What is it about Tucker Carlson that unites the divergent ideologies of national conservatism? In July 2019, the writer and historian Thomas Meaney attended the first National Conservatism Conference in Washington, where Tucker Carlson, Peter Thiel, and other right-wing thinkers sought to expand on Donald Trump’s politics. One reason that Carlson is so effective, Meaney remarks, is his consistent attack on two common foes of national conservatism: neoliberalism, and the neoconservatism of the Bush years. “It’s the shared enemy rather than any kind of shared mission among themselves,” Meaney says. And while these shared enemies (and the National Conservatism Conference itself) are nothing new, they are newly relevant as Carlson relaunches his program on Twitter, declaring, “You can’t have a free society if people aren’t allowed to say what they think is true.”

● Read Thomas Meaney’s past reporting for Harper’s

● Subscribe to Harper’s for only $16.97: harpers.org/save

● [11:44] Why is Tucker Carlson such an exciting figure for national conservatism?

● [16:46] Nationalism is a big tent. What is the common root to all these groups?

● [20:29] The fractured nature of national conservatism in some ways reflects the internet

● [30:33] There’s a profound strain worse than xenophobia

● [37:39] How do national conservatives resolve the difference between what Trump says he’s doing and what he’s actually doing

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit harpersmagazine.substack.com