Scott interviews Hunter DeRensis about the National Conservatism Conference, part of a movement that DeRensis describes as trying to come up with intellectual rationalizations for Trumpism after the fact. Crucially, this new national conservatism movement did not exist to support Trump as a candidate, nor did it foresee or advocate something like Trump’s policies. It has instead emerged as a means to make them seem wise and acceptable by coming up with justifications that may or may not be those that Trump and his populist allies actually intended. More pressingly, the foreign policy of many of those in the movement is backward and dangerous.

Discussed on the show:

“Dangerous Foreign Policy at the National Conservatism Conference” (The Libertarian Institute)The Virtue of Nationalism“Who’s Afraid of John Bolton?” (Antiwar.com Original)“Richard Perle: Thank God for the death of the UN | Politics | The Guardian” (The Guardian)“The Danger of A Nuclear Catastrophe Is Greater Than During the Cold War” (The National Interest)Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA

Hunter DeRensis, formerly of The American Conservative magazine, is a writer for The National Interest. Find him on his website or on Twitter @HunterDeRensis.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

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