To the Editor:

Re “Republican or Conservative, You Have to Choose” (column, June 26):

David Brooks tries to rescue legitimate conservatism from Donald Trump’s Republican Party with a childish version of political theory.

He writes, “Conservatives fought big government not because they hated the state, per se, but because they loved the sacred space,” based on “prerational cords of sympathy and affection.”

Among the sacred spaces traditionally loved by conservatives were white-only neighborhoods, white-only schools, white-only fire departments and white-only swimming pools; men-only law firms, sports leagues and bars; and Christian-only universities.

And the Republican Party long ago made its peace with the market fundamentalism that Mr. Brooks thinks arrived only yesterday.