Mike, the more I observe JD Vance, the more he seems like a black box. Just his personal history, changing names multiple times, adopting Catholicism as a kind of mask, alternately condemning and then fawning over Donald Trump -- they almost feel like the actions of a walking, talking version of Hal from the 2001 movie.
It's frankly kind of terrifying.
Equally terrifying is the reaction of the media to the calm, offhanded way he instructed the Pope to "be careful on matters of theology." How was this not a trigger for a superstorm of condemnation from every corner of the American press? The same press that was so very concerned that Barack Obama once attended a church led by a minister who once uttered the words "God damn America"?
The Pope, for Chrissake!
It sugggests that this was yet another test, as if Vance was advised by the tech bros to say something so insane and so theoretically insulting to the largest Christian denomination on the planet that it would function as a barometer of just how cowed they've become.
On your larger point of how it's what people do that matters, not which kind of religious sleight-of-mind they perform on camera, I absolutely agree. Keep up the good work.
JD is an adherent of the US civic religion that has already subsumed evangelical Protestantism (to a point in your article, this allows support for policies that result in severe cruelty toward the poor while also claiming to be Christian, because much of Protestantism holds that salvation is by faith, not works), and the movement which has come from this is also attempting to subsume Catholicism in the US into itself. He professes Catholicism not because he is a devout Catholic, or because he rejects sola fide, but simply because he prefers the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic Mass, and he is, as Pope Bob put it, "living in a state of practical atheism".
I’m going to defend Mike’s repetitive phrasing in this longer read. I like this style of writing because his thoughts are very dense (heavy) and the repetition assists in creating a clearer picture and understanding. Often I must read a paragraph more than once to digest it. That probably means I’m not the brightest star out here, I get easily distracted inside my own head so repetition is a positive for me personally.
I like it, too. I think it helps me retain the argument structure and main point(s) long enough to actually digest and integrate a fair bit into my long term memory.
I was baptized as a Catholic the day I was born, well because I wasn't supposed to make it. I would spend most of my childhood kneeling next to my father on Sundays growing up. My own journey would culminate in being ordained as a United Methodist Clergy and spending almost 30 years serving churches. Your comment, "the class that wants to be measured by the contents of its inner life rather than by the consequences of its conduct — and the work conceals the actual political question, which is what the conduct is producing." is spot on. The so called theological rationality or should I say irrationality that dismissed what my, our "conduct produced" with terms such as works righteousness, your saved by grace and not works allowed for all kind of malfeasance in the name of grace. I watched the maga grow in the pews before it really was maga supercharged by theological circular thinking, excusing the worst kind of conduct. This notion that no one can discern the inner life, the so called belief in the heart is nonsense. I think some great teacher put it simply, a good tree bears good fruit, a bad one, bad.
A suggestion: put like or comment higher up in your comments! By the time I finish your thoughts I have to find either/both. Sometimes I just give up. Not fair to you nor my willingness to comment.
I spent the first nine years of school, and the majority of that time, being taught by Dominican nuns — “The Dogs of God,” a Latin pun. We attended Mass, in Latin, before every school day, twice before school if I had 6:30 a.m. Altar Boy duty. End of bona fides.
You are correct: focus on the actions of an individual, not what he/she claims. JD Vance, a party to the dismantling of USAID, an administrative genocide The Lancet estimates will cause 14 million preventable deaths by the end of 2030 — twice the number of people who died in the Nazi Death Camps system. This alone gives the lie to Vance’s “claim” of being a Catholic. Saying anything doesn’t make it so. This will be an abject legacy that will follow him through his entire lifetime. The same applies to Marco Rubio, who claims to be a devout Catholic, who signed off on the dismantling of USAID, the proceeded to lie about the fallout.
“Into the Wood Chipper:?A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID,” by Nicholas Enrich (Summit Books [2024]) should be required reading for all journalists covering (carrying its water) the Trump administration
I spent the first nine years of school, and the majority of that time, being taught by Dominican nuns — “The Dogs of God,” a Latin pun. We attended Mass, in Latin, before every school day, twice before school if I had 6:30 a.m. Altar Boy duty. End of bona fides.
You are correct: focus on the actions of an individual, not what he/she claims. JD Vance, a party to the dismantling of USAID, an administrative genocide The Lancet estimates will cause 14 million preventable deaths by the end of 2030 — twice the number of people who died in the Nazi Death Csmps system. This alone gives the lie to Vance’s “claim” of being a Catholic. Saying anything doesn’t make it so. This will be an abject legacy that will follow him through his entire lifetime. The same applies to Marco Rubio, who claims to be a devout Catholic, who signed off on the dismantling of USAID, the proceeded to lie about the fallout.
“Into the Wood Chipper:?A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID,” by Nicholas Enrich (Summit Books [2024]) should be required reading for all journalists covering (carrying its water) the Trump administration
Why is the legacy media, already handicapping presidential candidates, carrying Marc Rubio’s water? He signed off on the dismantling of USAID, then proceeded to lie about its effects. He wrote a meaningless waiver to cover his ass, knowing full well it wasn’t being followed. If Rubio and/or Vance run for President, it will be a moral failure of American society if they are held to task for this horrific loss of life via preventable deaths. How can they look their own children in the eye and lie about their participation an endorsement of a policy that will kill millions of children? There should and will be a reckoning for all Trump associates.
You've explained why arguments to religion, faith and intent don't matter in politics. They're irrelevant and distract from what we can see and understand actions, their effects abs c the response of political actors when people say they don't like the actions or effects.
You argued this thoroughly and nicely with a couple of specific examples to make this all legible.
Thanks for your clear eyed description of what's going on.
There’s nothing complicated about it, he performatively converted to be close to neoreactionary rightwing extremist Catholic posing cabals, dedicated to imposing Francoist fascism across the U.S.
You name it well, define it exactly, oh philosopher.
While it seems mankind will never evolve itself from SELF-DESTRUCTIVE VOODOO, Vance, Thiel et al seem to be relying on a forgetting, a collective amnesia which ' forgives' the takeover once it happens.
As the Cstholic Church well knows and practises...
It’s an “à la carte” approach to religious doctrine. Pick doctrines that suit your politics and ignore the ones that don’t, or “interpret” them so they fit.
Take Vance’s approach to charity. Look after those closest to you and those further away get what, if anything, is left.
I fail to see how anyone could feel that’s compatible with the Good Samaritan. Vance had to have this explained to him by Pope Leo.
In the UK, 20+years ago there was a minor influx of prominent Anglicans (Episcopalians?) to the Catholic Church.
They’d been perfectly happy until women started being ordained. No theological difficulties at all.
But female ordination never featured in Henry VIII’s split with Rome.
I just looked up one, regularly quoted by the BBC on Catholic issues, for their views on capital punishment. Francis didn’t approve of. Pope Leo April: “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” Also because it deprived the condemned of the possibility of later repentance.
Yet two weeks ago this convert was arguing for the return of the death penalty in the UK.
Mike, the more I observe JD Vance, the more he seems like a black box. Just his personal history, changing names multiple times, adopting Catholicism as a kind of mask, alternately condemning and then fawning over Donald Trump -- they almost feel like the actions of a walking, talking version of Hal from the 2001 movie.
It's frankly kind of terrifying.
Equally terrifying is the reaction of the media to the calm, offhanded way he instructed the Pope to "be careful on matters of theology." How was this not a trigger for a superstorm of condemnation from every corner of the American press? The same press that was so very concerned that Barack Obama once attended a church led by a minister who once uttered the words "God damn America"?
The Pope, for Chrissake!
It sugggests that this was yet another test, as if Vance was advised by the tech bros to say something so insane and so theoretically insulting to the largest Christian denomination on the planet that it would function as a barometer of just how cowed they've become.
On your larger point of how it's what people do that matters, not which kind of religious sleight-of-mind they perform on camera, I absolutely agree. Keep up the good work.
JD is an adherent of the US civic religion that has already subsumed evangelical Protestantism (to a point in your article, this allows support for policies that result in severe cruelty toward the poor while also claiming to be Christian, because much of Protestantism holds that salvation is by faith, not works), and the movement which has come from this is also attempting to subsume Catholicism in the US into itself. He professes Catholicism not because he is a devout Catholic, or because he rejects sola fide, but simply because he prefers the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic Mass, and he is, as Pope Bob put it, "living in a state of practical atheism".
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3loqsfhswjk2r
Brilliant takedown of something we all recognize but can’t easily articulate
I’m going to defend Mike’s repetitive phrasing in this longer read. I like this style of writing because his thoughts are very dense (heavy) and the repetition assists in creating a clearer picture and understanding. Often I must read a paragraph more than once to digest it. That probably means I’m not the brightest star out here, I get easily distracted inside my own head so repetition is a positive for me personally.
Regardless, a great read and insightful.
I like it, too. I think it helps me retain the argument structure and main point(s) long enough to actually digest and integrate a fair bit into my long term memory.
I was baptized as a Catholic the day I was born, well because I wasn't supposed to make it. I would spend most of my childhood kneeling next to my father on Sundays growing up. My own journey would culminate in being ordained as a United Methodist Clergy and spending almost 30 years serving churches. Your comment, "the class that wants to be measured by the contents of its inner life rather than by the consequences of its conduct — and the work conceals the actual political question, which is what the conduct is producing." is spot on. The so called theological rationality or should I say irrationality that dismissed what my, our "conduct produced" with terms such as works righteousness, your saved by grace and not works allowed for all kind of malfeasance in the name of grace. I watched the maga grow in the pews before it really was maga supercharged by theological circular thinking, excusing the worst kind of conduct. This notion that no one can discern the inner life, the so called belief in the heart is nonsense. I think some great teacher put it simply, a good tree bears good fruit, a bad one, bad.
Long, but good and important.
A suggestion: put like or comment higher up in your comments! By the time I finish your thoughts I have to find either/both. Sometimes I just give up. Not fair to you nor my willingness to comment.
I spent the first nine years of school, and the majority of that time, being taught by Dominican nuns — “The Dogs of God,” a Latin pun. We attended Mass, in Latin, before every school day, twice before school if I had 6:30 a.m. Altar Boy duty. End of bona fides.
You are correct: focus on the actions of an individual, not what he/she claims. JD Vance, a party to the dismantling of USAID, an administrative genocide The Lancet estimates will cause 14 million preventable deaths by the end of 2030 — twice the number of people who died in the Nazi Death Camps system. This alone gives the lie to Vance’s “claim” of being a Catholic. Saying anything doesn’t make it so. This will be an abject legacy that will follow him through his entire lifetime. The same applies to Marco Rubio, who claims to be a devout Catholic, who signed off on the dismantling of USAID, the proceeded to lie about the fallout.
“Into the Wood Chipper:?A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID,” by Nicholas Enrich (Summit Books [2024]) should be required reading for all journalists covering (carrying its water) the Trump administration
I spent the first nine years of school, and the majority of that time, being taught by Dominican nuns — “The Dogs of God,” a Latin pun. We attended Mass, in Latin, before every school day, twice before school if I had 6:30 a.m. Altar Boy duty. End of bona fides.
You are correct: focus on the actions of an individual, not what he/she claims. JD Vance, a party to the dismantling of USAID, an administrative genocide The Lancet estimates will cause 14 million preventable deaths by the end of 2030 — twice the number of people who died in the Nazi Death Csmps system. This alone gives the lie to Vance’s “claim” of being a Catholic. Saying anything doesn’t make it so. This will be an abject legacy that will follow him through his entire lifetime. The same applies to Marco Rubio, who claims to be a devout Catholic, who signed off on the dismantling of USAID, the proceeded to lie about the fallout.
“Into the Wood Chipper:?A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID,” by Nicholas Enrich (Summit Books [2024]) should be required reading for all journalists covering (carrying its water) the Trump administration
Why is the legacy media, already handicapping presidential candidates, carrying Marc Rubio’s water? He signed off on the dismantling of USAID, then proceeded to lie about its effects. He wrote a meaningless waiver to cover his ass, knowing full well it wasn’t being followed. If Rubio and/or Vance run for President, it will be a moral failure of American society if they are held to task for this horrific loss of life via preventable deaths. How can they look their own children in the eye and lie about their participation an endorsement of a policy that will kill millions of children? There should and will be a reckoning for all Trump associates.
You've explained why arguments to religion, faith and intent don't matter in politics. They're irrelevant and distract from what we can see and understand actions, their effects abs c the response of political actors when people say they don't like the actions or effects.
You argued this thoroughly and nicely with a couple of specific examples to make this all legible.
Thanks for your clear eyed description of what's going on.
I admire your clarity of thought and, even more so, your skill in articulating it! You're doing important work, Mike. Love and solidarity to you.
There’s nothing complicated about it, he performatively converted to be close to neoreactionary rightwing extremist Catholic posing cabals, dedicated to imposing Francoist fascism across the U.S.
You name it well, define it exactly, oh philosopher.
While it seems mankind will never evolve itself from SELF-DESTRUCTIVE VOODOO, Vance, Thiel et al seem to be relying on a forgetting, a collective amnesia which ' forgives' the takeover once it happens.
As the Cstholic Church well knows and practises...
We all die, but it survives onwards!
St. Augustine of Hippo. Hippo is/was a place.
It’s an “à la carte” approach to religious doctrine. Pick doctrines that suit your politics and ignore the ones that don’t, or “interpret” them so they fit.
Take Vance’s approach to charity. Look after those closest to you and those further away get what, if anything, is left.
I fail to see how anyone could feel that’s compatible with the Good Samaritan. Vance had to have this explained to him by Pope Leo.
In the UK, 20+years ago there was a minor influx of prominent Anglicans (Episcopalians?) to the Catholic Church.
They’d been perfectly happy until women started being ordained. No theological difficulties at all.
But female ordination never featured in Henry VIII’s split with Rome.
I just looked up one, regularly quoted by the BBC on Catholic issues, for their views on capital punishment. Francis didn’t approve of. Pope Leo April: “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person.” Also because it deprived the condemned of the possibility of later repentance.
Yet two weeks ago this convert was arguing for the return of the death penalty in the UK.
Pick’n mix religion?
Anyone born & raised Roman Catholic (I was) knows that these ppl are not Catholic
Thanks Mike