ver¡min /ËvÉrmÉn/ noun wild animals that are believed to be harmful to crops, farm animals, or game, or that carry disease, e.g., rodents. Watch: What are people saying? Rep. Jamie Raskin: Joe Scarborough and Jon Meacham: Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich: […]
Trumpism
What MAGA culture looks like in 8,000 responses to a David French tweet about leaving the platform
Last week we saw how the MAGA evangelical wing responded to a Russell Moore tweet thanking Joe Biden for his support of Israel. Today it is New York Times columnist, evangelical conservative, and dogged anti-Trumper David French‘s turn to take […]
New York Times: “Trumpism is running the House”
It’s official. With the election of Mike Johnson to Speaker of the House the Trump wing of the Republican Party–and especially its Christian Right faction–is now running the House of Representatives. As I wrote yesterday: Johnson was elected to the […]
Christian Trumpism in South Dakota
Ron Filipkowski with another disturbing clip:
A right-wing intellectual takes on capitalism. Some socialists are fine with it.
Some of you may know the name Sohrab Ahmari from his 2019 argument with David French over the meaning of conservatism. Since that debate, Amari has co-founded Compact, a journal critical of liberalism of both the left and the right […]
Steve Bannon wonders how Russell Moore is incapable of seeing that Trump is an “instrument of divine providence”
In episode 2915 of Steve Bannon’s “War Room,” the Alt-right pundit, former Trump adviser, and convicted felon has some choice words for Christianity Today editor and evangelical anti-Trumper Russell Moore. Watch: Several things strike me about this video. First: Bannon […]
A historian of fascism is ready to use the term to describe Trumpism
Up until this point,Christopher Browning, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, has not used the word “fascism” to describe Donald Trump and the movement he leads. But it looks like he has changed his mind. Browning is […]
She helped Trump try to overthrow the 2020 election. Now she is supporting Ron DeSantis because Trump is too liberal
Some of you may know the name Jenna Ellis. If you read this blog regularly, you know that she was the lawyer who assisted Rudy Giuliani in trying to prove that there was widespread election fraud that allowed Joe Biden […]
“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 […]
20 things I “learned” from watching Donald Trump’s speech tonight at the Turning Point USA event
He was the keynote speaker at Charlie Kirk’s Trumpfest. Here is what I “learned”: Here are some live comments on the Right Side Broadcasting Network stream of Trump’s speech:
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 […]
Mike Pence responds to an election denier at an Iowa Pizza Ranch
Mike Pence ran into an election denier at a Sioux City, Iowa Pizza Ranch. (As a north Jersey kid who is half Italian I can’t get my head around the idea of a “Pizza Ranch”–but I digress). She told Pence […]
The Trump cult of personality was on full display yesterday at Road to Majority 2023: “I’m being indicted for you!”
Nearly all the candidates running for the GOP nomination in 2024 got a chance to speak at Ralph Reed’s “Road to Majority” conference. Some seemed to get more time than others. But if you want to get a glimpse of […]
Trump indicted on seven counts in the Mar-a-Lago documents case
No word yet from the Department of Justice, but Trump just wrote this on his “Truth Social” platform: No United States president has faced a federal indictment. Here is CNN: Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in the special counselâs classified […]
Amitai Etzioni (1929-2023)
In 2018 I got an e-mail from Amitai Etzioni. He invited me to participate in a “civil dialogue” at The Arena Theater in Washington D.C. titled “There Are No Deplorables Here: A Dialogue Between Trump Supporters and Opponents.” Needless to […]
In the GOP it’s “the elites vs. the rabble”
Here is a taste of Sam Adler-Bell’s New York Times op-ed: “The One Things Trump Has That DeSantis Never Will“: Thus far, Mr. DeSantis has had greater success with party elites. By pairing aggressive stances on the culture wars with […]
GOP Senators criticize Trump’s use of the J6 Choir at his Waco rally
If you don’t know about the J6 choir, get up to speed here. John Cornyn (TX), Lindsey Graham (SC), John Thune (SD), and Thom Tillis (NC) have weighed-in. Here is Sahil Kapur and Scott Wong at NBC News: Top Senate […]
David French on Trump’s Waco rally
We wrote about this rally over the weekend. Check out our posts here (Robert Jeffress) and here (J6 Choir). Here is French at The New York Times: The most telling exchange in Donald Trumpâs Waco, Texas, rally on Saturday didnât […]
Is the MAGA movement really populism?
Grove City College historian Gillis Harp asks this question and provides some historical context today at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Here is a taste: Is Donald Trumpâs âMAGAâ movement real populism? Is it a genuinely democratic movement that truly works to benefit common […]
Mark Meadows and his MAGA cronies are buying-up property near the U.S. Capitol
I guess a lot of Trump followers like living in “The Swamp.” Here is Paul Schwartzman at The Washington Post: At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a […]