Welcome to the Jungle
The American Political Right-wing is not uniform. Many political liberals/leftists assume that all conservatives/right-wingers are the same. They’re just a bunch of bigoted Bible-thumping, Trump-loving rednecks.
Well, I’m here to tell you that caricture is false. The Poltical right-wing is a highly diverse coalition of social conservatives, libertarians, ex-liberals, and more.
The goal of this post is to a general depiction of the current state of the American poltical right-wing. Of course, this post cannot do full justice to this topic. Nevertheless, I will try my best to give a broad outline of the prominent factions on this side of poltical spectrum.
Here They Are
1. Paleoconservatives (e.g. Tucker Carlson, Pat Buchanan, John Doyle, Paul Gottfried, etc.)
This camp of the right-wing is what I personally fall under. The “Paleocons” are major supporters of social-conservativism, economic populism, and America-first/non-interventionist foreign policy.
The two most notable living members in the Paleoconservative camp are Tucker Carlson and former Presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.
Guys like Tucker and Buchanan differ from other types of conservatives mainly due to their economic views. Paleocons do not worship at the altar of “Free Trade” and “Free Markets”. Instead, they view capitalism as a means to an end rather than an end–unlike libertarians and fusionist conservatives. In essence, Paleocons care the most about preserving the traditional American family, the Christian Church, and the nation-state.
Sadly, the Paleocons lost control of the conservative movement to the Neo-cons in the early days of the Post-World War II conservative movement.
2. Neoconservatives (e.g. George W. Bush, Bill Kristol, Nikki Haley, Charles Krauthammer)
The “Neo-cons” are the proverbial bogeymen of the American right-wing. Neoconservatives are dying breed on the right-wing due to the rise of Trumpism/the MAGA movement.
Foreign policy-wise, the Neocons’ main emphasis is on spreading liberal democracies and free trade around the globe. Listen to any speech given by George W. Bush post-2001, and you’ll find what I’m saying to be true. For this faction, conservatism is not about preserving tradition, the family structure, or traditional America. No, they believe conservatism is about preserving abstract principles.
In essence, the Neoconservatives’ mission to spreading democratic values and are willing to use force to do so–e.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.
Moreover, this group contained almost all of the prominent Never-Trumpers. They don’t believe in the tenets of MAGA/the America-First agenda. They’re mainly bitter that they don’t control the conservative movement anymore. Unfortunately, the Neocons controlled the conservative movement post-Reagan until when Trump ran in 2016.
3. Old-school Libertarians (e.g. Thomas Sowell, LewRockwell.com, Ron Paul, Milton Friedman)
I want to make this distinction between libertarians. Undoubtedly, not all libertarians are the same.
This group of libertarians is much more respectable in my opinion in comparison to the preceding category.
The “Old-school libertarians” support a mix of Austrian economics with some socially conservative tendencies. They don’t dislike social conservatism. However, they don’t believe that it’s the government’s role to influence individuals” behavior.
4. “Barstool” Libertarians (e.g. Dave Portnoy, Reason.com, “Conservative Adult Actresses”)
In a honesty, I am pretty biased against this group of the political right-wing. This group annoys me more than any other group on the right–though they are still preferable to the ethnocentrists.
“Barstool Libertarians” are just libertine people. Dave Portnoy–the Founder of Barstool Sports–is the embodiment of what I’m talking about.
They don’t like anyone who tells them what to do. They support limited government, low taxation, and drug legalization solely because they what to do whatever they want. Freedom to the “Barstool Libertarian” is about getting drunk at bars, smoking weed recreationally, and having as much sex as possible.
A noted adult film actress has also called this kind of conservative a “Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll” conservative.
In my opinion, this group does not belong in the conservative movement. I’m fine with them voting for our politicians, but they add nothing to the policy-discussion and are making our country more degenerate.
5. “Intellectual Dark Web”/Classical Liberals (e.g. Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, Tim Pool)
This right-wing group is fairly new. They only entered the right-wing because the political left has become pretty radical in the last decade.
The Intellectual Dark Web (IDW) are mainly classical liberals and former liberals who possess large followings on YouTube and other large social media sites. Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, and Tim Pool are some of the biggest names of the IDW.
These guys in a sense aren’t really conservative, it’s just that the American political spectrum has shifted so far left that this faction can’t call themselves “liberals” in good faith anymore.
Additionally, the one thing that IDW guys all support is free speech. The IDW doesn’t like that the political left no longer supports freedom of speech. So, the right-wing has become a safe haven for these free-speech advocates.
6. Fusionist Conservatives (e.g. Ben Shapiro, Ronald Reagan, Bill Buckley)
I have a confession. Before I was a red-pilled paleoconservative, I was a “fusionist conservative”.
What is a fusionist conservative? Fusionist conservatism support both social conservatism and economic libertarianism. This brand of conservatism tries to work through the potential tensions between social conservatism and economic libertarianism.
The Fusionist conservative is what your typical Fox News-viewer/conservative voter typically ascribes to. This conservative group is more socially conservative than “Neoconservatives” are but not as much as Paleoconservatives. Moreover, they are more in support of limited government and free trade than most paleoconservatives are.
Overall, this group is one of the largest groups on the right-wing.
7. “Cringe Ethnocentrists”/Whignats (e.g. Richard Spencer, Mike Enoch)
I didn’t want to include this group here, but I thought that I should make a brief mention of this group
Of course, this group is my least favorite part of the right-wing. The “Cringe Ethnocentrists” are the small group of right-wingers who support white nationalist ideas and policies. For some reason, they think that they are the “true conservatives” by emphasizing a person’s skin color over their character. They don’t need to be a part of the movement either.
Bonus: Gavin McInnes’s Analysis of the Right-Wing
Right-wing pundit Gavin McInnes made a funny video five years ago in this very topic. I definitely recommend watching the video in your free time.