J.D. Vance: The Hollow Man

The Veep joins the attack on the Pope.

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless

As wind in dry grass

Or rats’ feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

— “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Eliot

**

Ohio man lectures Pope at sparsely attended TPUSA event.

Even before last night’s empty-hall embarrassment, I thought I might title this piece, “The Pathetic J.D. Vance,” but that seemed redundant.

The VP is on an extended losing streak — his Orban faceplant, the failed Iran negotiations — and now his fumbling attempts to join Trump’s attack on the Pope.

But the Man Who Would be President is not just pathetic; he is flailing.

In case you missed it, the recent convert to Catholicism declared— and I’m really not making this up — that it was “very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

The Fail-Veep then added, “if you’re going to opine on matters of theology…you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.” (Irony would weep if it were not long dead.)

This followed Vance’s comments on Fox News that the Vatican should “stick to matters of morality” as if there were no moral dimension to war or the wanton destruction of human life. (Vance also defended Trump’s post of himself as Jesus Christ as an example of the president’s misunderstood sense of humor.)

This is pathetic stuff, but it is also notable for what it tells us about J.D. Vance’s own hollow and cynical theology — and, indeed, for what it reveals about the Trump Administration’s ardent Christianism.

The cognitive dissonance on display is striking. Vance has emerged as the loudest voice for bringing religion — specifically Catholic values — into the public sphere. Except, apparently, when those Catholic values conflict with MAGA doctrine or challenge Trump’s id.

So, once again, let’s take this both literally and seriously.

Happy Wednesday.

Note: More than 90 percent of you read everything we write and post for free — and I want to keep it that way, because you really can’t defend democracy from behind a paywall.

But I want you to know that I am deeply grateful for those of you who have become paid subscribers, because you make it possible for me to stay on this hamster wheel of crazy.

J.D. Vance: Real Man of Genius

As we know, Vance is nothing if not malleable. He has morphed from someone who called Trump “America’s Hitler” in 2016, to what he is today.

But his flip-flop on the relationship of church and state is nonetheless worth pondering, because before he told the Catholic Church to (in effect) “shut up and dribble,” the very same guy was sounding quite a different note about the role of faith in politics:

“I make no apologies for thinking that Christian values are an important foundation of this country.

“Anybody who’s telling you their view is neutral likely has an agenda to sell you. And I’m at least honest about the fact that I think the Christian foundation of this country is a good thing.”

He complained that the Constitution’s Establishment Clause — “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” — has been twisted to “effectively throw the church out of every public place at the federal, state and local level.”

“Anybody who tells you it’s required by the Constitution is lying to you,” Vance argued.

That was then. But when the Pope — the Vicar of Christ — quotes the actual gospel, Vance says he should stay in his lane. Both the hypocrisy and the incoherence burn.

**

But Vance’s attitude toward religion pervades Trump 2.0.

“We’re bringing back religion in our country,” Trump contended at a Rose Garden event on the National Day of Prayer in May. His faith adviser, pastor Paula White-Cain, proclaimed that in his administration, faith “has been brought back to where it always belongs, and that is center.” (It is, perhaps, also worth noting that Trump sells Trump-endorsed Bibles, even though there is scant evidence he has ever read the book.)

Indeed, the erosion of the separation of religion and politics has been a central and consistent theme of Trump 2.0: “Trump has chipped away at the long-standing wall between church and state. It’s just the beginning.”

Americans have been encouraged to pray for an hour each week. Some government agencies have opened their meetings with prayer or hosted regular faith services. Bible verses and Christian imagery now appear on official government social media accounts.

This is an administration in which ministers are asked to lay hands upon Trump, speak in tongues, compare him to Jesus Christ¹, and bless his every motion. The Administration has repeatedly cast the attack on Iran as a “Holy War,” with Pete Hegseth praying for various forms of divine savagery. At a worship service at the Pentagon Hegseth prayed that “every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness.”

He requested that God “break the teeth of the ungodly.” By “the blast of your anger,” he said, God would “let the evil perish.” The Almighty should “pour out your wrath against those who plot vain things and blow them away like chaff before the wind.” Hegseth beseeched God to act so “evil may be driven back and wicked souls be delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.”

The man who refers to himself as the secretary of war concluded his prayer with “we ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ, king over all kings, and amen. Amen.”

To be clear, then: Secretary of Defense Hegseth is praying for “overwhelming violence” and “no mercy” in the “powerful name of Jesus Christ,” the Prince of Peace.

It was this prayer (among others) that triggered Pope Leo, who preached on Palm Sunday that God ignores the prayers of those whose “hands are full of blood” from making war.

And now, Vance has joined Trump’s attack on the pontiff’s plea for peace.

There, my friends, is the nub of it all.

For Trump/Vance & Co., religion is subordinate to politics; it can be invoked when convenient; discarded or attacked when it speaks annoying truth to power. The trappings of faith serve when they advance the MAGA agenda.

But pleas for compassion, kindness, and decency — the core of Christianity — can be ignored or denounced if they conflict with the Gospel According to Donald Trump.

Let us pray.

**

BONUS: Trump has just posted another AI-generated image of Jesus, to spite ‘Radical Left Lunatics’.

FFS.

Nota bene

Justice Department moves to toss seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys - The Washington Post

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.

Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes , who didn’t receive pardons last January.

**

51 Percent of Americans Think Trump’s Military Action in Iran Has Not Been Worthwhile - The New York Times

Few Americans — 24 percent — think the war in Iran has been worth the costs and benefits, according to a survey from Ipsos and Reuters, released on Tuesday. Another 22 percent were not sure.

Even among the president’s core supporters, there is a divide: 55 percent of Republicans said they thought the war was worth the costs and benefits, a far cry from the vast majority of his base who support Mr. Trump on most other issues. Instead, as the war stretches into its seventh week, 20 percent of Republicans said they thought the war had not been worth the cost, and another 24 percent were not sure.

**

Europe Is Accelerating a NATO Fallback Plan in Case Trump Pulls Out - WSJ

The plans, first conceived last year, underscore the depth of European anxiety over U.S. reliability. They accelerated after Trump threatened to seize Greenland from fellow NATO member Denmark, and are now gaining fresh urgency amid the standoff over Europe’s refusal to back America’s war in Iran.

Crucially, a political reversal in Berlin is boosting momentum. For decades, Germany resisted French-led calls for greater European sovereignty in its defense, preferring to keep America as the ultimate guarantor of European security. That is now changing under German Chancellor Friedrich Merz because of concerns about the U.S.’s dependability as an ally during the Trump presidency and beyond, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Wednesday dogs

Eli, six years ago.

1. It’s not just Trump who posts images of himself as Jesus Christ. Remember the blasphemy before the blasphemy: At an Easter lunch event at the White House, Trump’s “faith advisor” Paula White-Cain compared Trump to Jesus Christ. “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. Because of His resurrection, you rose up.”