In an earlier era, a persistent inclination to assume the worst of America’s leaders and institutions wouldn’t be considered particularly conservative. Nor would an observable antipathy for public policy, economics, patriotism, the Constitution, or faith. Yet through a mix of affinity for the current Republican president’s anti-establishment bona fides and contempt for the Democratic partisans who hold leading positions in American culture, government, technology, and business, an instinct of apolitical recalcitrance is fast becoming how a sizable chunk of tech-savvy Millennials conceptualize what it means to be of “the Right.”

Redefining conservatism as an eccentric coalition of aggrieved populists is not without strategic logic. As Americans’ trust in their country’s major institutions remains broadly low, one can easily question whether a viable political movement can still be built around the traditionalist’s call to preserve the foundations of the status quo. Progressives have, in fact, colonized enough of American life that even an overly wide net of contempt will ensnare plenty of worthy targets. Resentment comes easier than appreciation, and as Stephen Miller said, there’s a certain attraction that comes from being on the side of resistance. When Candace Owens expresses giddy amazement at the varied constellation of characters she’s been able to befriend — from Steve Bannon to Paul Joseph Watson to Judge Jeanine — she’s not wrong to call it an unprecedented coalition.