Do Trump’s positions on these areas alone define him as an unabashed conservative? No. As enumerated above, several other categories need to be added when determining whether an individual is decidedly conservative or liberal. But are Trump’s positions on trade, defense, and immigration not conservative? Absolutely not!

His stance on these issues, when taken together, represent the most important plank in the history of American conservatism. That is the vital importance, and in fact primacy, of national sovereignty. In fact, since our nation’s founding, the principle of national sovereignty has been the preeminent and driving force for what it means to be an American conservative.

It is the position that as “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” we are not only entitled but obligated to define and protect our own country, our own principles, and our own culture, independent of those nations and societies that claim the same rights and obligations.

This is where this author believes the battle line needs to be drawn within the Republican Party: between those true conservatives who consider national sovereignty preeminent, and those who profess to be conservative, only to advance their own ideological or avaricious priorities.