ew i know it's bill kristol but omg i agree with him on this

[Hortensis]

8. Kristol was one of those who tried to develop, out of the gut-level reactions

that were most of what underlay conservatism, a defined conservative philosophy that would form a foundation for conservative ideals and policy. Such as the value of protecting what is proven to work.

Liberalism has centuries of intellectual and governmental underpinnings, spreading with the Enlightenment, but conservatism has nothing like that.

Kristol and company, including his father, were either too late, or too principled, or both.

Others, who inflamed and harnessed the worst of those gut-level reactions for their purposes, won out -- and they purged what there was of traditional conservative ideals from the GOP. (Protecting what was proven to work, and the altruism they shared with liberals, were big problems for wealthy predators.)

That left the worst of conservative personality reactions -- fear of change and hostility toward what is different -- to be inflamed and directed against the remaining, unconquered half of the population. They succeeded so well they've lost control, but the monster they created is still working for them.