Ezra Klein’s August 1 podcast, “Behind Trump and Vance Is This Man’s Movement,” for The New York Times explores the National Conservative Movement led by Yoram Hazony, an Israeli theorist, whose book “The Virtue of Nationalism” gained influence among American conservatives.  Read here for a summary of their conversation.         

Hazony regularly hosts the NatCon conference, with speakers like JD Vance, both of whom argue that diversity and multiculturalism are weaknesses, advocating loyalty to family and tribe. Ethno-nationalism underpins the movement in America, intersecting with white supremacy and challenging liberal democracy.

National Conservatism is revealed not as a preservationist movement, but rather a revolutionary one, attempting to cultivate its particular brand of blood-and-soil nationalism.

The idea of “blood and soil” was introduced by the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s to justify the exclusion of Jews from society and the atrocities of the Holocaust.

Despite their rhetoric about identity purity, leaders such as Trump (descended from immigrants), Vance (whose children are multi-ethnic), and Hazony (an Israeli Holocaust descendant) exemplify complex backgrounds, exposing contradictions within their ideology. The movement’s nostalgic vision overlooks the diverse realities of modern society.