March 2016 – Page 10 – Warren Throckmorton

Reagan Biographer Paul Kengor on Donald Trump v. Ronald Reagan

From Donald Trump's Twitter page. — From Donald Trump’s Twitter page.

Recently, I asked my friend, colleague and Ronald Reagan biographer Paul Kengor to participate in a Q&A comparing Donald Trump with Ronald Reagan. It is my feeling that Reagan would not be welcome in today’s GOP and that he would be especially troubled by the emergence of Trump. Kengor agrees and will respond to questions early next week. However, in the mean time, Paul sent along a link to an article he penned for the American Spectator. I think it well-written and brings some valuable observation about Trump in light of Paul’s knowledge of Reagan.

The whole thing is depressing. Consider, Rubio and Cruz, the two genuine conservative front-runners, are the hardworking sons of extraordinary immigrants from Cuba. They are quintessential American success stories. They are both solid Christian family men. And into the race comes a sudden self-proclaimed born-again conservative who laughs at them and eviscerates them, and is rewarded for it. It’s hard to watch.
All of which brings me back to Trump’s mastery of an altogether new campaign tactic of non-stop rapacious ridicule of opponents within one’s own party. The New Jersey casino founder brashly accused Ted Cruz of everything from being a closet Canadian citizen to cheating when the Donald lost Iowa. Schoolboy-like, Trump threatened lawsuits. Of late, he jumps in the sandbox and taunts Marco Rubio: “choker, choker!”
Can you imagine Ronald Reagan doing this? Reagan’s “11^th commandment” was never to speak ill of another Republican. Donald Trump’s commandment is to speak ill of every Republican.
Do Republicans want this as the party’s new face and standard-bearer? Apparently those on the Trump side do. Many of them even assume the insult-king’s persona, dealing with dissenters with similar levels of obnoxiousness, blow-torching Republicans in the way of their Donald.

Go read the rest at the Spectator.

Mark Driscoll's Books in a Mars Hill Ballard Graveyard

Mars Hill Ballard Campus was put on the market in October 2014 and then sold in early 2015 for $9-million. When the building changed hands to Quest Church in Seattle, the contents were abandoned by Mars Hill’s leadership. One casualty was Mark Driscoll’s book A Call to Resurgence, left behind in bulk during the Mars Hill rapture.

That is a lot of money in books. It is surprising that Mars Hill’s leadership did not either donate or sell these books. Most likely, they were purchased originally with funds donated by individuals who attended Mars Hill.
Based on conversations I had with former marketing and communications staff back in 2014, I believe this book did not use Result Source to game the New York Times system but still involved bulk purchases in house. To my knowledge, this book did not make the NYT bestseller list. It is hard to make a case that this bulk book purchase benefited Mars Hill Church when the books died in a dumpster.
Thanks to Alex Rozier with King5 in Seattle who sent this picture to me after he obtained it recently.

Donald Trump's Campaign Gave Press Privileges to a White Segregationist; Trump, Jr. to Appear on Political Cesspool

You would think that Donald Trump would have learned something from his KKK-David Duke snafu over the weekend.
Trump gave press privileges to James Edwards, host of “paleo-Conservative” radio show Political Cesspool on February 27. Despite Edwards protests to the contrary, his guests and show topics place him in the white segregationist “we [whites] need space too” category.
Furthermore, Donald Trump, Jr. is slated to appear on the program with Edwards this weekend on March 5 (the interview has already been taped).
As I understand it, this story was broken first by the blog Little Green Footballs. A tweet about Edwards reminded of an appearance on his show by Michael Hill, League of the South president.
Edwards regularly has Hill as a guest. During one such appearance, Hill defined Southerners as whites with Edwards chiming in whole heartedly. The entire appearance can be heard here.
During the broadcast, ads for Confederate sympathizers and the Council of Conservative Citizens (advocates “racial integrity” for “European Americans”) are featured. Edwards and Hill both describe immigration as genocide for white people. At 26:30 in the broadcast, Edwards asks Hill to give a description of the basic mission of the League of the South (the audio of that segment is below). In response, Hill said:

We are for the survival, well-being, and independence of the Southern people. And when we say ‘the Southern people,’ we mean white Southerners. We are an ethno-nationalist movement and we want a free and independent South for our people, as our homeland and that’s pretty much what we are fighting for.

Then why get into immigration protests?

Now we’re doing the demographic displacement demonstrations to help with that first thing I said, the very survival of our people because if we don’t control the land, the soil with our blood, then we don’t have a place to live, we don’t have a place to work, we don’t have a place to worship, and raise our children. So the survival of our people on our land is the first thing that we’re concerned about. And that’s why we’re having these rallies against our demographic displacement. But in the end, we want a free and independent South. We’re Southern nationalists; and as I said, we want an ethno, we’re ethno-nationalists, and we want an ethnic state for Southerners here.

Edwards then chimes in and calls Hill’s position reasonable and adds:

It’s is just as legitimate folks that white, Christian Southerners have an organization that seeks to advance their unique group interests. They’ve got the radio show, they’ve got this organization and it’s completely legit and above board because I’m telling you what Dr. Hill is doing is very serious work on very serious issues and causes. Everybody ought to have the right to live and thrive and have a home and a land of their own and I do mean everybody, including white Southerners.

Listen to that segment here:

Edwards protests that he is not a white supremacist. He certainly is a white segregationist since he is referring to a land for white people without individuals of other races.
Following the section on the League’s mission, Edwards laments the desecration of prominent KKK supporter Nathan Bedford Forest. Edwards rants that such desecration will continue as long as their aren’t strong white advocacy organizations. It is very clear from his write up of the Trump experience that he liked what he saw. Edwards wrote:

I must admit that this rally lived up to my expectations. I’ve been saying for years on the radio that the majority of Americans fundamentally agree with us on the issues and that the neocons were generals of a phantom army. I am being proven right. Our people just needed a viable candidate and they’ve identified Trump as that man. There is no doubt that Trump’s populism and nationalism is galvanizing our nation and may change the course of American history for the better right before our very eyes.

Edwards also says his press credentials should not be construed as an endorsement by Trump. To me, that doesn’t fly. If Edwards tried to get press privileges with any other campaign, I cannot believe he would be allowed in.

Phoenix Public Radio Features Mark Driscoll and RICO Lawsuit

Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=146699

KJZZ, Phoenix public radio, today released a feature on Mark Driscoll and the RICO lawsuit. In a move which isn’t likely to sit well with Phoenix media, Driscoll again declined to speak to the Phoenix press.
The audio and article are somewhat different so check out both. You can hear the audio by going to the article. From Jacob McAuliffe’s report:

The Trinity Church is in its early stages of development. All it has is a website, some online supporters and a video message from founder Mark Driscoll and his wife.
Driscoll’s previous venture became a megachurch, which is a protestant congregation with at least 2,000 members. At its height, the now-disbanded Mars Hill Church in Seattle had an average weekly attendance of more than 12,000 people, spread across several different campuses.
Mars Hill fell apart when Driscoll resigned following allegations of emotional abuse and mismanagement of church funds. He now faces a lawsuit from former Mars Hill members.

David Barton Praises the Use of Primary Sources Then Cites a Third Hand Jefferson Quote

In the midst of his campaign for Ted Cruz, David Barton took some time to appear on Michael Brown’s Line of Fire radio show. While they didn’t mention my name, I suspect the Pennsylvania psychology professor was me. I did learn that I don’t hold to “basic Christian teachings” (which ones, David?) and that none of his critics were history guys. I don’t know how he sleeps at night.
He said a bunch of stuff he usually says (and which I have debunked) but, in light of Michael Brown’s praise of primary sources early in the program, I was struck by one quote Barton attributed to Jefferson.
You can go to the website to listen at 10:53 where they discuss using primary sources. Then at 21:06, Barton claims Thomas Jefferson said it was his duty as chief magistrate of America as a Christian nation to go to church. Below, I have both segments together in one clip.

Barton quotes Jefferson as follows:

When he became president for 8 years, he went there at the Capitol. When asked, ‘why do you attend church at the Capitol?’ he [Jefferson] said, ‘I’m the chief magistrate of this Christian nation and it’s my duty and responsibility to set this example and so Rev. Ethan Allen there in D.C. that’s who, he explained that to him. I’ve gotta make sure people see me going to church at the Capitol.

Off the cuff, Barton adds to the quote a little. He tells Brown’s audience that Jefferson said these words to Ethan Allen.* However, that is not what Monticello library documents. Monticello researched the following quote attributed to Jefferson:

Quotation: “Sir, no nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man, and I as chief magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example.”

Monticello consulted the existing body of Jefferson’s writings and other papers where his statements are recorded. The first recorded instance of this quote is in 1857 in the papers of Allen. Monticello’s assessed the quote as “questionable.”

Comments: This quotation appeared in a handwritten manuscript by the Reverend Ethan Allen (1796-1879). The story was related to Allen by a Mr. Ingle, who claimed to have been told a story that Jefferson was walking to church services one Sunday,
“…with his large red prayer book under his arm when a friend querying him after their mutual good morning said which way are you walking Mr. Jefferson. To which he replied to Church Sir. You going to church Mr. J. You do not believe a word in it. Sir said Mr. J. No nation has ever yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example. Good morning Sir.”2
The story comes to us third-hand, and has not been confirmed by any references in Jefferson’s papers or any other known sources. Its authenticity is questionable.

So after claiming the scholarly high ground as someone who uses primary sources, Barton used a questionable quote which comes to us third-hand.

*This is Ethan Allen the Episcopal priest and church historian. Allen was born in 1796 and would been a young boy when Jefferson was president and so Jefferson did not utter this quote to Allen who didn’t come to Washington, D.C., until long after Jefferson retired to Monticello.