Paul Kengor: The conservative movement going forward – TribLIVE

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In my previous column, I wrote about moving the conservative movement beyond Donald Trump. I asked which conservative voices would best serve the conservative movement going forward post-Trump (assuming there is a post-Trump period). I particularly related this question to young people, who are the future of the movement and the country.

Since that column, a few notable things happened that bear on that question, including the reactions I received from Trib readers.

For one, CPAC held its annual meeting. Since 1974, the American Conservative Union, founded in 1964 by pioneering conservatives such as William F. Buckley Jr., has annually met in Washington for the Conservative Political Action Conference (this year it met in Florida, because of covid). The first CPAC keynote was delivered by California Gov. Ronald Reagan, who rarely missed a gathering over the next decade and a half. Every year, CPAC offers a glimpse into the state of the conservative movement. Ive attended regularly for about two decades (though not this year).

Ive been increasingly frustrated with CPAC. Though the conference is run by solid conservatives (and good guys), the meeting the last few years was heavily dominated by not just a Trump feel (thats expected, given that Trump was president), but a Fox News feel, with Fox personalities far overrepresented, often as literal keynotes. I remember the days of speakers like Bill Rusher and Stanton Evans i.e., thinkers who defined the movement. To be fair, if one pauses to look closely at the full roster of speakers, the CPAC organizers have done a good job representing the broader movement. But still, in recent years the conference felt too Trumpish and FoxNews-ish. The headliner this year (again, not unexpected, given that he just left the White House) was the banner closing speech by Trump.

What CPAC left unanswered, however, was the question my column raised about the best messengers for the movement going forward, especially among young people. To dig into that question just a small bit, I surveyed students in my conservatism course at Grove City College. (Im also teaching Marxism this semester yes, two polar opposites.)

I had my poor students suffer the indignity of reading my previous column, but with a more edifying purpose. I asked the students (23 in total) to list three conservatives (they need not be politicians) they feel could best represent the movement and carry the message going forward, articulating conservatism in an intelligent, appealing, winsome way. I asked that Trump be left off the list, given that the focus was conservatism post-Trump, even if Trump isnt necessarily finished as a future candidate.

This seemed a good exercise because it sampled young people to see who young people are looking to. This certainly was not a scientific survey a highly limited sample. Nonetheless, here are their top choices:

The far and away favorite was Ben Shapiro, whose name was listed by nearly half the students. Right behind him was Candace Owens. Here we see the strength of the Daily Wire group among young conservatives. (Im surprised that Michael Knowles didnt get listed.) Third place was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a reflection of his sudden rising popularity. Fourth was Tucker Carlson. Tied at fifth were Sens. Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse. Rounding out the 10 were (in a tie for sixth place) Amy Coney Barrett, Mark Levin, Glenn Beck and Steven Crowder. Its revealing that most of these conservatives are not politicians; as is often the case, leading conservative voices are pundits and media figures.

I should add that several Trib readers reacted to my column with their own lists. These readers are much older than my students. They came up with names like Kristi Noem, Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, Louis Gohmert, Devin Nunes, Marsha Blackburn, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz and (among others) DeSantis.

So, for what its worth, those are some names moving forward. Notably, none hail from Pennsylvania, including an absent Sen. Pat Toomey, who actually scored a perfect 100% conservative rating among U.S. senators in the most recent annual scorecard produced by the American Conservative Union (also receiving perfect scores were Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee). Its ironic that no Pennsylvania politicians made the list, given that, as Ive written here, Donald Trump showed that Western Pennsylvania could be home to a new (and winning) coalition of Republican voters.

Where we go from here, of course, remains to be seen. Stay tuned.

Paul Kengor is a professor of political science and chief academic fellow of the Institute for Faith & Freedom at Grove City College.

Categories:Opinion | Paul Kengor Columns

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