Illusions Revolt!

By   Elizabeth Sherman , American University School of Public Affairs Arizona Sen. John McCain – scion of Navy brass , flyboy turned Vietnam war hero and tireless defender of American global leadership – now faces terminal brain cancer . I am a scholar of American politics . And I believe that, regardless of his storied biography and personal charm, three powerful trends in American politics thwarted McCain’s lifelong ambition to be president. They were the rise of the Christian right, partisan polarization and declining public support for foreign wars. Republican McCain was a champion of bipartisan legislating , an approach that served him and the Senate well. But as political divides have grown, bipartisanship has fallen out of favor. Most recently, McCain opposed Gina Haspel as CIA director for “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality” and her role in it. Having survived brutal torture for five years as a prisoner of war, McCain maintained a resolute...

Stormy Daniels, an adult star, at a local restaurant in downtown New Orleans.    AP Photo/Bill HaberBy By  Kelsy Burke , University of Nebraska-Lincoln Many commentators have pointed out the hypocrisy of Christian leaders who claim a moral high ground while supporting President Donald Trump. The latest scandal involving an alleged extramarital affair with pornographic film star Stormy Daniels proves no exception. The Christian right that supports Trump has found ways to justify their support of the president, for example, with analogies of how God used King David , a man with personal flaws, for the greater good of the country. All the while, however, evangelical leaders remain definitively opposed to pornography. In the words of an evangelical celebrity and outspoken opponent of pornography, Josh McDowell, it is “probably the greatest problem or threat to the Christian faith in the history of the world.” As a sociologist who stud...