Conservatives and ‘American Nationalists’ are not the same

Labels matter.

A news story in the Orange County Register this week titled “Police break up fracas at Orange County Republican meeting” got a lot of attention.

It was reported that a group of “conservatives” wearing “orange shirts that said ‘RINO hunters,’ with crosshairs making a target of the O,’ tried to storm a Republican Party of Orange County meeting in Costa Mesa on Monday night.”

I disagree with the term “conservative” being used interchangeably with “American Nationalist,” which is what the group’s leader called himself in the next paragraph.

Those words are not synonyms. Had the story simply referred to the group as “American Nationalists,” or far-right agitators or populists, there would be no issue.

In covering politics, labels are often used incorrectly and it’s often only when reporters and pundits use broad terms like “right” and “left” or “Republican” or “Democrat” do we really know what they mean.

The group’s leader called himself an “American Nationalist” and I’m inclined to think he’s right, based on what he said and did.

And I told the well-respected reporter as much on Twitter.

The reporter replied that the group was: “Pretty textbook for ‘faith and flag’ conservatives. Pro-America first, pro-policies that favor Christianity, prosmall government, anti-abortion, anti-immigration, progun, pro-Trump ... They had a sign mocking the OCGOP for having ‘conserved nothing.’”

Since “‘faith and flag’ conservative” is a term I can only find referenced by Pew Research Center (a fine organization, but not an authority on conservatism), I’m going to assume the “textbook” is not yet finished.

Most of the positions described above are consistent with what many modern Republicans believe. It would be correct to say the party has