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Trumpism is straight out of the 1980s

John Fea   |  August 13, 2024

Maybe when Trump says “Make America Great Again” he has the 1980s in mind. Here is a taste of Michael Grasso’s Jacobin piece, “Donald Trump and the ’80s Aesthetic“: When Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea stood onstage at the Republican National […]

Air check of the day

John Fea   |  August 13, 2024

Some context. Another part of my childhood is gone. No change for Mets radio. Here is Mets radio legend Howie Rose:

“Let’s give hog reeves their due!”

John Fea   |  August 13, 2024

Over at the Panorama, historian Gabe Loiacono introduces us to hog reeves. “Hog reeves were annually elected town officers,” he writes, “whose part-time position ensured that all hogs in the town wore a yoke and a nose-ring and were generally […]

David French is voting for Harris-Walz. What are his fellow evangelicals saying about the decision?

John Fea   |  August 12, 2024

In his most recent New York Times column, David French announced that he will be voting for Harris-Walz in November in order to “save conservatism from itself.” Here is a taste: It is fascinating to me that there are voices […]

Will I be voting for Donald Trump in November?

John Fea   |  August 12, 2024

I got a few messages this week informing me that some folks on social media are saying that my recent piece merging “Evangelicals for Harris” with Charles Camosy’s First Things essay on abortion means that I am going to vote […]

“What deporting 15 million people would look like”

John Fea   |  August 12, 2024

Every now and then I hear or read something about Donald Trump doing well among Hispanics. As Mexican journalist LeĂłn Krauze argues, Hispanic voters who support the former president need to know exactly what he is planning. Here is a […]

Sunday night odds and ends

John Fea   |  August 11, 2024

A few things online that caught my attention this week: Who was Prince Whipple and what did he have to do with Washington crossing the Delaware? Armand D.Angour reviews Simon Horobin’s C.S. Lewis’s Oxford. David French on why he is […]

“Evangelicals for Harris” speakers named on the day after we learn more about Tim Walz’s extreme views on abortion

John Fea   |  August 10, 2024

In his 2010 book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter argued that both the Christian Right and the Evangelical Left were guilty of […]

Is Tim Walz an “unhinged moral degenerate?” Is he “demonic?”

John Fea   |  August 9, 2024

Recently, conservatives–especially conservative Christians–have said some pretty bad things about Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s VP pick. As we noted in our recent roundups of evangelical responses to the Harris-Walz ticket, some evangelicals are calling Walz an “unhinged moral degenerate,” “demonic,” […]

Steve Martin will NOT play Tim Walz on Saturday Night Live

John Fea   |  August 8, 2024

Martin told Lorne Michaels that he is “not an impressionist.” He added: “You need someone who can really nail the guy. I was picked because I have gray hair and glasses.” More here.

Jenna Ellis will testify against Rudy Giuliani in Arizona election case

John Fea   |  August 8, 2024

In 2020, Jenna Ellis was part of a group of Donald Trump lawyers who tried to overturn the results of the presidential election. She now realizes that she hitched her cart to the wrong wagon. This, of course, is what […]

Damon Linker on the post-liberal Catholics driving J.D. Vance and the Trump campaign

John Fea   |  August 8, 2024

Linker compares today’s anti-liberal Catholic conservatives to the liberal Catholic conservatives who gathered around Richard John Neuhaus’s First Things twenty years ago. Linker is well-suited to make such comparisons. He was editor of First Things from 2004 to 2005. After […]

“Electing the President” is an amazing digital resource for understanding the popular vote in presidential elections from 1840-2020

John Fea   |  August 8, 2024

I could play around on this site for hours on end. From the website: “Most presidential election maps emphasize the candidates and parties who won or lost the Electoral College. Electing the President shifts the focus to American voters, highlighting the […]

Making sense of the far right’s flags

John Fea   |  August 8, 2024

Over at The Atlantic, Ali Breland gets us oriented. Here is a taste of “A Field Guide to the Flags of the Far Right“: Americans love flying flags. Not just the Stars and Stripes—flags of their state, their city, their […]

What Trump said in 2020 about the way Minnesota governor Tim Walz handled the George Floyd protests

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

Donald Trump was “very happy” with the way Walz handled the Minneapolis rioters. Here ABC News: In the hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, allies of former President Donald Trump rushed to denigrate the […]

More evangelical responses to the Harris-Walz ticket

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

Building off of last night’s roundup, here are more evangelical reactions to the Harris-Walz ticket. David French can’t catch a break! 🙂 A New Jersey Baptist responds to a Southern Baptist. Don’t mess with a pastor from Morristown, New Jersey: […]

Yeah, stuff like this will really grow the party and win undecided voters

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

Donald Trump last night on Truth Social. He appears to be losing it:

Song of the Day

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

Who are the “elites” in this election?

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

I’m looking forward to Will Bunch’s column on Tim Walz: And let’s not forget Walz’s master’s degree in educational leadership from Mankato State and Harris’s law degree from the San Francisco campus of the University California law school.

Tim Walz: Springsteen fan

John Fea   |  August 7, 2024

In case you missed it last night, Democratic VP presumptive nominee Tim Walz talked about a Springsteen concert he attended with Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro: As governor of Minnesota, Walz declared March 5, 2023 “Bruce Springsteen Day” in the state. […]

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