Elite Republicans aren't the obstacle to a dovish GOP. Voters are.
![An elephant.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/xwXKKADMH9nESWehdKw4r9-415-80.jpg)
Three of the most prominent populist conservative writers around — Sohrab Ahmari, Patrick Deneen, and Gladden Pappin — have taken to The New York Times to launch a broadside against Republican foreign policy hawks, especially those otherwise aligned with the party's Trumpian shift in style and substance. The result is an important intervention, but also one deeply ensnared in the GOP's internal contradictions.
The authors argue that conservatives need to "make a clear break" from the military interventionism that has dominated the Republican Party for decades in favor of a commitment to foster "material development at home and cultural nonaggression abroad." Prioritizing foreign policy "restraint," they claim, will place the GOP firmly in the camp of those Americans who have historically embraced a vision of America as an "exemplary republic" attempting to perfect self-government at home rather than striving to spread liberal democracy abroad by military force. Ahmari, Deneen, and Pappin somewhat polemically describe the latter, more imperialistic approach as a vision of the country as a "crusader nation."
I have a long track record opposing the series of small (but extended) wars the United States launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and favoring a less hubristic approach to geopolitics more generally. Yet the problem, for me as well as for anyone advocating such a change in orientation, is getting from the present to a more restrained future.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The United States has extended security guarantees all over the world. Some of these are formal (based on treaties) and others informal (through rhetorical gestures). Once made, such guarantees are difficult to walk back without creating a power vacuum that invites other powers (primarily Russia and China at the present moment) to make their own aggrandizing moves in our place. That's a challenge the authors of the Times op-ed don't even begin to address.
Then there's the related difficulty facing any Republican inclined toward foreign policy retrenchment. How is the Republican base likely to respond to an American president shrugging in indifference at a Russian invasion of Ukraine — or a Chinese invasion of Taiwan?
The unsettling truth is that Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and other ambitious Republican office holders are likely staking out unilaterally hawkish, Jacksonian positions instead of a more dovish stance. They know where the party's voters are. The GOP base might be skeptical of grand plans to democratize the world, but they're unlikely to accept cheerfully a passive response to a power grab by a rival on the world stage.
The op-ed concludes with a swipe at "donor-backed Republican hawkishness." But the truth is it's Republican voters who are the greater obstacle standing in the way of any serious turn toward a dovish foreign policy on the American right.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.
-
Ukraine's Olympians: going for gold in the line of fire
Under the Radar Hundreds of the country's athletes have died in battle, while those who remain deal with the psychological toll of war and prospect of Russian competitors
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Democrats now have a chance to present a vigorous, compelling case'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What has Kamala Harris done as vice president?
In Depth It's not uncommon for the second-in-command to struggle to prove themselves in a role largely defined by behind-the-scenes work
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
The convention speakers whose political stars rose
The Explainer Why you're likely to see the future leaders of the Democratic and Republican Parties at the conventions
By David Faris Published
-
How Biden's enablers may have delayed his bowing out
Talking Points Joe Biden's inner circle faces calls for a reckoning for allegedly shielding the president — and the public — from questions of aging and electoral viability
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Democrats 'resigned to a second Trump presidency'
Talking Points Did the assassination attempt end Biden's election chances?
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Are down-ticket Democrats doomed?
Talking Points President Joe Biden's refusal to step back from his reelection campaign has some local Democrats wondering if their own races are in trouble — but not everyone is worried
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Why Project 2025 is creating headaches for the Trump campaign
Talking Points Democrats want to make Trump 'own' the controversial plan
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Biden flopped, but did Trump really 'win' the debate?
Talking Points The president struggled to articulate a clear vision for the country, but Trump's cavalcade of aggressive falsehoods might not do the Republican candidate any favors in the long run
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published