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Donald Trump
Did God answer Franklin Graham’s prayer? Evangelicals respond to what happened today in the Oval Office
What an embarrassment for the United States of America. Watch: Some American evangelicals are responding: Did God answer Franklin Graham’s prayer?:
Why we need National Park Service rangers
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are making heavy cuts to the National Park Service. We covered that here. But I wonder if Trump and Musk really understand all that National Park Service rangers do every day. Clarissa Moll does. Here […]
Trump’s revolution of “common sense”
Over at The New York Times, Carlos Lozada brings some historical context to Trump’s view of “common sense.” Here is a small taste: In a recent social-media post, Trump quoted a line attributed to Napoleon (but likely adapted from a 1970 […]
There’s some wild stuff going on right now on conservative evangelical social media
Some MAGA evangelicals are mad at the Philadelphia Eagles: Let’s start off with some facts The Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have not rejected an invitation to the White House. But that did not stop many conservative evangelicals, looking for […]
“By presenting their expertise as part of a political fight, academics were not only squandering their credibility. They were asking to be treated like political adversaries.”
I am not a regular reader of Megan McArdle’s writing, but her recent piece on academia at The Washington Post has a strong ring of truth to it. Here is a taste: The Trump administration is not just trying to […]
Patrimonialism
Jonathan Roach argues that “patrimonialism” is the “one word that describes Trump.” Here is a taste of his piece at The Atlantic: Even those who expected the worst from his reelection (I among them) expected more rationality. Today, it is […]
Bernie Sanders heads to the heartland for the “fight oligarchy” tour
So far he has been in Iowa City and Omaha. Here is Julia Conley at Common Dreams: After addressing more than 3,400 Nebraska residents in Omaha Friday evening, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Saturday made his second stop on his National Tour to Fight […]
David Brooks: “How the Elite rigged Society”
A lot to think about here:
Catoggio: “Republican voters have been rooting for laundry since 2015”
Here is Nick Catoggio at The Dispatch: The modern Republican Party isn’t conservative in any meaningful way. Any lingering doubt about that was extinguished on Saturday. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” Trump declared in a post. It’s […]
The Trump (and Musk) cuts to the federal government are taking their toll on American institutions and the people who work for them
The slashing and burning continues: Terminations at the U.S. Forest Service and Department of Interior are having a major impact on local communities. 3,400 people were fired from the Forest Service and 2,300 from the Department of Interior (National Park […]
The “woke right”
Here is Thomas Chatteron Williams at The Atlantic: One of the defining features of the social-justice orthodoxy that swept through American culture between roughly the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012 to Hamas’s assault on Israel in 2023 was the […]
National parks face cuts under Trump regime
As historian Kevin Levin writes: Spring will be here before you know it and Americans will once again hit this nation’s roads to visit and enjoy many of the natural and historic resources overseen by the National Park Service. But […]
Trump: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” What are evangelicals saying?
According to The New York Times, this quote has been attributed to Napoleon, but its origins are unclear. Trump must have been dissatisfied with the amount of news coverage he was getting today. I can’t tell if Trump is serious […]
What happened to the Kennedys?
Yesterday Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the Health and Human Services secretary. Over at Politico, Peter S. Canellos wonders what his uncle Teddy might think. Here is a taste: When the late Sen. Ted Kennedy hired a […]
David Brooks: “Trump really seems not to give a crap about the working class”
Here is The New York Times columnist: Over the past 20 years or so many of us social observer types have been writing about the horrific chasms separating the educated class (people with college degrees) from the working class (people […]
Trump and the “spoils system”
Over at CNN, Zachary Wolf interviews Andrew Jackson scholar Daniel Feller on comparisons on the “spoils system.” Here is a taste: WOLF: You’ve written extensively about the spoils system. How would you describe it to Americans today? FELLER: It is a system […]
“I think of churches as belonging to an eternal country”
27 Christian and Jewish groups are suing the Trump administration. Here is the Associated Press: More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the […]
MAGA sets its sights on Wheaton College
Have you heard about this dustup? Read Kathryn Post’s piece at Religion News Service. Here is a taste: On Friday (Feb. 7), Wheaton College, the evangelical Christian school outside Chicago, publicly congratulated Russell Vought, a conservative activist and architect of Project 2025 […]
Did the American people elect THIS Donald Trump?
Did Americans elect Trump to shut down humanitarian aid through USAID? Did they elect Trump to create a Middle East Riviera in Gaza? Did they elect Trump because they wanted a trade war? Did they elect Trump because they wanted […]