We live in unusual times, and Donald Trump is, to put it mildly, an unusual politician.
We need to understand him to deal with him, and with that in mind, I will present my own theory.
What strikes me most is that Trump has distinctive ways of doing things that never seem to vary. Just as he always eats, drinks, and dresses the same, he always operates the same—he wants to make deals, blusters outrageously to unsettle expectations, and then sees what can actually be put together, with lavish praise for those who seem likely to go along and crude insults for the recalcitrant.
His conduct is ruled by that and not by any very demanding moral standard. But neither is it as bad as painted. People accuse him of horrible things, but when I’ve looked into the claims, most have been clearly false, and the rest have lacked good support. He has some obvious vices, but not likely any hidden ones. What you see is what you get, and his wilder comments are evidently some combination of stand-up comedy, negotiator’s posturing, real estate promoter’s lingo, and pro-wrestling trash talk—along with his habit of saying whatever pops into his head.
So he’s not as erratic or uncontrolled as he sometimes seems. Whatever limits he pushes, they are mostly on specifically defined dimensions, and he apparently avoids conduct that would normally cause someone serious legal problems. When the Democrats tried to kick him out of office, bankrupt him, and put him in jail for life, they had to get inventive with their facts and legal theories and choosy about where they would try to get them accepted.
To get to the most important point: he seems, at least to me, a better choice for his position than someone from what now counts as the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The biggest reason for that is that he is not ideological. That’s less because he rises above ideology than because he seems to have no special opinion on what a good public order would look like. Even so, that seems a genuine distinction in his favor.
His goals seem quite simple, and—once again—uniform. In private life, he believes in making a splash and winning in competitive pursuits, and as president, he thinks of the country as basically one of his businesses writ large. So in public life, he believes in “making America great again”: that is, making her more wealthy, powerful, and prestigious, especially in comparison with other countries.
That’s not especially admirable, but it’s far from the worst thing a politician can aim at. In particular, it’s not as bad as progressivism, which has become more and more an attempt to force the world into a mold shaped by an inhuman ideology based on technocracy and content-free abstractions like equality and efficiency, rather than any remotely adequate conception of human life. The result is that with Trump, ordinary human understandings and concerns, although not much fostered, are allowed to enter the picture. The man himself seems somewhat affected by them: his social views seem rather like those of the proverbial guy in a bar in Queens.
These include an interest in how things actually work, and a related concern for basic human connections such as family, culture, and nation that must be respected if the social world is to work at all tolerably. In other words, his social views—although not especially thoughtful or strongly held—are much less crazy, and certainly more tolerant, than those of a “well-educated” liberal.
That outlook is no guarantee of virtue or good policy. But it’s less likely to be destructive and less at odds with prudence and respect for natural law than the progressive aspiration to extirpate natural human connections, along with distinctions as basic as those between the sexes, on the grounds that they violate universal human equality.
The difference can be seen regarding transgenderism, DEI, and life issues. The record of the Trump administration is far from perfect, but they are willing to give natural-law concerns and other aspects of reality some play because, unlike the progressives, they do not consider their extirpation a fundamental requirement of social morality.
His comparatively hands-off approach to issues of basic social order is also less likely to lead to war. He doesn’t have a scheme for transforming the world. Instead, he likes deals, and war is a failure to make a deal. So he doesn’t like it, and is left with the simple response that it’s horrible and destructive—among other things, bad for businesses like real estate development—so it’s best avoided or brought to an end.
That, of course, is all to the good. Nor is Trump likely to invade or undertake other long-term demanding efforts to overthrow annoying but established regimes like Iran or Venezuela and replace them with something radically different. Instead, he prefers forcible but limited and very short-term interventions that weaken opponents and show them who’s boss. That’s not particularly admirable, but it’s better grounded in reality than the more overreaching approaches long followed in the Middle East and Central Asia. Whether and to what extent such efforts are justified, I leave to others, or at least to another time.
Of course, to say that Trumpism is better politically than progressivism is not to say that it is an adequate view of politics and social life, or that it is likely, if it runs its course, to lead to a good or even sustainable society.
Something as transactional as Trump’s approach has little place for long-term loyalties and so is grossly out of place in some settings. It can be useful for unsettling institutional arrangements that have entrenched destructive policies like DEI and perpetual mass immigration from everywhere, and it has led to progress in the Middle East and other places where people had long been at sword’s point. But it doesn’t sit well with a settled system of law and governance, or any system of overall mutual support. For example, does it make sense, even as a negotiating tactic, to talk about forcibly annexing Canada or Greenland?
In a basic way, he is un-political. He wants to be successful running the country as its chief executive. To that end, he does everything by the shortest route possible and has no interest in building alliances and ultimate consensus. That means acting abruptly and without mitigation of unpopular consequences. That’s no way to create long-term support, and he won’t always be the one issuing the executive orders. What then? Does he much care?
The most basic problem, though, is that Trumpism is unconnected to any remotely adequate vision of social life. That makes it at best a stopgap measure against worse things. Its ultimate effect may even be to hasten defeat by provoking outrage, and by failure to build settled arrangements or indeed a movement based on anything but Trump himself.
The shock and awe campaign that the administration has been engaging in has had its uses, but it can’t last forever. At this stage, it seems important for the administration to act more politically and with more respect for usual procedures and the concerns of other people, not to mention dignity and sobriety in high office. Otherwise, the political system is likely to be further degraded as a system, and whatever Trump’s supporters hope to achieve is likely to vanish at the next change in the wind.
With all this in mind, it seems that Catholics who support some of the specific goals of the Trump administration—especially in comparison with those of their opponents—should maintain independence and be somewhat transactional themselves. That has its difficulties, since it’s hard to press too hard with so little power.
But Catholics should at least be honest and realistic, support only what deserves support, and make clear whatever concerns they have and their willingness to act in support of them. He’s not as likely as progressives to oppose those concerns as a matter of principle, but he’s not likely to give them principled support either. So it may be possible to move him, but the effort has to be made.
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Charles de Gaulle: ‘Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.’
“They say they don’t like my methods. Well, I don’t like them either. I really don’t like to have to do things the way I do. I’d much rather get up before the legislature and say, ‘Now this is a good law and it’s for the benefit of the people, and I’d like you to vote for it in the interest of the public welfare.’ Only I know that laws ain’t made that way. You’ve got to fight fire with fire.”
Huey Long
Truth in his saying; what concerns me is that the country is sliding toward using bullets instead of ballots to make change happen; although the sickening Prop 3 passed in MI using ballots.
Governor Long had an up close experience with bullets, too. Unlike President Trump, he didn’t survive it.
Yup.
And it’s sad
Mrscracker, Is that really how we want to act as followers of Christ?
Deal making to achieve good was what was in question, Anne Marie. I don’t take what’s said during dealmaking that seriously. I look at the results.
You might want to be careful about this. I assume you are not saying that the end justifies the means. But it is possible that you might sound like that without intending to.
I don’t believe that any means justifies the end but I don’t take the deal-making drama very seriously. I look at the results, not the shtick.
Shared some office space with a couple who contracted with the same company but we had separate businesses. When we were deciding how much each would pay one of them remarked, “Don’t worry, we’re Christian.”. Didn’t work out.
Trump is isolating America from the world. He treats age old allies like enemies and most have lost trust in America and some are looking at joining new stable alliances, economically and militarily.
When age old allies commit their crimes against humanity, they should be treated like enemies.
What crimes against humanity would that be?
This might be difficult for those comfortable living with simplistic Orwellian reversals of reality to comprehend, but neo-tyrannies, now dominant in Britain, France, Germany, and Russia for example, that overtly persecute Christians and Christian values, even outlawing their voice in public affairs, punctuated by their fostering cultural fantasy norms that destroy the truth, meaning, and origin of authentic human rights, are crimes against humanity.
And in spite of the simplistic biases of the invincibly confidently manipulated, nothing too personal William, Trump has been an arch enemy of Putin, and other non-repentant Marxists, allies in criminality.
The year is 2026, and behold, a lot has happened in 81 years.
And the “allies of 1945” are now controlled by home-grown Nazi/Stazi and their EU commissars, who together deliberately dismantled the energy industries of Western Europe and “budgeted that” by cutting oil deals with Vladimir Putin, who “they publicly pretend” to abhor, while funding his war on Ukraine, as “the price-they-are-willing-to-let-Ukraine-pay,” in order to stage-manage their “zero-emissions” political theater. Meanwhile trampling on the civil rights of the “legacy citizens” of the host countries they plunder.
Simone Weil: “Parties kill truth and justice”
President Trump causes a ruckus and chaos to quickly find out who and what he can work with on a particular issue rather than going through the torture of unending posturing by the involved countries.
Well said Mike!
Bingo
This is how Donald Trump operates –
Check out Trump and Wollman Ice Rink May 31, 1986.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/offwhitepapers/2015/08/24/donald-trump-and-the-wollman-rinking-of-american-politics/
Nobody’s perfect, not even Solomon.
If you the reader, was the subject of assassins, cheated by subterfuge in a national election, and thwarted by the unmitigated Lamestream Media of your own country and the WEF, a President of MAGA isPatri just what you need.
King Solomon’s infidelity to God through his many pagan wives brought about the division of Israel in which it never recovered and re-united. Eventually, both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah were defeated by their enemies.
Your point?
This is such a balanced, thoughtful, and reasonable article on this complex man and president – – and all from a Catholic perspective. Thank you!
Amen!!!
Agree.
Disagree. This is a shameful piece of of presumptions about motivations that is as unchristian as humanly possible.
What’s the shameful presumption about motivation? That he likes to make a splash and likes to win, and these are his big concerns? I don’t think I say much else about motivations.
In a 2015 interview with The Washington Post he said “My whole life is about winning.” Does that take my comment out of shameful presumption territory?
No it doesn’t. A spur of the moment frivolous remark, seeking only to describe perseverance, does not define the totality of a man, and you illustrate my point to believe it does.
This seems odd to me. He’s constantly talking about winning, and about losers, so it’s evidently very important to him. Has he talked that much about any other motive for doing things?
More basically, though, we need to discuss public men, their character, and their evident motives in order to decide how to deal with them. Is that something Christians should never do?
President Trump has laid down his “lavish” life for Americans.
Whats not to love?
Mr. Trump has many excellent and practical ideas. As a politician, he has one major flaw: he can’t get people to work WITH him, only FOR him. This was noticeable in his first term as president, with the turn-over of the members of his government. Even now, there are members of his own party who are distancing themselves from his positions. In a democracy, this is a serious flaw, and it is not surprising that one effect of his presidency is a deepening of the already dangerous polarization of the country.
Donald Trump could learn from Ronald Reagan.
If he learned from Reagan, he would keep doing what he is doing. Getting rid of elitists, even eltitists within his own party and inhereted executive branch, and elitism within culture is the single best and most important thing a president can do.
This article is drivel.
Don’t forget we’re actually a Republic.
We don’t put our faith in princes, but Trump’s definitely better than Kamala would have been. Your take is good.
Agree
I certainly agree that Trump was a preferable alternative to Harris. But that only gets us past November 2024. It doesn’t get us to January 2029.
Mr. Kalb explains Donald Trump accurately except for his failure to write that Donald Trump lacks the fear of the LORD. “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverted mouth, I hate.” (Prov.8:13)
Donald Trump by his actions and his words does not hate evil, is proud, is arrogant, has evil ways, and is slanderous in his words. A true Christian cannot be supportive of such a person in leadership.
And so, for serious Catholics, the Democrat alternative is preferable?
Liars are abhorred by God, and Donald Trump divides the nation with his lies.
With regard to division:
“Bitter Clingers”
“Deplorables”
“determined to take this country backwards” (against a Nurembergesque background)
Selective indignity much?
Name one (if you can). And by the way, difference of opinion regarding interpretations of things doesn’t qualify as a “lie.”
All politicians lie, unfortunately.
So, which leaders meet that criteria in the last 200 years? Go ahead, I will wait. Heck, I could point to a few popes that cannot fulfill that criteria.
I pray for him every day, with almost every news story, for protection, good health, wisdom, strength, joy, and a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ for him and his family. Love him.
More insults. Is that all you got? Churchill had clever insults. Can you at least try to be clever with your insults?
Have you ever been clever with yours?
Yes, if you read carefully. Perhaps they go over your head? You seem hard core MAGA, which explains a lot.
Yes, if you read it at all. Perhaps everything goes over your head? You’ve demonstrated that you are hard core Left, it explains your incoherence.
I am a true Christian, and I agree with Mr. Kalb, and I voted for Trump 3 times.
Therefore, you are mistaken about how a true Christian must behave.
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverted mouth, I hate.”
And this is somehow different from the content of your character in your soul-judging formation of your accusations?
Harris came to MI and preached reprod. Freedom AT an abortion clinic. Trump pardoned those who were arrested at an abortion clinic and thrown in the clink- who you gonna vote for?
In the end, I don’t buy it. Sure, from the vantage point you are taking, what you say is relatively coherent. Move to another vantage point and focus on other aspects of “liberal” thought (as opposed to gender ideology and DEI) and focus on other aspects of Trump’s record, and a much uglier picture begins to emerge. It’s all in the vantage point. The man is a pathological narcissist, and the narcissist does immeasurable harm in the long run–talk to someone who was married to a genuine NPD. I think you are underestimating the damage that a pathological narcissist as a president can and will do–and arguably overstating the damage that things like DEI and gender theory do in the long run.
In DSM-5-TR, NPD is defined as comprising a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), a constant need for admiration, and a lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by the presence of at least 5 of the following 9 criteria:
A grandiose sense of self-importance (eg, the individual exaggerates achievements and talents and expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
A preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
A belief that he or she is special and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people or institutions
A need for excessive admiration
A sense of entitlement (ie, unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations)
Interpersonally exploitive behavior (ie, the individual takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends)
A lack of empathy (unwillingness to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others)
Envy of others or a belief that others are envious of him or her
A demonstration of arrogant and haughty behaviors or attitudes
source: https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1519417-overview?form=fpf
And that all translates to eating at McDonald’s how?
🙂
Touché
And yet, still far better than the alternative. That is precisely where we are today my friend.
Agree
Since you are making a psychological diagnosis here when you aren’t even remotely qualified to do so, you may want to research the concept of projection, which appears to be going on in your post.
Actually I am qualified to do so. And I’ve been doing so since 2005.
Really? You have a lot of Oedipal rage that you are projecting on Trump. Just out of curiosity, does he remind you of mommy or daddy? Maybe you should work on that.
Suddenly you have the qualifications to make a psychological diagnosis. That must mean that if you do not, if you are not a psychiatrist or psychologist, then you have a lot of Oedipal rage that you are projecting, according to the reasoning of your initial reply. The logic is not quite there.
Might be uncle?
If you were qualified, you would know that you don’t “diagnose” in public, without consent and without a provider-patient relationship and the acquisition of a medical history, tests and inquiries and then publicly disclose protected health information. In spite of the ad hoc suspension of HIPAA six years ago, PHI is still PHI.
So tell us are you unqualified, unethical or just prone to traffic in genetic fallacies.
This article says it all:
https://www.theglobalist.com/narcissism-and-donald-trump-united-states/
We used to call the hospital to find out how our neighbor or relative was faring, and they were happy to give out their current status, like “stable.”
Nothing you wrote doesn’t/didn’t apply to Biden, Obama, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan, Carter..
Now let’s discuss the Roosevelts and Wilson.
95-99% of Congress, 95-99% of the Judiciary…A good many Bishops, arguably Pope Francis
So while you are diagnosing mental disorders..
Check out:
Rehab Centers That Offer Treatment for Trump Derangement Syndrome.
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866-618-1141
Hmmm! Sounds like 90% of the Democratic Party politicians , Holywood celebrities, college professors, and fill-in the blank with names of Marxist, Communist, Socialist elitist institutional atheists who are well on the way to turning the USA into the like. In other words, as St. John tells us, antichrists.
Thomas James: Does your own narcissism preclude an absence of self-awareness for indulging silly projections? Does it render you incapable of appreciating the intentional put-on nature of so much of the preening that Trump demonstrates? Does it preclude noticing the many occasions when Trump reversed his showmanship and engaged self-deprecation. And no empathy? So there was no “empathy” in his thousands of acts of spur of the moment personal generosity and charity towards many he has encountered in life by simple chance? And there was no social concern when he always demanded trade unions who worked on his projects be integrated before anyone else did?
Thomas James: If you’re not seriously influenced by the imperatives of Christianity about forming judgments and not forming judements, you might consider the inherent irrationality of presumptuousness regarding the actions of others.
These are often brought up in marriage counseling and encounters.
Thank you for the article. You stated, “The most basic problem, though, is that Trumpism is unconnected to any remotely adequate vision of social life. That makes it at best a stopgap measure against worse things. Its ultimate effect may even be to hasten defeat by provoking outrage, and by failure to build settled arrangements or indeed a movement based on anything but Trump himself.” This put into words my disquiet with Trump. I appreciate some of his policies, but he makes the entire process so painful. At best, having Trump as a president is like eating strawberries in an outhouse. Yes, the strawberries are good, but the experience is unpleasant to say the least.
A funny and useful analogy.
Which applies thusly: “The opposing option, i.e., Kamala H and Tim W and their replacements like Gavin H and Governor Spannberger, are like being forced to eat what’s in the outhouse.
Well Mr. Michael, as someone who used to be very familiar with outhouses I can share that they’re not a bit unpleasant unless you fail to maintain them. A little lime goes a long way.
Donald Trump seems a combination of a Borscht Belt comedian, Huey Long, & my scary little dog, RIP, who behaved in an embarrassingly aggressive way to strangers but kept me & my family safe.
You forgot mob lawyer Roy Cohn, his mentor.
My dog came close to needing a mob lawyer.
I believe canines are the #1 cause of liability claims on homeowners/renters policies.
Probably so. My dog had some close encounters.
If you’ve ever read All Creatures Great ans Small, Siegfried remarked that he couldn’t understand why anyone would keep a dog, yet he had 5 or so with him on vet his rounds and running in their quarters, Skedale House, if I remember.
In effect, Trump is the classic “lesser of two evils.” I can understand that. I cannot understand the hero worship of MAGA, which seems profoundly naive.
Trump is not exactly a “classic conservative.” He is all over the map on various issues. The threats and insults have become tiring. The alienation of allies like Canada is not good in the long run. The tariffs do not seem to have a grand strategy, more like operating on emotion.
One interesting thing Trump has done is to get Democrats in blue states advocating states rights. The concept of states rights got a bad name in the 1960’s with Southern segregationists. That said, with an activist, right wing Federal Government, it might make sense for blue states to beat the old drum of states rights.
Also, some Republicans now might consider “reasonable gun control” with regards to illegal aliens, transgenders and militant Leftists. Second Amendment absolutism might be losing some ground.
Finally, Trump turned the GOP into a personality cult. What happens after him?
“I cannot understand the hero worship of MAGA, which seems profoundly naive.”
Who are you to judge?
Talking to a leftist about Trump (or Reagan or anybody who isn’t a full bore statist, collectivist, globalist, redistributionist) is a lot like talking to a certain type of Protestant about Mary.
That Protestant, seeking to buttress their preconceived notion that Catholics and Catholic doctrine are profoundly wrong and attached to error, exaggerate reverence and respect to worship, happily skipping over Luke 1:48 (because all Bible verses are Sola, but some are more Sola than others-the way Luther called the Book of James an “epistle of straw” when it was inconvenient).
Political leftists similarly exaggerate support and enthusiasm to worship among their enemies.
Of course, it isn’t that the leftist opposes political worship as a principle since they are constantly looking for people to “lead” them rather than represent them.
Nor is it that they don’t understand how people support or are enthusiastic for Trump, it is that they don’t understand how Trump supporters aren’t good leftists, supporting leftist causes and bowing before leftist icons and politicians.
When Obama said in 2009, “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”, there was suggestion that his supporters were idolaters, despite the obvious necessity of divinity to reconfigure a planet, deus ex machina.
Similarly the stenographers in the media told us Obama was “watching us, watch him” and that he had an “incandescent” intellect, and swoonin’ Peggy Noonan went to the Wall Street Journal to describe him as “elegant” (what man wants to be called elegant?) and then the choir awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize for nothing.
By 2015:
“Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to achieve what the committee hoped it would, its ex-secretary has said.
Geir Lundestad told the AP news agency that the committee hoped the award would strengthen Mr Obama.
Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US, external. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.”
Source: BBC News.
Look at who the left supported this latest go-round. The Democrat elites continually told us that Biden was “sharp as a tack”, until the obvious denial of his mental infirmity was so indefensible that there was a behind the scenes coup d’etat and without a single vote, they coronated Kamala Harris, whose cloddish oratory couldn’t be excused by senility.
You don’t understand the political support for imperfect and impulsive Trump (especially given the alternative(s)), elections are constrained choices) and I don’t understand how you navigate the ambiguities of life. The people you think are naive wish you would aspire to naiveté as it would represent a significant cognitive, emotional and personability upgrade.
Pot calling the kettle black. Who is being judgmental?
Thank you PR 🙂
You’re welcome
Replying to William:
“Finally, Trump turned the GOP into a personality cult. What happens after him?”
Marco Rubio 👍🙏🏻
Your commentary frequently displays impressionisms of liberal news media interpretations and characterizations of events, which you treat as indisputable fact. There is no “hero worship” of the political values of MAGA. Trump’s strict conservatism makes Reagan’s seem like communism. “States rights” are mandated by the Constitution, which limits the authority of the federal government only to delegated powers and reserves all else to the States. There is no such thing as a “right wing.” Conservatism, by definition, rejects all manmade ideology, and “wings” of ideology are all one sided by those who created the fiction of a spectrum.
And in spite of his narcissism, Trump emphatically rejects elitist social management of all human initiatives, which ought to inspire the support of Christians who recognize the intrinsic evil of all cultic tyrannies presented as “progress.
Trump is not a classic conservative, like say Ronald Reagan. He is all over the map. His tariffs are in fact right wing populism. His call to Federalize elections are unconstitutional and in no way conservative. You spew a lot of MAGA drek, which explains your worship of Trump. You seem to think that he is the Pope speaking ex cathedra, in capable of error.
Bizarre.
Worship of Trump? I don’t even especially like the guy. But leftist irrationality cannot exist without projections, reducitonisms, and presumptions. You seem to know as little about the Constitution as you do about the simple meaning of words, not to mention respect for the Eighth Commandment. To construe a public expression of a propositional idea as “trying to make” anything happen is the presumption of a teenager.
In the wake of years of massive national voter fraud, that only a profound fool would deny, Trump, merely calling for oversight, said, “I want to see elections be honest, and if a state can not run an election, I think the people behind me should do something about it” referring to legislators standing behind him. In itself, theis not unconstitutional. Seriously, did some talking head on Tee Vee dictate that you believe otherwise?
And your prejudices do not equip you to understand conservatism, even on a theoretical level. Innate truth, natural law, and rights exclusively understood as divine endowments and never as political inventions, the essence of conservative principles, has been at the core of Trump’s expressed political values, even before entering politics.
Trump violates the Constitution with calls to nationalize elections, set tariffs, refuse to spend funding already appropriates by Congress, etc. Are you a Constitutional scholar? Like the Pitchfork Rebel you engage in insult to buttress your positions, but insults prove nothing other than you are drinking the MAGA Kool Aid.
I am not a “Leftist” but rather a classic conservative. I have no love of Democrats, but cannot abide the naive, child like adulation of Trump espoused by the right wing echo chamber which constitutes many of the comments here.
Prior to being President, Trump regularly stiffed vendors, subcontractors and others on his projects. “Trump University” was a scam as is the current cryptocurrency film flam. Your child like belief in him betrays a naïveté that is bordering on cult like.
Finally, conservative and right wing are not the same. Mussolini was not a conservative.
William is a very confused and bitter individual. He claims Trump wants to “nationalize elections” while ignoring the constant leftist cries to abolish the electoral college.
That he thinks he is a “classic conservative” is delusional based on his constant inclusion of left wing positions and slogans in his posts. That he thinks Mussolini was “right wing” shows a serious lack of advancement beyond the typical drivel of politicized junior high school text books of a few decades ago.
When you frustrate his emotional polemics with facts at odds with his cherished shibboleths, he resorts to vague accusations.
As an aside, fixating on the now defunct Trump University of being a scam while ignoring the still operating universities, who scam their students by offering absolutely useless degrees while saddling them with annual costs that require in a great many cases, an expenditure of a quarter million dollars as they erect hedge funds under the guise of “endowment” requires some serious horse blinders.
Good analogy. Trump’s personality, to me, definitely needs improvement/ But his policies so far, have improved our country. But one important item most Catholics omit or ignore, is his pro-life adherence. He is pro-life. I personally believe that this comes from his wife Melania’s influence. I’ve read that she is very devoted to Blessed Mary. Having a First Lady who is very devoted to Blessed Mary is a wonderful thing for our county.
I prefer someone who speaks to the public against bullying, to please speak to her husband. I prefer someone whose words and actions represent even a small segment of the Sermon on the Mount, to someone who represents nothing of it.
Dear Mr. Thiel:
The prognosis is that neither Jesus, nor even Abraham Lincoln, will enter the primary in the foreseeable elections, and therefore, your litmus test will not avail.
Someone who is not a lover of money and gold would be a good start. Even someone who forgives their enemies would be someone better than the person currently occupying the White House.
Did you ever read the Sermon on the Mount? Reconsider your Eighth Commandment defying presumptions that a philanthropist cannot have anything in his soul other than a love of money.
And forgiving ongoing progressive forces around the world busy committing their crimes against humanity does not does not really square with the Sermon and would be an evil thing to do.
Mr. Thiel:
I am going to give you a reply to your statement here, later this evening, because it deserves to be answered with some care and deliberation.
Until then…
Mr. Wiston, I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. Melania Trump described her pro-abortion views in her 2024 memoir. Donald Trump also is pro-abortion. He did nominate SC justices to return the issue to the states, but he now supports access to abortion drugs that are used to cause 2/3 of procured abortions and will not even take executive action to prevent those drugs from being sent to the states that have outlawed them. So much for states’ rights or the good of women and children.
Let me know when you find the next enlightened, philosopher king.
Like Kalb we need to put our reasoning on hold and inspect the results, which far exceed the benevolence for nation and person than his predecessors. Next I would add to the assessment use your imagination.
Imagine someone either by the Fates, beyond the grasp of the Muse beyond the reach of the gods, who when insulted by Barack Obama at a fete, “Maybe Donald should run for president” causing an uproar of laughter. And he did to the eternal regret and chagrin of the socialist from Chicago.
Does he have an ideology? As Kalb indicates it’s not evident. Although does he have a moral compass? Under his presidency Catholicism has flourished [comparatively speaking]. Why he declared the Immaculate Conception “A Holy Day honoring the faith, humility, and love of Mary, mother of Jesus and one of the greatest figures in the Bible”. That does not sit well with the Protestant majority.
If he were a pure politician he would avoid as it seems favoring Catholics. Again. Imagination. Has the God of god’s put this anomaly in a position to save Mankind? Well, if the Popes won’t do it why not this loudmouth anomaly who puts so many to shame.
One can say many things to garner votes, but God looks at the heart. I know professing agnostics who have kind and compassionate hearts, and professing Christians who do not.
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise…”
🙂
Do not assume whom God has chosen to confound the wise, because the day will come when God confounds the hypocrites: “God sends them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thess.2:11)
You can accuse Donald Trump of all sorts of unstatesmanlike behaviors and you may not appreciate his personality but he is what he presents himself to be. I don’t think that’s being hypocritical. It’s just not to everyone’s taste.
I prefer unmannerly politicians who get things done to the variety who don’t.
You are claiming the power to read hearts. Just Who do you think you are?
Mr. Thiel:
No one who is familiar with the Gospel is “assuming” that God might choose to confound the wise. On the contrary, they “know” that God has chosen to confound the wise, because “they know so” from reading the very words of Jesus, who declared this to us.
Perhaps you are simply unaware of that declaration by Jesus?
Here they are, for your awareness:
https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Matthew%2011%3A25
And “beware the nonconformist.”
“Its ultimate effect may even be to hasten defeat by provoking outrage…”
Exactly– I fear the GOP will lose both houses of Congress this fall as we see a sharp reaction to some of the more outrageous things Trump has done. After all, Republicans have only a razor-thin margin in both houses as it is. If the reaction is severe enough, we could even see another Trump impeachment, although that still would leave a Democratic Congress with JD Vance to block any significant changes until 2029, and that assumes that rule of law still means anything in another couple of years.
Wonderful article in its balance of the topic.
Whatever his flaws, what I appreciate about President Trump is that he is a businessman and not a lawyer. Businessmen want to make a deal. Lawyers, I submit, may fall prey to seeing things in opposition. Them, us. My political party over the opposing one. Not good for consensus-building. I much prefer a businessman, (or businesswoman,) in public office vice yet another lawyer.
You hear the one about the two lawyers who went out fishing and one fell overboard and the current was too strong for him to swim back? All of sudden he’s being pushed by some finned creature back to the boat, who stays by the boat’s edge for a step until he can climb back in. When the creature swam away the other lawyer exclaimed,”that was a great white that brought you back!” The other lawyer lifted the towel away from his head and replied, “of course, professional courtesy.”
A decent article mr.kalb
It explains some hope in the situation we now find ourselves..the problem is we are not taking responsibility for the mistake we made in electing him in the first place…I voted for Mr trump in 2016 was unhappy with him then but did appreciate some progress in adhering to my christian values in some policy. ie supreme court/roe v wade…I voted again for him in 2020 because I was furious at the democrats at the way he was treated and the hatefulness I experienced from the “christian” nevertrumpers, but I felt he would get beaten…in 2024 I voted third party and Mr randall terry out of conviction…I had a 8 years to think about it and believe I made the right choice…my point is this, I think we vote because we think it will make our country better, and yes this is a correct assumption, but we are in a time like no other and I believe the Lord is up to something beyond our conventional wisdom, and that might be taking us into a time of persecution so as to show us a time of deliverance after the political system collapses somewhat…the blue wave is coming this year and in 2028….then as things get worse and we experience some suffering, God will reveal himself and we will thank Him for our deliverance and not a king or prince or president could do…as scripture teaches us…pride comes before a fall, and our president unfortunately is due for a big one and we who supported this for even the right motives will have to share he blame….maybe in 2032 we will have our act together and can help redirect this nation , but as secondary to the pursuit of the kingdom of God…
President Trump recently musing in the media that he’s not sure he’d get to heaven, was another way of eliciting feedback, as I make it. Granted it is good to seek feedback, it should be clear on what is in view and it should have at least some definiteness about the pursuit not just the topic. Then he tried to inveigle pro-lifers to allow wiggle room, meaning he was a) swinging with the pro-death side and b) telling pro-life that submissiveness would be the right posturing. More can be said about those two “dispositions” / “bargain friendly tactics”; however, what hits hard is the subtlety in the timing where he first shared his “troubled feeling” about getting to heaven.
Sometime in the past three days or so before boarding helicopter, telling the reporter that he -reporter- had no love in his heart! Trump surely knows it won’t square.
“President Trump recently musing in the media that he’s not sure he’d get to heaven”.
He only stated the position we should all hold. This is Catholic World Report, not the Persistent Salvation Journal. Philippians 2:12-13 says to work out your salvation with “fear and trembling”.
I’d rather that, than “Catholic” Biden who never expressed such doubt, because as we know, fumbling a Rosary for conspicuous public display makes up for his support of abortion and pseudonogamy and the public rejection of a grandchild.
Then again, this is none of your concern.
Trump’s mixed up positions, as with anybody’s mixed up positions, are not ones we should all hold with you deciding if it’s anyone’s concern based both on Biden being conspicuous with a rosary and otherwise multiplied cognitive Freudian slips of whatever description -and on nationality. Pro-lifers everywhere have to be careful not to get sucked into a world of the provisional, the make-do and the bad nuance: true love of live, liberty and happiness are not like that, anywhere.
Amen to that…times 1,000.
I wonder if he was brainwashed as other elderly can become. He didn’t used to be so nonsensical on his thinking.
His wilder comments are evidently some combination of stand-up comedy, negotiator’s posturing, real estate promoter’s lingo, and pro-wrestling trash talk—along with his habit of saying whatever pops into his head (Kalb).
If you’ve ever wondered why Trump never gets stuck in a blank mind dilemma like Biden, or some of us have, it’s because as Kalb observes, he says whatever pops into his head. He’ll momentarily search then say something like, Nobody’s ever accomplished these things except me – and carry on from there.
I believe it was Robert Kennedy who said the trick of getting out of the sudden blank mind dilemma is to memorize a poem or two. When you lose track, pause, then cite a bit of poetry. Generally poetry can nuance almost any subject matter, and even if not quite evident the listener is apt to say, The man is brilliant!
When preaching I don’t use a written speech or have reminders to glance at. When having difficulty with recalling what I wished to say I’ll turn to a scriptural passage, an event that generally fits since all scripture has a commonality.
A good preparation for public speaking is to memorize powerpoints that you can easily reconnect to and be creative in doing so. The main thing is to invoke meaningful interest rather than provide sedation.
And be brief. Limit homilies to 7 or 8 minutes. There are speakers who are able to hold the congregation for 15 or more minutes, but they are few and far between. When people start yawning and checking their watches, you have spoken too long.
It all comes down to this one simple fact about Donald Trump. He is a conman and he is very good at it, he knows it, he brags about it:
“They say I have the most loyal people — did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.”. “It’s like incredible.”
In each of the last three presidential elections he has gained voters, even after attempting to stay in power by interfering with the certification of the 2020 election on Jan.6. A holy day representing the baptism of Jesus, and it became the unholy day of baptism of the stolen election lie.
“He is a conman and he is very good at it…”
As good of conman as Obama (who got elected after accomplishing nothing and then managed to make a mess of everything while ruining health insurance and pushing the culture of death) or Biden (who spent 50 years in public office lying, supporting abortion and other evils, while claiming to be a good Catholic)?
America is not a theocracy of one Christian denomination, or of one religious belief. A good Catholic leader would not force his beliefs on Americans who are not Catholic. Just like God gives us each a free will, so a good Catholic leader would not force his religious beliefs on non-Catholics. No politician has ever forced a woman in having an abortion, unless they had illicit affairs that they wanted to remain hidden.
“A good Catholic leader would not force his beliefs on Americans who are not Catholic.”
That’s funny. Except you’re serious. That’s sad.
I’d settle for Catholic leaders who are actually Catholic.
Biden was a hardcore supporter of abortions, contraception, homosexuality, “gay marriage,” transgenderism, trans-insanity, etc., etc.
Can we just cut the nonsense about Joe Biden and acknowledge that he was either a colossal hypocrite or a gaslighting fraud? Thanks.
Mr. Olson – Your comment about Joe Biden – “He was either a colossal hypocrite or a gaslighting fraud.”
Would you settle for both?
(BTW – keep up the good work.)
I would settle for a person who does not want to control others. Having been raised Catholic with twelve years of Catholic education and having been brain-washed with the operant conditioning of basic training, I know what control does to one’s very soul. And that is my understanding why so many Catholics support a person like Donald Trump. The great schism continues. The war between Russia and Ukraine is a continuation of the great schism. Humility requires admitting that authority over the earth, whether spiritual or civil is not given to one person.
“A good Catholic leader would not force his beliefs on Americans who are not Catholic.”
You mean the way the mandatory public acceptance of homosexual pseudogamy was forced on a variety of observant faiths who did not subscribe to the belief?
To Michael Thiel:
“America is not a theocracy of one Christian denomination, or of one religious belief. A good Catholic leader would not force his beliefs on Americans who are not Catholic. ”
When Congress passed a bill to legalize abortion nationwide it was sent to the Executive branch to finalize. President George W Bush, a good, non apologetic Protestant Christian, vetoed it saying ” I will not let this nation cross this moral line.” ? Forcing his beliefs on Catholics or other non Protestant faiths? More like recognizing the trajectory toward the moral and social decline that our nation was and is suffering from.
Mr. Thiel:
I was wondering whether you merely proposed what was preposterous, or instead believed what was preposterous.
In any case, whether you merely propose or believe, it is preposterous to assert a purity test that a politician must both hate money AND love his enemies. The first is very rare among men, and the second is extremely rare, like unto Christ, and those few Christians that do actually obey His commandment to love our enemies, as Mrs. Erica Kirk obeys.
Mr. Trump is no choir boy, but he doesn’t pretend to be a Christian. He obviously relishes the living the high life, and though admiring some Christians, he publicly admits he finds the command of Jesus to be too demanding.
This makes him anathema to most politicians, who are supreme frauds, and live pretending to hate the monied life they love, and pretend they love everybody (everybody EXCEPT Hitler…and Trump…and sometimes Putin).
It seems that the author of the Sermon on the Mount considers that Man…after the Fall…is the very definition of preposterous: a fraudulent being, foolish and perverse in every worst sense, whose very priorities are inverted, and who denies everything that is true and natural, including reality itself.
For the minority of people of good will, trying to obey the law of truth, and hoping to live in some degree of freedom and peace, it is necessary to restrain all other politically ambitious men from accumulating power, because unlike Trump, they love their money IN SECRET while preaching AFFORDABILITY, and they hate their enemies IN SECRET, behind the veil of “civility.”
Let go of the preposterous, and take men for what they are, as Jesus defines men.
Your second to last paragraph about the love of money hits the nail on the head. Jesus challenged the world on this and look how he was treated.
When you facilitate abortion or any evil, you contribute to the corruption of human will.
And why would you assume that opposition to evil is idiosyncratic to Catholicism? Didn’t you comment above that agnostics can have good will? During my years as an atheist Pro-lifer, did I have an obligation to shut up? Would you “force” me to shut up if I didn’t?
Obama was basically the DEI President. A white man with his experience would not likely be nominated, but voting for Obama was a wonderful opportunity for white liberals to feel good about themselves. Biden exhibited dementia fairly early on during his term and when it was obvious that he cannot run, the Democrats resorted to the “spare tire” Harris. All fair enough summaries.
All that said, do the inadequacies of Obama and Biden, somehow make Trump a good President? No. He is no Reagan. To say that he is a good President is absurd.
When I was growing up in the 70s, people used to say,”Someone should do something about that.” Trump is that type of person who acts.
I saw a clip of him speaking when he was younger, and he was not like he is now on abortion, which has now been labeled as healthcare by those seeking office.
This is pure and real TDS – Trump Derangement Syndrome. Just like any MAGA (Mindless Adorer of the Grifter Autocrat) whose kids were raped by Trump in front of them, he’d be quick to make excuses for it.
Please tell me that you are not an actual deacon. Because you continually cross lines that even philistines would hesitate to break.
Carl, if he were actually a Catholic deacon, he wouldn’t hesitate to use his full name..
I considering he’s one the hard left Bishops such Cupich, Seitz, Stowe, McElroy… using a diaconate pseudonym as deception.
Touché
The sad thing is you actually think you are clever.
You’re a hateful little thing, aren’t you?
And if Trump cured childhood cancer, mindless hate-filled leftists would call him a racist and denier of women’s rights.
How can he cure cancer when he has cut funding for medical research? He has inflicted the charlatan RFK Jr on the public. Gid help us.
Part of the problem is we’re always looking for a cure instead of prevention.
Whole milk is a healthy choice to soda pop.
…preposterous comment …
Is this an accusation or do you have a source to reference for its truth?The DNC certainly would have used some of the billion it spent on Harris getting the word out on this one.
Kalb’s best article, ever. But some might parse the title as “Making Cents of Donald Trump.”
One thing we know for certain to be true, with Donald Trump, unlike Joe Biden, one could practice one’s Catholic Faith and not worry about being persecuted for defending the Sanctity and Dignity of Human Life from the moment of conception, and the Sanctity and Dignity of The Sacrament of Marriage. We are certainly living in the strangest of times, when a multitude of Catholics vote for a party that would not hesitate to persecute Catholics for desiring to protect the Sanctity and Dignity of human life from the moment of conception to natural death, and desiring to protect the Sanctity and Dignity of the marital act within The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony as God Desires, which are fundamental to The Deposit Of Faith. Woe to us!
As this article set out to evaluate Trump in his own right (and not in comparison to alternatives) from a Catholic point of view, it’s not surprising it needed to waffle so lengthily to produced a half-favourable effect. From a Catholic point of view, Trump fails on every score.
He is “pro-choice” (apart from the last five minutes of pregnancy), pro-homosexual marriage, prone to obscene words and gestures which are subsequently justified by the administration, declares he recognises no morality bu his “own mind”, celebrates sub-contracting a socialist regime to work for the United States after kidnapping its head of state (because “it’s our oil”), and believes in nothing but embodies every old WASP prejudice in his conduct towards the Catholic countries of the Americas.
Catholics don’t have “concerns”, for Heaven’s sake. They have a worldview. As long as it remains invisible, Catholics will do what Caracas is now supposedly doing: working for people and things they don’t like.
The overall intention was to describe rather than evaluate. I say he’s better than a mainstream Democrat, but that’s comparative. And today Catholicism can enter everyday politics only as a collection of concerns.
Agree.
Mary Trump on Donald Trump: “He can’t let anything go that paints him as a loser. Donald is a deeply insecure person and in my family being a loser was literally the worst thing you could possibly be. It was deserving of humiliation and worse. He is still trying to re-write that narrative to protect his fragile ego”
Every family seems to have someone like Mary Trump…
Likely true!
It must be hard to be pretty much a nonentity when a relative is very successful.
Well, I’m MAGA. No apologies.
I don’t worship Trump, but I regard him as a hero. I’m thankful that he’s tackling my most important issues; the issues I voted him for.
Immigration A+ (Maybe because I’m an immigrant – a legal one, a naturalized US citizen. I support Trump and not our bishops and pope on this subject. I’m glad we’re not talking dogma here, I can disagree with our shepherds on illegal immigration and still remain Catholic. I like that Trump recognizes the difference between illegals who broke the law and the legals who wait in line for decades before they can enter. Our bishops, and yes – the pope – fail to recognize the dignity of legal immigrants – and that makes me feel like a sucker for following the law.)
Trump, for challenging birthright citizenship A+; Abortion B (compared with the Dems, that’s not bad at all); Streamlining the federal bureaucracy A+; two genders only, male and female A.
Israel B (only because Netanyahu is over-the-top, but anyway, Trump recognizes there are suffering Christians and starving children in Gaza). Greenland, Venezuela, and Canada – I find those incredibly audacious – but surprise me! Tariffs are a gamble.
I also find Trump entertaining – an excellent storyteller with a comedic load of quirky self-aggrandizement and self-deprecation. I never know whether he’s bragging or complaining – but entertaining, just the same. Crude language, but not as crude as to make a sailor blush. Not as smooth a storyteller as Regan. Trump is Regan with an O. Henry twist.
I agree his accomplishments might be ephemeral. The next Democrat president might just dash them off. But for now, I’m celebrating. God bless Trump and the hermit of Loreto.
Even if I didn’t agree with you, I’d say that’s a great post, compelling, coherent, realistic.
Maybe you should be teaching composition and rhetoric to some of the usual rant and screed posters who traffic in unfettered visceral emotion.
Post more please.
I’m the great grandson of immigrants. I really only knew my maternal grandmother’s mother, but I always remember her last few years when she lived with my grandmother.
In her room were the modest effects of her ninety plus years- her religious items, and her framed citizenship certificate. She also had a trunk with various documents, including had some MUNICIPAL tax statements from the years before she was naturalized (fifty or sixty years old), because she instinctively knew she had an obligation to contribute (as if having one son at war factory, one on a ship off Normandy and another touring the sunny South Pacific during World War II wasn’t enough of a contribution) to the “civic burden”. Her English was somewhat deficient, but raising seven children in an ethnic neighborhood didn’t provide much opportunity to attain second language proficiency.
I compare her example with the illegals of today and their episcopal enablers, who DEMAND suspension of the law, unlimited economic support and subordination to their language, customs and traditions-many of which are at odds with ours.
IMO any discussion of ‘Donald Trump The President’ must begin with the alternatives presented to us by the Democratic Party at the time –
1) Hillary Clinton
2) Joe Biden
3) Kamala Harris
And one should keep in mind the fact that when Trump 1st ran beginning in 2015 he was one of 16 candidates vying for the nomination, whereas Hillary Clinton ran virtually unopposed, except for Bernie Sanders.
Do I like him? Not particularly. (For starters – LOSE THE HATS!!)
Is he presidential? Not to me.
That being said – he profits continually from TDS, IMO he feeds it and encourages it, and the many who suffer from it help him.
Do I support him? Yes. BUT – contact me again when I find out how much I’ll be getting back in my tax return this year after the MANY promises attached to the Big Beautiful Bill.
Here in Maine I voted for Ted Cruz in 2016.
I now retire to listen to Bach.
Wow, I’m shocked at the acceptance and praise for a mean, nasty, man who so often lies with such ease and would have used thugs on Jan. 6th to overturn the election and is still maneuvering to try it again. Thank you, Michael Thiel.
He doesn’t lie like those who lie about him and who lie to themselves in the process. Nother personal Mary.
And the January 6th lie about Trump’s complicity is in itself a form of real thuggery.
That should read, Nothing personal Mary.
“Trump is a great big meanie” is not a rational, measured argument based on the facts and evidence. It’s actually quite juvenile. Evaluate the policies, not the personality.
Thugs burned cities in June 2020 and they are interfering with ICE Interdiction.
You should learn to distinguish the genuine article (if you can, I’m not hopeful of that).
Commendations from the US Bishops on the expanding of the Mexico Policy –
‘ The newly published additions to the Mexico City Policy, which historically limited certain federal funds from going to foreign nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion abroad, introduced limits on activities related to gender identity and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
The rules are collectively being referred to as the Promoting Human Flourishing in Foreign Assistance (PHFFA) Policy, which “imposes certain abortion-related requirements on foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), United States NGOs, public international organizations, foreign governments, and parastatals,” according to the PHFFA.
The PHFFA also includes the measures Combating Gender Ideology in Foreign Assistance (CGIFA) and the Combating Discriminatory Equity Ideology in Foreign Assistance (CDEIFA).
Thomas offered a previous statement that addressed the rule related to the performance and promotion of abortion and the end to performing and funding research using aborted human fetal tissue. He reiterated that “taxpayer dollars have no business funding organizations that target vulnerable populations with abortion.”
“As we applaud these actions protecting preborn children, we renew our commitment to dialogue with and pray for the administration as we seek to advocate for all human life from conception until natural death,” Thomas said. ‘
https://www.ncregister.com/cna/u-s-bishops-applaud-expanded-mexico-city-policy
Many thanks for a fair and balanced essay; that is unusual nowadays.
Trump is loud and proud, rude and crude, usually over the top and almost always vastly entertaining. What a welcome relief from the usual bland focus-group political hack.
Trump is the perfect match for our borderline insane culture, which is why he is president. If we had an objectively orthodox Catholic culture we would be choosing philosopher-kings as our leaders and Donald Trump would be just another New York playboy real estate developer. But we don’t have one of those and so we have to settle for Donald Trump.
But even with all his flaws, the basic Christian decency of this country shines through him, as it does in so many of the rest of us.
We really need to change the culture. As Amelia says: “Get cracking, lads!”.
Sterling comment Pew Sitter.
A perfect distillation of the situation.
Agree 1000%.
I didn’t address Trump’s “mixed up positions”, I addressed his expressed uncertainty of his personal salvation. Unless you are a part a once saved always saved denomination, you should know that.
Of course, as a foreigner, our politicians are none of your concern, especially when you refuse allow reciprocation.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the national origin of the surname Galy and it appears to be French. Unless you or your ancestors emigrated, being a citizen of France and having elected people like Mitterand, Chirac, Sarkozy and Macron would explain your reluctance to reveal your citizenship, as it’s rather unwise to throw stones from a glass house, even if it’s an impressive domicile.
My comment wasn’t a disparage on President Trump, offered for the very point you yourself drew from it. I also have the opinion of him that his intellect is quick, he would catch it without being hard put to by anything I had said there or by the fact that it was coming from me. The point to be drawn meant to be helpful/encouraging to get at the contradictions at hand and/or looming. As you yourself have noted pro-life is a most serious thing. The Trump I understand would also notice if his support team failed to identify what I identified or failed to tell him what they might have perceived.
That, if it is good, is not made better by my nationality and by the way I didn’t write anything here at CWR to date to able to tout non-US citizenship thank you!!!!!
Let’s come back to pro-life for a sec. I have for example highlighted for repeal of the Face Act, because while it remains it portends continued legalized protection for abortion now declared “not in the Constitution” on the one hand and, on the other, involves the Fed. Gov’t precisely where it sought and had been given release. On a very basic level anyone can see it is bound to bring contortions if it continues.
One more. If he is going to fight on the side of life it needs an “arsenal”, he has to build out the range of concepts on that. Sitting around waiting for it to happen is bound to work against him and against the pro-life movement which has a super independent mentality and integrity. I “sent over” A LOT on that during his first term, it wasn’t on this website but I feel quite sure he got it. Could be there were some there who didn’t like what was coming through (“whoever was sending it”), where perhaps it could possibly be dampening their influence???
Bless.
I’d rather live in Paris than Texas. French politicians are no joy, but better than Texas politicians such as Abbott, Cruz,etc.
Paris, Texas? It has its own Eiffel Tower. No French required either.
🙂
We would rather you did too. I’ll buy you the one way ticket.
Touché
‘ By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, that father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. The father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.
Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is the greatest destroyer of peace today — abortion which brings people to such blindness.
And for this I appeal in India and I appeal everywhere — “Let us bring the child back.” The child is God’s gift to the family. Each child is created in the special image and likeness of God for greater things — to love and to be loved. In this year of the family we must bring the child back to the center of our care and concern. This is the only way that our world can survive because our children are the only hope for the future. As older people are called to God, only their children can take their places.
But what does God say to us? He says: “Even if a mother could forget her child, I will not forget you. I have carved you in the palm of my hand.” We are carved in the palm of His hand; that unborn child has been carved in the hand of God from conception and is called by God to love and loved, not only now in this life, but forever. God can never forget us. ‘
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/mother-teresa-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast-2714
PAVONE
Mother Teresa, National Prayer Breakfast
Frank Pavone | Jul 14, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yew2ahHi8cs
No matter what is said of Trump, he is not the source of America’s decline; he is the very symptom. The real source is the destructive sycophant enablers. He announced this week that 15 states elections should be controlled by the Federal Government. Today, he said he wants to move beyond the Epstein investigation. He shows no sensitivity for the victims!!!
Excerpts…
We need to understand him to deal with him.
His conduct is ruled by that and not by any very demanding moral standard. But neither is it as bad as painted. People accuse him of horrible things, but when I’ve looked into the claims, most have been clearly false.”
>How false! “What you see is what you get.”
“So he’s not as erratic or uncontrolled as he sometimes seems.”
>WHAT? He is a convicted criminal sitting at the Resolute desk. He has shown signs of mental decline…
Insisting the 2020 election was a sham.
Inciting the Capitol riot that caused the deaths of Capitol police.
Going wildly off topic at Davos.
“Does it make sense, even as a negotiating tactic, to talk about forcibly annexing Canada or Greenland?”
>The essence of a true autocrat.
>His prolific lying and fierce hatred is not the image of a leader.
He has ordered the DOJ to examine the 2020 elections in Fulton County, Georgia to find election fraud. Naturally, sycophant Bondi curtseyed and called in the troops. How brazen. Remember when he called Georgia Secretary of State Rafensberger, asking him to “find 11,700 votes, one more than we have”. WOW!
Trump was briefed by Noem on the situation in Minneapolis. She said, “it was ICE cold.”
Watch this space. I have a new pen.
TP;DR
TS;DR
TL;DR
Mr. Morgan, this can’t be a healthy preoccupation.Not to be disrespectful but perhaps instead of a new inkpen you might consider a new hobby?
Pitchfork and mrscracker. You must live in a brickyard. There are many broken bricks at my feet.
I will not respond in kind. I will take your responses with a sprinkling of grace and hope for a sane dialogue.
You may pause and point specifically to the comments you disagree with.
Thank you.
mD
That’s funny. I live in a house partially built with bricks & the former owners used bricks as a homemade landscape edging all around my home. So it did look a bit like a brickyard.
Seriously Mr. Morgan, I really am concerned for those who are preoccupied with Donald Trump or any other politician. Politicians aren’t gods & we can fire them at will.At least every four years. It really isn’t good for one’s mental health or peace of mind to get wound up about this.
I’ve shared before that I lost a good friend who went down that TDS rabbit hole. It’s not a place you want to be. There are much healthier things to be involved in. God bless.
And we put up with Obama for how many years?
Fini.
MrsC. Preoccupation with Trump? His politics and immorality cannot be compartmentalized. The Catholic hierarchy has challenged his mindless mass deportation, which has gotten out of control. That disgrace includes babies, not the “worst of the worst”. You must have seen the coverage of “Secrety” Noem being filmed in front of the life term Elsalvador Cecot prison while white-suited inmates with heads forced down behind her.
When we include Trump, who shows signs of mental decline, in moral discussions, all bets are off.
MorganD: Can your consistent morality and historical falsehoods be compartmentalized? Does your appetite for hatred extend to ignoring Secretary Noam having protested the very act you attribute to her? Mindless deportation out of control? Do offers to allow taxpayer funded flights home for illegal “immigrants” with opportunity to reenter legally really lack mindfulness of justice?
And proposals to reexamine citizenship by birth is not really an attack on babies as the actual baby killing liberal establishment would have it.
“You may pause and point specifically to the comments you disagree with.”
Sure. When you offer an actual comment, as opposed to a histrionic rant.
First time here and I detest it. This is politics not religion. Reply all you want because I will not be back because it’s so repulsive.
So…Catholics cannot discuss politics? Huh.
I wish I could get better criticism!
“Gua Jiro” goes to a website with a front page that has one piece (mine) on a directly political topic, one on some cardinals and their politics, and a bunch of others without any direct connection to politics.
My piece was intended to be descriptive rather than partisan, and recommended Catholics maintain their independence from a political movement while judging that movement severely lacking but better than the other major possibility.
He says that makes the whole website detestable and repulsive.
Other commenters denounce the piece as an example of reverse TDS on the one hand, or shameful and grossly unChristian imputation of motives on the other. Or maybe it’s a weaselly attempt to minimize Trump’s deficiencies.
Ten or 15 years ago intelligent people would sometimes make a deeply critical comment that suggested they had at least read what I wrote. What happened to that?
If someone reads something I wrote, tries to understand the intended meaning, and after thinking about it has complaints, I very much want to hear them. I’ll think about them. And I assume other writers are the same.
But today that doesn’t seem to happen (with a few exceptions). Partisanship has all but destroyed the idea of a common although flawed search for the good and true.
(Sorry for ranting, but everyone ought to be allowed to go off on a tangent every now and them.)
“Other commenters denounce the piece as an example of reverse TDS on the one hand, or shameful and grossly unChristian imputation of motives on the other. Or maybe it’s a weaselly attempt to minimize Trump’s deficiencies.”
Well, as a non-weasel who did read what you wrote, and who doesn’t have an especially high regard for Trump, I suggest you might take note that it is the Eighth Commandment, not reverse TDS, that disallows the frequent imputation of motivations towards another man.
And you might not want to lose sight of the practical implications of natural law. Right is right, even if no one is right or if there are a few voices promoting right but are frequently wrong, and wrong is wrong no matter how many are wrong, and those advocating wrong are frequently right.
Reagan, of course, was a long time actor, so he would be more polished. Trump is just Trump. I come from a large post war Catholic family and if I bring him up at get togethers it’s WW III.
I visited a family member out of state last year & continually had to dodge conversations about Trump. They wouldn’t quit bringing him up. So I quit asking if we could talk about something else & just remained completely silent whenever that happened. I think they finally figured out I was serious.
It’s a shame people waste precious family time on this stuff but that’s where we are today.
Well, that’s just an undisguised blessing.
Making sense of Donald Trump? One must surely take into account more than was mentioned in Mr Kalb’s article which reads somewhat as a thinking man viewing through rose coloured glasses. Granted that the voting public invest our hope for a better nation in the leader we see as aligning with our hopes, values and desired outcomes. Such a dynamic can detract from objectivity as does the limited options that a two party polemic leaves us with.
We must look at an overview of Trumps relationships over many years, corporate and private over man-years as a starting point. I noted with interest the mention of Mr Cohn the fixer who was President Trump’s mentor in his younger years. It therefore needs to be acknowledged that the name Teflon Don has relevance after all it was Al Capone who was never able to be brought to justice for his many known criminal activities until he was eventually pinned for tax evasion. President Trump was in the 1980’s when applying for a casino licence in Sydney Australia rejected on the grounds of having connections with the mafia.
We can then leave the 1980’s and move on to the 1990;s and his friendship with Epstein and the running of pre teen and teen beauty pageants, the French modelling agency run by Jean Luc Brunel, the parties, the women, the marriages, the infidelity. Then we have his connection with Russian money bailing him out from his debt problem, on to…..well I could go on and on. There is so much more to the man that I feel needs to be acknowledged in pursuit of making sense of Donald Trump not the least being his disregard for due process and the rule of law. His failure to demonstrate leadership when ICE officers shot and killed two citizens in Minnesota. Due diligence demands that no preemptive comments precede a thorough impartial investigation for the sake of both the ICE officer and the Citizen who was shot. No matter who is in government and leadership the essential safeguard for the nations people are the institutions that operate as a check and balance along with those that facilitate due process and the rule of law. President Trump and perhaps more importantly, the Heritage Foundation, The Federalist Society, Mr Peter Theil etc etc have wrought profound damage to Americas institutions in this regard. I am left with this question in the aftermath. If you feel safe and well served by President Trump as is your democratic right, you may not be safe with what comes in the years that follow. Who will fill the power vacuum when President Trump’s time is up and Americas system of checks and balances are severely left depleted, no longer fit for purpose?
Kalb’s essay is directed at the idea of the Trump Admin. reaching for “good and stable society”. It’s a well-positioned theme not meant to dwell on past faults, rather allowing an overview of situation as a means to deciphering.
Trump wants better for his country as for himself, which are commendable things. Trying to get a handle on him about that by rummaging through his “eclectic” past and drawing what would be “straight-line” or premature conclusion and/or only negative, can’t help. Wherever he might now find himself in mixed-up circumstances in the present and is having trouble sorting through them, what would be helpful is to clarify possibilities and options. This clarifying would be a support for his weaker traits as well as to boon for the people who have to share and build policies.
I’ve said this: he works with input.
I mean to suggest that AND NOT place limits on the pro-life agenda, together. Rather open up on pro-life. A big sticking point is IVF which flies in the face of God.
What could ensue when Trump demits office could be power vacuum; however, between now and then he may well have brought his Administration to another electoral success, in which case there would not be power vacuum. Trump’s first term was characterized by “feeling out” things and it is obvious he did a good job of figuring, assessing and finding; so that in the second term various “fixtured” problems, for eg., of personnel, got solved sensibly. I had said somewhere he needed 10 Kelly Ann Conway spokespersons and I can see he has done even better than that, putting in people in posts who are both matched to posts and intelligent.
Similarly Trump got a handle on the “left” side of the political spectrum “deep state”. Some news places are saying Netanyahu is holding Epstein information against him over his head and Trump saying that the Epstein matter is “over my head” doesn’t help that story. If this is a real thing, maybe Trump should take notice that the true lesson is for the US to not be so attached to Israel in the first place. It wouldn’t be the only area where Israel dominates US structures and milieu and I would have thought it can’t sit well with Americans.
And Trump showed he could part with personas like Cohen and do the needful withal.
Can Trump do better for the international order as for his ho9meland and himself? For now there seems to be a limited vision for it based on US alliance with Israel and an underlying so-called “Judeo-Christian” idealism. But the US being in a lockstep with Israel would mean every next first step and the steps after, are, well, locked.
Mr. Allan, the Heritage Foundation is a Reagan era think tank that is lost much relevance today. I don’t believe we need to spend much time worrying about it. Nor does Donald Trump.
We have some decent GOP candidates for the next presidential election. I’m hopeful about the future.
mrscracker, I am unsure of your motive for downplay the influence of the heritage foundation. I assume that it is not from a standpoint of ignorance. I searched this question on google’s Ai [ The Heritage foundations input into Trumps 2nd term ]
and the response should inform the readership here of the relevance of my comment with respect to this question:
“ [ The Heritage Foundation has played a central, foundational role in shaping the policy agenda and personnel staffing for Donald Trump’s second term, primarily through a 900-page “blueprint” known as Project 2025. While Trump publicly distanced himself from the project during the campaign, early actions in his second term show significant alignment with its proposals, with analysts estimating that many of his initial executive actions mirror the project’s goals.
Key Aspects of Heritage Foundation Input:
Project 2025 (Mandate for Leadership): This initiative served as a comprehensive “government-in-waiting” plan, with contributions from over 400 scholars and experts. It outlines a roadmap for a radical restructuring of the federal government, aiming to increase executive power, dismantle or reduce “administrative state” agencies, and install conservative policies.
“Institutionalizing Trumpism”: Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has described their role as “institutionalizing Trumpism”. The project aims to provide a long-term, structural framework for conservative policies, rather than just immediate, short-term actions.
Personnel and Training: Project 2025 included the creation of a massive database of pre-vetted, conservative loyalists to fill government positions, aiming to replace thousands of civil servants with political appointees. At least 140 people who worked in the first Trump administration were involved in the project.
Policy Priorities: The plan directly influenced several of Trump’s key policy areas, including:
Civil Service Reform: The re-implementation of “Schedule F,” a policy allowing the reclassification of tens of thousands of civil servants as political appointees, making them easier to fire.
Immigration: Aggressive crackdown on immigration, including the potential for mass deportations.
Dismantling Agencies: Plans to abolish or significantly reduce the power of the Department of Education, the FBI, and other agencies.
Social Issues: A push to remove LGBTQ+ rights protections, enforce a “biblically based” definition of family, and limit access to reproductive health services.
Climate/Energy: A focus on promoting fossil fuels and dismantling environmental regulations.
Second-Term Implementation: In the early stages of the second term, analysts and reports have highlighted that Trump has already taken steps aligned with Project 2025, including executive orders targeting the federal workforce, immigration, and environmental policy.
Relationship with the Trump Administration:
While Trump stated he knew nothing about Project 2025 and termed some of its ideas “extreme,” it is widely recognized that the project was designed with his administration in mind. Many of the authors and supporters of Project 2025 are former officials from his first term. The Heritage Foundation boasted in 2018 that 64% of their policy recommendations from their 2017 “Mandate for Leadership” were implemented by Trump, and they aimed for a similar, or even higher, rate of success for a second term. ] “
This is a dishonest DNC talking point. Trump clearly rejected Project 2025.
The Heritage Foundation might have constructed their project with Trump in mind but Donald Trump doesn’t take marching orders from anyone. Especially a think tank whose relevance peaked in the ’80’s.
Athanasius and mrscracker, objective reasoning is the process of forming conclusions based on verifiable facts, data, and logical, impartial analysis, consciously excluding personal emotions, biases, or opinions. It requires adopting a neutral, third-party perspective to align thinking with reality rather than subjective desire.
As i value my life choice to follow the character and attributes of Jesus, I seek and value the truth. Truth in politics is an increasingly disposable commodity across the spectrum. If we as followers of Jesus are to honour our faith in Jesus and be true to the formation of our conscience the logical imperative is for us to seek the truth in all things. For all the faithful there is a limit to where we stand with ‘Caesar’ and i for one fear the inevitable consequences of the choices made and the path followed that is not guided by truth.
Mrs. C: “…but Donald Trump doesn’t take marching orders from anyone.”
Except Benny Netanyahu
If it’s not Heritage Foundation conspiracy narratives it’s the Zionist conspiracies… Never fails.
Donald Trump might benefit from some good advisors but he marches to his own drum. That’s a reason why many people voted for him. They were tired of the Washington status quo.
The HF was founded in 1973. Nixon was in office then.
Yes it was founded back then but it really got rolling under Reagan.
America’s system of checks and balances depleted? In the future?
No mention of the runaway judicial system trashing that balance for more than half a century with the approval of every leftist politician during the tyrannical establishment of progressive ideology. Thankfully, Trump is willing to challenge their unconstitutional establishment, even if it offends pseudo-conservatives taking their baby steps to accommodate the leftist regime, least they face embarrassment at Washington cocktail parties.
Edward, your comment sheds light on the rationale behind the Heritage Foundations motivations for input into Trump’s second term agenda and the aim of taking back ground lost. This is also goes someway towards understanding what makes Donald Trump tick.
.One point worth picking up on is your failure to demonstrate that this ground taken by the progressive movement was unconstitutional and the balance you refer to seems to not relate to checks and balances in built as a protection of the democratic process but to what you seem to view as an unfair balance of influence between the progressive movements and the political right. Any gains either way won within the confines of the American system of government seem to me to be what politics is about and any attempt to gain ground by unconstitutional means or gaming the system are what is problematic. Unlike the advantages in some respects of Westminster System of Government, It seems to me that the US system is more open to gaming the system particularly with respect to gerrymandering and the partisan selection of Supreme Court Judges. It is fair to say both sides work at gaming the system in this regard.
Now for my personal view, one of the greatest threats to social cohesion in the USA is the politics of division and the role of leadership in this aspect of political discourse. Leadership that plays an active role of targeting the other side of politics as the enemy will lead to catastrophic outcomes. Each political “side” will have elements that are militant and whose leadership will seek to demonise the other side. When this militancy and labelling of opposing views as the enemy is a part of the modus operandi of the head of state and the elected representatives we who are followers of the way of Jesus must take note of this reality and engage our faculties of discernment. Our manifesto as Christians is the sermon on the mount. So as not to claim this next paragraph as my own writing, sometimes I find it helpful and succinct to engage Ai for input:
“The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is recognized as the foundational, radical manifesto of the Kingdom of God, outlining the principles, ethics, and lifestyle for followers of Jesus. Spoken on a hillside, it flips worldly systems of power, wealth, and status, emphasizing inner transformation, humility, and love over mere ritual.
Key aspects of this manifesto include:
The Beatitudes (5:3-12): A redefinition of blessedness, focusing on the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, and the peacemakers.
Kingdom Ethics: Jesus sets a high standard for righteousness, focusing on inner purity (heart) rather than just outward action.
Radical Living: Teachings include loving enemies, forgiving others, practicing humility, and prioritizing spiritual life over material possessions.
Counter-Culture: The message serves as a challenge to existing social and religious orders, calling followers to be “salt and light”.
Core Principles: It includes the Golden Rule (“Do to others what you would have them do to you”) and concludes with the imperative to build one’s life on the firm foundation of Jesus’ words.
Many view this not as a set of rules to earn salvation, but as the transformative, “full-strength” way of life created by those within the Kingdom of God”.
Why are the ice killings such news when ‘murders’ numbers are not even reported to the fbi, thus making mom and pop crime stats look better?
Fini.
MrsC. Preoccupation with Trump? His politics and immorality cannot be compartmentalized. The Catholic hierarchy has challenged his mindless mass deportation, which has gotten out of control. That disgrace includes babies, not the “worst of the worst”. You must have seen the coverage of “Secrety” Noem being filmed in front of the life term Elsalvador Cecot prison while white-suited inmates with heads forced down behind her.
When we include Trump, who shows signs of mental decline, in moral discussions, all bets are off.
“mindless mass deportation”
I’lll bet it also upsets you when murderers, thieves, kidnappers, rapists, etc. are subject to “mindless mass arrest.”
People who are in the country illegally – and pay close attention, it’s really complicated – are breaking the law. That makes them criminals. And committing the crime of illegal entry and getting away with it for a number of years doesn’t make it any less of a crime.
If someone steals, say, an Old Master painting and gives or leaves it to his child, it doesn’t mean that the child has any sort of legal or moral right to the painting.
To be fair Leslie, entering the USA without proper documents is a misdemeanor. Repeating that is a felony.
I’m not worried about hardworking people who believed Biden gave them an invite and instructions how to come through the back door and request asylum. But the gang members and drug dealers need to go ASAP.
And the border should be seriously secured going forward to stop profiting the cartels. A secure border makes us all safer. Especially our neighbors to the south.
True, but a misdemeanor is still a crime.
The problem with the hardworking people you mention is that they provide cover for the gang members, drug dealers, etc. “You want to deport illegal aliens? But Mr. and Mrs X from Y country are illegal aliens, and they are such good, hardworking people! We shouldn’t deport them. We shouldn’t deport anybody!”
The decent hardworking folks with illegal immigration status have already paid the cartels and survived the journey. Their deportation at this point doesn’t help the cartels or us.
We should be concentrating on removing felons not an important sector of our workforce. I live in a state that overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Our farmers and our very conservative, Trump supporting governor are in favor of at least finding a legal work status for these people who show up dependably every day.
Sorry but “nobody is above the law”.
Hard working?
This is from a study conducted by the Center for Immigration Studies a few days ago:
The data shows that 53 percent of immigrant-headed households—including those led by naturalized citizens, legal immigrants, and illegal aliens—receive benefits from at least one welfare program. By comparison, 37 percent of households headed by native-born Americans are enrolled in welfare programs.
When households headed by naturalized citizens are excluded, welfare participation rises further. Nearly six in ten households led by legal immigrants or illegal aliens receive at least one form of assistance. Among those households, 45 percent are enrolled in Medicaid, 42 percent receive food stamps, 20 percent receive cash assistance, and 4 percent receive housing assistance, according to the analysis.
Households headed by illegal aliens alone show the highest rates of welfare use. The study found that about 61 percent of those households receive some form of welfare, including 44 percent enrolled in Medicaid, 44 percent receiving food stamps, 21 percent receiving cash assistance, and 2 percent receiving housing assistance. These trends are illustrated in accompanying charts and additional figures included with the analysis.
Well, that’s not exactly a neutral source of info. But if we give away too much free stuff to anyone-that’s on us.
“When we include Trump, who shows signs of mental decline, in moral discussions, all bets are off.”
You really are clownish. The left owns mental decline forever.
His politics and immorality cannot be compartmentalized.
You’ll be happy to show us applying this to Biden or Obama.
The main reason that no American should support Trump is that he *favors* Israeli rule over a branch of the American government.
In an infamous interview, he lamented that Israeli control over the congress had declined (a laughably false view) and that he hoped to restore the fullness of Israeli control over the US congress. The interview of Trump by Ari Hoffman was in Oct. 29, 2021.
“The biggest change I’ve seen in Congress is Israel literally owned Congress — you understand that. Ten years ago, 15 years ago, and it was so powerful, it was so powerful and today it’s almost the opposite,” Trump said.
“Israel had such power, and *rightfully* [sic]*
over Congress, and now it doesn’t.”
Do not support an American who wants a foreign nation to control a branch of the American government.
I live in Pennsylvania, our anti-Christian governor actually served in the IDF and he’s definitely in the other major party. We don’t even know if he IS an American.
Yes, thanks for reminding us that all the problems in the world are caused by the Jews. I wonder where we’ve heard that before.
It never seems to fail, Athanasius. No matter what the subject of an article may be.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and God bless.🙏
I love how you two “Catholics” will rush to accuse another Catholic to defend somebody that hates you. That’s ok, you give me a chance to show the intellectual vacancy of your reflexive indignities that assume any criticism of any Jew is always and everywhere motivated by anything but merit.
I wouldn’t give a damn if Shapiro served in the Pope’s Swiss guard. He served in a foreign military. I don’t want anybody who served in ANY foreign military measuring for curtains at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. If somebody left the United States to serve in the People’s Liberation Army, would anybody want them at a Governor or President? Where somebody spends and risks the only youth they have is the acid test of somebody’s primary loyalty and since you can’t fathom that, then you aren’t very bright.
I suspect you two freebase Hannity and Floxnews mandatory philosemitism, so you think the IDF is our bestest buddy or JV team. You probably will eagerly imbibe epic failure Bongino’s line that the interest in the sordid world of Epstein is anti-Semitic, right. Wait is Bill Gates Jewish? Bill Clinton?
When he was asked about it, he attempted to pass it off as a service project. He lies a lot, but that comes naturally to Philthadelphia politicians.
Now as to his Christophobia. After he came back and got the the AG office as a springboard, he misused the grand jury process to force the Church to disclose all its dirty laundry, including records of the long-dead who cannot defend themselves-he subjected no other organization to such embarrassing disclosures. And we know there are others, the Boy Scouts, public schools. Yet no other grand juries were every convened.
More recently as governor, he’s been conducting a war against nuns – what Jon DiPietro of the Delaware Valley Journal entitled “The Never-Ending Attack on the Little Sisters—and What It Says About Josh Shapiro’s Legacy” (August 25, 2025) As we know, its perfectly reasonable to use state resources to force nuns to buy CONTRACEPTIVES.
I live in Pennsylvania and its very obvious to me that the little man hates Christians and Catholics. I don’t care whether it’s because he’s a Jew or a Democrat. He’s earned my contempt and suspicion.
His most recent budget is an appalling adventure in waste, not something that Pennsylvania needs with a stagnant, aging population. I’d say more about PA’s coming fiscal collapse, but I can’t, yet.
Now, neither of you have the class to admit any Christian has good reason to despise this individual, because you simply aren’t that smart or decent.
Look, I get, you guys grew up in a world that said only Jews have ever been subjected to persecution and you are quite well trained to be on guard for any criticism of any Jew, even as your faith is subjected to constant abuse.
Now you’ll have to forgive me if I think you both fools. You could have remained silent and left us wonder, instead of indulging yourselves and removing all doubt.
What are you talking about here? Your posts are usually not this unhinged. You’re not defending antisemitism I hope. And name calling is not an argument.
“I wouldn’t give a damn if Shapiro served in the Pope’s Swiss guard.”
Look dude, if you can’t dispute what I’ve written, then don’t just sputter argumentum ad hominem and ask me to confirm that I no longer beat my wife. The adults in here are way beyond such clumsy rhetoric.
The only “anti” here is Shapiro’s anti-Catholicism. Even secular authors can see it. Apparently you can’t.
If you don’t understand the clear meaning of the above quoted sentence, I don’t have the time or crayons to explain it-AGAIN.
I guess if you can’t dispute the facts, you can resort to argumentum ad hominem.
Mr. Pitchfork, I grew up in a world where until quite recently people of colour had separate drinking fountains and separate places to sit in movie theatres. I’m pretty familiar with discrimination. And discrimination sadly is not a thing of the past.
Yes. And legitimate criticisms of Israel are not Antisemitism, we all agree on that. But stating that a secret cabal of Jews is somehow controlling one of the branches of our government is certainly disconnected from reality.
Yes, thank you Athanasius.
Neither Athanasius nor MrsC refuted the substantive points made by myself (about Trump’s anti-American ideology of subservience to Israel) and Pitchfork Rebel (about the manifest anti-Christianism and IDF identity of the governor of Pennsylvania)
And I grew up in an area where my great grandfather and men of his ethnicity- coal miners- had lunches stolen (by men who no doubt never thought that might be a sin and marched up the aisle to receive the following Sunday) so that they were reminded who the lead dogs were and that only the lead dog was to be free of the sight and smell of another dog’s backside. All animals were equal, but some more equal than others.
Of course that subjugation sapped his physical vitality and productivity as he crawled in those black pits day after day, fearing that the canary might die or that the sound of rumbling might mean drowning and/or entombment.
My grandmother remembered first party accounts of mine casualty victims’ bodies being brought to the front porch of “company houses”, followed shortly by eviction notices for the widow and her orphans. Those that survived this “career” often experienced the slow, painful death of anthrasilicosis (black lung). Anthracite is high in silicates and its dust breathed freely, is similar to asbestos, only better.
When my grandfather, his son-in-law “escaped” to the railroad (quotes because my grandfather’s brother-my great uncle)was crushed under a wheel one night when he missed a handhold-he also experienced ethno-nepotistic discrimination in hiring and post war furloughs. Of course the damage was done and he died in his early 50’s.
I wouldn’t write about this because it is irrelevant to whether Shapiro is an anti-Catholic bigot with a a superior foreign allegiance, it is however relative to the fact that you feel-not think- your residency provides you with some special insights into “discrimination”.
Frankly, if you have some guilt for things your ancestors or those of your coresidents did-that’s your problem-my family was tending their flocks, herds, gardens and orchards while some others used other people as beasts of burden to be whipped and chained. Bluntly, I understand this better than you.
Your ancestral/geographic specters won’t be exorcised by pridefully assuming you have some special insight on human tribality or special warrant to criticize others’ concerns as veiled group antipathy.
And you better get with it, because now the shoe is being put on the other foot. We have a Chinese born Congressman openly discussing “whites” as a minority and last night I heard another-didn’t catch the name-on the radio celebrating the fact that that “his district” is “less white”.
If you think the question of foreign allegiance is irrelevant this is an excerpt from the oath of office recited by federal judges. It should be required of every state or federal office holder.
I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR
THAT I ABSOLUTELY AND ENTIRELY
RENOUNCE AND ABJURE
ALL ALLEGIANCE AND FIDELITY
TO ANY FOREIGN PRINCE OR POTENTATE,
STATE OR SOVEREIGNTY
OF WHOM OR WHICH I HAVE
HERETOFORE BEEN A SUBJECT OR CITIZEN;
But you’ll continue freebasing the apostate wallbanger and screechy Levin.
On the other hand, I must thank you as your posts continue to remind me of the wisdom of 1 Timothy 2:12
Mr. Pitchfork, I don’t have a radio at home & have no TV connection. Please don’t assume what media other commenters may follow. Thank you.
It’s gone reverse as well
When Trump ran the first time I was having lunch with a person from Texas. They asked me in a smug tone what did I, a New Yorker, think about candidate Trump? I told her the truth. That he is no different than any REAL New Yorker I know. Tough, opinionated, blunt. And projecting a sense of “Join me, or get out of my way.” I dont personally consider those bad qualities, though they may well put off folks who value a veneer of politeness which masks extreme hostility. Take that well known southern phrase for example,” Bless his little heart”, which actually means “blank you”. Yeah. I will take frankness and truth over fake polite any day.
Trump gets stuff done, he prefers deals to war. He puts America first. Sorry, I dont see anything wrong with that. Its actually what Americans have usually expected from there leaders. Sadly, too many years of divisive and pandering democrat leaders, folks being canceled and called racists, condemning our national history, doubtless made many forget. The Russia, Russia, Russia thing was proven in congress to be a hoax. And ditto the so-called j-6 “riot”, in which video that he said to PEACEFULLY walk to congress was deleted from many online snippets. The dems used that shamefully in too many ways to account for here, including destroying evidence used by the DEM run kangaroo J6 investigation and threatening citizens from using their free speech rights by locking up many elderly Americans who had simply walked through the DC building because the security guards waved them through. Disgusting. And un-American.
Trump does not believe we should act like Switzerland, and stand for nothing, because we are NOT Switzerland. He understands American power and is not afraid to use it to benefit the country, help our people and make the world safer. He has settled numbers of wars. He has defanged our enemies. Oh! How terrible, he is so MEAN!!! LOL!
Meanwhile, Republicans need to WAKE UP AND VOTE when needed. We have lost a number of elections this past year we should NOT have lost because of low Republican turnout. Texas the most recent. Whats wrong with you in Texas?? How do you not get that if Trump loses the House or Senate WE ALL LOSE? He will not get his legislation through a hostile Dem Congress. Stop sitting on your butts. Vote and encourage your friends to do so. It only takes a few minutes and it makes a huge difference. If for no other reason, make it harder for the lying democrats to cheat.
So, I say bravo to Trump, bravo to ICE and all the work they do.( I am SO hoping they arrest more violent protesters in Minnesota.) I know the left is making totally crazy claims that Trump will run again. Sadly, I know he will not. But after having voted for him three times, I sure wish he could.
LJ, “bless your heart” does not translate that way.❤️
I think this might be Rubio’s time.
Being a follower of Christ doesnt mean you have to be someone else’s punching bag. Some of the Bishops may think so…they live a rarified life, protected from reality in a bubble. You know, the ones who think Marxism is the same as Christianity. If you ask who I’d like to have run the country, a Catholic Bishop or Trump, it’s Trump by a landslide. The new Bishop of NYC started his welcome speech this week by speaking in Spanish. Would tell you what I think about that, but they wouldnt print it here.
LJ: I think you were my neighbor in Brooklyn in the good ole days. Enjoy reading your comments (common sense goes pretty far in my book).
“We need to understand him to deal with him….”
Let’s be honest: Probably no one who writes for or reads Catholic World Report is a billionaire, a head of state, or even the kind of celebrity Trump follows. As such, we have no direct influence on what he thinks or what he does. We do not “deal with him”; we have nothing he is willing to deal for. He will never stand for another election.
Can we pray for him? Should we pray for him? OF COURSE. Just as we should pray for Putin, and the Pope, and the inmates on death row — but those prayers are all motivated by the theological virtue of Charity, not the cardinal virtue of Prudence. We do not limit our prayers to those we understand or over whom we have power, because we submit them to the judgment of Him Who is both omniscient and omnipotent. But we need to be honest about the fact that this is a situation over which we have no power, any more than Moses had the power to part the Red (or Reed) Sea. (God parted the sea, not Moses.)
Every politician including a second-term president is concerned about garnering support.
Garnering support?
Not likely, by the most recent cancelation of the science related to climate change (from whatever causes). A cosmic blunder certain to undermine the mid-term elections, even as it calculates limited support from the coal and auto states.
From the layman St. Thomas More (as portrayed in Rogert Bolt’s “A Man for All Seasons”):
“Some men think the Earth is round, others think it is flat; it is a matter capable of question. But if it is flat, will the King’s command make it round? And if it is round, will the king’s command flatten it?”
By the time of his climate decision, I suppose everyone on earth had made up his mind about Trump, one way or the other. His power now consists of such factors as
1. his willingness to play chicken with the expectation the other guy will flinch,
2. his unshakable support in some places, meaning he can oust even senior Republicans in favor of junior Republicans more to his liking,
3. related to the above, his ability to intimidate the members of his own party,
4. his willingness to use the powers of the presidency (and some not granted to the presidency by the Constitution) more forcefully than any previous president,
5. his willingness to launch multi-billion dollar lawsuits against corporations that offend him.
Most of these actions cost him support, but they make him more feared and powerful. Let’s face it, if he thought he was going to leave office as a popular president for whom things would be named by popular demand, he wouldn’t be forcing his name onto things like the Kennedy Center (and reportedly Dulles and Penn Station). No; he is more interested in power than in popular support.
I think Trump and his team are more dynamic than any pictures drawn from past record.
If you said “power” instead of “support”, I would agree with you. “Support”, especially from people who will never vote for or against him again, is only a small part of power.
The idea that a politician’s lust for power over you gives you power over the politician is simply wrong, and, beyond a certain point, it is self-deception.
While Trumpism is entertaining and better than “Bidenism” and Trump is a not half bad comedian and wild card, he is predictable when it comes to whom he serves first.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/christ-is-king-catholic-kicked-off-religious-liberty-commission-responds-to-lifesite-petition/
“MIGA”
¡Viva Cristo Rey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzL8blvSVKA
Very true. His Masters are in Tel Aviv (or soon, Jerusalem)
This is a really bad article and attitude. I would even say shameful.