Doug Wilson's holy war
America, he believes, has too long chosen the latter. For the past 50 years, the self-described Christian theocrat has been trying to convince the country that it should choose the former — by which he means a 'reformation' that would reshape America into a Christian republic where women are subservient to men, same-sex marriage is outlawed, non-Christians are barred from elected office and the very concept of secularism is jettisoned from society.
For much of Wilson's career, the conservative mainstream has shunned him over his extremist views on gender and theocratic rule, as well as his reactionary views on race. (He once co-authored as pamphlet offering a Biblical defense of slavery.)
'But in recent years, Wilson has been making inroads into the Republican establishment, aided by a growing audience for his work among allies of President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,' writes Ian Ward in this week's Friday Read.
In just the last year, Wilson has appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast, spoken at an event hosted by Charlie Kirk and delivered a speech on Capitol Hill hosted by American Moment, a MAGA-aligned group. He gained even more prominence in January, when Pete Hegseth — a member of the intercontinental network of churches Wilson founded in the late 1990s — was confirmed as secretary of Defense.
Ward traveled to Moscow, Idaho, where Wilson has built 'a sprawling evangelical empire around his theological principles,' to find out what makes MAGA's spiritual leader tick — and what he wants to accomplish in Washington.
'In recent years, a growing number of Republican elites clustered around the 'New Right' of the GOP have been looking to Wilson's work as a kind of how-to manual for injecting a hardline conservative form of Protestant Christianity into public life,' he writes, 'a project that ranges from outlawing abortion at the federal level to amending the Constitution to acknowledging the truth of the Bible.'
Read the story.
'I think the puppy killer is not that smart …'
Can you guess who said this about DHS Secretary Kristi Noem? Scroll to the bottom for the answer.**
Is DC Still Safe for Diplomats? … For years, foreign diplomats breathed a sigh of relief when they scored a posting in Washington. It was about as safe as such a job could be. And when violence did target diplomats in D.C., it was usually because trouble followed them here from back home, not Made-in-America terror. The killing of two Israeli embassy staffers at the Jewish Museum might change that, writes Capital City columnist Michael Schaffer. The shootings have 'alerted our home-grown population of angry gunmen to the fact that there are representatives of foreign governments strolling around town at any minute.'
Hearing the words 'big' and 'beautiful' a little more than usual? That might have something to do with a certain bill that passed the House while you weren't paying attention — but your politically obsessed friends don't need to know that. Just use these talking points over the holiday weekend, and you'll sound like you spent the week watching C-SPAN. (From Associate Editor Dylon Jones)
— Talking to a Republican crowd? They're not likely to care about all the liberals criticizing the bill as an upward transfer of wealth — but they might listen to MAGA's top economist. Tell folks that 'Oren Cass even compared it to a 'death march through a series of choices that nobody really wanted to be making' in POLITICO Magazine.'
— Make sure to mention Trump's blowup at conservative holdouts who had withheld their support of the bill, yet another sign of his power over the GOP: 'The president had Rep. Andy Harris and other conservatives in the Cabinet Room, and he just flat-out told them: 'Enough is enough. Get it done.' Then he walked out of the room. Lo and behold, the bill passed the House.'
— Trump isn't the only one who gets credit. Remind your friends that 'House Speaker Mike Johnson had been putting out fires for months. The morning of the vote, he was talking to Rep. Michael Cloud — who previously said the bill 'fell short' — at 3 a.m. Later that morning he was sitting with Rep. Andrew Clyde, who got a concession on the taxation of gun silencers. And not long before the bill passed at 7 a.m., he was shaking hands with Rep. Max Miller, who had been irritated with the process. It was like a victory lap. You've got to imagine Johnson is celebrating this weekend.'
— Trump told hardliners not to 'fuck around with Medicaid,' but the bill does include cuts to Medicaid spending — opening up an attack line for Democrats looking to pull the rug out from under the administration in the midterms. Tell your friends that 'the Democrats are ready to pounce: They're about to roll out attack ads over Medicaid cuts in 25 battleground districts.'
Your Roommate Is a Recession Indicator … Fears of a recession have abounded since Trump kicked off his volatile trade wars. But how will we really know when a recession is upon us? Catherine Kim asked five economists for the recession indicators we should look for, especially the ones that are easy to overlook — and their answers might surprise you.
MAGA Economist: The Big Beautiful Bill Is a Bust … Conservative populists have looked with mounting hope to the Trump administration to move away from Republican economic orthodoxy — but they won't find much to celebrate in the 'big, beautiful bill' that just passed the House, says Oren Cass, the MAGA movement's top economic mind. '[It's] not something that has an especially coherent logic to it or much prospect of actually accomplishing the things that I think people want,' he tells Ian Ward.
This Pro-Trump Rapper Is Getting Deported … In 2023, Cuban rapper El Funky won praise from conservatives like then-Sen. Marco Rubio when he released the Grammy-winning protest anthem 'Patria y Vida,' or 'Homeland and Life,' rebuking Fidel Castro's regime. But now, El Funky's residency application has been denied, and he faces deportation and likely imprisonment as a dissenter in Cuba. Nonetheless, he still considers himself a Trump supporter, he tells Achy Obejas. 'I understand trying to get rid of those who shouldn't be here. But Trump should look at each individual case,' he says. 'Like mine.'
MAGA's Menswear Mastermind … Those of you in politics know Michael Anton as a conservative official in the Trump administration. But Derek Guy — or the Twitter menswear guy, as he's affectionately known online — knows him as Manton, the imperious and respected menswear critic on StyleForum, where aficionados and connoisseurs debate the finer points of men's fashion. He was known for the concept of 'Conservative Business Dress' — a standard of dressing that his coworkers in the White House routinely fail to meet. ('trump=bad' he once posted on StyleForum.) Guy takes us on a comprehensive tour of Anton's alter-ego as the fashion police.
An Intimate Look at the New York Mayor's Race … The New York mayor's race is heating up, with the controversial former Gov. of New York, Andrew Cuomo, facing off against a pack of Democratic challengers led by young socialist Zohran Mamdani. With the June 24 Democratic primary fast approaching, photographer Mark Ostow hit the trail to capture the top contenders in his signature, stark style. Get ready to see the mayor's race like you've never seen it before.
From the drafting table of editorial cartoonist Matt Wuerker.
Who Dissed? answer: It was Sunny Hostin, one of the hosts of The View, talking about Noem's inability to correctly define 'habeas corpus' during a Senate hearing. Hostin was also referencing Noem's memoir, in which she wrote about shooting and killing her dog.
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