Conservative columnist David French has never been subtle about his opposition to President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Through his writing in The New York Times and regular appearances on MSNBC, French has positioned himself among prominent Never Trump conservatives who argue that Trumpism has damaged both the Republican Party and the broader conservative tradition.
Alongside figures such as attorney George Conway, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, and The Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson, French believes MAGA represents a sharp break from long-standing conservative principles. Rather than focusing on policy disagreements alone, he often frames his criticism around culture, character, and the long-term health of American democracy.
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In a December 14 column for The New York Times, French takes a closer look at what he sees as the core belief system driving the MAGA movement and the so-called New Right. At the center of that worldview, he argues, is the conviction that the United States is locked in a “death spiral” and that only Donald Trump can stop it. That belief, fueled by a mix of anger and despair, is what French sees as especially dangerous.
“In this telling,” French explains, “the ‘strong men’ of the American past had created a glorious and powerful nation. Our peace and prosperity had spawned a weak and feckless generation that had squandered America’s strength and cultural identity, and now, it was time for hard men to arise to reclaim what was lost. This view of America’s glorious past is indispensable to understanding MAGA’s appeal and the extremism of MAGA youth. After all, the slogan, ‘Make America Great Again,’ implies the loss of greatness.”
French argues that this narrative of decline is not just rhetorical but deeply emotional. “This sense of loss provides the intellectual and crucially emotional foundation of the right’s authoritarian turn,” he writes. According to French, the New Right has become fixated on an idealized version of America’s past, often romanticizing earlier decades while portraying the present as broken and unrecognizable.
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He points to online culture as a key amplifier of this mindset. “It’s hard to overstate how much the New Right idealizes America’s past,” French notes, highlighting the popularity of nostalgic images from the 1950s paired with captions such as, “This is what they took from you.”
French also warns that modern technology intensifies these emotions. The New Right, he observes, frequently “contrasts its vision of a glorious past with a miserable present.” Social media, combined with constant exposure to outrage-driven content, keeps supporters in a state of permanent alarm.
“Now, combine that hyperbole with smartphones and social media, and you’ve got a recipe for a nonstop sense of alarm,” French cautions. “I can open my Twitter feed and see video after video of outrageous conduct, and no amount of telling myself that these are isolated incidents in a nation of over 340 million people can blunt their emotional impact.”
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