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What does it mean to look or live like a conservative woman today? Alex Clark and Raquel Debono have very different answers. Fox News Digital spoke with both women separately, about how the right can better connect with young women voters and how competing visions of modern conservative femininity are shaping the movement. It’s important to note that Debono and Clark do not directly respond to each other’s claims in interviews.
Debono is from Canada and has been living in America for 10 years. She is currently in the process of becoming a US citizen while living in New York City. She is a Make America Hot Again organization and hosts parties in the city to help like-minded people meet.
Debono believes the Republican Party should be a “big tent.”
“We should be expanding our tent, not closing it,” Debono said. She said younger, career-focused women should feel welcomed rather than judged.
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“We will lose the next elections if we continue to push young conservative women out of the tent,” she added.
Clark, who hosts the health-and-wellness-focused podcast “Culture Apothecary” with Turning Point USA, takes the opposite view.
“I don’t think we have to be a big tent,” she told Fox News Digital. “Others disagree with that. You know, we should just welcome anyone and everyone into the conservative space. And I think if we want to at least preserve anything that’s traditional, or you know, the values of this country have been based, I don’t think we can do that.”
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Debono shared that she likes to call herself a “Sex and the City conservative.”
“We dress well, we feel fresh, we like to go out and have a good time,” Debono said. Relatability and modern aesthetics could bring more young women into the fold, she said.
“I think when you just say, ‘Hey, we’re going to allow anyone to call themselves conservative, even if they don’t represent one iota of conservative values, I think that does us a disservice as a movement,’” Clark argued.
Debono expressed concern about women being intimidated by the Republican Party by pushing a “commercial” agenda.
“By pushing this whole trade agenda, you’re pushing away a lot of young women who could have been Republicans,” she told Fox News Digital. “And that’s what scares me. 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 preserve the American family.
She said there is a difference between being a Republican and being a conservative.
Alex Clark is the host of Culture Apothecary, a podcast focused on health and wellness, powered by Turning Point USA. (Turning Point USA)
“If they disagreed on gay marriage, for example, or disagreed on artificial insemination, and they still wanted to vote Republican on the ticket, then certainly, of course, anyone could vote Republican if they wanted to,” she said. “But what I’m fighting for is for you not to say you’re conservative, because Republican and conservative are completely different things.”
Debono expressed her desire to get married and have children, but believes it is important to wait for the right person and expressed concern about messaging on the issue from some in the conservative movement.
“I think in the conservative movement, to some extent, we push for marriage a lot of times, but it’s not necessarily the right partner,” Debono said.
Falling for the boss girl mentality has hurt women, Clark said.
“In order to succeed as women, you can postpone starting a family for as long as you want,” she said. “You will always be able to get pregnant through IVF. By the way, that’s a total lie. IVF is no guarantee. A lot of women are hurt by this lie and feel sad about the fact that they waited so long to start a family.”
However, Clarke added, “I’m not talking about people being single, not by choice, because sometimes other people’s schedules are different, but I’m talking about choosing to do so intentionally in order to pursue a career and put family on the back burner.”
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“The thing is, you also have to include other women who, you know, want it,” Debono said, “They really want that life eventually, but they haven’t found it yet. And instead of, you know, exiling them from the party, telling them come on, you’re welcome here, and let’s expand the tent.”
Clark acknowledged the current divisions in the Republican Party.
“Should we be talking about the ethics of high fertility with IVF? You know, should this be a valid conversation? Is it okay for us to disagree with President Trump on this issue and call for him to resign?” I asked.
“The thing is, everyone is allowed to think differently. And as with the whole thing as Republicans, we’re not supposed to judge people based on their opinions,” Debono said.
Debono noted that there are Republican women who support artificial insemination, and said that egg freezing is not unethical.
“Have you ever taken a biology class? Because it’s not an abortion, okay!” she said.
Defining who should or should not identify as conservative, Debono said, “You guys act like liberals, and that’s when we scare the Republicans.”
Clark said the Republican Party should not try to appeal to the center in order to win support from young women.
“Truth and time go hand in hand. We’ve given these mediocre progressive ideas 75 years or so to pay attention to and experience them, and we’ve never been less happy, and the family in America has never been more broken.”
Debono said, “Preaching this conservative lifestyle of a milkmaid on a floating farm, it sounds great and all, but who’s going to pay my rent? Because my bills are due. So if you want to pay them, that’s great. But until then I have to work hard for what I want.”
Clark said it’s important for conservatives to “hold the line,” saying progressives aren’t trying to go to the center.
“We have to hold our line and not budge an inch,” she said. “They are not budging an inch from us.”
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Fox News’ Alba Cuevas Fantauzzi contributed to this report.