I was happy to help The Times with this piece. Click here for larger context. Here is a taste of David Charter’s article: John Fea, a historian at Messiah College who studies evangelical culture and politics, said: “This is a […]
Donald Trump
Why did evangelicals support Trump?
Someone sent me this video today so I thought I would share it again. This is a book talk I did in 2018 on Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump at Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington D.C.
Historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer on the state of the Republican Party
The Princeton University historians are the editors of Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About our Past. Here is a taste of their recent interview with Vanity Fair: I know both of you are particularly public-facing […]
“Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.” –Donald Trump
Kevin McCarthy, with the help of Donald Trump, is Speaker of the House. Here is what some of the members of the House Select Committee on January 6th are saying: Liz Cheney: Adam Kinzinger: Adam Schiff: Jamie Raskin:
On January 6, 2021 there was violence on the House floor. Violence almost broke again on January 6, 2023
As I started this post at 11:14pm on Friday night there were still six people standing in the way of Kevin McCarthy’s speakership. They were Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), […]
A bad day for Kevin McCarthy
After eleven votes, the House of Representatives still does not have a Speaker. A few minutes ago the House of Representatives–the people’s house–decided to adjourn for the night. They apparently got tired and hungry. We saw a lot of crazy […]
The fight for Speaker of the House continues
Six ballots and still no Speaker of the House. The House is on break until 8:00pm. The hard-right, anti-McCarthy wing has stayed unified today. CNN is reporting that McCarthy is now meeting with some members of the hard-right group in […]
“My offer is nothing”
As we reported yesterday, Kevin McCarthy gave massive concessions to the right-wing of his party. One of those concessions was a rule change that would allow five members of the House to offer a resolution to remove the speaker. This […]
How will the GOP investigate Hunter’s laptop if they can’t even pick a Speaker of the House?
If you haven’t followed this today, get up to speed here. If the GOP members of the House can’t pick a Speaker, how will they advance their agenda? How will they investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop? How will they impeach Joe […]
“A pair of ancient mariners with a TV contract, condemned to tell their tale to everyone they meet”Â
This is how Marina Hyde of The Guardian described Meghan and Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have made millions on their story. Over at Politico, writer Joanna Weiss describes 2022 as “the year we all finally got […]
Journey tells Jonathan Cain, husband of court evangelical Paula White, to stop playing “Don’t Stop Believing” at Trump events
Some of you know that Jonathan Cain of the rock-band Journey is married to Trump court evangelical Paula White-Cain. I’ll let Roy Trakin of Variety take it from here: The members of long-running rock band Journey have long had fractious relations, […]
Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis under investigation for misconduct related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election
The January 6th Report is out. The House January 6th Committee has released dozens of interview transcripts and more are on the way. One of the transcripts released was an interview with Jenna Ellis, a member of the Colorado bar […]
The Vatican defrocks Frank Pavone
The pro-life election denier and MAGA priest is no longer a Roman Catholic priest. Here is the Los Angeles Times: The Vatican has defrocked an anti-abortion U.S. priest, Frank Pavone, for what it said were “blasphemous communications on social media” […]
Trumpism and American pragmatism
I just finished University of Virginia English professor Mark Edmundson‘s piece on Richard Rorty, pragmatism, and Donald Trump. Is it published in the January 2023 issue of Harper’s. I highly recommend it. Here is a taste: It has been said […]
Trump trading cards are here!
Do your kids want baseball cards for Christmas? Why get them sports cards when you can get them Trump cards instead? And they are only $99.00.! (Granted, these cards cost twice as much as a 2022 complete factory set of […]
Who is Donald Trump’s white supremacist dinner guest?
His name is Nick Fuentes. Here is Maggie Haberman and Alan Feuer at the The New York Times: Former President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday night had dinner with Nick Fuentes, an outspoken antisemite and racist who is one of […]
Robert Jeffress helped stoke the GOP “civil war.” Now he wants no part of it.
Here is Anugrah Kumar’s piece on one of Donald Trump’s most prominent court evangelicals: Texas megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress, who was one of the first Evangelical leaders to publicly support former President Donald Trump and attend his rallies during the […]
Eric Metaxas: “Spokesperson for election fraud conspiracies and an evangelist for a politicized God who would support going to battle for Donald Trump”
“On the Media” podcast tackles Eric Metaxas and Salem Media. It’s well done. The first episode shows how Salem radio hosts who refused to promote Trump were fired from the network. Ben Shapiro (once an anti-Trumper), Joe Walsh, and Michael […]
“Jack Smith makes me look like a golden retriever puppy”Â
When I first saw this image (above) of the Justice Department’s new special counsel to investigate Donald Trump I thought it was a joke. Why did Merrick Garland appoint Coach Beard from Ted Lasso to prosecute Trump? But it looks […]
Court evangelical James Robison: Trump acted “like a little elementary schoolchild”
The Washington Post is covering a speech by the seventy-nine-year-old James Robison at the November 16 meeting of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Read the Post piece here. According to its website, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL) […]