The Capital Hilton in Washington, DC, is just three miles from Capitol Hill. But in early July, these two places might as well have been on different planets. As congressional Democrats clenched their jaws and paced the halls trying to figure a way to drop an imploding Joe Biden presidential campaign, the mood at the National Conservatism Conference was bright. The hotel’s common areas were filled with smiling people in business casual attire — a mixture of young and old, almost all white, and mostly men — casually sipping coffees and pleasantly chatting. Strolling through these spaces, I overheard plans for the future: new jobs, hiring strategies, and next steps for the national conservative movement.

Inside the Presidential Ballroom, the first session’s tone was similarly upbeat. Christopher DeMuth, former head of the American Enterprise Institute and current conference organizer, welcomed the audience “to the mainstream” of the conservative movement. Next up was Yoram Hazony, the Israeli American political theorist and chairman of the Edmund Burke Foundation, which hosts the event. Co-opting the slogan of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, his opening speech, entitled “Yes, We Can,” began by underscoring how far their movement had already come.

“People are not afraid to use the word ‘nation’ anymore,” Hazony declared. “That’s a great success.”