Since his surprise victory, Donald Trump has demonstrated conservative tendencies without explicitly being "conservative" in the original sense of the word.  Candidates such as Ted Cruz were arguably doctrinaire conservatives, whereas Trump, on many issues, does not fit the traditional understanding associated with the label.

The proper retort to the inquiry of Trump's ideology is a simple one: who cares?  For years, the conservative movement has existed in a state of self-perpetuation: declare yourself a Reagan conservative; talk about limited government, lower taxes, more personal freedom, and other platitudes; get to Washington; and do...nothing.  Not only have these self-proclaimed sentinels of the movement done nothing, but they have also parroted the talking points of the left.  Tax policy must be "compassionate."  Foreign policy must account for the wide-ranging views of our ever so effete European "allies."  The list goes on and on.

The most salient point is that Trump is an anti-progressive.  He sees these people for who they are: disgraceful and contemptible anti-American zealots hell-bent on destroying the greatest human experiment in personal liberty and replacing it with a socialist Hell-on-Earth crony system of rule.  Under "conservative" leadership, our national debt ballooned to $20 trillion; Obamacare remains the law of the land; Planned Parenthood continues its genocide against the unborn, funded at taxpayer expense; the Department of Justice targets groups not in line with Kultursdenken; government spending grows each year; the border remains as secure as Hillary Clinton's email server; publicly funded schools continue to teach socialist hate-mongering against this nation and its unique heritage; and hardworking, everyday Americans are vilified and demonized by members of the party supposedly espousing and advancing "conservative" policies.

The 2016 election showed that the conservative movement has been meaningless for quite some time.  Americans are beyond sick and tired of elected officials talking about the "fundamental integrity of our institutions," as if it is beyond the pale to imagine rogue, faceless bureaucrats twisting the missions of their agencies to adhere to their ideological mores.  The speaker of the House does not feel that impeaching Rod Rosenstein is "the right thing to do, because the Court system can handle that."  Like the court case brought by the House against Lois Lerner for her criminal activity?  What was the first thing Paul Ryan did as speaker?  Give President Obama higher funding levels than Obama asked for.  What was the first thing Mitch McConnell's Senate did in 2014, with a fresh new majority?  Fully fund Obama's executive amnesty program.  It is the same game every single time: talk the talk, and then, when nothing happens, because of deliberate inactivity and outright cowardice, declare the issue done with and move on to the next capitulation to the left.  

At this turning point in our history, yes, it is important to advance conservative ideals.  They do correspond to the founding of our nation.  But what's more important is to realize that the biggest enemy currently facing our nation is our supposed fellow citizens, whose singular mission it is to destroy our liberties and our way of life.  And make no mistake about it: destroy our lives they will.  Every single place on the face of the Earth where socialism has been tried, it has been a miserable and disgusting failure.  A cost estimate has been produced for Medicare for All.  It's $32 trillion over the next ten years.  Where is the outrage on the right?  Have you seen McConnell or Ryan dispatch their members to the news networks to attack the blatant attempts to ruin our way of life?  You have not, and you will not, because they are too busy getting along with the left.

Pray to God that Donald Trump serves another four years in office.