Iowa caucus results suggest a different story than today’s standard one about Christians leading the way in support of Trump.
Donald Trump
On the “deification of Donald Trump”
Check out Thomas Edsall’s column today at The New York Times. I was happy to contribute to it. A taste: In recent weeks, for example, the former president posted a video called “God Made Trump” on Truth Social that was […]
Does Ron DeSantis really have a chance?
No. As I type I am watching DeSantis on a CNN Town Hall in New Hampshire. On Monday he said that he had a “ticket our of Iowa.” Maybe he meant a plane ticket back to Tallahassee, because there is […]
“God Made a Dictator”
Some of you are familiar with the “God Made Donald Trump” video circulating in the MAGA world. If you haven’t seen it, watch it here. The Lincoln Project, a group of anti-Trump Republicans, has responded with “God Made a Dictator”: […]
91 felony indictments later and Trump’s evangelical support is growing
As I noted this morning, evangelicals carried Trump to his Iowa win last night. We now know that Trump did much better with Iowa evangelicals this time around. Here is The New York Times: Evangelical Christian voters moved to Trump […]
Douthat: “It’s absurd that there was no unified opposition” to Trump in Iowa
Earlier today I watched Dana Bash of CNN interview GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley at a New Hampshire diner. I’ll let David Goldiner of the New York Daily News describe what I saw: Nikki Haley feigned ignorance about former President […]
Trump wins Iowa with support of evangelicals
As expected, it was a big night for Donald Trump. He won just over half of the 110,000 votes cast in Iowa. Due to the weather, the turnout was very low. Ron DeSantis finished second (21.2%) and Nikki Haley was […]
Evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem is backing Ron DeSantis because he’ll pardon Trump and was a college athlete (among other things)
Wayne Grudem is at it again. Late last year the evangelical theologian, defender of a complementarian view of men and women, and 2016 and 2020 Donald Trump supporter called on Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race to […]
Does history really help us decide if Trump should stay on the ballot in Colorado?
Over at his blog, historian William Hogeland reminds us that history can only take us so far in debates like the one currently raging over whether Donald Trump can stay on the ballot in Colorado. The original intent of Section […]
Will Nikki Haley pull off a Gary Hart-style upset in New Hampshire?
The New Hampshire primary–the first of the primary season–is scheduled for January 23, 2004. Sometimes strange things happen in the New Hampshire primary. Remember when: Henry Cabot Lodge beat Barry Goldwater in 1964? Edmund Muskie beat George McGovern in 1972? […]
The old court evangelicals were mostly silent on the third anniversary of January 6th
Saturday was the third anniversary of the January 6th insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. We continue to deal with the fallout of this dark moment in American history. Next month the Supreme Court may decide if Trump was an insurrectionist […]
The Supreme Court will take up the Colorado-Trump ballot case
Here is CBS News: The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review a politically explosive decision from Colorado’s top court that found former President Donald Trump ineligible for the presidency and would leave him off the state’s primary ballot, stepping into a […]
David Brooks on populism, Trump, and the “zero-sum mind-set”
Interesting observation from his recent New York Times column: Populism thrives on a zero-sum mind-set. The central story that populists tell is: They are out to destroy us. Populist leaders invariably inflame ethnic bigotry to mobilize their own supporters. America’s populist in chief, […]
And then there were three (at least in terms of GOP debate qualifiers)
Three GOP presidential hopefuls have qualified for the final debate before the Iowa caucuses. They are Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis. Haley and DeSantis will participate in the January 10 debate at Drake University, five days before the […]
“Our founding fathers understood the absolute necessity for this nation to elect moral and upright statesmen to lead the people.”
That was Jerry Falwell Sr. on January 8, 1999 in the midst of the Bill Clinton impeachment trial. Here is the quote in context: “Our founding fathers understood the absolute necessity for this nation to elect moral and upright statesmen […]
Mike Godwin gives us permission to compare Trump to Hitler
The originator of “Godwin’s Law” weighs in! Here is Mike Godwin’s piece at The Washington Post: My very minor status as an authority on Adolf Hitler comparisons stems from having coined “Godwin’s Law” about three decades ago. I originally framed this “law” […]
Donald Trump’s gut and the fate of American democracy
What will happen to truth if Donald Trump is our next president? Here is Megan Garber at The Atlantic: “I have a gut,” Donald Trump announced in 2018, “and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever […]
Will any GOP presidential candidate take advantage of the recent Colorado Supreme Court decision?
The Colorado Supreme Court says that Donald Trump is an insurrectionist and is thus disqualified from holding the presidency in 2024. This story is not over. Trump will appeal. Some commentators are saying the Supreme Court may have to decide […]
Retired conservative judge J. Michael Luttig says the Colorado Supreme Court is correct in keeping Trump off the ballot in 2024
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled yesterday that Donald Trump will not appear on the ballot in 2024 because he is an insurrectionist and the 14th Amendment does not permit insurrectionists to hold federal office. Some of you may recall our […]
Colorado Supreme Court: Donald Trump is an insurrectionist and must be removed from the 2024 ballot
Early today we linked to a piece asking “when, if ever, can a democracy exclude anti-democratic politicians and parties from democratic elections?” Read it here. Well, it appears that the Colorado Supreme Court has its own ideas on the matter. […]



















