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DISCUSSION: Is Trump Abandoning Cultural Conservatives?

DISCUSSION: Is Trump Abandoning Cultural Conservatives?

Last updated on: January 16, 2026 at 5:55 am by Gene Veith

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DISCUSSION: Is Trump Abandoning Cultural Conservatives? 2026-01-11T16:24:20-05:00 Gene Veith

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Is President Trump abandoning cultural conservatives, who have tended to be his most loyal supporters? Consider. . . .

President Trump told congressional Republicans that they need to be “flexible” in their opposition to taxpayer funded abortions.

So 17 House Republicans obediently voted for a Democratic bill to allow Obamacare subsidies for insurance policies that include abortion.

So it looks like some of your tax dollars will be paying for the killing of unborn children, making us all complicit in that horror. If you are pro-life, doesn’t that bother you?

President Trump also issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug (having no medical value and a high potential for abuse) to a Schedule 3 drug (having medical value and a low potential for abuse). This doesn’t legalize the drug nationwide, since that’s up to the states (25 of which allow recreational use, with 48 allowing medical use), but it is a big boost for the cannabis industry, opening it up to banking services and tax breaks. Cultural conservatives have traditionally opposed drug use, especially since the latest evidence casts doubt on its medical value and shows how the new varieties being sold, which are five times more powerful than the weed of the 90’s, is causing serious addiction and harm.

President Trump is a big proponent of AI. Most cultural conservatives are leery of it, wanting restrictions.

Many cultural conservatives also have problems with President Trump’s economic and foreign policies, as well as comments he has made about various moral issues, such as his being “fine” with gay marriage.

He also seems to be pulling the rug out from under cultural conservatives when they try to defend him, to the point of accepting leftist premises.

When President Bush invaded Iraq, the left said that he was just doing it for the oil. conservatives said, No! This is for freedom and democracy! When President Trump invaded Venezuela, conservatives echoed the initial talking points, saying, this is to get rid of a drug-dealing dictator! Now, having decided to let other drug-dealing dictators rule Venezuela, the president is admitting that, no, it’s for the oil.

Leftwing critical theorists have been saying that governments, morality, and cultural institutions in general are just masks for power, justifying the strongest groups exercising their power over marginalized groups. Conservatives have been saying, no! Ideals, principles, moral values are real!

Stephen Miller, a key advisor to President Trump, says, no, it’s all just power. In explaining why it would be fine to just conquer Greenland, Miller said, “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. . . .But we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”

Recently, when President Trump was asked by an interviewer in the context of his actions in Venezuela and his designs on Greenland if there were any limits to his global power, he said, “”Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. . . .I don’t need international law.”

He encouragingly added, “I’m not looking to hurt people.” The world has the protection of his morality. But he acknowledges no other limits?

What would the Founders think about this claim of the Chief Executive to have unlimited power except for his own convictions? Cultural conservatives generally think highly of the Founders and the Constitutional order they gave us, while the left often disdains them. So what about the Constitutional principle of checks and balances on the various branches of government? I have heard some of his supporters say that if the Supreme Court rules against him on any issue, he should just ignore that ruling and do what he wants anyway. Thankfully, we have President Trump’s morality as a check and balance, but that seems to be a slender reed.

I don’t suppose President Trump has studied Greek tragedy, but acknowledging no limits is the definition of what the Greeks called hubris, an overweening pride that leads to the downfall of noble leaders and usually that of the state that they govern. This theme of virtually all classical tragedies is affirmed in the Biblical principle that “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18; see also 11:2 and 29:23).

So what are we to make of all of this? Help me out here.

Is the main reason for cultural conservatives to support him is that he is better than the leftwing alternatives? That actually is a good reason. But is that all?

He is doing other things that cultural conservatives do appreciate, such as controlling the borders and undoing previous woke directives. What else?

Trump, of course, is a lame duck–though a ferocious duck who is doing everything he can to have an impact before he has to fly away–so I suppose he doesn’t really need the support of cultural conservatives or anyone else, really. So he feels free to go his own way without worrying about anyone’s approval or disapproval. This is a good reason not to have term limits, so as to keep politicians answerable to the voters.

In the next go round, various Republican candidates will likely try to present themselves as another Trump, promising to continue his policies. Should cultural conservatives follow along, or try to elect someone more committed to their interests?

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