Patriot and Proud     

What began as a modest gathering of conservative thinkers has become the go-to place for promoting homeland-focused policies and family values. There’s a lot of MAGA at the annual NatCon conference, but mostly, participants are advocating for a world where it’s not weird to be a flag-waver, not weird to take responsibility for your family, and where you’re not at odds with the people educating your children

ITseems almost too apropos that to reach the sessions of this year’s National Conservatism (NatCon) conference, visitors must descend several flights of stairs from the entrance of the stylish Washington, DC hotel hosting the event.

Political confabs each have their tone. Those focused on fundraising and electoral rallying are marked by loud music and fist-pumping rhetoric — heavy on theatrics, light on substance. Many held by think tanks or academic groups have plenty of tweedy intellectualism, but struggle to connect ideas to the world of accomplishable politics.

Close to a decade after the NatCon coalition took shape, its fifth large-scale US conference feels like the boiler room of the contemporary American right. Attendees and presenters are drawn from an array of conservative policy wonks, present and former officials, authors, media figures, bloggers, student group leaders, and the like — punctuated by a line-up of billboard speakers, including Tulsi Gabbard, Josh Hawley, Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Tom Homan.

In essence, NatCon shares many of the MAGA ideas and viewpoints, but in a much more intellectual and organized fashion.