The Capital Hilton in Washington, DC, is just three miles from Capitol Hill. But last week, 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 out of the mess that is the imploding Joe Biden campaign, the mood at the conference center was bright. The common areas were filled with smiling people in the requisite 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 snippets of conversations about plans for the future: new jobs, hiring strategies, and next steps for the 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 hosted 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.”