I don't know why this gets so complicated

Universally applicable principles not beholden to circumstance is all we need

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Look, I understand that the crafting of policy and the constant shifts in political dynamics are how principle inevitably gets modified in an imperfect world. Art of the possible and all that.

I also understand that the Left, the only real countervailing force that conservatism has had to contend with in America and the West generally for a century-plus until -ahem - this recent unfortunate phenomenon purporting to be the heir to conservatism’s mantle came along, by virtue of leftism’s facile shape-shifting with the times, requires nearly constant new sets of arguments to address what it is up to. Outdated arguments about Marxist class dynamics are pretty much useless in an age when people who are in denial of their DNA are humored and even given positions of authority.

But real conservatism by definition concerns itself with the immutable and the long-established. It offers humanity a set of principles that will stand anyone anywhere at at time in good stead.

It’s true that conveying this set of principles to the various demographic groups that comprise an ever-more diverse America requires some tailoring to each of them. I’m not talking here about anything slick, phony or patronizing. The message remains the same, however it needs to be articulated.

A front-and-center conversation currently occurring across the ideological spectrum has to do with which wing of the Republican Party - the wing more inclined to be guided by conservative principles, at least to some degree, or the Trumpist wing - is going to take control. An auxiliary question concerns the chances for the party’s survival in either case.

The 145 to 61 House vote to keep Liz Cheney as GOP Conference chair was unmistakably a repudiation of Matt Gaetz’s intentions to assert Trumpism’s predominance and marginalize actual conservatism to the point of making it ridicule-worthy in everyone’s eyes. Gaetz’s ploy backfired for al to see.

Of course, it was done by secret ballot, so it hardly qualifies as a profile in courage. Still, it’s been widely known for years that Washington - particularly Capitol Hill - Republicans are far less kind in their assessments of Trumpism in private conversation than they are in public forums. The breadth of at least acknowledgement of MAGA fervor is not matched by depth.

I really don’t know how this will shake out. I’ve written about it - fairly frequently - but I’ve refrained from speculation, much less conclusion.

It’s not the most important question, for reasons I’ve discussed in several recent Precipice pieces. The Left continues to morph into an ever-more grotesque proposal for how to organize society, and conservatives know that they alone are equipped to challenge it.

That’s because there is no there there when it comes to what Trumpism has in its quiver for going up against the Left. Trumpists share, at least superficially, a number of concerns and causes they champion with conservatism, but when it comes time to make the case for, say, the sanctity of unborn life, limited government, the necessity of American leadership in countering China’s rise, keeping taxes low, the silliness of speaking of multiple genders, or reversing education’s slide into indoctrination, they aren’t prepared to see the argument through to first causes.

The three pillars - stool legs, if you’d like - of the fusionist conservatism that became its recognizable modern form in the middle of the last century remain what they have been. The one concerning foreign policy has needed a bit of a reformulation in the years since monolithic communism disappeared as a threat. Still, that’s done easily enough. The West - a common set of values, not a geographic designation - needs to remember what identifies it, and the Unites States needs to be at the fore of seeing that it remains predominant on the world stage.

The others - the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman underpinnings of that Western identity, as well as an unshakeable understanding of why free-market economics is essential to liberty in general - need no tweaking to the times.

Imagine for a moment a world in which Trumpism - or, to confer upon it a less person-specific characterization, nationalist populism - were to vanquish conservatism and be the lone alternative to leftism. How long would it be able to hold up, to rally the average citizen, to demonstrate the fundamental folly at leftism’s heart? I daresay it would quickly crumble against leftist appeals to fairness, to “equity” and to compassion.

The argument that conservatives must make to dispense with the vacuousness of Trumpism is that our principles are universal. They’ll work anywhere they’re applied.

Free-market economics, a Judeo-Christian understanding of the nature of God, humankind’s relationship to him, and the manner in which he has ordered the universe, and forming and maintaining a bond with other nation-states that share these convictions does not require anyone to have a particular skin color, be of either sex, or bring to the world any particular kind of cultural frame of reference.

This universality is beyond the comprehension of a Trumpist. The nationalist-populist can see no further than putting a particular country - America, for instance - first, than being driven by a desire to “take care of our people.” And, as we know from the experience of the last five years, it is easily brought under the sway of a rank demagogue who will use it for self-glorification and insistence on cult worship.

In other words, conservatism springs from thinking about what improves the human condition in any circumstances. Nationalist populism is completely tied to circumstance: “good-paying jobs,” getting out of “endless wars,” rooting out the “deep state.”

It’s really not complicated. Beyond the thoughtful tailoring of the message to various demographic groups, it doesn’t require focus-group-driven pandering or compromise.

What we have to offer is what the world needs. Let’s bring confidence about that to the task at hand and neither Trumpism nor leftism will be any match.

We’re not dragging any brand across any finish line. We’re opening a space for what works in terms of human flourishing to guide policy, culture and plain human living.