Biden killed his party. That debate was the most destructive debate in presidential history. His whole team intentionally hid his condition from his cabinet, the party, & the people.

Tapper simply reports what folks like Obama & others knew. Biden was not fit. He selfishly crippled his party.

Ditto

I lack the time to read your book right now…but I’m going to. Kudos to you and your husband.

Amongst lib democracies, the US is MOST religious & maybe the MOST politically polarized. Scandinavian values shown in welfare state and civic ethic.

ii) Within USA, aren’t evangelicals a (the?) main driver of polarization? Back to 3 above, the Right's FEAR is deeply Xn.

Thought provoking piece

4) Rauch says US founders knew you needed religion to provide values. I hear this so often from brilliant US commentators (Zakaria, Douthat, etc).
2 problems: i) if true, then why don't the most secular democracies (Scandinavia) have worse politics than USA? In fact, they seem to thrive best of all.

3) Addition #1 – Quite the contrary - I think we need to highlight that the Evangelical church plays a central role in ramping up fear. Sermons, books, podcasts. Left Behind, antichrist, Pentecostal demonology. The Dems are pedophiles; Biden hates God. It goes on and on and on.

2) They rightly highlight the role of Fear. I think you can learn a lot about US politics by reading the classic The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Christianity has resources (focus on Hope) to counter this. But this has not borne out at all in practice.

3/

1) They do a great job identifying types of Xns (thin, thick, and sharp). Highlighting how the LDS (Mormon) church engages with politics more civilly (not to dominate) is excellent.

But, can this translate? As French notes, LDS folks have never had the #s to think they control/own the country.