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What does it mean to look or live like a conservative woman today? Alex Clark and Raquel Debono have distinctly different answers. Fox News Digital spoke with both women separately, about how the Right can better connect with young female voters and how competing visions of modern conservative womanhood are shaping the movement. It is important to note that Debono and Clark are not directly responding to each other’s claims in the interviews.
Debono is from Canada and has lived in America for 10 years. She’s currently in the process of becoming an American citizen while living in New York City. She is the organizer of “Make America Hot Again” and hosts parties in the city to help like-minded people on the right meet.
Debono believes the GOP should be a “big tent.”
“We should be enlarging our tent, not closing it in,” Debono said. She argued that younger, career-focused women should feel welcome rather than judged.
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“We are going to lose the next election if we keep pushing young conservative women out of the tent,” she added.
Clark, who hosts the health and wellness-focused “Culture Apothecary” podcast with Turning Point USA, takes the opposite view.
“I do not think we should be a big tent. Some others disagree with that. You know, we should just welcome anyone and everyone into the conservative space. And I think that if we want to preserve anything that is traditional in the least, or you know, the values of this country was founded on, then I don’t think we can do that,” she told Fox News Digital.
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Debono shared that she likes to call herself a “Sex and the City conservative.”
“We’re well-dressed, we’re cool, we like to go out, have a good time,” Debono said. She argued that relatability and modern aesthetics can bring more young women into the fold.
Clark argued, “I think that when you just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to allow anyone to call themselves conservative, even if they don’t represent a single iota of conservative values,’ I think that harms us as a movement.”
Debono expressed concern that women are being scared away from the Republican Party by pushing a “trad” agenda.
“By going so hard on this whole trad agenda, you are pushing away so many young women who would have been Republicans,” she told Fox News Digital. “And that’s what scares me. And the thing is, if we lose women completely, we lose elections, and that’s what really matters.”
Clark argued the need to fight for “western values” and preserving the American family.
She argued that there is a difference between being a Republican and being a conservative.
“If they disagree on gay marriage, for example, or they disagree on IVF, and they still want to vote Republican on the ticket, sure, of course, anyone can vote Republican if they want,” she said. “But what I’m fighting for is don’t say that you’re a conservative though, because Republican and conservative is a completely different thing.”
Debono expressed that she does desire marriage and children, but believes it is important to wait for the right person and expressed concern with messaging on this issue from some in the conservative movement.
Debono said, “I think in the conservative movement, to some extent, you know, we’re really being pushed towards marriage a lot of the times, but it’s not necessarily the correct partner.”
Clark said falling for the girl boss mentality has hurt women.
“In order to succeed as women, you could put off having a family for as long as you wanted,” she said. “You’ll always be able to get pregnant with IVF. By the way, that’s a total lie. IVF is not a guarantee. So many women are hurt by that lie and heartbroken over the fact that they waited too long to have a family.”
However, Clark added, “I’m not talking about people that are single, not by choice, because sometimes timelines are different than others, but I’m talking about purposefully choosing that in order to pursue a career and putting family on the back burner.”
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Debono said, “The thing is, you also have to include those other women who, you know, want that. They really want that life eventually, but they just haven’t found it yet. And instead of, you know, exiling them from the party, telling them to come on in, you are welcome here, and let’s enlarge the tent.”
Clark acknowledged the current fractures in the GOP.
“Should we be talking about the ethics in big fertility with IVF? You know, should that be a valid conversation? Is it OK to disagree with President Trump on that issue and call him out?” she asked.
“The thing is, everyone is allowed to think differently. Like the whole thing as Republicans is we’re not supposed to judge people for their takes,” Debono said.
Debono noted there are Republican women who support IVF and said it wasn’t immoral to freeze eggs.
“Have you guys ever taken a biology class? Because it’s not abortion, OK!” she said.
By saying who should or shouldn’t identify as conservative, Debono said, “You guys are acting like liberals, and that is when we are scaring away Republicans.”
Clark argued that the GOP shouldn’t try to appeal to the middle in order to win over young women.
“Truth and time go hand-in-hand. We have given these middle ground progressive ideas 75 or so years to take heed, to be experimented with, and we’ve never been less happy, and the family in America has never been more broken.”
Debono said, “Preaching like this milkmaid conservative lifestyle on a farm floating around, that looks great and all, but who’s going to pay my rent? Because my bills are due. So if you would like to pay them, that’s great. But ’til then I have to work hard for what I want.”
Clark argued that it is important for conservatives to “hold the line,” saying progressives aren’t trying to steer to the center.
“We need to hold the line and not budge an inch,” she said. “They do not budge an inch for us.”
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Fox News’ Alba Cuebas-Fantauzzi contributed to this report.
Read the full article here
