Yesterday on his blog, John Fea highlighted the chart that sociologist Ryan Burge had generated from the study done by FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression) about colleges with the highest percentage of students who had been homeschooled. First,...
#ageoftrump
“Postcards from Babylon”
During the pandemic I participated in this movie. It is now available, at least for the moment, for free. It is worth your time:...
Petri: “Ivanka and Jared working to distance themselves from consequences of their own actions”
The title of Alexandra Petri’s column says it all. Here is a taste: After working very hard for years in the Trump administration, with special portfolios that included everything from Working Women to Peace in the Middle East (a subject...
Pence says he was “proud” to certify the election
Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman on the latest from Penceville: Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday night made his most forceful attempt yet to separate himself from his former boss, Donald J. Trump, on the issue of certifying the...
Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes” will not happen
Remember Donald Trump’s “National Garden of American Heroes?” Joe Biden just canceled it. Here is Zeke Miller at the Associated Press: President Joe Biden on Friday put the kibosh on his predecessor’s planned “National Garden of American Heroes” and revoked...
“You may never see those numbers again”
OK, I’ll admit it. Our “numbers” are a bit down here at the blog since Trump left office. We still get thousands of readers a day, but during the Trump era we often had tens of thousands of readers a...
Ah, the memories! Court evangelicals in their natural habitat
Jim Garlow, one of the lesser-known court evangelicals, shared this video today at his public Facebook page. The date was May 3, 2017. I see the following court evangelicals schmoozing with their political savior as the band plays “New York,...
Politico: Biden’s speech was ideological without sounding ideological
Great analysis here by John Harris of Politico: Though Biden is rarely described as gifted orator, his speech was a remarkable performance in part because it didn’t soar and largely didn’t even try to. In plain-spoken language, he depicted a...
Pence cashes in
Mike Pence’s Simon & Schuster-published memoir is scheduled for 2023, just in time for the next presidential election. The deal will put a $3-4 million dollar advance in Pence’s pocket. Here is CNN: Mike Pence has signed a multimillion-dollar, two-book deal...
Trump tells the story of his presidency
The former president has a new website. Under the “About” tab we get an early glimpse of how Trump wants people to remember him. Here is the first paragraph: Donald J. Trump launched the most extraordinary political movement in history,...
Historians assess the Trump presidency
Historian Julian Zelizer gathered an esteemed group of American historians at Princeton to assess the Trump presidency. Here is a taste of Jennifer Schuessler’s piece at The New York Times: From the day he took office, Donald J. Trump had...
A Black Evangelical family in Trumpland
Isaac Bailey is the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College. In a recent piece at Politico, he describes what his son experienced at Erskine College, a Reformed Christian college in Due West, South Carolina. Here is...
What happened to Lindsey Graham?
Has the Trump era changed people? Or did Trump simply lift the veil of civility on American life, thus uncloaking who we really are? I am sure we will debate this question for a long time. Perhaps no politician has...
Some churches are hiring professional moderators to hold their congregations together in the post-Trump era
Pastors live busy and hectic lives. Most of them do their best to serve the spiritual needs of their congregations, but it is hard to shape the minds and hearts of the people God has trusted to their care when...
Trump hotel employees spill the beans
Jessica Sidman’s piece at The Washingtonian shares “four years’ worth of stories about VIP visits and grooming protocols, palm-greasing, rotten vegtables, and that time they lost Steve Mnuchin’s coat.” It’s a very interesting and revealing essay. Here is a taste:...
Symbolic?
Context:...
More prophets
First The New York Times, now Politico. Everyone seems to be talking about evangelical prophets. Here is Julia Duin’s Politico piece: Perched on a cream-colored armchair,Johnny Enlow, a 61-year-old, California-based Pentecostal pastor with short-cropped gray hair, a trim beard and...
Is Lara Trump the future of the Republican Party?
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham seems to think so. And, sadly, he may be right. If Marjorie Taylor Greene can get elected to Congress, why not Lara Trump? Both her and Greene embody GOP values right now. Here is Ray...
Why did the GOP Senators voted to acquit Trump? Here is a cheat sheet:
Over the weekend we posted the statements of most of the U.S. senators (all Republicans) who voted to acquit Donald Trump on Saturday. You can read that post here. It is a long post, so we created a cheat sheet:...
Trump evangelicals respond to his impeachment acquittal
If Mitch McConnell is right, the Democratic House managers proved that Donald Trump committed high crimes and misdemeanors. The former president survived his impeachment trial because forty-three senators, all Republicans, voted to acquit. Several of these senators, including Ted Cruz,...