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Some young NYC conservatives say Trump resurgence makes it easier to speak their minds
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Jan 17, 2025
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By
Ryan Kailath
Published Jan 17, 2025
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A group of conservatives gathered downtown on Wednesday night at the event space Sovereign House for a magazine launch and identified a feeling many said they'd been missing in blue New York City: liberation.
About 80 guests clustered in the basement space on the border of Chinatown and the Lower East Side for drinks and conversation before Curt Mills, executive director of the American Conservative magazine, made a few remarks about the publication's history.
While the event was billed as a “pre-inauguration” party, there was little chatter about incoming President Donald Trump. Instead, conversation ranged from theories on JFK’s assassination to the decline of the West, and how “nothing interesting happens anymore.”
The crowd ranged from 20-somethings to 60-somethings, and more than half of attendees were men. Many wore blazers and ties and at least two people sported ascots.
Iulia Cazan, 24, works for the Center for Family and Human Rights, a pro-life lobbying group, and said Sovereign House was one of the first places she visited after arriving in New York in 2023. Though she has not been in the city very long, she said she has already noticed a change in what it feels like to be a conservative here.
“Conservatives were kind of the underdog, but they feel a bit more entitled now,” Cazan said. “I saw these videos where people would have the MAGA hat on the street and other people would just give a nod.”
Sovereign House's debut event two years ago was a book launch for Curtis Yarvin, a popular far-right blogger who has been cited admiringly by Vice President-elect J.D. Vance.
Since then, the space has hosted a mixture of explicitly conservative events, from New York Young Republican watch parties to a singles mixer sponsored by “Date Right,” a dating app for conservatives.
It has also featured events that might fit the bill at any niche New York venue, like the dark-comedy night “Struggle Bus,” hosted by “Anora” actress Ivy Wolk, and a reading-and-release party from the literary magazine Heavy Traffic.
Sovereign House founder Nick Allen, 32, cites the pandemic lockdowns as a catalyst for stoking a “dissident, conservative” scene downtown, when gathering in-person became an identity for a small but well-publicized scene.
When asked about the conservative nature of many Sovereign House events, Allen said that “wasn’t too intentional” and the space has “supported many publications.”
Its mission, he said, is “to have a cultural event space that isn’t seeking to tell people to vote a certain way, and isn’t seeking to make money.”
Hence the name: “Being 'sovereign' is a way to exist outside mainstream culture,” Allen said.
He added that he was funding the space out of pocket — there was no heat, despite the below-freezing temperatures — and denied claims on X and Substack that the libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel was an investor.
“It’s a useful rumor just to get people talking,” Allen said. “The ambiguous nature of things here makes it more alluring.”
He does not believe Sovereign House could have existed in the same way it does now eight years ago, or even during Trump’s first presidency.
“Millennials and [Gen] X had this extreme ‘friend/enemy’ distinction going on that isn’t there with the Zoomers,” Allen said of the resistance-style liberalism that saw friend and family relationships deteriorate over support for Trump.
“[Sovereign House] would have been a lot more polarizing then,” he said.
Ari David, 27, runs Upward News, a right-leaning online publication he says does best on Instagram, where it has more than 288,000 followers. He said the fact that attendees were willing to talk to a public radio journalist was evidence of the city’s shift.
“If you went to any group of conservatives or Republicans before, they would be afraid to talk to you, if you tried to get them cancelled or this or that,” David said. “After the election, they’re not afraid anymore.”
Bryan Jones, a millennial who grew up in Tribeca, said he felt he had to hide his political beliefs for most of his life.
“Growing up in New York — it’s a very progressive town — nobody would dare say they were conservative back then,” Jones said. “You can be a bit more calm now.”
Editor's Note: The photos in this story have been removed because it was determined they did not meet Gothamist’s editorial standards.
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Politics
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donald trump
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Ryan Kailath
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