What the Left Gets Wrong About the Right

The story the left tells itself about the right’s success is wrong—and limits our ability to connect with people who can be won to liberatory politics In this timely and incisive book, Daniel Martínez HoSang challenges many of the dominant frameworks through which progressives have interpreted right-wing movements. Drawing on more than a decade of original research and on-the-ground reporting at conferences held by Turning Point USA and other conservative groups, HoSang shows how prevailing assumptions on the left often overlook the conditions that are reshaping political life. Across the United States, experiences of institutional failure, dislocation, and isolation are leading many people to withdraw from collective projects and disengage from public life, creating new openings for right-wing appeal. Rather than relying on older models of conservative mobilization, the contemporary right has learned to navigate this terrain in distinct ways. It builds forms of belonging and political identity that resonate with those who feel unmoored, cultivating multiracial and socially diverse coalitions that often present themselves as welcoming and inclusive. This ecosystem extends far beyond Trump and MAGA, drawing in people who were once disengaged or even aligned with progressive causes. Moving beyond familiar diagnoses, HoSang argues that only by understanding the emotional and structural forces driving the right’s appeal can we begin to imagine an effective response. The book ultimately asks what it would take to rebuild and reimagine collective democratic projects today, offering a framework for renewing public life and forging new pathways for shared purpose, participation, and liberation.