
Ross Douthat on the End of Conservatism
From The Argument by Jerusalem Demsas & Matthew Yglesias
February 9, 2026 · 1h 7m
About this episode
Ross Douthat discusses the transformation of the conservative movement and the implications for liberalism and democracy.
Trump didn’t just reshape the GOP—he may have ended what we used to call “the conservative movement.” New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins host Jerusalem Demsas to map the new right: the collapse of fusionism, the rise of nationalism, and a media ecosystem where influencers matter more than institutions. Then they argue about what liberalism can and can’t solve. Can abundance and faster growth stabilize democracy, or are the deeper crises cultural, spiritual, and demographic in w...
People in this episode
Host: Jerusalem Demsas
Guest: Ross Douthat
Topics covered
- conservatism
- GOP
- nationalism
- media ecosystem
- liberalism
- democracy
Keywords
- conservatism
- GOP
- nationalism
- media
- liberalism
- democracy
- Trump
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: New York Times
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