The Making of the MAGA New Right: Post-Liberals and Their Ideology

Defining the Post-Liberals

• 🎯 The post-liberal faction of the MAGA new right is described as the premier radicalism of the new right, characterized by highbrow, sober-minded intellectuals often clustered in academia.
• 💡 Key figures include Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule, Gladden Papin, and JD Vance, who are more radical and less beholden to donors than other groups.
• 🔑 Unlike the Claremonters who celebrate the American founding, post-liberals are skeptical of the liberal aspects of the founding, often reinterpreting or condemning it.
• ⚡ Post-liberals are more statist, aiming to commandeer state and executive authority for conservative ends, contrasting with the Claremonters' more limited government approach.

Core Tenets and Influences

• 🧠 Catholic integralism is a significant, radical influence, advocating for the reintegration of church and state and orienting the state towards spiritual ends and the common good.
• 📚 Patrick Deneen's book "Why Liberalism Failed" argues that liberalism's individualism and control over nature lead to a spiritual vacuum, making society yearn for strong rulers.
• ⚔️ Adrian Vermeule, in response to Deneen, argued for a more radical approach, advocating for "searing the liberal faith with hot irons" and taking over institutions from within.
• 🇺🇸 Figures like Sorab Amari have pushed for a more activist direction, publishing manifestos like "Against the Dead Consensus" and essays like "Against David Frenchism," advocating for fighting the culture war to reorder the public square.

Key Figures and Their Contributions

• 🏛️ Adrian Vermeule, a Harvard legal scholar, is a central figure, advocating for Common Good Constitutionalism as a replacement for originalism, which he argues is too limited and morally weak.
• ⚖️ Vermeule's approach empowers state actors to justify actions based on the common good, aiming to remove liberal freedom from American values and reinterpreting freedom as secondary.
• 🗣️ Patrick Deneen critiques liberalism for its disintegrative effects on community and politics, leading to a yearning for strong leadership, and suggests a retreat to build community.
• 📰 Sorab Amari has been a vocal critic of compromising with liberal democracy, advocating for defeating the enemy in the culture war and reordering the public square to the common good.

Ideological Nuances and Criticisms

• 🌐 The post-liberal movement has an international dimension, with close connections to Hungary and figures like Viktor Orbán.
• 🧐 While some post-liberals are activists, others like Deneen and Vermeule are more cloistered academics, allowing for more radical, freethinking ideas.
• ⚠️ Critics note the apocalyptic rhetoric and catastrophism prevalent among these thinkers, often lacking clear empirical evidence or historical context.
• ❓ There's a tension between the post-liberal advocacy for state power and the individualism often seen in Trumpism, though figures like JD Vance aim to bridge this gap.
• 🧐 Vermeule is seen as dismissive of secular conceptions of the common good, drawing heavily from Catholic conservative thought and referencing figures like Carl Schmitt.