probably Nixon really.
Oh, it *very* much is.
The *sole* value of conservatism is respect for and obedience to [one’s perception of] traditionally established hierarchy, and today’s members of the Republican Party debasing themselves to Trump is absolute “respect for and obedience” to hierarchy. “Know your place” has always been their mantra; the upper echelons just never thought that their own place would be as rigid as those they had for people they considered [socially] inferior.
Yes, they’re conservative.
Yes, they’re right wing.
No, they’re not libertarian.
Edit: Now I think they *are* libertarian, in the ‘fuck you I got mine’, and ‘selfishness is a virtue’ kind of way.
They’re populist with some conservative-adjacent things…
But yeah, mostly populist.
Their entire platform is literally, “we’ve latched on to the most pathetic, idiotic man child in the room. Whatever he’s wanting works for us.”
Conservatism is whatever Fox or AM hate radio tells them it is, and they follow blindly without any critical thinking or long-term analysis
Just change the name to the MAGA party or something like that, it’s just a cult of personality and should be named as such
I’m a traditional conservative…the type that existed before the Tea Party. We didn’t care if you were gay…we just wanted more civilian oversight. I’m a dem ow becuase IDK WTF happened to my party.
French is very, very late here, [George Will](https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/09/17/future-politics-conservatism-george-will-512308) covered the growing chasm between the Republican Party and conservative ideology several years ago.
Umm it hasn’t been in a very long time.
Reagan’s ascendency really was the death knell of actual conservatism.
My dad is conservative. He voted McCain in 2008, Romney in 2012, didn’t vote in 2016, Biden in 2020, and now Kamala in 2024. He said the Republicans stopped being conservative with Trump and have become a cult.
Lindsey was right about Don the Con destroying the GOP. Just about completed. ( is their wisdom in Harris “debating” him?)
Wow, truly cutting edge stuff from the NYT. Next they’ll be telling us that the Harlem Shake fad is finally over.
Did it use to be recognizably conservative? If so, then this is what conservatism produces and should be avoided for that reason.
I’m tired of these videos. Give me written articles.
The GOP hasn’t been conservative sine we elected the regressive Reagan. Their platform has been to repeal and undo all the mid central liberal achievements even those that were passed by Republican president’s and overseen by Liberal Republicans Chief Justices appointed by Republicans. Roe V Wade, Republican Chief Justice Warren Berger sided with the majority, he was appointed by Nixon.
My god these people are slow
The fuck they’re not.
Agreed, but dudes in the GenZ sub don’t recognize it.
Centrists are Conservatives these days, split between the Progressive Left and the Regressive Right.
Republicans aren’t the party of “no.” They’re the party of “not you.”
Are you not in finance, farming, or the defense industry? Then not you.
Are you not a white, heterosexual, cisgender practicing member of an evangelical Christian denomination? Then not you.
Are you childless by choice? Then not you.
Et cetera. Conservatism hasn’t been a central piece of their platform for a *long* time. They *have no* fiscal policy other than help their friends and hurt their opponents.
I really, really want to see Trump call for workers to seize the means of production, the end of private property, and the collectivization of agriculture and then see his cult explain how the Democrats are the real socialists. That would be outrageously funny to me.
Basically a clown car at this point…
I’ve been voting democrat since 2016 and I know I’m not alone.
The current iteration of the GOP is being run by fundamentally unserious and weird people, and until the current crop of politicos is pushed aside or ages out, the GOP will struggle.
There’s always been people that were in on the joke – the Mitch McConnell’s of the world – who understood that what the GOP told their voters and what they told their patrons were two different things. The base gets stuff like promising to ban abortion and build the wall, the patrons get deregulation and tax cuts. The thing is, they never had to follow through on the stuff to voters, because Fox News kept them ignorant and afraid,
Now the Mitch McConnell’s of the world have been replaced by the Marjorie Taylor Greene’s of the world – ignorant and afraid thanks to a steady diet of Fox News, and also willing to carry through on the stuff they’ve promised voters.
The problem is, the stuff they promise voters is electoral poison, and only moves the needle inside an increasingly shrinking minority kept afloat thanks to gerrymandering and the electoral college. This has created an artificial bottom for how low the party can actually go.
If Trump loses, if the GOP loses the House, and they fail to recapture the Senate, the bottom might fall out. If Thomas or Alito were to be forced to retire due to ethics, health, or other issues and conservatives lost SCOTUS, the GOP might find itself out of power for a generation and looked at as a spent force in politics – relevant at the state level, irrelevant nationally.
It’s a party of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, fear mongering, anti-science, antisemitism, lack of education, anti-democracy, anti constitution, pro wealthy, double speak when their supreme leader says so and causes their base to parrot the leaders thinking (instead of using their own ability to think freely and make decisions ) which only serves to suit that leader, anti freedom, pro government control of people, pro dictator and fascist principles, I could go on and on.
“*Those* conservatives only did a bad job because they’re not conservative enough” – a phrase said by every conservative ever, everywhere in the world, shortly before voting for someone worse.
Katy asked if, in this era of worldwide transmission, it matters if candidates physically visit places. A lot of people would argue that Clinton’s failure to do so in 2016 cost her the Presidency…
It’s ChristoFascist and has been since Reagan handed them over to the Evangelicals. They were supposed to be taken control of by a Mega Church con man, but sold their souls to the anti-Christ instead.
The republican party is very recognizably conservative.
Conservatives have been and always will be primarily focused on maintaining the status quo of exploitation (specifically of labor or environment).
The mechanism of this exploitation matters little to them. As an example, none of these people are actually “capitalist” they just understand that capitalism brings them wealth and power. These are the same people who fought to protect slavery, they would find a way to justify it again if given the chance.
They can be dragged forward, kick and screaming, from one stage of social evolution to another. From hereditary monarchy to bourgeois capitalism. But the pressure from them is constant and downwards, towards more exploitation.
Trump is just a small piece of this much larger and frankly pretty obvious strain.