{"id":2697511,"date":"2026-11-04T00:53:59","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/america-first-remains-viable-and-untried\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T00:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:59:18","slug":"america-first-remains-viable-and-untried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/america-first-remains-viable-and-untried\/","title":{"rendered":"America First Remains Viable and Untried"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Famerica-first-remains-viable-and-untried%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2697511&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On Monday Pat Buchanan turned 88. I\u2019ll leave the encomiums to those who knew him; his record speaks for itself. I will say it\u2019s an honor to help run the magazine he started.<\/p>\n<p>Younger conservative figures in DC tend to speak warmly of Buchanan and his publication-even when they can\u2019t name anything it\u2019s published lately. They recognize how much of the trump phenomenon borrowed from buchanan\u2019s campaigns and rhetoric, including \u201cAmerica Frist,\u201d and that has given his work a certain cachet among Trump-aligned younger conservatives.<\/p>\n<p>When the United States intervened in the Caribbean in January, our magazine received criticism from other outlets and some governance contacts for refusing to fall in line. Buchanan himself had expressed doubts about military action in Venezuela, but that didn\u2019t stop many critics from attacking us. Later, when the messy Iran conflict exposed the flaws in that interventionist approach and vindicated our earlier objections, we didn\u2019t receive many apologies.<\/p>\n<p>Semafor reports that younger staffers in the administration are demoralized by the war policy. It\u2019s a hard situation; I feel sorry for them. If they\u2019re going to sacrifice their twenties to a kleptocratic, taste-averse, legally questionable project, there are worse places to be-but I\u2019d advise finding a less destructive path.<\/p>\n<p>More broadly, the real point is that the America first agenda-sensible immigration limits, realistic trade and economic policy, and restrained foreign policy-hasn\u2019t been tried in earnest.What the current leadership has produced looks like Bush-era policies stripped of personal decency and intellectual seriousness. Recent midterm results suggest that \u201cBushism, but worse\u201d doesn\u2019t have broad appeal beyond the roughly 30 percent who will reliably vote Republican.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s the hopeful takeaway: the core policy ideas of America First still have political life. Trump the candidate is preferable to Trump the president, and although the phrase \u201cAmerica First\u201d may have been tarnished, the policy package behind it can still attract voters. If those policies had been tried seriously and failed, the conversation woudl be different; for now there\u2019s little reason to embrace the older pre\u2011Trump conservative orthodoxies.<\/p>\n<p>By the time Pat turns 98, I expect the same young apparatchiks will be tutting about the magazine I run and the founder we inherited. Perhaps next time they\u2019ll actually read it.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-blog-post__content s-wysiwyg s-wysiwyg--blog\">\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:30px;\" id=\"elevenlabs-audionative-widget\" data-height=\"90\" data-width=\"100%\" data-frameborder=\"no\" data-scrolling=\"no\" data-publicuserid=\"cb0d9922301244fcc1aeafd0610a8e90a36a320754121ee126557a7416405662\" data-playerurl=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/player\/index.html\" >Loading the <a href=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/text-to-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elevenlabs Text to Speech<\/a> AudioNative Player&#8230;<\/div>\n<p><script src=\"https:\/\/elevenlabs.io\/player\/audioNativeHelper.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script>                            <\/p>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, Pat Buchanan turned 88. I leave it to others who knew and worked with him to sing his praises; I have little new to add. I can say simply that his record speaks for itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is, however, my privilege to help run the magazine he founded. When in the Trump years you\u2019ve run into conservatives in the under-50 DC set, they\u2019ve always been enthusiastic about Pat and the idea of his magazine, even when they can\u2019t tell you a single thing it\u2019s published in the past year. People knew how much the Trump thing owed to our founder\u2019s own campaigns and work, down to the slogan \u201cAmerica First,\u201d and being on board with Trump meant a certain reverence for Pitchfork Pat. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What a lot of rice Christians they turned out to be. When the U.S. had its little Caribbean caper in January, we here at <em>The American Conservative<\/em> got a lot of flak from our fellows in the press and our contacts in the administration for not getting with the program. Of course, their supposed hero <a href=\"https:\/\/buchanan.org\/blog\/if-the-army-stands-with-maduro-what-is-plan-b-135899\">had also expressed<\/a> reservations about military action in Venezuela, but nobody has ever said one of this gang\u2019s flaws is reading too much. When the outbreak of the Iran War, whose stupidities quickly became too gross to be ignored, vindicated our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theamericanconservative.com\/unpatriotic-realists\/\">criticisms<\/a> about Venezuela, somehow we didn\u2019t get a lot of apologies.<\/p>\n<p>                         <!-- \/22404337467,3946880\/theamericanconservative-Leaderboard-Top -->                         <\/p>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1742316429780-0' style='min-width: 300px; min-height: 50px; max-width: 100%; '>                         <\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Semafor reports that younger administration staffers are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/10\/21\/2026\/how-a-maga-youth-movement-is-training-10000-stephen-millers\">dispirited<\/a> about the whole war thing. It\u2019s a tough world out there. Of course, nobody seems dispirited enough to do anything in particular about it, such as finding a less destructive line of work. But I am sad to hear they\u2019re dispirited. You\u2019re only young once; if you\u2019re going to sacrifice your 20s to a hilarious kleptocratic junta with an insane foreign policy and a fairly limited commitment to things like good taste and the law, I somehow think working in Baku is a little more fun. <\/p>\n<section class=\"c-subscribe-email\" >\n<div class=\"l-container\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__wrap\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__head\">\n<h4 class=\"c-subscribe-email__heading\">Subscribe Today<\/h4>\n<h5 class=\"c-subscribe-email__subheading\">Get daily emails in your inbox<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__form-wrap\">      <!-- Begin Mailchimp Signup Form -->      <\/p>\n<div id=\"mc_embed_signup\">\n<form id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" class=\"validate\" action=\"https:\/\/theamericanconservative.us4.list-manage.com\/subscribe\/post?u=442e644c01f8e54e26e4ff3f8&#038;id=f7b67cac40\" method=\"post\" name=\"mc-embedded-subscribe-form\" novalidate target=\"_blank\">\n<div id=\"mc_embed_signup_scroll\">\n<div class=\"c-subscribe-email__fields\">              <label for=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"u-screenreader-text\">Email Address:<\/label>              <input id=\"mce-EMAIL\" class=\"c-subscribe-email__field\" name=\"EMAIL\" type=\"email\" value=\"\" placeholder=\"Your Email\" \/>              <input id=\"mc-embedded-subscribe\" class=\"c-subscribe-email__submit o-button o-button--red-500 o-button--solid\" name=\"subscribe\" type=\"submit\" value=\"Subscribe\" \/>            <\/div>\n<div id=\"mce-responses\" class=\"clear\">\n<div id=\"mce-error-response\" class=\"response\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"mce-success-response\" class=\"response\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>              <!-- real people should not fill this in and expect good things - do not remove this or risk form bot signups-->            <\/p>\n<div class=\"u-screenreader-text\" aria-hidden=\"true\">              <input tabindex=\"-1\" name=\"b_442e644c01f8e54e26e4ff3f8_f7b67cac40\" type=\"text\" value=\"\" \/>            <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>      <!--End mc_embed_signup-->          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But I don\u2019t want to dwell on the failings of the cretinous humanoids who go into politics and government (mostly). The actually forward-looking point is that America First\u2014immigration sanity, trade and economic realism, and foreign-policy restraint\u2014has not in fact been tried in any serious, dedicated way. What the current management and its ministers have delivered is Bushism without all the personal decency and intellectual seriousness. It turns out, based on yesterday\u2019s midterm results, that \u201cBushism, but even more evil and retarded\u201d is not enormously popular outside the 30 percent of the country that will vote for anything with an R next to it. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is basically the stuff of optimism. That is to say, immigration sanity, trade and economic realism, and foreign-policy restraint all still have a politically viable lane. Trump the candidate beats Trump the president. The boy from Queens may have poisoned the term \u201cAmerica First\u201d\u2014we\u2019ll have to see how 2028 goes\u2014but the actual policy suite is still there, and it\u2019s still something that can grab the interest of the American people. At any rate, they\u2019ve given it a spin a couple times lately, and they have heartily rejected its opposites. Had these things been tried seriously and failed, we\u2019d be having a different conversation; but, as of this writing, there is little compelling reason to welcome the warm, meaty caresses of Ted Cruz or whatever other creatures surviving from the pre-Trump era are lurking in the wings. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I expect that, by Pat\u2019s 98th, young apparatchiks will be telling me again what a grand comic I\u2019m running, inherited from such an illustrious founder. Very true, very true. But maybe this time they\u2019ll actually read the magazine.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrase of the passage:<\/p>\n<p>On Pat Buchanan\u2019s 88th birthday, I\u2019ll leave praise to those who knew him; I have little new to add. His record, ultimately, speaks for itself. I\u2019m also privileged to help run the magazine he founded. In the Trump era, many young conservatives in Washington admired Pat and the magazine, even if they couldn\u2019t name its recent articles. They recognized how much Trump owed to Buchanan\u2019s campaigns and the \u201cAmerica First\u201d slogan, and they treated Pitchfork Pat with reverence-though many proved to be less than fully committed. When the January Caribbean episode occurred, The American Conservative took heat for not joining the program, even though their so-called hero had warned against Venezuela-style intervention; and there have been few apologies since the Iran War underscored those warnings.<\/p>\n<p>Semafor notes that younger White House staffers feel dispirited about the war, a tough environment with little uprising to change course. I\u2019m saddened to hear it; youth doesn\u2019t last, and spending it in a flashy kleptocratic regime abroad might be more pleasant than working in such a situation.<\/p>\n<p>The essential point is that America First-immigration sanity, trade realism, and foreign-policy restraint-hasn\u2019t been seriously pursued in any sustained way. What the current leadership has delivered resembles Bushism without personal decency or intellectual seriousness. The midterms suggest \u201cBushism, only worse\u201d isn\u2019t broadly popular beyond about 30% of voters. Yet there is reason for optimism: the core ideas-sanity on immigration, realistic trade, and restraint in foreign policy-still have a viable political lane. The Trump-era package can still matter, even if the term \u201cAmerica First\u201d has been tarnished; the actual policy agenda remains, and it can attract the American people. They\u2019ve tested these ideas a few times and rejected their opponents. If these ideas had been tried seriously and failed, we\u2019d be discussing a different trajectory; but for now there\u2019s little reason to welcome the pre-Trump figures like Ted Cruz. By Pat\u2019s 98th birthday, younger insiders may tell me again how grand a joke I run, inherited from an illustrious founder. True enough-but perhaps this time they\u2019ll actually read the magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4458,"featured_media":2697512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/tac.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/shutterstock_515681602.jpg?auto=compress&#038;crop=faces%2Centropy&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=jpg&#038;h=630&#038;ixlib=php-3.3.1&#038;q=80&#038;w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[74531,87465,87464],"class_list":["post-2697511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily","tag-america-first-2","tag-untried","tag-viability"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/tac.imgix.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/shutterstock_515681602.jpg?auto=compress&#038;crop=faces%2Centropy&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=jpg&#038;h=630&#038;ixlib=php-3.3.1&#038;q=80&#038;w=1200","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697511"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2697515,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697511\/revisions\/2697515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2697512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}