Digital Liturgies

Digital Liturgies

Share this post

Digital Liturgies
Digital Liturgies
American Conservatism Has a Digital Dilemma
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

American Conservatism Has a Digital Dilemma

Samuel D. James's avatar
Samuel D. James
Apr 23, 2024
∙ Paid
12

Share this post

Digital Liturgies
Digital Liturgies
American Conservatism Has a Digital Dilemma
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
3
Share
Candace Owens

As American conservatives limp toward another general election, almost certainly one in which they will be represented (for better or worse) by Donald Trump, it’s worth asking again what the contemporary conservative movement is. Beset with divisions—values voters vs. Barstools, classical liberals vs. the New Right—conservatism in 2024 has a variety of different flavors. There is conservative in the “Reads the Free Press and Jonathan Haidt” sense, and in the “Christian nationalist, I-command-the-women-to-be-silent” sense. Of course, these two tribes reflect a small percentage of the American right, and an even smaller percentage of the electorate. However, the tendency of the right’s most highly online, most fringe flank to press for higher visibility in the Trump era is not going away anytime soon.

Right now, conservatism has a digital dilemma. It’s facing a choice between a more conspiratorial, more combative, more acidic personality—one shaped in the image of the social Internet and its attention economy—and a more traditional, more incremental, more reasonable posture.

Two recent stories illustrate.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Digital Liturgies to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Samuel D. James
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More