The 2020 election results should have all faithful American Christians, Catholic and otherwise, asking themselves tough questions about politics. Christians may reasonably disagree, of course, about a multitude of issues, but some issues, such as abortion and marriage, are not up for debate.
And now, as the drama of the election gives way to likely legislative gridlock this is a time for self-examination.
Let us begin with hard questions for supporters of the incoming president. Joe Biden is nominally Catholic, but he has promised to persecute nuns, fund abortion on demand and enforce anti-Christian ideas on marriage, family and sexuality. In this agenda, he follows many other Catholic Democrats who have exchanged the doctrines of their Church for the dogmas of their political party, a party that now has little tolerance left for those for adhere to Christian tradition and church teaching on these issues. Thus, Biden supporters who claim to be faithful believers face the question: what are you going to do about it? What will you do to call the President you voted for back into alignment with Christian teaching? What will you do to challenge your political party’s positions on abortion, religious liberty and human sexuality?
It would be better for the nation if the defense of religious liberty, the right to life and the family were not partisan issues. Unfortunately, as a party the Democrats are committed to the opposite, and the voters and officials who dissent from the party line seem unwilling or unable to change this. Democrats who remain faithful to Christian teaching on marriage, family and the sanctity of life have a hard task before them in reforming their party, or the hard decision to leave it behind.
There are also hard questions awaiting Republicans, including those who, repulsed by Trump, did not cast their usual votes for the Republican candidate standing against abortion and for religious liberty. For this Never Trump remnant, the challenge is not to make a case against Trump, but to make a positive case for themselves and their ideas. Are they willing to rethink things in order to address the concerns of voters? Will they use their positions to fearlessly proclaim Christian truths—for instance, that our abortion regime is evil—or are they too afraid of offending the sensitivities of their liberal colleagues whose favor they wish to win?
Those who came to support President Trump for policy reasons, despite recognizing his many character flaws, also face difficult questions. If we meant it when we said that he was the lesser evil, will we now encourage him to ride off into the sunset and onto a golf course? Can we thank him for his service and then move on—so long, and thanks for all the judges!—or are we stuck with monsters we helped create? In particular, do we now lack the courage or the ability to rein in the conspiracy-mongering the President has indulged in and encouraged?
This is not to deny that there have been positives from Trump’s presidency. The GOP remained friendlier to Church teachings on life, marriage and family than the Democrats. There have also been glimpses of a GOP evolution into a multiracial party of working families, a trend accelerated by Democrats becoming dominated by the well-off. But Trump has still been a poor leader. Though he accelerated the break-up of the calcified consensus of Zombie Reaganism, his personal flaws, all exacerbated by his lack of self-control, made him an unpopular and ineffective president. Thus, though there is no way forward for Republicans that does not include Trump’s supporters, there is likely no way forward that is led by Trump.
Free from the exigencies of supporting an incumbent, Christians in the GOP ought to look for a leader with better character. The President’s conspiracy-mongering after losing to Joe Biden is a case study in why character, though not all that matters, is important. Instead of shoring up his legacy on the way out, Trump is leading his followers into the fever swamps while floating the idea of running again in 2024.
Conservative Christian must recognize that the causes we care about will not be served by the GOP spending the next four years salving the wounded ego of the soon-to-be former-President Trump and his most loyal supporters. Thus, those of us who supported Trump must be willing to move past him, while those who opposed Trump must be willing to make their peace with his supporters. Unfortunately, too many of the former are still clinging to Trump even though it is no longer a choice between him and Democrat, while too many of the latter seem more interested in the approval of those they went to Harvard with than with winning elections by appealing to the working class.
But to succeed, the GOP need political leaders who will temper the excesses of Trump and Trumpism while retaining the voters he brought into the Republican coalition. We need thinkers who will develop policies and compromises that established Republican voters and Trump voters can agree on—and which also bring in Democrats who despair over their party’s positions on abortion, marriage and religious liberty. That this task is easier said than done does not mean that it is not what needs to be done.
Articulating and advancing a Christian political agenda is hard. It is easier to blast your enemies, be they Trump, Biden, the legacy media or the party establishments, than it is to provide better options. But defensive voting may deteriorate into a spiral of increasingly-evil lesser evils. Holding the line politically must be accompanied by efforts to bring our political leaders and parties into alignment with Christian truths, and to build culturally and spiritually.
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Professor Blake, I suspect in your circles Trump was unpopular and viewed as ineffective. And to keep ties to your circle, you are required to recite the anti-Trump mantra. Got it. There are, indeed, character flaws apparent in Trump. But, he’s not the lesser of two evils. Evil is abortion, gender ideology and critical race theory. You know that, and we know that. Stop this game of equivalence as if it amounts to a hill of beans. It doesn’t. Evil is a whole different story. And you’re wrong about going forward. If Trump would start a political party, he would have an immediate following of 60 million people. He understands and his base understands, this is not about Trump. It is about fighting evil, the future of our nation, the rule of law and preserving Western culture, all of which are probably detested by a majority of people in the circles you wish to remain in good stead with.
Excellent reply, John P. Thank you.
No.
The election is not over until Vice President Pence accepts the electoral college votes. I hope he rejects them because of the widespread fraud in every state.
Excellent response, John.
I don’t care what a person calls himself. Anyone who knowingly votes for a candidate who supports abortion, religious persecution, the non-existence of sex, or racism is not Catholic.
It’s that simple.
No matter what the Democratic Party and its operatives in the press contend, down is not up, and up is not down.
You have it exactly. The movement behind Trump was a second rejection of “conservative” politics as usual, the kind practiced by the mendacious warmonger from Texas, George W Bush, and his father, to offer just two examples of this lamentable phenomenon. (The first attempt at rejection of this globalist, country club conservatism, far less successful, was the candidacy 30 years ago of Pat Buchanan.) We have absolutely no intention whatsoever of “moving beyond” Trump, as the author suggests. We have every intention of finally cleansing the GOP of RINOs like Romney, Ryan, and McConnell. And as for the Democrat Party, there can be no peaceful coexistence with evil espoused by communists, what that party has embraced, lock, stock, and barrel.
Agree
Many of the disciples had major character flaws.
Dear Dr, Blake,
Thank you for your thoughtful and generous essay.
Mr Blake,
It is apparent that you have not sought out sources for the truth, the facts as it relates to what you are calling Trumps “conspiracy theory”.
Have you watched the hearings by state legislators in the swing states where witnesses who signed sworn affidavits that what they were testifying to was the truth about the evidence of fraud that they witnessed? They told their
stories of what they saw. They seemed to me to be extremely credible. Did you listen to the expert witnesses who had long histories of very credible experience to back up their witness to the facts? Have you listened to the facts regarding the Dominion voting machines? This is not a conspiracy theory…based on what you wrote in this article you believe what the mainstream media has been preaching that there is no evidence of widespread fraud, however they have not investigated it. It does not fit their storyline so they say what they want you to believe which is not based on the truth, but on their propaganda. There is overwhelming evidence that there was widespread fraud and also before the election the mainstream media including the tech companies manipulated the voters so they con-
tributed to the fraud by censoring the news. In 2016 even though I didn’t like the way Trump said things sometimes and didn’t like his apparent playboy past he said he was against abortion. I didn’t know if I should believe him, however Hillary plainly stated that she was for abortion
no matter what. I had to take my chances and vote for Trump. Trump kept his word. He has been the most prolife president in my lifetime…he has been the best president of my lifetime for many many reasons and I am in my seventies. He is clearly not a racist based on the facts. The media and Biden spun the truth, they clearly lied about Trump. If you saw and heard the full video, not the clipped version of what Trump said about the awful death of a woman and the situation in South Carolina where it happened then you know the truth, too.
Trump has been a very good leader, although he like everyone has not been perfect. He has been the most transparent president of my lifetime and has done more for black and latinos, poor and working and middle class families than any president.
Four middle east peace agreements have been signed with 4 Muslim countries.
The list of his accomplishments in 4 short years is long, including trying to bring our country in line with Judeo Christian beliefs by putting them into practice. He has done more to protect religious liberty than any president also in my lifetime. He walks the walk and tries to lift people up and our country up so they can take care of themselves and their families and be charitable to others. Trump has donated his presidential salary for the last 4 years to charity. I love President Trump and what he has done for our country!
Well said, truth is what should be sought. Every statistical analysis of this election shows beyond doubt Biden’s victory is either a miracle or substantial chicanery. Given the eyewitness testimony and other evidence Ochmans Razor suggests it is illicit. What happens six months from now when there is incontrovertible evidence of a stolen election?
“Conspiracy-mongering the president has indulged in and encouraged?” Where does Mr. Blake get his news? CNN? MSNBC? This article is so bad I would suggest that CWR not put it in their archives. I don’t wish to aggravate myself re-reading it so that I can reply in detail. I will just second the earlier “Excellent reply, John P. Thank you.
I believe this article is right on, an excellent analysis.
I voted twice for Trump because of his prolife and religious freedom policy positions, And I certainly understand the need to keep his fervent supporters in the Republican tent (and hopefully voting in GA in the monumentally important upcoming Senate elections). I am, nevertheless, a “never Trumper” going forward. His complete lack of self-discipline and other character flaws would ensure, in my opinion. that his possibly future Presidential candidacy would result in another pro abortion, anti religious liberty Democrat winning the White House.
2021 = 1933. Then as now many who call themselves Catholics and Christians will choose to rationalize the morality of government sponsored mass-murder, adultery and worship of false gods for the greater good of the nation and its citizens. Mediocrity, self-indulgence, and the need for adulation are part of the great “New” Post-Modern progressive metaphysics justifying partaking of the forbidden fruit of hubris. I pray that the Holy Spirit might send us a leader from within the clergy who is willing to suffer the slings and arrows of unpopular opinion and help us to resist the compelling, seemingly scientifically-enlightened suggestions of the Great Tempter. St. Augustine pray for us.
The news the other day , about the ‘wonder drug ‘ Ivermectin as a good aid in Corona , how main media as well as many others ignored same – hoping there could be some such miracle in the election front as well , with Trump becoming more like a St.Joseph in his manner of speech and such, making good amends with the Holy Father on down , seeing him as a good role and good Father figure in gentleness and
love , in the habit of ongoing , frequent communication with him in all important steps .. the voting machines , if there has been fraud , easily revealing same through God give wisdom to someone ..and vows to make more efforts to support all that is holy and true , the holy innocents, the Little Sisters of the Poor and all with them interceding ..
I don’t understand all of the “obligatory” slams, here and everywhere else, against Trump’s character and demeanor.
He got the job done and he communicated directly with the American people about what he was doing. What’s wrong with that?
Like McCarthy and Nixon, he’s the real opposition to the US elites — not the lilly-livered “conservatives” like Reagan and the Bushes. The Left clearly (and understandably) fears him and hates him.
We should love him.
Absolutely agree. I learned to love him for his integrity, love of truth, honesty and courage.
This Catholic has voted in his last election – no matter whether it’s local, State or Federal. I will not allow a thoroughly corrupt electoral system make a fool out of me. Elections now make a travesty out of our system of government. Let me know if integrity ever returns to our electoral system. But as far as I can see, this has been my last trip to the polls.
Ed –
Don’t despair.
Fight on.
Your friend in Christ,
Chris
Thanks, Chris but, if others care to fight, let them. As for me, my most effective political statement is that I refuse to participate any longer in a farce. I cannot lend a semblance of legitimacy to corruption. I must say that I don’t feel dissimilarly about our institutional Church; it, too, has been corrupted by evil men. My Catholic faith, though, is strong only because I will forever distance myself from all that I see in the Church that conspires against the Good.
Have a Blessed Advent and upcoming Christmas season, Chris. I will offer my Divine Office prayers this morning for your intention..
Ed –
The only problem is…if you don’t help to fight…we might lose for lack of your help.
There’s an old motto by men who fight for what is worth fighting for: Semper Fidelis.
What terribly bugs a lot of people, the pious [like Salieri in Amadeus, Why did God choose him?], the pietistic as well as the impious is that a man with a very checkered past lacking control imperious engrossed with his image at times just plain inane was remarkably capable of great things, the economy, religious rights, judicial reform for greater minority justice, ending interminable conflict, recreating the entire Middle East Arab Israeli alignment with cooperative engagement, and peace, and now the Vaccines at record speed. Aghast at it all refusing support for reelection many exultant in their insignificant pathos.
Why do we make excuses for anyone who will give us a pro-life Supreme Court? Trump is not for natural marriage. He is okay with the transgender movement. He is a bad leader. Anyone who has had training on leadership knows Trump has terrible leadership skills. No good leader wants to be surrounded only by those who agree with him. Then you end up with the proverbial, “The emperor has no clothes!” situation. This is not good. You can beat me up all you want, but he is no Reagan, he has no humility, but is an egomaniac. His arm was never long enough to pat himself on the back, and he would occasionally throw the American people a compliment or bone. Trump is only for Trump just as the Clintons were for the Clintons and Bush was for the legacy of the Bush family, and Obama was for Obama. Super ego’s rule the day. Trump’s election was a reaction to the unjust media and Democrats attacks on Bush and the Republicans and the radical leftist like Sanders, AOC, etc… For every action, there is an equal re-action so to speak. The media and left made Trump possible. Then they refuse to accept that they started this nightmare with their radicalism. My fear is what comes next. There is now the reaction to Trumpism. It will be worse. With each election cycle since Roe V. Wade, the divide and incivility in politics gets worse. In my own state of Ohio, a good man like Gov. Dewine is abused and attacked because he is not radical. Yet Dewine governs as Saint John Paul II would expect a Catholic gentleman to govern. I fear we Catholics are no longer able to recognize what a truly good Catholic Leader is nor what a good Catholic gentleman is anymore. The waters have been so poisoned by all sides they may not be able to purified without much suffering. It is truly a sad situation.
Tad, Where do I even start? If you believe that abortion is the most pressing social and civil right issue facing our country,and it is,why would you start your letter by reducing that issue by giving it merely a passing reference to Trumps achievements? Your assessment of Trumps character failings are a diversion on the actual victories that this president has attained in a mere 4 years. Your statement on Trumps views on the LGBT movement are patently false,he has set in motion the most Christian based government overhaul for traditional family values in my lifetime. In Biden we have a Catholic who by your standards has leadership qualities but will set back the civil rights of the unborn for decades to come. I can’t help but think that it is people like you,Catholics in name only, that have given a man like Biden the opportunity to kill our future .
Frankly I don’t understand the trashing of President Trump. On Day 1 of his presidency he was targeted as being under the influence of Russia, which was a complete lie. A lie manufactured by Hillary and the Dems and vigorously supported by the media and the elite, like this PhD.
In spite of this President Trump’s accomplishments are nothing but astonishing: rebuilding the economy, bringing jobs back to the US, putting a hold on Chinese actions to destroy the US, installing the US Isreal embassy in Jerusalem, creating a viable option for peace between Isreal and a number of Arab nations, destroying Isis, not starting any new wars etc.
In constrast what have the illustrious past Dem. presidents accomplished. Let’s see. JFK had sex with a number of women in the white house, raped an intern, oversaw the assination of the South Vietnam President and his brother, almost got us in a Nuclear War. Next let’s look at LBJ, what did he do. Well he got the US entangled in Vietnam by his bogus Gulf of Tonkin incident, started the war on poverty where the problems had the opposite effect of enslaving the Black citizens to endless poverty, broken families and sky high abortion etc. I could go on to cite the endless stupidity and vile actions of Carter, Clinton and the never ending narcissistic Obama, but it’s time for me to go to bed.
OnePeterFive published this excellent essay, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I would recommend all the posters on this article read it.
https://onepeterfive.com/trumpianity-is-a-weird-religion/
As disappointed as I am that Trump lost, I am willing to move on. And to be honest I was never comfortable with his personality cult.
Excuse me it’s not a personality cult. President Trump was a president who first and foremost cared about Americans and the unborn who are persecuted and targeted by the Dems. If you are looking for personality cults check out the Kennedy’s, Clinton”s and Obama’s. The press and the Dem’s worship them. They are most narcissistic set of presidents in the last 100 years.
Dear Mr. Blake:
The gigantic problem with your appeal is that you are pretending that reality didn’t happen from 2016-20, which revealed to faithful citizens that the Obama-Biden power alliance seized control of and weaponized the FBI and National Intelligence agencies “to spy on” the GOP candidate for president, as Attorney General Barr rightly called it.
That is a stone cold fact and your line of reasoning requires citizens to ignore that gigantic crime.
Putting the government power at the service of Obama-and-Biden have ushered in the stark-raving evil alliance of the ascendant Mao-ists (Obama) and the old Tammany Hall Crooks (Biden), and they have literally gotten away with committing a 4-5 year criminal conspiracy against their GOP opponent, and they have set the precedent by getting away with this criminal conspiracy, and that the Mao-ist / Crooked Globalist alliance is the “new constitution” that the US law enforcement and intelligence agencies will continue to serve.
You might have an argument to make if you somehow found a way to factor in the reality of that gigantic political crime in your short essay.
But somehow, that gigantic political crime of the Obama-Biden spying operation evaded your notice.
You had best try to grapple with the big realities before trying your hand at chiding observant citizens about “conspiracy-mongering.”” Otherwise, observers might conclude you are not in contact with reality.
I hope you do better next time around.
Well done, Chris in Maryland. Kudos to you.
hank you John.
Dear Mr. Blake:
Here is a more complete and serious assessment of the situation that faithful citizens are confronting:
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/12/an-unstable-system
It’s fundamental appeal is that it doesn’t insist thst citizens must pretend reality isn’t happening.
As Alexis de Tocqueville pointed out nearly two centuries ago in “Democracy in America,” the controversy surrounding the recent election graphically illustrates the dangers of any organized religion becoming affiliated with a government or political party. Whether “left” or “right,” linking one’s faith to the princes of the world is always a mistake, even if it gains some (usually transitory) advantage for a religion. Especially it tends to obscure or bypass any programs or solutions to problems that do not conform to someone’s political agenda, which is why Economic Personalism has been labeled “capitalist” by the socialists, and “socialist” by the capitalists. It doesn’t fit into their preconceptions about reality, very little of which bears any resemblance to reality! They almost inevitably confuse the dignity of the human person created by God, with the dignity of humanity, an abstraction created by man.
“In particular, do we now lack the courage or the ability to rein in the conspiracy-mongering the President has indulged in and encouraged?”
The news and the social media conspired to block information about the corruption of the Biden family until after the election, having enthusiastically publicized all of the lies about President Trump’s alleged involvement with Russia. The news about the vaccine was suppressed by the manufacturer until after the election. The news has been claiming falsely that President Trump said white supremacists were “fine people” even though he made it abundantly plain in the same speech that he utterly condemned white supremacism. I never once saw a news reporter explain what the President’s reasons for claiming that the election was fraudulent were – not once. All they ever said was “baseless claims,” without specifying the claims, and as Janis mentions above there is considerable evidence; they are not baseless. This contrasts with their constant reporting of the details of what actually were baseless claims about President Trump in that dossier. It’s not “conspiracy mongering” when there actually was a conspiracy.
“This is not to deny that there have been positives from Trump’s presidency.”
Praising him with faint damns, huh?
But Trump has still been a poor leader.”
In your opinion, which in my opinion is wrong.
“Though he accelerated the break-up of the calcified consensus of Zombie Reaganism”
How gracious of you to look down from your lofty pinnacle and tell the peasants how ignorant they are. You’ve found a phrase you think sounds good and by golly you’re going to throw it into everything you write.
“his personal flaws, all exacerbated by his lack of self-control, made him an unpopular and ineffective president.”
Where to begin? He is massively popular, as it happens. And he has plenty of self-control or he could not have achieved all the things he has achieved in his life. What his critics appear to mean by “lack of self-control” is that he’s brash and not oleaginously mealy-mouthed in the way so many politicians are. He also has a quirky sense of humor, and I think quite a bit of the criticism of him is by people who are so lacking in humor they can’t even recognize it when it’s smack in front of their eyes.
“The President’s conspiracy-mongering after losing to Joe Biden”
That’s twice you’ve mentioned it. We’re supposed to believe you instead of our lying eyes, huh?
“Instead of shoring up his legacy on the way out, Trump is leading his followers into the fever swamps while floating the idea of running again in 2024.”
They’re not fever swamps. If the accusations are so untrue – for one example, that the Dominion machines can be and were manipulated to move votes from one candidate to another – then the simple solution would be for the program to be analyzed to see if they are true or not? So why have the Democrats been so desperate to prevent that, and then to prevent a report from being released? There are many, many other examples, and while each example is casually brushed aside with a “Oh, that didn’t happen, and even if it did it wouldn’t be enough to change anything,” the cumulative effects of all of them are massive.
May God help us. I pray that God will grant that the truth will come out and the victory will go to President Trump, and that we will not be crushed under the burden of a Democrat presidency that will promote butchering babies, erode our religious liberty, persecute those who know that homosexuality is evil and transgenderism is a wicked fantasy, and open our borders to anybody who wants to come, no matter how destructive their presence may be and how America’s poor will suffer even more. While, of course, enriching the family of a president through selling access to him.
Leslie: Wow! You said what I attempted to say, but so much more. Thanks
Bravo.
Another great one, Leslie!
Academics should not pretend to be political leaders not make recommendations for political action. Their understanding and wisdom regarding such matters can be as limited as a non-academic, or worse because of bad habits.
True! Academics can be so condescending and yet clueless about politics.
For people looking for a good source of information from a legal point of view Viva Frei, a Canadian lawyer, has a law vlog YouTube channel with videos covering current affairs and lawsuits. He also does live streams with American attorney Robert Barnes. Robert Barnes has represented eight Covington Catholic High School students. Because of the heavy handed behavior of YouTube Viva’s video content is cross posted to the Rumble video service. He and Barnes are also building a presence on the locals.com community platform. They have done a lot of election coverage.
“The 2020 election results should have all faithful American Christians, Catholic and otherwise, asking themselves tough questions about politics. Christians may reasonably disagree, of course, about a multitude of issues, but some issues, such as abortion and marriage, are not up for debate.”
The opening sentence reveals a big part of the problem. The idea that there is any Protestant “Christian” is erroneous. The word Christian was applied to Catholics. There were no Protestants back then.
The reason that things are so bad with regards to politics is because of Protestantism. An element of dissent and error which started with the Protestant “Reformation” has caused the disintegration of politics into mostly tyranny by means of unjust laws. It was the usurpation by the state – introduced by Protestantism – of the regulation of the family by the Catholic Church and the introduction of mandatory secular education (in addition to religious issues – e.g. Vatican II – which have occurred since the death of Pope Pius XII) which has largely brought us to this place.
“Thus, Biden supporters who claim to be faithful believers face the question: what are you going to do about it? What will you do to call the President you voted for back into alignment with Christian teaching? What will you do to challenge your political party’s positions on abortion, religious liberty and human sexuality?”
This seems impossible, but assuming that Biden starts “ruling” by usurping abuse of executive “orders” which AREN’T law it would be possible to impeach him.
“In particular, do we now lack the courage or the ability to rein in the conspiracy-mongering the President has indulged in and encouraged?”
Conspiracy is a crime. The question is whether it is proved or not. It is doubtful that anything short of active investigations would be able to lay to rest the speculation regarding the 2020 election. There are partisan “hacks” who will lie in service to President Trump, but given the nature of the crime of conspiracy it demands something more than a superficial examination of easily obtainable evidence.
“But Trump has still been a poor leader. Though he accelerated the break-up of the calcified consensus of Zombie Reaganism, his personal flaws, all exacerbated by his lack of self-control, made him an unpopular and ineffective president. Thus, though there is no way forward for Republicans that does not include Trump’s supporters, there is likely no way forward that is led by Trump.”
The only possibility that Trump might lead is by somehow proof being offered regarding election fraud or if Trump becomes the leader of a second American revolution.
“Conservative Christian must recognize that the causes we care about will not be served by the GOP spending the next four years salving the wounded ego of the soon-to-be former-President Trump and his most loyal supporters. Thus, those of us who supported Trump must be willing to move past him, while those who opposed Trump must be willing to make their peace with his supporters.”
Note that it should be “Conservative Christians.”
What causes do you care about?
The issues and policies of President Trump could – like Ronald Reagan – survive his presidency. The question is: will they?
“We need thinkers who will develop policies and compromises that established Republican voters and Trump voters can agree on—and which also bring in Democrats who despair over their party’s positions on abortion, marriage and religious liberty. That this task is easier said than done does not mean that it is not what needs to be done.”
The best option would be to work on a policy of “economic interventionism.” The only big issue with the Republican party is its association with free market ideology, and its historical support of the rich. If Republicans could actually and effectively help out employees, then they could probably “steal” much of the support from the Democrats.
Democrats are probably not “despairing” about their party’s positions on the above issues. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be Democrats. So-called “Catholics” who voted for Joe Biden are possibly culpably ignorant “CINOs.” They may be able to rationalize their behavior, but it can’t be excused.
“Articulating and advancing a Christian political agenda is hard. It is easier to blast your enemies, be they Trump, Biden, the legacy media or the party establishments, than it is to provide better options. But defensive voting may deteriorate into a spiral of increasingly-evil lesser evils. Holding the line politically must be accompanied by efforts to bring our political leaders and parties into alignment with Christian truths, and to build culturally and spiritually.”
Articulating moral politics as understood by the Catholic Church isn’t hard. Advancing it SHOULDN’T be that hard.
It is easy enough to offer a solution in the realm of theory. Only faithful Catholics should be allowed to hold political offices, and the Catholic Church must become recognized for what it is, and supported by the state. This would NOT mean that the state would give financial support nor necessarily persecute Protestants and other non-Catholics, but the levers of government MUST be in the hands of those who at least have knowledge of morality, are afraid of hell, and are subject to consequences for abuse of their office.
As for advancing, what needs to happen is that there should be a kind of updated “syllabus of errors” promoted on national TV. It would explain why there are political problems, and how to fix them. The fact that mainstream media is largely irresponsible and possibly criminal is probably NOT an accident. It is the suppression of truth or its lack of an influential platform which is THE major issue that needs to be resolved. Free speech is an error. There is no license to lie or propagate error(s).
My hope is that Nikki Haley will be the Republican candidate in 2024. My guess is that Joe won’t make it through 4 years, and Kamala will be running on the Democratic ticket.
As an outsider watching American politics since Donald Trump walked down the escalator, I have been amazed by the fact that he HAS made America great again, and yet so many people voted Democrat in the election. Now since nobody would have given their vote to Biden except perhaps his immediate family, I presume the people who voted for Hilary also voted for Joe. Where did the extra 14 million votes come from?
Also, many people point to Trump’s “character faults” without saying what they are.
I know he likes to enumerate his many achievements, but if he doesn’t who will? Certainly not the media who have been hostile to him.
I have a real problem in agreeing that the Trump presidency encouraged “conspiracy-mongering”. Everything he has stated about the left is absolutely true – there is a serious conspiracy afoot to silence traditional religious views. That much os extremely obvious to even the most casual observer. The election has indeed been stolen due to extreme fraud perpetrated by the left, & we are indeed in a battle of good vs. evil, even the salvation of our own souls. Make no mistake, President Trump behaves as more Catholic than almost ANY of our “Catholic” prelates, even the “pope”. He is not the “lesser of 2 evils”, he is a defender of life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness, as guaranteed in our Constitution, & if he does not ultimately prevail, our country is going to descend ever deeper down the rabbit hole of secularism, possibly with NO chance of return.