Trump as the Guardrail

By Abe Greenwald

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

 

For a decade, we’ve understood Donald Trump as an almost revolutionary figure in American politics. His election in 2016 and his outrageous conduct in office were seen as a break with all sorts of historic norms. In many ways, this remains correct. Not a day passes without Trump delivering at least one earthquake.

 

Yet I’m also starting to think, paradoxically, that we may in time look back on Trump as the last remnant of a sensible, even moderate, political tradition that’s soon to become history.

 

Here’s what I mean. Last night, Turning Point USA held an event at the University of Georgia. At the 11th hour, TPUSA CEO Erika Kirk decided against appearing on stage, citing credible security threats. An organization spokesman explained, “It’s a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country” that some people have made “part-time jobs out of attacking Erika.”

 

The vicious attacks on Charlie Kirk’s widow have come overwhelmingly from figures on the lunatic right who believe that she somehow conspired with Israel to have her husband assassinated. Vice President JD Vance, the MAGA heir apparent, wants to secure the support of the anti-Israel conspiracy theorists should he run for president in 2028. So Vance appeared at the TPUSA event, and when heckled by them, did what he could to offer them an olive branch. “I recognize that young voters do not love the policy we have in the Middle East, OK. I understand,” he said. “Don’t get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one topic. Get more involved, make your voice heard even more. That is how we ultimately take the country back.”   

 

From whom, exactly, is Vance encouraging the hecklers to “take the country back”? Isn’t Donald Trump the president? Isn’t he the VP?

 

From, well, the Jews. That’s who the young dissident right blames for everything—especially American policy in the Middle East. And Vance wants these Jew-haters to “get more involved.” When asked what political influencers young people should listen to, he took the opportunity to demonstrate his anti-Israel bona fides once again. “I think if you want a good laugh, I love Theo Von,” he said. “I think Theo has a good heart, and that’s one of the reasons why I really like listening to his show.”

 

Von is a podcaster who has described Israel’s government as a “satanic regime” and said that the IDF is committing “genocide” in Gaza, which he called "one of the sickest events ever observed."

 

While Vance works to ingratiate himself with the delusional right, Trump has cut them off decisively. Theo Von is just about the only one of them whom Trump hasn’t gotten around to attacking. In essence, Trump left Vance with one Israel-basher to endorse, and Vance took the opportunity to endorse him.

 

Trump, for all his outlandishness, retains some longstanding bedrock presumptions about the world and America’s place in it. He possesses a certain clarity that’s nearly gone extinct in everyone else. Trump knows who’s right and who’s wrong in the Middle East. He knows who our friends and enemies are. He knows that sometimes there’s no substitute for American hard power. And he knows when to cut ties.

 

Compare that to the next generation of so-called conservatives, with their death threats to a widow, conspiracy theories, Jew-hatred, and a calm institutional voice to legitimize it all.    

 

And don’t even mention the left. The liberal media and the Democratic Party are embracing socialists, Islamists, and those who combine both. Yesterday, their darling of the moment, Hasan Piker, was at Yale defending an "End the American Empire" resolution.

 

All of which is why Donald Trump looks more and more, however improbable, like the last sane man standing.