Outside the Beltway

Saturday Morning Tabs

Steven L. Taylor
11

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“I think it really is just character at the end of the day, and the fact that if you’re willing to put yourself above the Constitution ― an oath you swear when you take federal office, whether as president or a member of Congress, you swear an oath to the Constitution ― and you’re willing to suborn it to yourself, I think that makes you unfit for office.”

And yet,

Ryan said he will write in a “conservative Republican” in November but added that he hasn’t selected that person yet.

On the one hand, this is predictable partisan behavior. On the other, if one guy is “unfit for office” who puts himself “above the Constitution” and the other is just from the other party, maybe rank-order preferences should be a bit different.

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11 responses to “Saturday Morning Tabs”

  1. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    I’m sad for David French and his experience with the PCA, but it’s been what he experienced since before Reagan and the Moral Majority. We feel kinship for co religionists, until we don’t. It’s an old story. I hope he found a better spiritual home.

    4
  2. Stormy Dragon Avatar
    Stormy Dragon

    Shorter David French: I joined a church denomination that was explicitly created when its parent denomination became abolitionist and I was shocked to discovery my pro-slavery church is racist!

    7
  3. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @just nutha:

    Toward the end of the article, French says he and his family “found a wonderful multi-ethnic church in Nashville.”

    2
  4. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    The content of the Biden ad that Trump objects to has been confirmed by countless more reliable sources than Trump, including John Kelly:

    http://www.cnn.com/2023/10/02/politics/john-kelly-donald-trump-us-service-members-veterans/index.html

    1
  5. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    I found it odd that French’s editorial did not contain even a hint of “what would Jesus say?” in it. He states that he is “conservative, both theologically and politically” but never mentions theology again — all of his disdain for Trump and for Christian Nationalism is apparently based on aesthetic and secular grounds, compounded by direct abuse of his family.

    2
  6. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @DrDaveT:

    Unless I’m misunderstanding you, what’s wrong with objecting to Trump and Christian Nationalism on secular grounds? Or aesthetic ones, for that matter? They’re both repulsive.

    2
  7. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    @CSK: I get the disconnect that DrDaveT is feeling, but I don’t sense it the same because I don’t see French’s commentary as intersecting with his proclaimed faith to any great degree, as I suspect you also do not. Given that French promotes his writing specifically as the musings of a Christian though, the lack of intersection with his faith, the “what would Jesus say” feature of you will, can be disappointing to people hoping for what was “advertised.”

    But evangelicals have been good at separation of politics from doctrine/supposed faith for decades now, so I’ve lowered my expectations.

    4
  8. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    @CSK:

    Unless I’m misunderstanding you, what’s wrong with objecting to Trump and Christian Nationalism on secular grounds? Or aesthetic ones, for that matter? They’re both repulsive.

    There’s nothing wrong with it — but it’s very odd (to me at least) that an article about why you left your church doesn’t invoke theological grounds. It’s like it didn’t even occur to him that the repulsive behaviors that drove him out are specifically un-Christian.

    3
  9. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @DrDaveT:

    Interesting. Unusually, I think, for one of my generation (mid-Boomer), I wasn’t raised even nominally in any religion. My parents never attended church except for weddings and funerals, and none of us kids did either. So I suppose I don’t notice theological differences much.

    Queen Elizabeth I called religious differences “a dispute about trifles.”

    2
  10. dazedandconfused Avatar
    dazedandconfused

    @CSK:

    The mistake is in thinking the issue is actually as theological as it is economic.
    “With. without
    And who’ll deny it’s what the fighting’s all about.”

    Our fate was sealed the moment a group of monkeys figured out that if they band together they can have their pick of the fruit trees. Ever since then it’s about banding together enough monkeys to control the wealth. Just about any banner will do. Some imagine eliminating religion would end wars, but when that was done in Europe nationalism stepped right in its place, and people fought every bit as hard for that.

    2
  11. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    Trump’s knack for asking awkward questions that nobody else ever thought of (thanks to his connections with MIT) is what made him such an excitingly different president. Can hurricanes be knocked out with H-bombs? Would a very powerful light kill the Covid virus? How can windmills replace fossil fuels when your TV will stop working every time the wind drops?

    Still, I continue to prefer Joe Biden, who probably asked “What kind of idiot puts to sea in a boat with a battery that will make it sink? We’re not all Boaters for Trump!”

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