I often hear that this is the hour of the MAGA Revolution, the Great Conservative Backlash. If we assume this is true, we must surely discover what “conservatism” entails. But this definition cannot be squarely derived. There are terrific fault lines in Mar-a-Lago, and any crisis will threaten to destroy the unsteady alliance behind the Trump administration.
One can locate two contradicting ideological camps nestled in Trumpism today. The first, encapsulated by Elon Musk, stems from the tech world, the elite schools and the modern billionaire brass. Broadly speaking, this is the force that prompted Trump to endorse a mission to Mars in his inaugural address and to pump $500 billion into the artificial intelligence industry.
The second is the obscure creed of Christian nationalism. This is the more populist branch, and like most populist movements, it appeals to a select segment of the population. Christian nationalists concern themselves with the purity of American identity, labeling themselves as “Heritage Americans,” or those of largely Northern European descent. They are less interested in kickstarting innovation and more concerned with the ethno-religious composition of the country.
In a way, these two factions have long existed. Since the mid-20th century, Republicans have been buoyed by the social concerns of evangelical populism and the economic interests of wealthy forces. But the two sides have never been so charged, revolutionary and mercurial. Some moneyed elites in the party are now concerned with the installation of a techno-empire, and some racial nationalists are starting to despise the cold rationalism of Silicon Valley.
Most movements, of course, are pluralistic in their composition. Before unmendable differences paralyzed it, the New Deal coalition was able to leave a lasting progressive legacy. Earlier, the American Revolution established a functioning political system despite the deep doctrinal rivalry between agrarian utopianist Thomas Jefferson and mercantile conservative Alexander Hamilton.
These movements maintain a lasting influence because the actors preferred achieving shared interests over preserving dogmatic regularity. Trumpists have found their shared objectives — deregulation of business, debasement of the civil service, destruction of the welfare state — and worked to achieve them. As we speak, traditionalist nationalists like Russell Vought and techno-conservatives like those at the Department of Government Efficiency are hammering away at the liberal order.
But sometimes a coalition of forces simply cannot function. Indeed, sometimes we are dealing with oil and water. The 19th-century Populists had an ambitious agenda that unraveled partly because agricultural activists and industrial labor unions could not shake hands and set their sights on the plutocrats. Time will tell if the cohorts of the MAGA coalition will survive a crisis when their honeymoon comes to an end.
Already, spats have come to the surface. The techno-conservatives Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have endorsed the continuation or even expansion of the H-B1 visa, which is given to highly skilled foreigners. To them, this “Elite Human Capital,” as it is sometimes termed, is necessary to fuel their AI ambitions. But to “Heritage” conservatives, the visa threatens to paint more and more non-white and wealthy faces into the national mosaic. When Ramaswamy tweeted in favor of the visa and coupled his post with endorsements of study and intellectualism, he was met with angry racism from his allies. Former Trump advisor and Christian nationalist Steve Bannon denounced Musk and Ramaswamy, mentioning that they were useful to get into power but now should be dismissed.
True, the two factions have needed each other. The populist side offers the voters an emotional message while Musk and his friends write the checks. But as Steve Bannon observed, the alliance no longer seems vital. Now, these are not the only ideological vectors at play, and many figures and factions cannot be cleanly distributed between them. Nevertheless, if the players that are on one or the other side match salvos, the cohesion of the collective movement may never recover.
