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Why do Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, and much of the far Right so explicitly admire the murderous and incompetent Russian dictator Vladimir Putin? Why is Ron DeSantis drawing from Victor Orbán’s illiberal politics for his own policies as governor of Florida—a single American state that has more than twice the population of Orbán’s entire nation,
When Louis XVI presented Benjamin Franklin with a snuff box encrusted with diamonds and inset with the King’s portrait, the gift troubled Americans: it threatened to “corrupt” Franklin by clouding his judgment or altering his attitude toward the French in subtle psychological ways. This broad understanding of political corruption was a driving force at the Constitutional Convention.
Heilbrunn, Jacob. America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance with Foreign Dictators (p. 2). Liveright. Kindle Edition. x
Introduction
When the Heritage Foundation celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in April 2023 with a two-day conference and lavish party at Mount Vernon, it invited a number of leading conservative politicians, including Senators Tim Scott, J. D. Vance, Mike Lee, Rick Scott, and Josh Hawley, as well as Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who had not yet announced his bid for the presidency. But one guest speaker’s name stuck out on the program—that of Balázs Orbán, a thirty-eight-year-old Hungarian parliamentarian and political director for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (they are not related). Balázs Orbán spoke right after Vance, who decried Ukraine as the most corrupt government in the world: “Get America out of Ukraine!” Hostility to Ukraine and respect for Russian president Vladimir Putin as a foe of “woke” Western liberalism are widespread on the Right. At the same time, Hungary’s government enjoys considerable favor for its crusade on behalf of traditional family values, its crackdown on liberal institutions, and its simple hatred for migrants. Orbán was appearing as part of a panel, “Strengthening Our Cultural Institutions,” that discussed transgender rights, among other things. “A man is a man, and a woman is a woman,” Orbán said. “It’s in the Constitution. End of discussion.” He meant, of course, the Hungarian Constitution, which Orbán’s Fidesz party modified in March 2014 to weaken the country’s democracy. With his allusions to Renaissance paintings, French novelists, and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the bespectacled Orbán gave off an academic air, but he delivered a dispatch from the front lines of the culture wars in Hungary, which has created an illiberal democracy.
Whitehead, Andrew L.. American Idolatry: How Christian Nationalism Betrays the Gospel and Threatens the Church (p. xii). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Introduction
IF YOUR FAITH JOURNEY has been anything like mine, you’ve likely wrestled with some big and important questions. Over the last twenty years or so, here are some that have unsettled me personally: If our nation was built on Christian principles, why did our forebears treat Native Americans so viciously? Why are some committed to ignoring this history today? If Christian theology so profoundly shaped our national values of liberty, human rights, and full equality, why did even the most devout Christian citizens enslave Africans, ripping them from their land and destroying their lives and families? Why did our political leaders and the people who supported those leaders bar Black Americans from the full rights of citizenship for so long? Why do Black Americans continue to face hurdles today? If the United States is a Christian nation, a beacon of hope and democracy to the world, why do we often treat immigrants and refugees with such disdain and sometimes outright violence? Why don’t we do more to help them?1 Can we be faithful Christians and critique the United States? Can we be faithful Christians and patriotic? Can we be faithful Christians and celebrate this country and our citizenship? Can we be grateful for this country without baptizing and rationalizing away all the evil perpetrated in its name? These are difficult questions. Perhaps some of them look familiar. Perhaps some of them do not. If you’ve wrestled with at least one of these, then we’re likely on the same journey.
Teachout, Zephyr. Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United (p. 2). Harvard University Press. Kindle Edition.
Introduction
When Benjamin Franlin left Paris in 1785 after several years representing American interests in France, Louis XVI gave him a gorgeous parting gift. It was a portrait of King Louis, surrounded by 408 diamonds “of a beautiful water” set in two wreathed rows around the picture, and held in a golden case of a kind sometimes called a snuff box. The snuff box and portrait were worth as much as five times the value of other gifts given to diplomats. One historian has called it the “most precious treasure in [Franklin’s] entire estate.” It depicted the king with powdered hair and red cheeks, wearing white lace around his throat, two gold chains on his shoulders, and a blue robe with gold fleurs-de-lis. In Europe, gifts were socially required upon a diplomat’s departure. A valuable gift indicated a regent’s great favor and a job well done. But in the new United States, the snuff box signified danger. Such a luxurious present was perceived as having the potential to corrupt men like Franklin, and therefore it needed to be carefully managed. In Europe, in other words, the gift had positive associations of connection and graciousness; in the United States, it had negative associations of inappropriate attachments and dependencies. The snuff box stood for friendship or old world corruption, respect or bribery, depending on the perspective. For the Americans it was a symbol of seduction, dependency, luxury, and a European confusion about the proper relationship between politics, power and intimacy, and friendship.