{"id":131800,"date":"2016-10-15T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-15T22:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/15\/on-the-religious-right-and-trump.html"},"modified":"2016-10-15T16:22:21","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T22:22:21","slug":"on-the-religious-right-and-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/15\/on-the-religious-right-and-trump.html","title":{"rendered":"On the Religious Right and Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

I don't agree with most of Ross Douthat's points here — that older social conservatives were more enthusiastic about Ted Cruz than Donald Trump doesn't make me think better of them; quite the opposite. <\/p>\n

But it's worth noting that he makes a few good observations. Not all religious conservatives are rooting for Trump, and for a lot of of good reasons. Painting them with a single brush here is demonstrably unfair.<\/p>\n

Trump's GOP ascendancy also demonstrates the dangers of a conservative movement that strips itself of all but the vaguest lip service to some sort of religious (Christian, at least) mission, to higher values. The GOP candidates of the past called for some measure of "compassionate conservatism," encouraged charity, spoke of family values; one could (and did) argue the matter, but at least that argument was possible. <\/p>\n

Trump's life and policy package is, in contrast, one of materialistic extremism, of hedonism, of narcissism. He exemplifies in so many ways each of the Seven Deadly Sins (pride, envy, wrath, sloth, lust, avarice, gluttony). He preaches the values, even moral imperatives, of greed, of strength, of acquisition, of the narcissistic elevation of the self.<\/p>\n

For decades, the Religious Right has warned of the threat of a religionless culture. They were right, at least for the GOP: tossing over the constraints of traditional Christianity in its leadership, "putting our Christian values on pause", has led us to this. <\/p>\n

(The sole area I can find where Trump has adopted a position that will please the Religious Right is regarding abortion — https:\/\/goo.gl\/Nexikj<\/a> — as Douthat points out. This is, from a Religious Right perspective, an arguable justification for ignoring all the other non-Christian aspects of Trump's life and policy and apparent character — and I have no doubt that Trump is quite aware of this "Get out of trouble with the Religious Right free" card, too.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nIn Defense of the Religious Right – The New York Times<\/a><\/span>
\nCan social conservatives survive Donald Trump?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I don't agree with most of Ross Douthat's points here — that older social conservatives were more enthusiastic about Ted Cruz than Donald Trump doesn't make me think better of them; quite the opposite. But it's worth noting that he makes a few good observations. Not all religious conservatives are rooting for Trump, and for … Continue reading “On the Religious Right and Trump”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133974,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/07\/27\/even-conservatives-seem-to-be-cooling-on-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":0},"title":"Even conservatives seem to be cooling on Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 27-Jul-17 9:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"A collection of right-wing populist opinion about the President's latest shenanigans. They still support his purported agenda -- but mistrust that he does, or that he will follow through with it. And they're getting tired of how Trump makes everything about him and diverts attention from their important issues.Most importantly,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137599,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/01\/06\/you-can-have-any-opinion-you-like-as-long-as-its-pro-trump.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":1},"title":"You can have any opinion you like, as long as it's pro-Trump","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 6-Jan-19 12:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The chairman of the GOP in Arizona, Jonathan Lines, sent a letter out to all Republican office-holders this week. '\u201cOne of the things I\u2019ve always loved about our party is that we are a big tent. We have room for everyone. That\u2019s why, as your Chairman, I\u2019ve done my best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131657,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/27\/donald-trump-and-the-end-of-the-compassionate-conservative.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":2},"title":"Donald Trump and the end of the Compassionate Conservative","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Sep-16 5:15pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Economic conservatism -- low taxes, low spending, low regulation trick-down economics, and leadership by oligarchs -- has been a key element of the Republican Party for many, many decades. But only in this year's GOP Presidential Candidate has it been stripped of even the veneer of public service, of faith-based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131749,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/10\/08\/evangelical-trump-supporters-believe-the-ends-justify-the-means.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":3},"title":"Evangelical Trump supporters believe the ends justify the means","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 8-Oct-16 8:22am","format":false,"excerpt":"It should come as no surprise that some folk on the Religious Right are more than happy to handwave aside Donald Trump's released remarks about sexual predation. They've been making excuses for backing him since he came on the scene and started climbing in the polls, even in the face\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130737,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/23\/just-lie-back-close-your-eyes-and-think-of-reagan.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":4},"title":""Just lie back, close your eyes, and think of Reagan"","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-May-16 9:49pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) was one of the most vehement and outspoken opponents of Donald Trump during the primary season, even after he dropped out of the nomination fight.\u201cHe\u2019s a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.\u201d\u201cHe doesn\u2019t represent my party. He doesn\u2019t represent the values that the men and women who wear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130222,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/17\/can-the-anti-trump-gop-mount-a-3rd-party-opposition.html","url_meta":{"origin":131800,"position":5},"title":"Can the Anti-Trump GOP mount a 3rd Party opposition?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 17-Mar-16 11:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a very weird tangle between the laws of states (who control how elections are run) and the rules of parties (who can choose candidates, in theory, however they want). Both the GOP and the Democrats have rigged the deck against third parties to keep them from winning, or keeping\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131800\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}