During its first month, the Trump administration has brought dramatic proposals and unprecedented changes to the government,

including a sweeping effort to remake the executive branch.

Our new series, On Democracy, is taking a step back to look at big questions about laws, institutions,

and norms that have shaped America and the challenges they face today.

Conservative commentator Michael Knowles is the host of the Michael Knowles show on The Daily Wire,

and he joins us now. Welcome to The News Hour. Thanks for being here.

Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here.

So you're in town to attend CPAC, right? The largest conservative gathering in America.

What are you hearing from people attending there, from people in your audience as well about this first month of the Trump presidency? Are people, are they seeing what they

voted for? Very much so. This year feels different even than it did in 2016, 2017. And I think

it's because this time Trump won the popular vote. And I think it's because of this new voter

coalition bringing over a lot of voters who previously had long voted for Democrats. It feels as though

the realm of public discourse and the political imagination has really opened up. When you look at

the conservative part of the party conservative movement, if you will, beyond Donald Trump, who's a rallying figure for everyone, what is it right now that's

sort of, what's the tie that binds?

What does it mean to be a conservative today?

You know, if you get 100 conservatives into a room, you'll get 100 different answers

of what it means to be a conservative.

The only way that you can get Kennedy Democrats and

one in five black male voters and 46% of Hispanics and even 40% of women under the age of 30

to come over and vote for Trump, to even just join a coalition altogether, is to appeal to something

that is deeper than political ideology. And I think that's what Trump has done.

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