By Madison Walker| Senior Editor *
The survival of Western civilization has long been a subject of debate among political theorists, historians, and statesmen. In the mid-20th century, James Burnham’s Suicide of the West warned that liberalism, then understood as a reconciliatory ideology, justified Western decline rather than resisting it. Today, that concern is revisited in two ideological strands: progressivism and Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS). Together, these forces, critics argue, represent the twin ideologies of Western suicide.
Progressivism and the Deconstruction of the West
Progressives disdain Western civilization as inherently flawed, defined by racism, inequality, colonialism, and religious or cultural bigotry. In this view, the heritage of the West is not something to be preserved but dismantled. Progressives dominate much of the “deep state,” or administrative state, a sprawling bureaucratic system born in the New Deal and expanded ever since. By embedding cultural and ideological agendas into the state apparatus, progressivism exerts influence not through electoral victories alone but through institutional permanence.
Trump Derangement Syndrome: An Ideology of Negation
While progressives actively promote the dismantling of Western traditions, TDS functions differently. Rooted in visceral opposition to Donald Trump, it rejects his policies regardless of their potential to preserve Western institutions. This ideological stance is not confined to the left but extends to establishment Republicans, members of the legacy media, academia, and even segments of the judiciary and military elite. Figures such as George Will and other establishment conservatives exemplify how resistance to Trump often overrides substantive policy debates.
The irony is stark: Trump’s policies on border security, crime reduction, combating narco-terrorism, and challenging wasteful bureaucracy directly address the material and cultural vulnerabilities of the West. Yet TDS, by its very nature, cannot accept these measures because they are attached to Trump.
Burnham’s Ruling Class and Resistance to Trump
Burnham, influenced by thinkers such as Pareto and Michels, emphasized that ruling classes rarely relinquish power willingly. This framework explains the resistance Trump has encountered since 2016. The Russia investigation, the impeachments, the 2020 election controversies, and subsequent prosecutions illustrate a playbook designed to neutralize political outsiders. Unlike Richard Nixon, who the establishment undid, Trump has been sustained by his personal resources and an alternative media ecosystem willing to counter mainstream narratives.
The Pre-Liberal Conviction and the Defense of the West
Burnham argued that Western civilization could only be preserved if its leaders reclaimed the conviction that it was superior to rival systems and that it must be defended with unapologetic power. By contrast, liberalism denies this premise, rendering itself incapable of survival in the face of external threats.
Trump, his supporters contend, embodies this “pre-liberal conviction.” His willingness to confront immigration crises, attack transnational criminal organizations, defund ideological programs within universities, and reassert American sovereignty reflects a strategic worldview aligned with Burnham’s warnings. Progressives, by dismissing Western civilization as irredeemable, and the TDS camp, by rejecting Trump regardless of his policies, converge in hastening Western decline.
Conclusion: A Civilizational Choice
The central struggle is no longer just about party politics but about the willingness of Western leaders to defend the foundations of their civilization. Progressives undermine it out of ideological disdain. The TDS camp sabotages it out of personal animus toward Trump. Both camps inadvertently converge in validating Burnham’s diagnosis of Western suicide.
The path forward depends on whether leaders can move beyond ideological hostility to embrace what Burnham saw as essential: conviction in the uniqueness of the West and the unapologetic use of power to defend it. Without that, the decline is not only rationalized, as Burnham once feared, but actively accelerated by the very elites entrusted with its defense.
References
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Burnham, James. Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism. New York: John Day, 1964.
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Pareto, Vilfredo. The Rise and Fall of Elites: An Application of Theoretical Sociology. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 1991. Originally published 1901.
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Michels, Robert. Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy. New York: Free Press, 1962. Originally published 1911.
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Will, George F. The Conservative Sensibility. New York: Hachette Books, 2019.
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Codevilla, Angelo M. “The Ruling Class.” Claremont Review of Books, Summer 2010.
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Klingenstein, Thomas D. “The 1776 Option: Reclaiming the West.” Claremont Review of Books, 2020.
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Smith, James. “Trump and the Administrative State: A Case Study in Bureaucratic Resistance.” American Political Thought Journal, 2022.
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Levin, Yuval. The Fractured Republic: Renewing America’s Social Contract in the Age of Individualism. New York: Basic Books, 2016.
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Hazony, Yoram. Conservatism: A Rediscovery. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, 2022.
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Kelly, Michael. “Progressivism and the Deconstruction of Western Civilization.” Journal of Political Ideologies 28, no. 3 (2023).