I’ve been hearing a lot of calls for national unity today. Those calling for such unity believe that Thomas Matthew Crooks’s assassination attempt of Donald Trump will somehow bring the country together. Even Trump’s staunchest critics have rightly condemned the […]
Charlie Kirk
The Trump intellectuals
Many of them gather at the Claremont Institute in Southern California. Here is a taste of Ruth Graham’s New York Times piece, “Why a New Conservative Brain Trust is Resettling Across America”: The Claremont Institute has been located in Southern […]
Charlie Kirk at evangelical megachurch: Trump and MAGA are fighting against the “very same totalitarianism” Americans fought against in World War II when they “stormed the beaches of Normandy”
The other day someone asked me if I thought Trump and the MAGA crowd really believed their own rhetoric. I don’t know if Charlie Kirk really believes that Joe Biden and the Democrats are comparable to Hitler and the 1930s […]
Donald Trump was against TikTok before he was for it
On August 6, 2020, The Trump administration released this executive order: By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) […]
Charlie Kirk and Eric Metaxas on the Trump conviction: “We are up against pure evil”
It seems that whenever the members of the Christian wing of the MAGA party suffer a loss, such as when their leader gets convicted on 34 felony charges–they turn to spiritual warfare. There is a certain logic to this move. […]
Charlie Kirk: “You will remember where you were on May 30th”
I think I was taking a nap when the Trump conviction was announced. I actually don’t remember. The leader of pro-Trump Turning Point USA compares Trump’s conviction yesterday to the JFK assassination and September 11th: There are actually three more […]
Trump responds to the death of Alexei Navalny
Trump does not condemn Putin for Navalny’s death. He shows no remorse for Navalny or his family. He is unable to exercise even the smallest amount of empathy. And he uses Navalny’s death to air his own grievances. But hey, […]
The Christian nationalist agenda in four minutes and 11 points
Last night CSPAN aired my conversation with Tim Alberta, author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. If you don’t have time to watch the entire interview, or read Alberta’s book (I hope you do both, but it’s the […]
Charlie Kirk: Pastors who encouraged their flocks to march in a BLM rally were “introducing an unclean spirit from Satan into the church”
Charlie Kirk, a leader of the Trump youth movement, often visits megachurches on the weekends. Here is a taste of his recent visit to Foothills Christian Church in El Cajon, California. Pastor Neil Hoffman seems to be thoroughly enjoying the […]
What’s going on at Charlie Kirk’s MAGA pastorfest?
MAGA pastors are in San Diego this weekend as part of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Faith event. Get up to speed here. Here’s what has happened so far: Let’s begin with Charlie Kirk. He is suggesting that evangelicals missed out […]
Eric Metaxas prepares pastors for a holy war
Metaxas spoke last night at Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point Faith event and issued a call for pastors to engage in a holy war: I am reminded of Russel Moore’s recent piece at Christianity Today: “Culture War is Not Spiritual Warfare.”
Trump court evangelicals, prophets, and pseudo-historians will gather with Charlie Kirk in San Diego this week to train pastors
This week over 1,000 Christian pastors will converge on San Diego for the Turning Point USA “Pastors Summit.” According to the event website, this event will highlight “the need for pastors and their congregations to stand for truth and no […]
Federalist Society and Trump-appointed judge puts Proud Boys chairman away for 22 years.
In case you missed it, District Judge Timothy Kelly just gave former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio twenty-two years in prison for his leadership of a failed attempt to prevent Joe Biden from becoming President of the United States. Right-wing […]
“There’s a wall up and we can’t come in” and other things that happened at this weekend’s Charlie Kirk Trumpfest
It was called the “Turning Point USA Action Conference” and it was, in essence, a celebration of Donald Trump, Trumpism, and all things MAGA. I didn’t get a chance to watch much of it beyond Trump’s speech, but several people […]
There is a good chance Trump will lose Iowa in January 2024
On Friday,July 14th the GOP candidates for president will get a chance to speak to Iowa evangelicals. Bob Vander Plaats, the most powerful Christian Right activist in the Hawkeye State, is sponsoring the event. Tucker Carlson is hosting it. Fox […]
The court evangelicals are getting the old band back together
Readers of this blog know what a court evangelical is. But for the uninitiated, I encourage you to read this piece or this book. After last night’s CNN town hall, it appears that Donald Trump just might be the GOP […]
A socialist magazine on “wokeness” and “cultural Marxism”
Conservatives, including Turning Point USA pundit Charlie Kirk, like to scare people with threats of “cultural Marxism.” Here is Nick French at Jacobin: The American right’s long and venerable tradition of red-baiting has always involved branding any kind of efforts at progressive […]
Why some conservatives hate college
A Current Affairs piece by Matt McManus and Nathan J. Robinson begins with a quote from right-wing MAGA pundit Charlie Kirk’s book The College Scam: “Where did Anthony Fauci acquire the medical authority and credibility to impose a lockdown on […]
The MAGA evangelical revivalists are no longer silent about the Asbury Revival
Last week I wondered why the pro-Trump, Make America Great Again, Christian nationalist revivalists were not noticing the spiritual revival going on at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. These people believe that the United States was founded as a Christian […]
The MAGA evangelical revivalists are silent about the Asbury University revival. Why?
Charlie Kirk, the MAGA evangelical who runs Turning Point USA, wants a national awakening: Kirk believes that the only way to stop what he calls “The Great Reset” is a new Great Awakening. He believes that such a reawakening is […]