Back in September, the Edmund Burke Foundation hosted the 3rd annual National Conservatism Conference in Miami.
For those who are unfamiliar, National Conservatism (or “NatCon” for short) is a recent political movement focused on fusing civic nationalist principles and American conservatism. Think of this project as a modern take on the Fusionist conservatism of Bill Buckley and National Review in the Post WWII era.
The Edmund Burke Foundation is the organization running the NatCon movement and its conferences. The top leaders of NatCon are Yoram Hazony, Christopher DeMuth, and David Brog—with Hazony seen as the head of NatCon.
NatCon 3 had an extensive list of speakers—consisting of many influential politicians, writers, and political pundits. Speakers at this year’s conference include Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Josh Hawley, Senator Marco Rubio, Michael Anton, Al Mohler, and more.
When you look at NatCon 3’s speakers, you can find some interesting connections among the speaker lineup. In fact, the speaker list demonstrates how the National Conservatism movement is heavily tied with familiar Right-wing outlets and institutions such as the Claremont Institute, Daily Wire, the Heritage Foundation, and Hillsdale College—none of which are considered nationalist organizations.
With this background in mind, I watched several of the NatCon 3 speeches on the organization’s YouTube channel after the conference’s conclusion.
Having researched and watched much of Natcon 3, I I have one question to ask about National Conservatism: Is NatCon a truly nationalist movement?
My answer: No.
This answer might come as a shock. Of course, there are some good people involved with National Conservatism. However, I am quite skeptical of this movement for one main reason: NatCon gatekeeps American Nationalists.
For instance, National Conservatism barred American nationalist and former National Review editor Peter Brimelow from its inaugural NatCon conference in 2019. What’s more, many prominent American nationalists are absent from the conference—including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Patrick Buchanan, Michelle Malkin, and others.
On the other hand, NatCon has allowed many non-Conservative, non-Nationalist figures to speak at previous conferences—including Dave Rubin, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Douglas Murray, John Bolton, and others. National Conservatism is not as socially conservative as one might expect given that the organization has platformed classical Liberals and feminists at its conferences.
Moreover, National Conservatism is comfortable with promoting non-American strains of nationalism in its movement over many American nationalists. In fact, NatCon has hosted conferences multiple conferences outside of the United States—such as in Rome, Brussels, and London.
What’s more, some of the speakers at NatCon 3 possess concerning foreign ties—such as Christina Pushaw. Pushaw is a registered foreign agent for her work with the former President of Georgia. Personally, I find this aspect of National Conservatism quite concerning. How can we trust a leading Nationalist Conservative organization with obvious foreign influence/ties?
Personally, I have a hard to believing that National Conservatism represents authentic American nationalism and conservatism. Instead, NatCon is just promoting a Civic nationalist vision of America—which has never worked in practice.
Now, NatCon is definitely more conservative than the current Republican/Conservative political Establishment—such as Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell. However, the Conservative movement still deserves better. Conservative Americans deserve a truly America First conservative, nationalist political movement.
In short, I maintain that Nationalism Conservatism is not a nationalist, “America First” movement.