Culture Wars
-
Reaganism Finds Its Fulfillment in Trumpism
“We have it in our power to begin the world over again.” —Ronald Reagan quoting Thomas Paine in his speech accepting the GOP nomination in July 1980. The increasing divergence—and antagonism—between the red nation and the blue nation is a defining characteristic of 21st-century America. That’s a reversal from the middle decades of the 20th
-
Bremerton Coach Wins His Crusade
Speaking of religious fanaticism and the courts, I wrote about this guy in May in response to David French's defense of his right to pray on the fifty yard line. He won his day in court 6-3 with Gorsuch writing the majority opinion. Here's how I concluded in my piece in May: It's not clear
-
The Woe of Roe 2
Setting aside the record of insincerity from Alito himself and the other conservative justices, the reason not to trust his disclaimer is that the Supreme Court has become an institution whose primary role is to force a right-wing vision of American society on the rest of the country. The conservative majority’s main vehicle for this
-
Making Sense of Rusty Bowers
As another of my colleagues, Juliette Kayyem, wrote recently, the January 6 hearings offer an off-ramp to Trump-ambivalent Republicans. But not enough of them are taking it. Many Republican leaders have talked themselves into the position that the policy views of Democrats are so dangerous, or Trump’s policies are so good, that it is more
-
Why It’s Hard to Admit You’re Wrong
“We’ve got lots of theories. We just don’t have any evidence.” –Rudy Giuliani, as testified by Rusty Bowers in the J6 Committee Hearings After more than 60 lawsuits brought by the former president and his allies failed to overturn the 2020 election results, Cudd’s brother Jarrod thought, “Maybe she’ll come back off the ledge
-
Quote of the Day: Nate Hochman
Today’s culture war is being waged not between religion and secularism but between groups that the Catholic writer Matthew Schmitz has described as “the woke and the unwoke.” “Catholic traditionalists, Orthodox Jews, Middle American small-business owners and skeptical liberal atheists may not seem to have much in common,” he wrote in 2020. But all of
-
The Danger of the Moment 2
In what follows I imagine a conversation with someone like Sohrab Ahmari, about whom I wrote in a post entitled Radical Elites on the Right 1. I say someone like Ahmari, because I don't want to put words in his mouth. I'm just looking for someone who is smart enough to understand that Trump is
-
Radicalized Elites on the Right 2
Appelbaum on Ezra Klein this week: I remember having a conversation — must have been about 2017 or 2018. I was in Texas, and I sat next to some people at a dinner. And they were pro-Trump, and we started talking about that. And I asked them, you know, aren’t they bothered by Trump’s corruption?
-
The Danger of This Moment 1
“Unlike the bulk of their colleagues who are eager to remain in office, Romney and Cheney have decided continuing to serve in Congress is not worth the bargain of remaining silent about an individual they believe poses a threat to American democracy,” Jonathan [Martin] told me. “They also can’t understand why Republican colleagues they respect