U.S. President Donald Trump gestures at the end of an event during a visit to Coosa Steel Corporation, in Rome, Georgia, U.S., February 19, 2026. REUTERS Kevin Lamarque
Joseph Palange, a Cleveland-based writer and member of the Cleveland Fire Department, tells the Dispatch that his father is the old, original version of “conservative” — but the old man’s philosophy has very little to do with the modern GOP.
“My father is and always has been the most conservative man I have ever met,” said Palange, wo describes his Dad as a “live and let live kind of guy … the kind of man who would turn a bag of cash into the police department not just because it is the right thing to do, but because he knows the world doesn’t give you a free lunch without a catch. He will not drive his company vehicle to the grocery store, and I never heard him swear until I was in my 20s.”
But Dad’s brand of conservative is not the thing we’re seeing today, said Palange, particularly when it comes to Dad’s rule of deferring to and respecting the ability of professionals.
“The only way to act wisely about something you aren’t an expert on is to accept how little you know about it, and use the knowledge you do have to inform how you outsource decisions,” said Palange, quoting his father’s advice.
But Palange said he “cannot list all the assertions made by President Donald Trump that were plainly out of his depth.” This includes Trump claiming he could run the Federal Reserve better than the Fed’s board of governors and declaring he could “solve the war in Ukraine in 24 hours,” said Palange.
“Sadly, this unearned conceit is not unique. Belief in an almost supernatural ability to solve problems that have proved intractable to those who have devoted their lives to them seems to be at the heart of the current Republican Party,” Palange said
When Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth fired the professionals working for him instead of listening to them, Palange said it was “like getting annoyed at the chirps of your carbon monoxide monitor and throwing it out the window.”
“As disagreeable as I may find tribalism and outrage politics, I can understand their allure. But I have a much harder time understanding admiration for foolish, conceited men speaking unequivocally and acting recklessly in realms for which they have no relevant expertise,” said Palange, who is also a concrete worker. “On every jobsite I have ever worked on, this kind of arrogance is mocked.”
“Sadly, it seems such self-awareness has gone out of fashion,” Palange added. “When expertise, accrued knowledge, and circumspection become suspect, I’m not sure what about today’s ‘conservatism’ is all that conservative anymore.
