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“CONSERVATISM can and does mean different things to those who call themselves conservatives,” said Ronald Reagan soothingly, in an address to the Conservative Political Action Conference in 1977. He referred to social conservatism and economic conservatism, tendrils that then seemed disparate, but which he, speaking shortly after Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, would soon unite. “What I envision is not simply a melding together of the two branches of American conservatism into a temporary uneasy alliance,” he said. “But the creation of a new, lasting majority.”It was tempting to wonder whether the speech Donald Trump delivered on February 24th to CPAC, an annual gathering for conservatives held on a Maryland bank of the Potomac river, signalled the end of that Reaganite consensus.Mr Trump, who had been explicitly compared to Reagan by his loyal deputy, Mike Pence, the previous day, did sound a few familiar notes. “It’s time for all Americans to get off welfare and get back to work,” he said, adding, “You’re going to love it, you’re going to love it, you’re going to love it.” Also like Reagan, he extolled the need for strong armed forces: “Nobody’s going to mess with us folks. Nobody. It will be one of the greatest military build-ups in American history.”Otherwise, Mr Trump veered so wildly ...
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