The way is clear for Donald Trump to become the Republican party’s nominee for the presidency of the US. In all probability, Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. As a result, American conservatives are suddenly faced with a strange and unexpected dilemma: who should they support? Who is actually the more conservative candidate in this election?
Part of the answer depends, of course, on what is meant by “conservative”. Though always a broad church, the Republican party has transformed itself in recent years, accommodating conspiracy theorists, acquiring the populist wing that backed Sarah Palin and now Mr Trump, and losing a lot of former supporters, myself included. But for those inside the party who still believe in a set of recognisably conservative ideas, the dilemma is profound.
For one subset of the party, the outlook is bleak. If you are a genuine “social conservative”, a person who believes in a narrowly defined version of traditional morality, then you have no candidate in this election at all. Mrs Clinton supports gay rights. She is pro-choice. She uses feminist rhetoric that social conservatives do not like.