I yield to no one in my recoil from Donald Trump. But for anyone who shares the perspectives of the Republican Party, far more is involved here than aversion to an implausible candidate. A conservative should have an interest in repealing and replacing Obamacare, a program that tends inexorably to the political control of medicine. Continue Reading »
Goldwater by 1964 was the unquestioned leader of the emerging conservative movement. Trump, by contrast, has channeled a populist impulse that has yet to become a movement. It’s true that his candidacy has resonated deeply with a segment of the population and has similarities with other right-wing, anti-immigrant movements in Europe. But at this point he heads a personal, candidate-centric campaign. Continue Reading »
Whatever variety of outsider populism Trump awakened, he’s walked all over it. His collapse in early polling heralds a Republican debacle. Nothing like it has happened since Goldwater. Continue Reading »
Baffled conservatives should take the time to talk to real Trump supporters, not internet provocateurs. Continue Reading »
The First Things Podcast, Episode 4. Also featuring: Catholic voting patterns and women deacons. Continue Reading »
Surely it is less important that a speech be optimistic or pessimistic, than that it be true to the realities of the moment, true to the capabilities of the government, and true to the responsibilities of the citizenry. Continue Reading »
David French says social conservatives risk becoming a laughingstock. Unfortunately, he understates his case. Continue Reading »
Our deeply wounded political culture has produced two impossible options in the 2016 Republican and Democratic tickets. Continue Reading »
Christianity is a religion of losers. To the weak and humble, it offers a stripped and humiliated Lord. . . . . Continue Reading »
Catholics aren’t wrong to feel that the Democrats and the Republicans have left them. Continue Reading »
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