How are evangelicals responding to J.D. Vance’s speech and night 3 of the GOP convention more generally? It was a very interesting night. Check out our blow-by-blow account here. In the end, very few evangelicals leaders have said much about […]
Archives for July 2024
Live blogging the Faith & Freedom Coalition breakfast with J.D. Vance
Vance, a Catholic, is going to have to win over the Christian Right. (Although I have no doubt that they will all vote for him anyway). This morning he takes his first shot at this important GOP constituency. It’s time […]
REVIEW: Origins of the Just War
Does belief in an independent moral standard aid or hinder justice?
Work in progress: Current’s 100 books of the 21st century (so far)
Current’s list of 100 Best Books of the 21st Century is in progress!
CNN reporting a phone conversation with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi about whether the president should stay in the race
Here is M.J. Lee, Jamie Gangel, and Jeff Zeleny: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi privately told President Joe Biden in a recent conversation that polling shows that the president cannot defeat Donald Trump and that Biden could destroy Democrats’ chances […]
Live blogging night 3 of the 2024 Republican National Convention
Coming soon. In the meantime, check out our coverage of night 1 and night 2. ***** Who is that band? The group playing at the GOP convention is called Sixwire. Learn more about them here. ***** Are we watching a political […]
The GOP invited the head of the Teamsters to speak. The GOP is opposed to organized labor.
Yes, Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. Yes, Republicans still hate labor. Timothy Noah explains at The New Republic: Let’s be clear. The Republican Party despises labor unions. Until recently it made little effort to hide […]
How Wilt Chamberlain helped Richard Nixon win Black voters
Here is Shaun Assael at Politico: Wilt Chamberlain, the biggest basketball star in the world, folded his long legs into the taxi and climbed beside Richard Nixon. It was April 9, 1968, and the two had just attended Martin Luther […]
Do assassinations “alter the course of history?”
Historian Steven Mintz offers some context: Do assassins’ bullets hit their marks? Do these acts of violence redirect historical trajectories? In today’s volatile political climate, questions like these are not merely of academic interest. Let’s take a look at the […]
Sean O’Brien’s “return to Gompers”
As we have noted here, Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, spoke Monday night at the TNC (Trump National Convention) in Milwaukee. We covered that speech here and here. Over at Jacobin, Dustin Guastella, the director […]
Evangelicals respond to night 2 of the GOP national convention
Night 2 of the Republican National Convention is in the books. See our live blogging of night 2 here. What are evangelicals saying? Bottom line: I don’t think many of them were watching. Charlie Kirk will be at an evangelical […]
Cornerstone University president Gerson Moreno-Riaño wants to stop the blood lust. Why his call rings hollow.
Cornerstone University president Gerson Moreno-Riaño has a piece at The Washington Times titled “America has an unending lust for bloodshed. We need divine intervention.” Read it here. Gerson Moreno-Riaño calls for an end to American “blood lust”: James Fenimore Cooper’s […]
God at the GOP Convention: Night 2
There was more Christian language in the speeches from the convention floor in Milwaukee last night. This is definitely not a Christian Right convention. So far I have not heard a word about abortion or gay marriage. But speakers did […]
REVIEW: God Gave Rock & Roll to You
The historical effects of Jesus Music roll on and on
On classifying books
With books, as with other good things in life, sometimes you are just in the mood for something different.
“I guess there’s just a meanness in this world”
John Haas, an American historian and regular Current contributor, recently offered some interesting thoughts about Thomas Matthew Crooks, the young man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump last weekend. Here is Haas: Kristi Noem at last night’s Republican convention speaking […]
Live blogging night 2 of the 2024 Republican National Convention
Coming soon. In the meantime, check out our coverage of night 1. ***** Is the GOP unified? Maybe. But old GOP rivalries die hard. Remember when Matt Gaetz managed to get Kevin McCarthy removed as Speaker of the House? Remember […]
Conservative intellectual Robert George on the GOP: “Has no one any shame?”
Robert George, conservative intellectual and Princeton University professor, had some thoughts about Amber Rose, one of the speakers at the GOP convention last night. Here is Rose’s speech. Here is George on Twitter: Full tweet: Republicans: If you don’t know […]
Eric Trump compares Christian Right concerns about the GOP platform to “worrying about spots on the wall in the basement” when there are “real holes in the roof.”
The GOP landscape is changing. The Christian Right is in a tough spot right now. If they want to pledge blind loyalty to Trump they will have to deal with his views on abortion and marriage. Here is Christian Right […]
Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins is trying to make sense of the new GOP political landscape. It doesn’t seem to be going well.
Life used to be easy for Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council (FRC). Back in the good old days, the FRC railed against Roe v. Wade and the LGBTQ agenda, tried to help the GOP gain political […]