A new analysis from New Discourses has warned that a growing faction inside American conservatism is adopting the tactics and mindset traditionally associated with the progressive Left. In their 3 July 2025 essay, Grokkus Babeuf and James Lindsay describe this group as the “Woke Right,” activists who publicly embrace values like faith, family, and nation, yet use social media campaigns, identity-based grievance politics, and ideological purity tests to police their own ranks.

The report argues that these methods, once unique to the so-called “woke” Left, are now being used to turn internal disagreements into public denunciations, cast conservatives as a victimised identity group, and demand rigid conformity within the movement.

According to Babeuf and Lindsay, this not only weakens the coalition needed to counter progressive influence but also corrodes core conservative principles such as liberty, reason, and individual responsibility.

Drawing on Tolkien’s One Ring as a metaphor, the authors caution that wielding these powerful but divisive strategies may ultimately corrupt those who use them, transforming conservatism into a mirror image of the ideology it opposes. The essay concludes by urging conservatives to recognise and reject these tendencies. Through the lens of recent debate, the challenge for conservatives is to rebuild alliances grounded in truth, decency, and traditional civic virtues.