Washington (AP) – It’s a transformation of the ideological sect Republican Party President Donald Trump’s second term. Now firmly in power, their leaders gathered under the Downtown Washington hotel this week to immerse themselves in victory and chart the next one.
“Donald Trump’s victory was not just for his move, but for the ideas of the people in this room,” said Missouri Senator. Eric Schmidt He told the crowd. “Parent conservatism is the idea that time came.”
Congressional members, Trump administration officials, donors and right-wing critics gathered this week for the annual National Conservatism Conference. The panel’s titles range from “The Threat of Islamism in America” to “The Bible and the Renewal of the Americans,” and “overturning Obergefell,” and extending to the Supreme Court case. Legalized same-sex marriage.
It all underscored the vision of the American movement rooted in limited immigration, Christian identity, and preservation of what the speakers called the country’s traditional culture.
First Senator Schmidt followed the GOP donor’s speech on “The Issues of Our Time: White Guilt” and spoke with the title “What’s As American?” In it, Schmidt criticized legal immigration, declaring that “America does not belong to them – it belongs to us,” and insisted that “we can no longer apologise for who we are.”
“Our people tame the continents and built civilization out of the wilderness,” Schmidt said. “We Americans are the sons and daughters of Christian pilgrims who poured out on the sea shores.”
“America is more than just an idea.”
In July 2024, the Sen was at the time. Used by JD Vance His Republican National Convention speech “America is more than just an idea. It’s a group of people who share history and a common future. In short, it’s a nation.”
That idea is central to what national conservatism is. The National Conservatism Movement, which held its first conference in the United States in 2019, is a project of the Edmund Burke Foundation, a conservative American think tank. Its founder, Israeli political theorist Yoram Hezny, defines national conservatism as a political philosophy centered on restoring and preserving national and religious traditions.
Vance spoke at multiple national conservatism conferences, celebrating Hazani in 2021, “very influential to me.” His promotion to vice president and subsequent policy changes indicate that the movement has come to power in full power.
During the Senate campaign in 2021, Vance gave a keynote speech to the conference, urging conservatives to “attack the universities of this country honestly and aggressively.” Four years later, the Trump administration did exactly that and targeted the university. Cut their funds.
In the shadow of the White House
This year’s meeting took place in the heart of Washington, just a block from the White House.
Famous speakers included the director of national intelligence Tarshi GabbardWhite House Budget Director Russell VertTrump Border Emperor Tom Homanand three U.S. Senators. The speaker list also featured more controversial figures, such as John Eastman. Former Trump Lawyer The heart of efforts to overturn the 2020 election after Trump’s defeat to Democrat Joe Biden – and Calvin Robinsona Michigan priest who lost his license after imitating a straight arm gesture interpreted as a Nazi salute.
Many of the top speakers spent their time defending Trump administration’s policies and assaulting critics. Vought declared that the government’s Accountability Office “should not exist” after saying that his latest efforts to curb funds already approved by Congress were illegal. With proper funding rollbacks, or broader push for rescue, he said, “If Congress gives us too broad authority, we will actively use that authority to protect the American people.”
On the “Overgefell” panel, right-wing author Katy Faust argued that legalizing gay marriages undermined biological parents’ rights.
Top Republican donor Thomas Klingenstein argued in his speech that the biggest problem facing the public is “white guilt.”
“Many Americans voted for President Trump in 2016 because he told them what they know, but you need to hear: America could do great again,” Klingenstein said. “Now Trump has to tell them something else they know, but we need to hear. America is no longer a crime of systemic racism or most racism about it.”
“What does victory look like?”
At the 2025 meeting, some served as celebrations. Founder Hazony held the event with a speech about “what victory will look like.” Vought urged participants to move further in the movement “so that the movement built around President Trump is a durable, intellectual river.”
But no one has created a larger entrance than Missouri Senator Schmidt.
Opening the 30-minute address with force, Schmidt declared a moment of “rebellion on the right.” He provided immigration policy as a major example.
“The old, conservative facility may have opposed something like illegal immigration on procedural reasons, simply because it was illegal,” he said. “At this point, the fact that something is approved by our government does not mean that it is good for our country.
“In many forms of legal immigration today, that’s clear.”
He closed down by outlining his view that America is “a citizen and person” with its own history, heritage and interests.
His legacy, he said, is one of the pilgrims and settlers who repelled “the wave after the wave of Indian war band attacks.” He said, “All the great feats of the modern world have excavated American fingerprints,” and called out those who built skyscrapers, divided atoms, invented planes, and walked the moon.
“America, in its glory, is their gift to us, and is passed down through generations. It is ours. It is our birthright, our legacy, our destiny,” Schmidt said.
The ballroom was only half full, but Schmidt’s comments quickly echoed online. His team pushed the clips all over social media.
In just two years, he formed a close alliance with Trump and helped move major laws through the Senate. But this speech marked something more. This signal that national conservatism now has a solid foothold in the halls of parliament.
“I’m sorry. Why am I sorry?” Schmidt said last. “America is the proudest and most spectacular heritage ever known to humans.”
