Recent Extremism Commentaries

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A Tale of Two Voices
Two voices, both alike in reach and power, Speak into a divided world. One feeds grievance. The other calls for grace. Influence still carries power. What it often lacks now is responsibility. The contrast between Nick Fuentes and Pope Leo XIV makes that clear. Both command attention. Both reach people who feel ignored. But what they do with that attention...
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May 8, 2026
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When the Line No Longer Holds
There are moments when events reveal more than they intend. What unfolded Saturday at the Washington Hilton was not simply an isolated act. It was what happens when something deeper begins to intersect—when grievance meets amplification, when suspicion hardens into certainty, and when language that once stopped short of harm no longer does. We often look for a single cause....
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April 26, 2026
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“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican”
Question: How low can Donald Trump go?Answer: Low enough to attack the head of the Catholic Church and, by extension, 1.4 billion Catholics. His latest descent comes in the form of an attack on Pope Leo XIV. Not over policy. Not over governance. But something far more telling: moral authority. In a post on his social media site, Truth Social,...
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April 13, 2026
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Revelations
In 1927, Sinclair Lewis gave America a character it did not want to recognize in the mirror: Elmer Gantry. Gantry is loud, magnetic, insatiable — a sinner with a capital “S.” He does not discover faith; he discovers its usefulness. He learns that fear, properly stirred, can fill a sanctuary. Redemption, properly marketed, can build an empire. Gantry bellows and...
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February 26, 2026
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The Cross and the Constitution
In a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God … I contemplate with sovereign reverence … thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” In my commentary, “When Power Rewrote the Message” (July 17), I opened with this question:...
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October 3, 2025
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The Soul of Democracy Hangs by a Thread
That title is not hyperbole —it’s a reflection of a reality too many dismiss as over the top. Democracy depends on reason—on the willingness of citizens and leaders alike to engage honestly, argue respectfully, and govern responsibly. It’s the democracy I studied in high school and college, reading The Federalist Papers, Alexis de Tocqueville, and Thomas Paine. It’s a system...
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August 7, 2025
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When Power Rewrote the Message
When the pulpit merges with power, does the sword overshadow the Sermon on the Mount? Though I’m no longer practicing, I was raised Catholic. I went through the rituals—Baptism and Confirmation and confession and “eat no meat” Fridays, and I left because it was just too rigid. However, at its heart, Catholic doctrine was about love, mercy, humility, and salvation:...
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July 17, 2025
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It Can Happen Here
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.—Derived from “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis This is the most prescient book I have ever read.  In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published a novel with a title that felt more like comfort than warning: It Can’t Happen Here. But the real message behind...
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June 13, 2025
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In Union There is Strength
Former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps General James Mattis has something to say. I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled. The words “Equal Justice Under Law” are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us...
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June 11, 2025
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It Just Doesn’t Stop
“If they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. That’s the way things work.” That was a mission statement from Ed Martin, the man appointed to lead the Justice Department’s so-called “weaponization”...
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June 5, 2025

Read Some of the Most Recent Articles
The Latest... And Often Greatest
A Tale of Two Voices
Two voices, both alike in reach and power, Speak into a divided world. One feeds grievance. The other calls for grace. Influence still carries power....
How Do We Manage Division?
Recently, I found myself returning to a question I’ve asked in different forms for years: what does it actually take to hold a country together...
The Supreme Court is Broken. How Do We Fix It?
As distilled from an email update from Michael Waldman, President and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice. On Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down...
Leadership as a Moral Act
Britain’s King Charles III spoke to a chamber that, for a moment, set aside party labels—Democrat and Republican—and listened not as factions, but as participants...
Unity is Not a Declaration. It’s a Discipline.
How does a country move from argument to action? The shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is not an isolated event. It is part...
When the Line No Longer Holds
There are moments when events reveal more than they intend. What unfolded Saturday at the Washington Hilton was not simply an isolated act. It was...