Midterms and the Signs of the Times

How to read the current moment.

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There is no shortage of punditry, analysis and Monday morning quarterbacking about this week’s midterm elections, including David’s own work at the Dispatch. In this podcast, however, David and Curtis try to take a slightly broader (dare we say higher?) view, to ask not only the raw political questions, but also the broader questions about what this election might be signaling for our country, our culture, and our church. What are the signs we should be paying attention to, and how should we as Christians be thinking, praying and responding to them?

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Produced by Kris Carter

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Comments (11)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Jhschenck82

    Another great pod! I was thinking that the pro-life movement post Dobbs was the dog who caught the car, and then David says it on the podcast! Great minds and all that. What continues to concern me is I'm hearing "There had to be irregularities! There's no way all those Republicans lost all those races! The fix is in!" My response of "We didn't know what to do after Dobbs and there were too many MAGA candidates who were terrible" is met with scorn and derision - maybe even a harrumph. While I don't support the dem office holders in Michigan, I'm ok that election deniers didn't win the statewide offices. Thanks, guys for bringing a good Christian balance to this season!

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    Witt Case

    Politically it was a bad day for the pro-life movement. I get that. But as someone who is a pro choice person or faith can we start looking at pro life outcomes more than legislation. Is pregnancy and abortion declining?

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    Nate Dunlevy

    David, I also used to believe the parties were on a path toward more racial balance, but after watching the way southern legislators treated GWB's plans for immigration reform, I no longer think it's possible.

    There is a deeply racist block of (mostly) southern voters that simply do not want to be in a party with minority voters. They would rather lose than get the votes of minority voters, and their refusal to make even feints at decency and accommodation illustrate this.

    There are a lot of not racist Republicans that would love to see the party embrace minorities and immigrants because that would be the fastest and healthiest way to achieve a great number of societal reforms. But what can a party do that is beholden to a 15-20% concentrated block of people who want "a white christan country for white christans"?

    What's the fix there? Is there a natural limit to how deep the inroads can go into minority communities for a party with real race issues?

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    1. Laurie

      I agree. It was attorneys from the deep south implementing the child separation policy in the former administration, led by Jeff Sessions. Racism is a part of the whole MAGA greviance movement which was rejected in blue and swing states (some of which are now blue). It wasn't a liability in red states where MAGA candidates broke through in the the primaries though.

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  4. Rbaxter

    What is Putin's christain statement of faith? Is it also a lie? When this war ends, we have to come to terms with what makes Russians tick, They cant keep heaping blame on their disposed leaders for the wrongs they do in service to those leaders.
    Call it evil from our point of view, they would see it differently - the pattern will repeat.

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    Amymreeves37

    When I was listening to the discussion of religious polarization I found myself thinking of the charts that Ryan Burge has been tweeting out lately on the "Nones" (Americans who profess no religion) by education and age. There's been a fascinating shift where the baby boomers are more likely to be Nones the more educated they are, the older Gen-Xers like David (and me) show no correlation between religious ID and education level, and Xennials and younger show the reverse pattern where the *least* educated are the most likely to be Nones. Since the Boomers are still a huge portion of the electorate it's not surprising that education polarization and religious polarization basically line up, but among younger folks there are some cross-winds that will presumably become more apparent as time goes on. Maybe Burge would be an interesting person to have on as a guest sometime to talk about this?

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  6. Lovell.Eugene

    I think the “pro-life” movement would be better served focusing on the moral aspects of abortion and the power of persuasion, along with opening up humane options for desperate women. It is unlikely a majority of Americans like the idea of abortion. It is a painful, horrible option. People do have empathy for the poor woman caught between a rock and a very hard place. After Roe was overturned, too many pro-life people seemed to want to shift to turning these women into criminals rather than bring forward ideas to help and assist women who are clearly suffering. Maybe my sense of this is wrong. I do know Mankind’s justice is often a very rough justice.

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  7. Moorechaos

    I love the idea of the Post Partisan Christian project. I like Android 92's idea.

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  8. Android92

    Loved this conversation! Probably one of my favorite episodes. As for the “post partisan Christian project,” can I suggest calling it “The 6:8 Project,” in reference to Micah 6:8. Would also love to see Kaitlin Schiess, The & Campaign, and Truth Over Tribe involved in the project. Thanks for a boost of hope in the political process and thinking Christianly about these topics.

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  9. Francislyo

    Thank you! David’s 5 points and this discussion are very insightful, providing reason for hope yet cautionary advice. Curtis’ focus on attending to God is something we need to hold close.

    Some specific reactions (last one is the closest to my heart):
    1) Love the presentation of data! A small point in crunching the numbers: the survey category “self-identified Evangelical” doesn’t include many (if not most) mainstream Christians and Catholics, particularly the left leaning, while response category “self-identified weekly church attender” definitely does. So explaining the difference in white Evangelical support for Trump (83%) and weekly church attender support (63%) as largely attributable to the nonwhite church attending Democrat, I think misses the fact that the Evangelical label itself is selecting against both white and nonwhite church attending Democrats – see 4) below. Here’s some info from the Pew center: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/23/u-s-religious-groups-and-their-political-leanings/

    2) “Bottom line Ukraine aid is safer than it was before the election.” I hope this is true. Considering which party has never voted against aid to Ukraine and which party is elevating those who oppose aid, I am cautious now that Republicans control the house. It’s not a given that Kevin McCarthy et al will stop caving to MAGA members like MTG.

    3) I think David’s analysis of election denialism should be taken further. Yes, it’s a good sign that all election deniers who lost their races this midterm conceded, but he also noted that election deniers won, in very red regions – I think we now have more election deniers in Congress and other positions that govern elections? Yikes! Dangerous implications if Trump runs in 2024, and even more so for subsequent elections should he win. Recall that the majority of House Republicans voted to *not* certify the 2020 election as free and fair, yet Republicans from VP to Justice Dept came down on the side of democracy, at great personal cost, averting constitutional crisis. Unlike in 2020, Trump’s next Republican leadership from VP, Attorney general on down is likely to be composed of people who would go along with future attempts to overthrow elections. With someone like MTG as VP and more MAGA election deniers in Congress and running state elections - what might happen in Jan 6, 2025?

    4) David points out that Democratic progressivism is alienating religious nonwhites. Yes. I add religious whites also. Importantly, though, his “God Gap” slices both ways: Evangelical political extremism is alienating many people, including fellow Christians, from the Evangelical label and even the Christian faith itself. Among African Americans, historically a community of great faith, many no longer believe that their Evangelical brothers and sisters care about them. This has factored into, for example, Evangelicals for Social Action dropping “Evangelicals” in its name favor of “Christians”. With many Evangelicals now embracing racism against whites as more problematic than racism against blacks, along with appropriating Jesus Christ for the MAGA cause (including attempts to toss out millions of black votes in 2020 and overthrow the election), it’s not hard to arrive at this conclusion.

    5) David’s insightful analysis of the prolife movement hones in on their approaches: enforcing vs persuading. I would like to add a street level view from supporters of crisis pregnancy clinics who can no longer in good conscience support our local clinic, which is now advocating crazy conspiracy lies and demonization. My attempts to engage on this resulted in them doubling down. I think the reason the “political prolife culture” is, as David said, dominating in the public perception is that it’s also dominating in the alternative “crisis pregnancy culture” that David describes. Not hard to see why this may be: outrage raises money. My local is not at all trying to win hearts and minds – it is playing to the MAGA base, in a very blue area. I think that in time the public will find out, with predictable results for the prolife movement and even more importantly, a terrible witness for Jesus Christ. Pleas from people like me have zero impact – it will be up to prolife leaders to confront the conspiracy trends within the movement.

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    1. Laurie

      Excellent- thanks for sharing. As a Christian who has dropped "evangelical" and votes D, I agree with your thoughts, particularly on the excusing of racism in my former party. Right to Life in my state supported all election deniers too. Thankfully, the local CPC has not been political as far as I can tell.

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