The authoritarian war on Truth

And last night's VP Debate + a statement from the bishops of the ELCA ...

Hi Readers,

Quick post from me here: the Minnesota Star Tribune asked me and three of my fellow contributing columnists to write a short reaction to last night’s VP debate. I’ll share my contribution below in text, with a link to the full piece. For local readers, it will be in print on Thursday morning.

Note: as promised, I’m sharing here a fuller version of my piece before it was edited for the paper:

I teach often on the rhetoric of authoritarianism and right-wing Christian Nationalism, and I always tell audiences that one of the far right’s best tools is to make you question your own reality, to make the truth seem elusive and impossible to ascertain.

Even though I teach about these tactics, I still found myself confused and questioning my own reality as I watched Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate. Republican VP nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), took the free gift of 90 minutes national airtime to repair his image and pivot 180 degrees on nearly every facet of his political persona and previous policy positions.

A Catholic convert known for his traditionalist views about women and family life, made famous for comments about “childless cat ladies,” Vance on Tuesday night attempted to come across as empathetic, bipartisan, and willing to compromise. He made multiple overtures toward cooperation and congeniality toward his opponent, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (though, notably, Vance did not have similarly kind words to offer to Walz’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris).

Vance, who previously pivoted far to the right on abortion, on Tuesday night mentioned a friend of his who had an abortion, and he expressed compassion and a desire for cooperation on issues like gun violence and housing reform. But Vance is running with Donald Trump, and by the end of the night, when Vance refused to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election, it was clear any claim toward compromise was a hollow farce. Vance had to demonstrate total fidelity toward his Party’s unquestioned leader, its presidential candidate in each of the past three presidential elections. Unlike his predecessor, Mike Pence, Vance left no doubt that he’d be willing to betray democracy in order to satisfy Trump’s need for absolute power.

Read the whole thing here (GIFT LINK)

A related note. The ELCA Conference of Bishops recently released a new statement on the importance of Truth. I am hopeful that they wrote this statement in the context of my teachings on Christian Nationalism and its weaponization of lies and gaslighting. I do think their statement would have been more powerful had they mentioned this context explicitly. You can read the entire statement here.

P.S. …

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