Louise Linton looks on as her husband, Steve Mnuchin, is sworn in as treasury secretary Feb. 13. (Wikimedia Commons/Executive Office of the President of the United States)
Filmmaker Michael Moore on "Late Night With Seth Meyers" nails both the essence of Trump's belief system and how Democrats often let victory slip through their hands.
Pastor Paula White, on "The Jim Bakker Show" sets forth a very clear claim: Donald Trump was authentically raised up by God. And, at The American Spectator, Robert Koons asserts that Trump's nationalism is consistent with Catholic social doctrine. I am waiting to see the public letters to Jesuit Fr. Antonio Spadaro and the Rev. Marcelo Figueroa, from their critics, that begin, "We were wrong and you were right."
At Politico, a video excerpt of Trump's meltdown speech in Phoenix. He conveniently left out his comments about there being "many sides" at fault for the violence in Charlottesville. He then goes into a rant about the media. I will have more on this speech tomorrow. Unfortunately, after the speech, a protester threw a bottle of water at police who replied with tear gas, completely playing into the president's hands.
Some gaffes are so splendid, and none more than those that are entirely self-inflicted. The dustup on Instagram caused by Louise Linton, wife of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, after she posted a photo highlighting all her designer accessories, compounded when she attacked a woman who questioned it, is now a classic. The best response came from The Washington Post's Karen Tumulty: "Louise Linton's apology would have sounded more authentic if she had included a hashtag for a designer hairshirt."
Let's hope Tory Newmyer is right that this gaffe will shape the upcoming debate about tax reform.
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At HuffPost, Mark Gray from the Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate at Georgetown University looks at the data from the American National Election Studies and concludes Catholics backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by 48 percent to 45 percent.
I am not a statistician, but I feel better about my coreligionists already.
[Michael Sean Winters covers the nexus of religion and politics for NCR.]
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