There was a time, not long ago, when non-interventionists looked to the Trump campaign with enthusiasm, however guarded. Remember the GOP primary debate in South Carolina, when Donald Trump became the first senior-level Republican to say that the emperor had no clothes the Iraq War had been a costly failure?

Since then, Trump has become a normal Republican. The American Conservative’s contributing editor Andrew Bacevich filleted Trump on his foreign policy performance in the first debate—and Clinton’s too: “the real travesty of our predicament lies … in the utter shallowness of our political discourse, no more vividly on display than in the realm of national security. … The American people thereby remain in darkness. On that score, Trump, Clinton, and the parties they represent are not adversaries. They are collaborators.”

Think about how in last night’s vice presidential debate, Mike Pence came out as a Russia hawk, and Tim Kaine fell all over himself to out-hawk Pence. Collaborators indeed.

No matter which candidate moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January, the national security policy of the US establishment is not likely to change. It will need to be challenged. If you appreciate TAC doing this from the Right, please contribute to our efforts by making a tax-exempt donation to us.

If you’re in the Washington area on November 15, a week after the election, please join TAC at our fall foreign policy conference. Jim Webb will be the keynote speaker. The conference registration page is here.

The American Conservative is a nonprofit publication that depends on the generosity of its readers and donors to keep going. If you like what you read here, please donate. If you don’t like what you read here on my blog, but like many liberals, love reading and participating in the civil and civilized comments section, please donate. And if you are a social or religious conservative who is interested in the Benedict Option, and eager to keep that discussion going as America moves swiftly into a post-Christian era, then please know that TAC really needs your help.

I was thinking the other day how the last three books I’ve written (including the forthcoming Benedict Option) emerged out of blogging here, and my interaction with you readers. A top journalist who is also a Christian told me that in his view, the Benedict Option is the only paradigm left for conservative Christians in America to consider. He meant that whether conservative Christians accept or reject the Ben Op, it will be the defining concept for us going forward.

I hope he’s right, but we’ll know only after the book is published in March. If he turns out to have been correct, then I think it’s important for you readers to recognize that the idea got traction in TAC. More concretely, J.D. Vance’s terrific Hillbilly Elegy, arguably the most important political book of the year, rose from obscurity to No. 1 bestseller status after my interview with him on this blog went viral.

My point is, The American Conservative is a place where new ideas for American conservatism arise. Please help us continue our work, and expand it, by donating.

Besides, if you don’t, how will I ever convince Dan McCarthy to give me a raise so I can afford to add a small wine cave to my Ben Op bunker? I ask you.