This will not be a sustained argument, explaining everything in cogent and meticulous detail, but rather a random collection of observations, somewhat in the style of Mystery Science Theater. Don’t try to figure out the flow, in other words. But if you stay with me, as you know you probably should, by the end you will have a somewhat better grasp of what it is that is falling down on our heads from the mezzanine. To change the metaphor, try to imagine Howard Cosell providing moment-by-moment commentary on a cafeteria food fight.
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Judging from the number of think pieces on Christian nationalism, some of them involving, as Miss Piggy would say, moi, one might come to believe that it is the leading peril of our times. But in the meantime, the vice-president is a Catholic married to a Hindu, the new director of the FBI is a Hindu, the Secretary of the Treasury is married to another dude, which we didn’t like very much when Pete Buttigieg did it, and Paul White-Cain, now running the White House faith office is married to Jonathan Cain, of Journey fame, who wrote the song “Don’t Stop Believin'”—when a proper story line would have had her married to someone from the band Boston. The short form of all this is that we seem to be a good ways off from any kind of robust Protestant takeover.
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While we are on the topic of Christian nationalism—however briefly our time on that subject may be—in the providence of God, and for the time being, I do find myself as one of the recognized national spokesmen for the movement. That said, let me take this opportunity to say that we stand with Israel.
Am I trolling anybody? Why would you think that? Why would you even say something like that?
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So one of the things about the new Trump administration that is causing the freak-out on the left is the fact that a bunch of believing Christians are now in the mix. The problem for progressives is not that these Christians are now seated on thrones, but rather that they have emerged from their caves. They are all over the place in the new Trump administration. This translates to Christian influence, which is not the same thing as a Christian takeover. Sure, some of these Christians are not averse to the idea of a Christian republic down the road, but thus far everybody seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping their millennial expectations out of it. As the saying goes, “Friends don’t let friends immanentize the eschaton.”
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In the meantime, it must be acknowledged that there are some online commentators who pretend to be Christian nationalists, which is fine because they are pretend Christian nationalists. They talk darkly about the Jews, are way too coy about Nazi iconography, and want to begin a conversation about whether Amy Coney Barrett should be allowed to finish her time on the Court, what with her being a girl and all. These guys are insisting that a truly based approach would require all disappointing swing votes on the Court be males. One sees the point of course. Qualified males have been doing that for decades. What’s with these interloping females?
Now the commies find these commentators particularly terrifying, but they needn’t worry. There is a strong correlation between the kind of inflammatory language that builds click empires and the kind of strong language that would prevent any of them or their friends from ever getting anywhere near any positions of influence. And besides, while we are on this general topic, don’t write off the Supreme Court (or even Barrett) just yet—consider this.
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During the recent address that President Trump gave in a joint session of Congress, the Democrats managed an amazing hat trick, arranging to look truculent, rhetorically inept, and strategically stupid, and all at the same time.
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The truculence first. What a group of unhappy people. And at their age, we have to remember that you cannot wind up looking that way unless it is at least partly your fault.
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It is awfully difficult to look statesmanlike when you are holding up little paddles like that. The entire effect made the Democrats look like a grumpy little botanical garden, with the paddles identifying what kind of truculence was growing in which spot. It appeared that a variety called False was something that was growing a lot there. Flourishing, in fact. Must be the soil.
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But the crowning achievement was the stupidity. As Dinesh D’Souza pointed out, there are a lot of political issues where the country is pretty evenly divided. And when you are in that situation, on an issue like that, nobody expects the minority side to applaud wildly for the opposition’s proposals and positions. So much is common sense. But Trump picked a whole slew of issues where the country is in more of an 80/20 split, and Trump kept on aligning himself with the 80. And the Democrats, because they will not give Trump a scintilla of credit for anything, anywhere, at any time, were put in the position of siding with the 20, time after time. But siding with the 20 doesn’t look like you are siding with any actual people—rather it looks like you have decided to join up with some “let’s all bark at the moon” club. Trump could have said that “the Carolina coast is where we go to watch the sun rise and the California coast is where we go to watch it set”—you know, “from the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream Waters” stuff—and the Republicans would have given him a standing O, like they had never heard anything so wonderful, and the Democrats would have slouched in their seats, trying to look as sullen as possible. They all looked like toddlers in high chairs, disdaining yet another offer of mashed peas. And where do they think the sun rises? They stand with our Canadian friends, on the tundra, facing north . . .
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Oh, yeah, the Epstein files. Maybe there is a reason why so many people in the Washington D.C. area seem to be on edge. A little jumpy perhaps?
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If sunlight is the best disinfectant, and in situations like this, I believe that it is, the Epstein case is just one of many. We should declassify files in as many directions as we can, from Seth Rich to the Butler assassination attempt, to the second assassination attempt, and so on. One of the things that Americans need to learn is that murder is a political tool that has been used routinely in American politics for some years now. It is past time to retire some of our illusions.
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It seems to me that the nutroots wing of the Democratic Party is in full control of the party apparatus, and that it will as a consequence put itself out of contention when it comes to the small matter of wining any elections at all. To be competitive, they need to become a center/left party, and I currently do not see any way for them to get back to such a place. In the meantime, the Republicans have cobbled together a very interesting array of people who are united more by what they reject (woke insanity) than by any sort of common civic vision. So what I think is going to happen is this. I think that the Democrats are going to fade away, or sputter out, or something, and that the Republicans are gradually going to divide into a centrist party and a conservative party. Not in the next few weeks though. I think the current coalition of odd fellows is going to have a good run.
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The centrists will be the ones who are going to look at the secularist project, and say something like, “There’s life in the old girl yet.” But I don’t think that’s true.