Rightwing conference reveals muddled lines between Trump and far right [View all]

Source: The Guardian

Sat 6 Sep 2025 07.00 EDT
Last modified on Sat 6 Sep 2025 07.04 EDT


A rightwing conference recently saw theocratic Christian nationalists, far-right publishers and members of men-only secret societies speaking alongside the Missouri senator Eric Schmitt, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at Donald Trump’s Department of Justice and other senior Republican figures.

The speaker list at the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC raises questions over what distinctions exist between the nationalist hard right in the US and members of the Trump administration and the Republican party.

Heidi Beirich, the chief strategy officer and co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said: “NatCon is filled with extremists touting white nationalism and conspiracy theories. What is notable is how Trump administration officials and allies are key players in the event, showing that it is near impossible today to distinguish the far right from the administration.”

The conference schedule was peppered with the names of leading figures of the so-called “new right,” an anti-democratic and ultra-nationalist far-right movement whose reactionary views have often undergirded the administration’s actions.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/06/national-convservatism-conference-trump