A new taxonomy of conservatism?

benfell

As part of its thing, Academia.edu suggested a paper describing vigilante right-wing militia activities, for example, the “Minutemen,” along the U.S. southern border, meant to intercept unauthorized migrants. In it, Robert Castro links militarism, toxic masculinity (he doesn’t call it ‘toxic’), and what,[1] in my dissertation, I would call paleoconservatism, a pro-segregationist tendency that, in its outer extremes includes neo-Nazis, skinheads, and the like.[2]

I don’t usually follow up on these suggestions, but this was hitting a few too many buttons for me, and I gotta tell you, I’m gonna be thinking about this article for a bit.

Because, really, even here in Pittsburgh, a long ways from that border, but where a figurative border delineates similar differences of race, albeit between white and Black rather than white and Latin, and of class, I certainly see similar behaviors, an overdone-to-the-point-of-compensatory so-called ‘patriotism’ and fetishization of military service, an affinity for camouflage-style clothing, toxic masculinity in driving, “law and order” but in the guise of Punisher skull and “thin blue line” paraphernalia, and gun nuttery in the name of “self-defense,”[3] which I might understate as verging on a caste system and as verging on apartheid.

Castro’s article,[4] which predates my work in this area entirely, adds compelling evidence of a pattern. Clearly, I wasn’t wrong to link the phenomena I did.[5]

And, while I now believe that the taxonomy of tendencies of conservatism in my dissertation[6] has been subsumed into a mostly monolithic white Christian nationalism,[7] it is clear to me that Castro’s work[8] is far from out of date, but rather describes a pattern we may also associate with many of Donald Trump’s supporters, at least in Pittsburgh,[9] and probably more broadly. My question will be, to the extent that Trumpism as paleoconservative toxic masculinity comprises a limited subset of white Christian nationalism, itself bifurcated between those who continue to support Trump and those who do not,[10] does this pattern signify a new taxonomy of conservatism?

  1. [1]Robert F. Castro, “Busting the Bandito Boyz: Militarism, Masculinity, and the Hunting of Undocumented Persons in the US-Mexico Borderlands,” Journal of Hate Studies 6, no. 1 (2007):7-30, doi: 10.33972/jhs.46↩
  2. [2]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  3. [3]David Benfell, “On patriotism,” Not Housebroken, June 27, 2020, https://disunitedstates.org/2020/06/27/on-patriotism/; David Benfell, “The banners and the guns: Flagrant racism in Pittsburgh,” Not Housebroken, October 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/09/20/the-banners-and-the-guns-flagrant-racism-in-pittsburgh/; David Benfell, “Reckless driving as routine,” Not Housebroken, January 28, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2023/01/25/reckless-driving-as-routine/; Dana Forsythe, “Punisher creator Gerry Conway: Cops using the skull logo are like people using the Confederate flag,” SyFy Wire, January 8, 2019, copy in possession of author; David Masciotra, “The Punisher skull: Unofficial logo of the white American death cult,” Salon, April 28, 2019, https://www.salon.com/2019/04/28/the-punisher-skull-unofficial-logo-of-the-white-american-death-cult/↩
  4. [4]Robert F. Castro, “Busting the Bandito Boyz: Militarism, Masculinity, and the Hunting of Undocumented Persons in the US-Mexico Borderlands,” Journal of Hate Studies 6, no. 1 (2007):7-30, doi: 10.33972/jhs.46↩
  5. [5]David Benfell, “The banners and the guns: Flagrant racism in Pittsburgh,” Not Housebroken, October 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2019/09/20/the-banners-and-the-guns-flagrant-racism-in-pittsburgh/↩
  6. [6]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, March 8, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
  8. [8]Robert F. Castro, “Busting the Bandito Boyz: Militarism, Masculinity, and the Hunting of Undocumented Persons in the US-Mexico Borderlands,” Journal of Hate Studies 6, no. 1 (2007):7-30, doi: 10.33972/jhs.46↩
  9. [9]David Benfell, “Hate, Pittsburgh Style,” Not Housebroken, June 1, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/04/06/hate-pittsburgh-style/↩
  10. [10]David Benfell, “More questions than answers as Donald Trump flags come down,” Not Housebroken, February 28, 2023, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/08/28/more-questions-than-answers-as-donald-trump-flags-come-down/; Tina Nguyen, “CPACalypse Now,” Puck, March 8, 2023, https://puck.news/cpacalypse-now/↩

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