The curious thing is that Rod Dreher has never had any problems despising and demonizing those who embrace what he sees as bad men and bad causes. But somehow the Trumpists—the Trumpists alone—get a get-out-of-jail-free card from him: Rod Dreher: A Yankee Franco and The Long Defeat: "Conservative Christians will embrace politically a bad man... because unlike left-wing leaders, he doesn’t despise them, and seek to demonize them.... If progressives in America push too hard, and economic conditions are just right, the years ahead may bring about an American Franco—that is to say, a right-wing authoritarian leader who demolishes democracy, and rules by decree... [and] will be popular with half the country.... I deeply wish that the mainstream left... would get a freaking grip on itself, and understand exactly what kind of demons it is calling forth...
...I see our American Christian future, coming at us fast, and it scares me.... Look at Ireland. It was no dictatorship, but the Catholic Church nevertheless enjoyed a place of overwhelming privilege and power in Irish society, until pretty much the day before yesterday. And now, the faith has to a great degree collapsed. How did it happen? And where to go next for Irish Catholics? That is a story I will be learning about over these next couple of days in Dublin...
#noted #moralresponsibility #orangehairedbaboons
