The Right’s Civil War Isn’t Just About Israel

It’s an effort by Con Inc. to purge all dissident elements

Various factions of the Right are still at each other’s throats over the Tucker Carlson-Nick Fuentes podcast. Heritage Foundation is still reeling from its president having to do an apology summit over his defense of Tucker. Commentators still demand influencers disavow certain figures. The fight will likely shape the future of the Right.

Some may claim that it’s just a dispute about Israel or a matter just between a few figures. But it’s much more than that. It’s a fight to determine whether the Right moves on from the discredited ideology of Conservative Inc., or if Con Inc. reasserts its control over the Right.

This was made clear in a resignation letter issued by former ISI board member Christopher Long. ISI (Intercollegiate Studies Institute) is a long-established conservative institution that’s focused on outreach to conservative students and professors on college campuses. It’s played a major role in the history of the conservative movement. In recent years, it’s shown some interest in heterodox opinions and thoughts. ISI’s magazine, Modern Age, has recently highlighted dissident thinkers such as Sam Francis. The institution’s podcast has made podcasts on the future of the Right with neoreactionary Curtis Yarvin and “post-liberal” Patrick Deneen. And, most importantly for its critics, it promoted Tucker Carlson and invited him to be a keynote speaker at its events.

All this was too much for Long, who previously ran the organization years ago. Long issued his declaration of independence from ISI on X. “The recent controversy @Heritage points to how Conservatism’s venerable institutions have been infiltrated and quietly taken over by a tight-knit, fringe group of post-liberal thinkers who believe America has been “off the rails” since the Founding,” he proclaimed.

What does this “post-liberalism” entail? Long lets readers in on its SINISTER agenda:

[T]he Declaration and Constitution must take a backseat to usher in a new, post-democratic, post-capitalist economic system that advocates isolationism, an immigration ban, and a domestic policy that blurs distinctions between church and state. While often described as MAGA or populist, this group is more tightly aligned to the philosophy of media crank @TuckerCarlson than President Trump’s agenda.

He says he resigned from ISI’s board after it refused to fire its current president, Johnny Burtka, and repudiate this “post-liberal” menace. He claims ISI now appeals to the “Yarvin-Fuentes-Carlson echo chamber,” which horrifies the old-timey conservative. He concludes a call for conservatives to purge “white supremacy, antisemitism, eugenics, and bigotry” from its ranks.

This is a very funny letter, for many reasons. One, he’s terrified of “post-liberalism,” which is mostly a navel-gazing enterprise by conservative intellectuals who want to break away from libertarianism but avoid the ickiness of Trumpism and identitarianism. It’s defined by harmless scholars like Patrick Deneen, who get very upset over “racism.” Long views the banal Deneen as too noxious for ISI to associate with, even though he’s a respected academic. The jilted ISI associate would’ve been better to use “New Right” or “Dissident Right” to rail against. But he made it dumber by using “post-liberalism.”

The next funny thing is his lumping of Yarvin and Fuentes together. The two figures don’t like each other and have different audiences. But, according to Long, they’re all part of the “Yarvin-Fuentes-Carlson echo chamber.”

He also claims his brand of conservatism is what appeals to the youth. He warns ISI’s New Right turn alienates women and normal college students, implying his brand of conservatism is what wins them over. Of course, there’s nothing the ladies love more than learning about Frank fucking Chodorov. (Long uses the forgotten conservative figure’s name as his X handle.)

It’s an absurd letter that shows how out-of-touch these old guard conservatives are. But it’s a position shared by many with power and influence on the Right. It’s noteworthy that Israel is never brought up in his post. Anti-Semites are just mentioned in passing with other riffraff Long wants expunged. The post makes it clear it’s not just Israel that Con Inc. wants to set the Right’s position on. The old guard wants to return full-scale to pre-Trump conservatism and cast out any who dissent from that goal.

Long specifically calls out immigration restriction and realist foreign policy as positions that should be unacceptable in conservatism. Mark Levin and other Tucker critics may not go that far in their denunciations of the “Woke Right,” but they point in that direction by wanting to rid conservatism of these elements they disagree with. Dinesh D’Souza shows the old guard’s hand when he rails against those who criticize Indian immigration. These angry conservatives want to expand the focus beyond Israel to banish all manner of dissident thought. They want the independent content creators silenced and conservative media restored to the oversight of National Review types.

If the old guard regains control, say goodbye to frank discussions about immigration, race, and the national interest. All of that will be verboten. We will be straight back to the era when it was risky to oppose amnesty, much less mass immigration, within conservative circles. Everyone will have to praise Israel as our greatest ally and believe Ukraine is fighting for democracy. We will think the free market can solve inner city problems and encourage more immigration to meet business demands. Conservative youth outreach will be Jonah Goldberg’s fat ass waddling before college audiences and unirionically saying “HUZZAH!”

This is conservatism before Trump came down the escalator in 2015. It royally sucked. We should not go back under any circumstances.

Some on the Dissident Right may think this wouldn’t be too bad due to the low IQ discourse that prevails on X. They may get the impression the old guard may allow identitarianism–within certain limits. They also may be thankful it would cut down on a lot of the Insane Clown Party antics pushed by the influencers. The non-stop hysteria, UFO conspiracy theories, and flat earth speculation almost makes you pine for the days when conservative discourse was determined by magazines and talk radio.

But the stupidity doesn’t outweigh the positive development of forcing the Right to address the identity issues that threaten our civilization, question America’s unconditional support for Israel, and free itself of the failed dogmas of the past. Trump proved the necessity for a new Right to emerge to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Reaganism espoused by the anti-Tuckerites is fit for a museum, not the political arena.

The side that wants to purge Tucker doesn’t just want him gone. It wants to eliminate the entire New Right and return to the glory days of Paul Ryan. That’s a blueprint for disaster.