David French is a staunch conservative. He was born in Alabama, grew up in Kentucky, and now lives with his family in Franklin, Tennessee. He is an evangelical who has litigated high-profile religious liberty cases. He is anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion, and spent years as an editor at National Review, the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley. That’s why his editorial in last Sunday’s New York Times, “To save conservatism from itself, I’m voting for Harris,” attracted so much attention.
French says the MAGA movement has transformed the Republican Party since Trump’s fall down the golden escalator in 2015, moving it away from conservative Reaganism. He notes that the conservative principles that once steadfastly held — such as lying is wrong, violence and the threat of violence are unacceptable, Russian aggression is intolerable, and blatant gangsters and criminals are not fit to be on the stage of a major party convention — have fallen by the wayside. He argues, “If Harris wins, the West will still stand against Vladimir Putin, and conservative Americans will have a chance to build something from the ruins of a party that was once a real force for good in American life.”
Welcome aboard the Harris-Walz train, David French!
He’s not alone. Other staunch conservatives — Bill Kristol, Jennifer Rubin, Denver Riggleman, Bill Weld, Joe Walsh and Stephanie Grisham, to name a few — are supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz over Donald Trump and JD Vance. As Kristol recently said, “We’re all Democrats now.” If you had told me in years past that Kristol — founder of the Weekly Standard — said he was now a Democrat, I would have asked you what you were smoking.
Time will tell if true conservatives, displaced by the MAGAization of the Republican Party, can salvage anything from the wreckage once Trump is out of the race. Some believe the MAGA Republican Party will continue after Trump, but I don’t see anyone who can fill Trump’s shoes. The personality trait—or perhaps personality disorder—that Trump exhibits is unique and, in my opinion, unique to him. Who else could go to bed at night and sleep soundly after day after day of lying, ranting, and raging about real and imagined grievances? Who else could convince the same kind of people he spent his life deceiving that they are his chosen ones and he is their Messiah?
There may be an opportunity for true conservatives like French to rebuild the Republican Party after Trump leaves office, making it more Reagan-style. If that happens, the party will be significantly weaker than it was in years past, and it will take time to rebuild.
But what happens to the diehard Trump radicals? Where do they go if they are pushed out of the newly formed Republican Party? Could they be the seeds of a third party that openly advocates lies, cruelty, violence, crime, and America’s enemies? And if so, what would you call such a party? The answer to that question has its origins here in Western North Carolina.
In 1820, during the debate over the Missouri Compromise and the question of slavery, Congressman Felix Walker of western North Carolina stood before his colleagues and delivered a long and tedious speech acknowledging the sin of slavery but defending it as an institution to be preserved. Walker’s colleagues tried to shut down his pointless speech, but he persisted and spoke to the end, all 4,901 words. When his colleagues later expressed their displeasure at the irrelevance of his tedious remarks, Walker reportedly said he had “spoken for Buncombe,” to which one of his colleagues replied, “And that was your speech most certainly, Buncombe.” Today, few know anything about Walker or his speech, but millions still use the word coined for it—Buncombe—though the spelling has evolved over time. The Cambridge Dictionary defines “bunkum” and its short form “bunk” as “utter nonsense or something that is not true”.
The Bunkum Party is an apt name for the remnants of the MAGA movement that remain after Trump is gone and real conservatives reclaim the Republican Party. I can’t think of a better description than “bunkum” for people who choose to spout utter nonsense and blatant lies.
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Moe Davis is a lawyer, politician, author, and retired Air Force colonel. His opinion pieces have appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Asheville Citizen Times.
