You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
-Great Cultural Revolution
Scott Greer: How The Dissident Right Went Mainstream
2026-06-24
[HighlyRespectedSubstack] Conservatism has completely transformed since I got involved in politics 13 years ago. In 2013 conservatives thought the future of the party lay with amnesty

It was controversial to even oppose illegal immigration, much less legal immigration. There was no debate over Israel; you had to support "our greatest ally" or face being purged. There was no tolerance for talk of anti-white racism or demographic replacement. Ronald Reagan was treated as a god that all Republicans must model themselves after. The big thinkers of the time imagined the Right becoming more diverse, more tolerant, more wonky, and less interested in cultural matters. It would be like Paul Ryan, not like the average Tea Partier.

A lot has changed since then. Pretty much every conservative influencer—from Tucker Carlson to Matt Walsh—delves into topics once limited to the Alt Right. Conservative Twitter has been supplanted by the Online Right, and its concerns on immigration, national identity, and foreign policy now animate internet discourse. These ideas aren’t just restricted to talking heads. They pervade social media platforms through memes and short-form clips. If you’re on the internet today, you will regularly encounter right-wing ideas. That wasn’t the case 15 years ago. It took a lot of effort to find out horrific crimes against whites and the follies of immigration policy. One had to go into forbidden corners of the internet to learn about this. Now you can just follow Elon Musk on X.

Not everything is "Alt Right" though. The Republican Party establishment still has its old priorities and many of its lawmakers deserve our skepticism. People like John Thune would love to return the party to the days of Paul Ryan. So would many Fox News personalities and talk radio hosts.

So yes, it’s not a complete victory for the Online Right. Posters are not in absolute control.

But Rome wasn’t built in a day. And things are dramatically different than they were in the past. One can see this looking at the conservative movement and how Republicans wish to demonstrate their right-wing bona fides.

While the GOP still has Thune types in powerful positions, the conservative movement has transformed. Thirteen years ago, the Heritage Foundation fired Jason Richwine for writing about racial differences in his Harvard dissertation and for contributing to AlternativeRight dot com. Today, it defends Tucker Carlson
How much of that is a sentimental attachment to the Tucker Carlson of Fox News? Many are revolted by his heart-felt, blatant Jew hate and turning on President Trump, more will be revolted by his announcement that he is leaving the Republican party altogether…
and celebrates Chronicles magazine.
Chronicles is the magazine of the paleocon branch of conservatism. I checked.
In 2013, the average young conservative activist was a libertarian (except on foreign policy) and was repulsed by identitarian thoughts. The average young conservative activist is a nationalist who’s fully aware of the memes. The Federalist Society, College Republicans, Turning Point USA, the Trump administration, and Capitol Hill offices are filled with right-wingers. This is the next generation of conservatism—and they’re not libertarians or neocons.
Posted by:Jack Guelph2611

00:00