The summary of the lecture was kindly provided to us by the Danube Institute.
Some politicians, self-identifying as conservatives as of today, have sold out their own side for their own advancement—historian Paul du Quenoy, President of the American Palm Beach Freedom Institute political research firm, stated at an event held by the Danube Institute on 22 May, where he had a conversation with John O’ Sullivan, President of the Danube Institute, and David Martin Jones, Director of Research at the Institute.
The historian from Florida said that he calls these people ‘Vichy conservatives’,
because they surrender when outnumbered by the opposition just as easily as the leaders of the Nazi-collaborator Vichy regime in France did. Back then, the German occupiers appeared to be a hegemonic force; today, it’s the radical left, the woke ideology, and the liberal mainstream that seems to be invincible. Some conservatives are submitting themselves to this notion, claiming that the real threat to society is not left-wing radicalism, but bold right-wing conservatism.
Social factors are the primary reasons behind the phenomenon of the abandonment of values, according to Du Quenoy’s explanation. This applies to about 10–15 per cent of the supporters of the Republican Party, still according to Du Quenoy, mainly people from the elite, even in leadership positions of the party. He pointed out that in blue states, where the vast majority of voters have been voting for Democrats for decades, the lives of the right-wing elite, as well as of common people, have become unbearable. Friendships have been broken, dinner invites remain unsent, and even the physical safety is jeopardised for those who, for example, are revealed to have voted for Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020.
On the other hand, if someone ‘bends the knee’ to the mainstream, they will be met with appreciation by society, and they will be welcome in polite society. They will also have an easier time finding a job, which, in the case of a well-educated person seeking a position with a prestigious editorial board or at a research firm, is especially important. Under circumstances like that, it is not hard for someone, who may not have had the firmest conservative values to begin with, to take ‘the Vichy route’. However, it is reassuring that the majority of right-wing voters can still resist these temptations.
In response to Du Quenoy’s thoughts, Danube Institute President John O’Sullivan stated that, by submitting to the will of the left,
many moderate right-wing voters are actually devaluing the victory won by Reagan and Thatcher for conservatives.
The former US President and British Prime Minister won the Cold War, but their political successors immediately turned their backs on their legacy.
In his reply, De Quenoy went on to say that modern conservatives have not turned away from the Reagan-Thatcher legacy necessarily, rather, they have only highlighted and held onto certain elements of it. For instance, they did not deem social issues—such as the LGBTQ agenda—important, and only focused on how to respond to neoliberal economic measures. National conservatives now have to fight off this heritage, Quenoy told the audience. The 2024 US Presidential election will be an important battle in this fight, he declared.
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