President Donald J. Trump acknowledges applause as he is welcomed to the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center Wednesday, April 10, 2019, in Crosby, Texas. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
At The American Conservative, Jim Antle warns against the coopting of any nationalist movement by the neoconservatives, and cautions against making the same mistakes of the past. He writes (abridged):
Conservatives who are skeptical of our wars tend to speak out on other topics, like domestic policy. The people said to have real national security or foreign policy experience are neocons or worse. There is no diversity of opinion. The American Spectator’s Tom Bethell once remarked that the Tea Party was like the pre-neocon conservative movement, but just as ripe for neocon takeover. Is this true of national conservatism too?
Consider that Tom Cotton and Nikki Haley are among the would-be successors to Trump. Cotton is at least aligned with Trump on immigration. It is not clear that Haley, like Bolton, even goes that far. If nationalists are going to criticize libertarians alongside neoconservatives, they must lay out their own vision of prudence and restraint.
There is much that is promising about the nationalist project. It would be a shame if it was used an excuse to repeat past conservative mistakes on war and peace.
Read more here.
