Nixonmaxxing: Why Richard Nixon Is the Wrong Hero for the New Right
Source: https://www.facebook.com/americanspectator/. "Nixonmaxxing: Why Richard Nixon Is the Wrong Hero for the New Right | The American Spectator | USA News and Politics." September 28, 2026. spectator.org
The Gist
Young conservatives online have been hyping up Richard Nixon as a role model, but the author argues this is misguided. While Nixon was a skilled foreign policy strategist, his domestic record was actually terrible for conservatives—he grew government, increased regulations, raised welfare spending, and appointed justices who backed Roe v. Wade, leaving the conservative movement in worse shape until Reagan came along.
Conclusion
Despite his newfound popularity among Gen Z conservatives and right-wing populists, Richard Nixon is the wrong hero for the conservative movement because his presidential record did more harm than good to conservative causes.
Premises
- Nixon's presidency oversaw massive expansion of government and social welfare spending, with Medicare and Medicaid spending rising 246% and 120% respectively, and Social Security benefits permanently increased by 20%
- Nixon's economic policies (wage and price controls, ending the gold standard) accelerated inflation and contributed to 1970s stagflation, and he explicitly declared himself a Keynesian
- Nixon created and expanded the regulatory administrative state through agencies like the EPA, OSHA, FEC, and expanded the EEOC and Clean Air Act, despite being cast as an enemy of bureaucracy
- Nixon was not a friend to social or cultural conservatives: three of his four Supreme Court appointees voted for Roe v. Wade, he signed Title X family planning grants, contributed to affirmative action policy that evolved into DEI, and favored gun control
- While Nixon's foreign policy achievements (aiding Israel in 1973, opening relations with China) were strategically brilliant, his Vietnam policy (Paris Peace Accords) failed, leading to 20,000 American deaths and eventual communist takeover of Vietnam, and Détente did little to stop Soviet expansion
- After Nixon's resignation, he left movement conservatism dormant with no lasting institutional legacy, a vacuum that persisted until Reagan's 1980 election
Assumptions
- A conservative political hero should be judged primarily by whether their governing record advanced conservative policy goals (limited government, fiscal restraint, social conservatism)
- Government growth, welfare spending, and regulatory expansion are inherently harmful to the conservative cause
- Building lasting conservative institutions is a necessary criterion for being considered a good conservative leader
- Superficial parallels between Nixon and Trump (both facing 'deep state' opposition) are insufficient grounds for adopting Nixon as an ideological model
- The current 'Nixonmaxxing' trend is based on incomplete knowledge or selective memory of Nixon's actual domestic policy record