The new maga right

roots, ideas, and leading figures of the ‘postliberal’ movement

Abstract

The Trump administration’s so-called ‘transactional’ tactics obscure its underlying ideological strategy. Within Trump’s coalition, a strong and influential illiberal Catholic sector has emerged. This sector’s ideological and intellectual traditions are far more European than American. With this new American ‘post-liberal’ right, we are not witnessing an importation of postwar Christian democracy with its anti-fascist tradition. Rather, we are seeing an updated version of the dominant branch of political Catholicism from the interwar period. As we in Southern Europe know well, this branch owes little to ‘democracy’ and even less to ‘political liberalism’. This article maps the roots of this movement and its main public intellectuals, as well as their potential impact on American political life.