Trump didn’t divide the right. Centuries-old philosophical divisions have re-emerged.

American conservatism is having something of an identity crisis. Most conservatives supported Donald Trump last November. But many prominent conservative intellectuals—journalists, academics and think-tank personalities—have entrenched themselves in bitter opposition.

Those in the “Never Trump” camp say the cause of the split is the president.

But the conservative unity that Never Trumpers seek won’t be coming back, ... An apparently unbridgeable ideological chasm is opening between two camps that were once closely allied.

Mr. Trump’s rise is the effect, not the cause, of this rift.

...

Brexit and Mr. Trump’s rise are the direct result of a quarter-century of classical-liberal hegemony over the parties of the right. But in placing a renewed nationalism at the center of their politics, they shattered classical liberalism’s grip, paving the way for a return to empiricist conservatism.

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