Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement

What It Covers

Ezra Klein interviews Yoram Hazony, founder of national conservatism, about his book The Virtue of Nationalism and its influence on JD Vance and the Trump administration's vision of American identity, immigration, and cohesion.

Key Questions Answered

• •National Identity Framework: Hazony defines nations as collections of tribes bound by mutual loyalty, shared language, religion, and common history against enemies—not abstract ideals. He argues this tribal structure, built from families to clans to nations, represents fundamental human nature rather than voluntary association.
• •Immigration Threshold: National conservatives believe 15% foreign-born population represents the maximum America can absorb before losing cohesion and risking tribal violence. They advocate immigration moratorium or aggressive deportation as response to what they view as sixty years of excessive immigration threatening national unity and shared identity.
• •Creedal Nationalism Critique: Vance and Hazony reject the idea that believing in Declaration of Independence principles makes someone American. They argue ancestral presence matters more than ideology—those whose families fought in Revolutionary and Civil Wars have greater claim to American identity than recent immigrants who profess agreement with founding values.
• •Dominant Center Theory: National conservatives argue successful nations require a strong cultural center—historically Anglo-Protestant in America—that minority groups can relate to. Without this dominant core providing shared traditions like common law and English language, they believe secessionist movements emerge and countries fragment into competing factions.
• •Liberal Internationalism Opposition: The movement unites around opposing supranational institutions like the European Union, World Trade Organization, and International Criminal Court. National conservatives prioritize national sovereignty and freedom to chart independent courses over global governance structures attempting to impose single rule of law across independent nations.