The editors of the conservative National Review have never been big Trump fans. In 2016, the magazine opposed Trump’s candidacy. Since then, the response to Trump has been mixed. Here is today’s editorial: As has been true of so many things...
conservatism
Ben Sasse on “government of the weirdos, by the weirdos and for the weirdos”
In a speech at the Reagan Foundation, the Nebraska senator ripped into the “performance artists” on the far left and the far right. Watch: If you don’t want to watch the speech, read Tom LoBianco’s piece at Yahoo News. A...
What is a RINO?
At The Bulwark, William Saletan tries to define what the right wing means when they accuse someone of being “Republican in Name Only.” (Note: Someone accused me of this the other day and I am not even a registered Republican!)....
The future of Trumpism
William Kristol believes Trumpism will be around for a long time. Here is a taste of his piece today at The Bulwark: We are now six years into the Trump era and one clearly sees—in the donor and media ecosystems,...
The latest in the Grove City College wokeness saga
Not familiar with Grove City College’s successful attempt to crush “wokeness” and critical race theory? Get up to speed here. Here’s the latest: At a recently faculty-trustee luncheon, the Board of Trustees tried to clarify a few things. This is...
Mike Pence positions himself for 2024
According to Adam Wren at Politico, the former Indiana governor and Vice-President of the United States is trying to find a lane that will allow him to praise Trump for his accomplishments and separate him from Trump’s many missteps. Wren...
The power of a Trump endorsement in Ohio
If you read one thing to get up to speed on the J.D. Vance’s win in the Ohio GOP primary for U.S. Senate, I recommend Alex Shephard’s short piece at The New Republic. A taste: In a seven-person race full...
Inside Higher Ed reports on the Grove City College “wokeness” controversy
Not familiar with what is going on at Grove City College? Get up to speed here. Here is a taste of Colleen Flaherty’s piece at Inside Higher Ed: Cedric Lewis, who co-taught and co-designed EDU 290, the elective on diversity...
Grove City College “does not have a statement of faith, but it does now have a statement of politics”
Here is Baylor University historian Andrea Turpin at The Anxious Bench: Note that this decision-making paradigm says nothing about either the Christian identity of the college or the rigor of the education offered. It evaluates the role of racial justice education...
A conservative academic changes his mind about safe spaces
Here is Jon Shields of Claremont-McKenna College: Like other conservative professors who are advocates of free speech on campus, I once opposed efforts to create a classroom climate in which students are protected from speech they find emotionally upsetting, ranging...
The latest hit piece in the “elite evangelical” genre
Over at the Albert Mohler and Andrew T. Walker’s WORLD magazine culture war newsletter, Miles Smith, a history professor at Hillsdale College, seems to think that evangelical historians who criticize Donald Trump must be trying to cozy-up to the secular...
Charlie Kirk: “Huckster. Snake oil salesman. Charlatan”
Charlie Kirk, the pro-Trump pundit who spends most of his time rallying college students to a combative form of conservative populism, regularly appears on the weekends at evangelical megachurches. He is currently visiting churches as part of his “Saving America...
The GOP anti-Ukraine caucus
There members of the Congress who love Russia. Here is William Saletan at The Bulwark: After years of defending a pro-Putin American president and dismissing Russia’s interference in American elections, Republicans have returned to their old shtick: accusing Democrats of...
Rod Dreher says that America has “few champions” like Viktor Orban, but Florida governor Ron DeSantis gives him “hope”
We covered this yesterday, but Dreher continues to drool all over of the pro-Putin/anti-Zelensky Hungarian president. Here is a taste of his post: “Viktor Organ or Joe Biden?: We cultural conservatives in America have very few champions like Orban. Maybe...
How the Right gets Gramsci wrong
Check out Alan Wald‘s longform review of Laura Marriss’s translation of Jean-Yves Frétigné’s To Live Is to Resist: The Life of Antonio Gramsci. There is a lot in Wald’s piece, but I want to call your attention to this passage:...
When Harvard grads attack the American “elite”
Someone recently left a message on my voicemail asking me if I saw myself as part of the “liberal elite.” He is one of the regular callers who leaves voice mails whenever I write something here or elsewhere that they...
Salon covers Hillsdale College’s outsized influence on K-12 education
Yesterday the left-leaning Salon stated a three-part series on Hillsdale College’s influence on local school boards. Here is a taste of Part 1: The mood in Costa Mesa on Feb. 2 was more love bomb than fire bomb: yet another...
Religion News Service covers the Grove City College CRT debate
Here is a taste of Kathryn Post’s piece: Warren Throckmorton, a professor of psychology who signed the second faculty letter, told Religion News Service that some faculty are unsure how to respond to the board’s rejection of critical race theory...
The “Leftist Bros” who teach fellow leftists about conservativism
Some of us at Current are regular listeners of the “Know Your Enemy” podcast. Matthew Sitman and Sam Adler-Bell have a great “on-air” rapport, they generally treat their subject matter fairly, and have great guests as conversation partners. Now The...
Putin is rarely mentioned at CPAC
The speakers at the pro-Trump Conservative Political Action Conference this week are in a tough spot. I am sure many of them condemn the Putin invasion of Ukraine, but they can’t do that publicly without invoking the ire of their...