Politics

Donald Trump Is Already Ripping The Conservative Movement Apart

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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Donald Trump’s candidacy is already tearing the conservative movement apart. The Guardian recently reported that Friends of Abe, a secretive group of Hollywood conservatives, would disband—and speculation is that “infighting over Donald Trump’s candidacy” was a contributing factor. Meanwhile, Eagle Forum, the pro-family group founded by Phyllis Schlafly in 1972 is being ripped apart, with Schlafly (and, presumably, her successor Ed Martin) backing Trump, while other prominent and longtime board members are backing Ted Cruz.

The Eagle Forum schism is perhaps the most interesting, inasmuch as a suit over the future of the group is currently being litigated. Depending on whom you ask, this is either the story of “Pro-Cruz Plotters Against Phyllis Schlafly” dragging the grande dame of the conservative movement into court—or the story of an ambitious male Trump supporter named Ed Martin, who has hijacked a conservative women’s group, and is manipulating its elderly founder (who should clearly have retired decades ago). I suspect the latter narrative is the closest to the truth, but who knows?

There are twists: Even the Schlafly family is divided over this. Schlafly’s son (who, to add another plot twist, is openly gay) is on Team Martin, while Schlafly’s daughter is supporting the board members who are trying to wrest control from Martin.

Some are wrongly portraying this as a suit against Phyllis Schlafly (she may well side with Ed Martin, but it is Martin and Schlafly’s son who are named as the defendants). Interestingly, the board members actually argue that Martin has already been removed from his post, via a majority vote of the board, but is refusing to relinquish control.

There are at least two lessons to learn here. The first is that it’s time for elderly conservative movement leaders to begin thinking about preserving their legacy and institutions. And this will require identifying successors before they enter into their twilight years, and having a clearly defined succession plan.

But the obvious takeway here is that Donald Trump hasn’t even won the nomination, yet he is literally pitting brother against sister within the conservative movement. Maybe this isn’t all bad? Some of these groups have been running on fumes for decades and need to adapt to changing times. Either way, Donald Trump is already proving to be a disruptive force on the Right.

Matt K. Lewis