The now infamous second presidential debate was a spectacle that few decent Americans want to witness again. It was also a spectacular one-act recapitulation of the four-hundred-year-long drama of sex and sin in Protestant America. Continue Reading »
Let us not confuse a stumbling search for chivalry with the different and dingier paradigm of manliness we see too many public figures pursuing. Continue Reading »
If we don’t give voters a more accountable Congress, don’t be surprised if they want an unaccountable president to take down a corrupt and unresponsive system. Consider Trump a warning. Continue Reading »
What may be health in the soul is a horror show in political life. Continue Reading »
A social conservative he ain’t, but that doesn’t mean the Trump bomb is meaningless for social conservatives. Pope Francis isn’t the only one to observe that a nation that produces a spectacle like this can’t be healthy. With so much shrapnel flying, with so many settled conclusions being questioned, Christians have a rare opportunity to take stock and ask some basic questions about our polity. Continue Reading »
If you need a reason for why a fair portion of conservative voters were disenchanted enough with the Republican Establishment to head over to Donald Trump's place, take a look at the final paragraph of David Frum's cover essay in the September issue of Commentary, “Is It 1968?” Continue Reading »
Calling Donald “Only I can fix it” Trump a constitutionalist empties the term “constitutionalist” of any connection to our actual Constitution, or even to the small-c constitutionalism of respect for the rule of law. Continue Reading »
I don’t recall candidates in past debates appealing so directly to the technocratic virtues. I wonder whether ordinary voters found this off-putting. If they did, Trump failed to exploit the opening. Continue Reading »
You’d think presidential candidates would have learned that shooting from the lip in front of deep-pocket donors is asking for trouble. Continue Reading »
The debate last night underlined the reasons why Donald Trump’s character and temperament should be disqualifying in the eyes of conservatives. Continue Reading »
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