Thursday 28th March 2024

Home » Frontpage » Currently Reading:

Donald Trump And The Elephant In The Room

December 10, 2016 Frontpage No Comments

By JAMES K. FITZPATRICK

We are being hit with a deluge of articles attempting to explain Donald Trump’s victory in his run for the presidency. Some of the most insightful are appearing in the online edition of National Review, whose editors and contributors led the right-wing campaign against Trump. They were proud Never Trumpers.
They are eating their crow in an admirably honest manner. Rich Lowry and Jonah Goldberg have been especially impressive. They still don’t like Trump, but they are making a sincere effort to understand why so many on their side of the ideological fence voted for him. It would be well worth your time to spend some time examining the website (nationalreview.com) on the days immediately following the election, especially the article entitled “American Nationalism Returns” by John Fonte and John O’Sullivan.
Fonte and O’Sullivan see Trump’s election as an event of great importance in our history, a sea change, as they say. I am convinced that even many of Hillary’s voters would respond favorably if they could somehow be persuaded to read and ponder what Fonte and O’Sullivan have to say. I don’t put in that category the hardcore leftists in Hollywood, the media, and the academy. They are not likely to be won over.
But not all Hillary’s voters are like them. Among her backers were trade union members with the American flag on their hard hats, good-hearted patriotic women who were caught up in their hopes for a woman president, and well-meaning yuppies and impressionable college kids who bought into the caricature of Trump manufactured by the media. They might listen to Forte’s and O’Sullivan’s thesis, and perhaps become part of a new Republican majority in the country forged by Trump’s victory. Seriously. Let me explain.
Forte and O’Sullivan argue that Trump’s backers were not — in the main — “a basket of racists, sexists, xenophobes, and homophobes,” as Hillary described them, but Americans who saw what Forte and O’Sullivan describe as “the elephants in the room,” the left-wing partisans promoting “multiculturalism, diversity, bilingualism, identity politics, political correctness…and gender politics” for the purpose of “fundamentally transforming America.” They voted for Trump because they didn’t want any transforming.
Trump was willing to take on the secular leftists, unlike, as Forte and O’Sullivan describe them, the “professional Republicans at all levels — the donors, consultants, candidates, and incumbents” who “were bullied away from raising the issue, for fear of being thought unrespectable.”
It is a sound point. Trump got in the face of Hillary, the press, and the Hollywood elites. He didn’t give a fig whether they liked him or not. That combativeness was a key to his victory. Can you picture any other of this year’s Republican candidates who would have been willing to accept the contempt of the “right people” in that manner? I can’t, even those I preferred to Trump during his primary run.
Forte and O’Sullivan understand why many “movement conservatives” opposed Trump. He is not one of them. Forte and O’Sullivan correctly note that Trump does not reflect the views of certain pioneers of conservatism, the “Hayekian libertarians and the Kirkian traditionalists,” for example.
But free-market economics and a fondness for the literary heritage of the Christian West are not the only elements in American conservatism. There is also what Forte and O’Sullivan call “Burnhamite nationalism,” in reference to the writings of James Burnham, who called for a defense of America’s national interests through a vigorous application of American power in the world arena.
I can’t prove this, of course, but it struck me throughout these months when National Review was leading the Never Trump movement, that not all of the leading lights during the publication’s best years would have been on board. Not just Burnham, but also individuals such as Whittaker Chambers, Willmoore Kendall, and a favorite of readers of this publication, Joseph Sobran.
Forte and O’Sullivan see Trump’s willingness to fight to defend our “national fabric” in line with “Burnhamite nationalism.” They reject the contention that “nationalism is an alien element in American conservatism.” They do not see it as “exclusive, aggressive, and undemocratic,” but as “prudent, open, and appreciative that others love their countries, too.”
Nor do they see it as hateful of immigrants. They ask whether immigrants should be “Americanized” or “integrated into a multicultural/transnational society? How should we be governed — by American constitutionalism, or by international law? Should our government be rooted in American sovereignty, or in global governance? And should our policies on language and education be inspired by ideas of national coherence, or by those of ethnic separatism and/or transnational identity?”
There is nothing racist or xenophobic, when considering the above questions, to come down against the push for ethnic separatism and a globalist, transnational identity. It is a view, write Forte and O’Sullivan, that is rooted in “the good sense, decency, and aspirations of the American people for self-government, national independence, and the perpetuation of our way of life.”
Trump voters may not have been able to articulate their views as artfully as Forte and O’Sullivan, but they were making the same point when they noted that their government in recent years seemed more concerned about the rights and well-being of illegal immigrants sneaking across our borders and transgenders than with the legitimate needs of middle America.
Forte and O’Sullivan call upon American conservatives to seize the moment of Trump’s victory to articulate the view that the “U.S. Constitution is superior to international law, that immigrants — though welcome — should become part of a united national community rather than join an ethnic enclave in a balkanized America, and that our national identity is more important than any ethnic or transnational loyalty.”
They argue that this view is not an expression of “nationalist selfishness but the moral high ground of democratic self-government in a particular society.”
There are signs that the Never Trumpers among conservative intellectuals are beginning to grasp Forte and O’Sullivan’s point; that they are willing to back Trump’s effort to “reach out to new immigrant voters not from a position of weakness with pandering ‘comprehensive immigration reform,’ but from a position of strength, with the spirit of inclusive patriotism and the promise of equality of opportunity. We should say to the newcomers: ‘We welcome you first and foremost as Americans. They — progressives, liberals, Democrats — want to put you in a box as part of a victim group. We welcome you as equal citizens, they patronize you as childlike clients’.”
I submit that Forte and O’Sullivan offer a winning — as well as morally and ethically sound — approach to this matter, and one which, I repeat, large numbers of patriotic Democrats with traditional values will be drawn to if articulated and enacted with honesty and a good heart. Forte and O’Sullivan close with the following: Trump’s “emphasis on the unum, not the pluribus, should prove more attractive to an electorate than the designedly fractious minority-majority coalition on the Democratic side. After all, most people in America want to be Americans, not ambassadors from their family’s past.”

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

Abortion Advocates No Longer Consider It “A Necessary Evil,” They Celebrate Killing Babies

Last week, Kamala Harris became the first vice president in U.S. history to make a public visit to an abortion clinic. Though the Democratic party’s support for abortion is nothing new, Harris’ Planned Parenthood appearance does illustrate how that support has become a flagrant celebration of abortion as a public and personal good, essential to both “freedom” and to “healthcare.” At the appearance, Harris proclaimed,  It is only right and fair that people have access…Continue Reading

Wisconsin Supreme Court says Catholic charity group cannot claim religious tax exemption

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a major Catholic charity group’s activities were not “primarily” religious under state law, stripping the group of a key tax break and ordering it to pay into the state unemployment system. Catholic Charities Bureau (CCB) last year argued that the state had improperly removed its designation as a religious organization.  The charity filed a lawsuit after the state said it did not qualify to be considered as an organization…Continue Reading

Walgreens and CVS Will Start Selling Abortion Pills That Kill Babies

The two largest pharmacies in America will start selling abortion pills this month that end the lives of unborn children by starting them to death. Walgreens and CVS will both sell the abortion pills despite the fact that they kill a developing human being and have killed at least dozens of women and injured tens of thousands more. They plan to initially roll out abortion drug sales in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, California…Continue Reading

Cardinal Burke announces novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe for ‘crises of our age’

VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — Raymond Cardinal Burke has announced the start of a global, nine-month novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe, calling on Catholics to beseech Mary’s intercession on the Church and the world in the face of the “crises of our age.” In a new endeavour published online over the weekend, Cardinal Burke announced a novena beginning in March, and culminating on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12.

Texas attorney general targets Catholic nonprofit, alleges it facilitates illegal immigration

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Feb 21, 2024 / 21:15 pm Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is trying to shut down a Catholic nonprofit organization in El Paso based on allegations that the group may be facilitating illegal immigration, harboring immigrants who entered the country illegally, and engaging in human smuggling.  Paxton filed a lawsuit against the nonprofit Annunciation House, which has operated in the state for nearly 50 years. The lawsuit asks the District Court of El Paso…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)