I'd point out his positions are reactionary, not conservative. He doesn't want to preserve an existing state of affairs, he wants to counter recent progressive movements. The old guard politician from Chesterton's fence, the prototypical conservative in my mind, would view someone who wanted to put the fence back up, after the matter has been exhaustively litigated and the fence taken down, as just as if not more foolish than the politician who had wanted to take it down without understanding.

You are just describing the current US conservative party...

The Republican Party are distinct from the concept of conservative and reactionary politics. They practice both. As do the Democratic Party for that matter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatism

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactionary

(See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressivism)

It's useful to tease these concepts apart so we can better understand & critique certain policy positions. When Democrats vocally oppose student loan forgiveness, they are practicing conservative politics, for instance. It's not simply that Republicans are reliably conservative and Democrats are reliably progressive.

And there are many other forms of politics, these are just the most prevalent in US politics today.

>"The Republican Party are distinct from the concept of conservative and reactionary politics."

Conceptually, yeah. In reality, it's the "conservative" party and they practice "reactionary" politics.

Fair point. Common usage of those terms is definitely muddled.