11/10/17 Tocqueville Series - Alvin Felzenberg: “The Future of Bill Buckley’s Conservatism in the Age of Donald Trump”

We have heard quite a bit in recent years about populism and especially, populism on the right. On the overall question of who should make policy, William F. Buckley Jr. was of two minds. He never resolved to his own satisfaction when elites should govern and when the grass roots should press their views and potential electoral views on elites. With the election of Donald Trump, this question has come to the fore again and while the administration’s record is still incomplete, this talk will examine whether (and how) “Trumpism” can be reconciled with Buckleyan (and even Burkean) conservatism.