House Republicans find themselves in a state of disarray, unable to come together and support a candidate for speaker. The root of this problem goes back to a question asked by Representative Kat Cammack in January: “Are we the party of Reagan?” After ten months, it is clear that the answer is a resounding no. The far right has successfully pushed House Speaker Kevin McCarthy aside and launched a campaign to install their own choice, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, in the position. Despite their efforts, this chaotic situation highlights how the GOP has abandoned the principles of Reaganism and instead adopted a worldview influenced by the John Birch Society (JBS), a far-right movement from the 1950s and 1960s.
For many years, conservative leaders attempted to marginalize the Birchers and their followers, but today’s Republicans have embraced their ideas. These ideas include conspiracy theories, particularly related to vaccines and election denialism, a preference for isolationism, and the belief that federal law enforcement agencies are a threat to liberty. The Birchers’ history of using violence to intimidate opponents has even been evident in the campaign to pressure holdouts into voting for Jordan.
Fundamentally, what it means to be a conservative or a Republican has undergone significant changes in recent years. Political ideas influenced by the JBS have become dominant. This shift, eight years after the arrival of Donald Trump, is still shocking and confusing, leaving us to wonder how the fringe has taken over the GOP.
In 1958, a small group of businessmen opposed to the New Deal established the JBS. They named the group after a U.S. Army officer killed by Chinese communists, reflecting their obsession with uncovering communist plots. The JBS promoted conspiracy theories, including the claim that President Eisenhower was a secret communist and warnings against water fluoridation.
Despite mainstream rejection and condemnation, the JBS created a political tradition that challenged both mainstream Republicanism and mainstream conservatism. The main points of contention included explicit racism, anti-interventionism, tolerance of conspiracy theories, and a more violent, anti-establishment brand of politics. The Birchers staunchly opposed the civil rights movement, accused Chief Justice Warren of aiding communism, distributed flyers calling President Kennedy a traitor, and rejected NATO. These views did not sit well with mainstream conservatives. Birchers attacked the government and media, sparking a revolt against institutions and elites at a time when trust in both was diminishing across the ideological spectrum. They used fear and intimidation as weapons, threatening harm to their adversaries.
While mainstream conservatives occasionally aligned with the Birchers on specific issues, they considered each other enemies rather than partners. In the mid-1960s, liberals, moderates, Democrats, and civic groups like the NAACP and Anti-Defamation League joined forces to vilify the society, turning it into a derogatory term. Although the JBS declined as an organization in the 1970s, its fringe ideas influenced various successors. The JBS’s anti-government sentiment became central to the Republican agenda by the 1990s, with activists like Phyllis Schlafly and Pat Robertson playing key roles in steering the party’s stance on cultural issues.
After the Cold War, the Bircher’s isolationist ideology resurfaced, most notably in Pat Buchanan’s “America First” campaigns. The election of Bill Clinton, along with the rise of conservative broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh, popularized false conspiracy theories on the right, including the accusations against the Clintons. Although George W. Bush courted the fringe during his presidential campaign, he distanced himself from their agenda once in office. However, by the end of his term, the GOP had turned against him, rejecting his immigration reform bill and economic rescue plan.
The fringe elements of the GOP gained more power during the Obama years when racism became explicit in Republican politics. Even Sarah Palin spread false, racist conspiracy theories about Obama’s birth certificate. The rise of the Tea Party brought further influence from the Bircher fringe.
These developments set the stage for the Trump era, during which the fringe finally took control of the GOP. This victory can be attributed to three factors. First, the far-right learned from the failures of the Birchers and navigated their way through politics and culture. Second, Republican leaders courted the fringe, seeing their support as crucial for victory. They believed they could control and appease extremists while governing pragmatically. However, this strategy led to unrealistic expectations that were never fulfilled, leaving the hard right feeling betrayed. They used primaries to purge the GOP of moderate politicians, fueled by a new media ecosystem that made it harder for Republicans to control the information their voters received. Lastly, economic, cultural, and global changes created a sense of alienation among the white working class and some elements of the middle and upper classes. This vulnerability made them susceptible to the ideas pushed by the successors of the Birch Society, who stoked their anger.
Overall, the transformation of the GOP into a party influenced by fringe ideas can be traced back to the influence of the John Birch Society and the failures of mainstream conservatism. The party’s embrace of conspiracy theories, isolationism, and anti-government sentiments has reshaped what it means to be a conservative or a Republican.
