James Diddams

James Fishback is delivering his speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg to a MASSIVE crowd. America First is inevitable.

A compilation of 2025 Nick Fuentes crashing out at superchats

Years ago, there was a controversy when it was found that Stephen Wolfe’s friend and podcast cohost Thomas Achord had a very explicitly racist anonymous Twitter account. This led to a blowup between those associated with Mere Orthodoxy, like Jake Meador, and with American Reformer, the former viewing this as totally unacceptable for a member of the Christian community. In contrast, many defenders of Achord and Wolfe argued that, basically, Achord might be racist or sympathetic to racist views, but that that shouldn’t be perceived as disqualifying or lead to Achord’s cancellation and that being ‘soft’ on LGBT issues was actually a much worse sin. Racism, while bad, had been singled out as a socially unacceptable sin by liberal elites while even tacit acceptance of pro-LGBT views should be viewed as the real issue in Christian circles. When Jake Meador later accepted a position as a contributor to The Dispatch, which also has a transgender person as one of its official contributors, this was taken as evidence that the same people who were highly critical of Achord were themselves soft on trans ideology. I bring this up as an example of the ways in which American Christians engaged in politics always have to function in coalitions with people whose views they do not agree with, yet who, nevertheless, are viewed as ‘less bad’ than the alternatives. In the case of the guys in these pictures, even though Peter Thiel is openly in a gay relationship and has a number of children through IVF, he is still considered to be someone whose views should be taken seriously because he is right-wing. The Christian nationalists in these photos, if you asked them, would articulate something like “yes, we disagree with Peter Thiel on many things, but he’s ultimately on the same ‘side’ as us and so we will pay money to go to his event.” The usually unspoken admission in politics is that we take a look at one side, then the other, conclude which is less bad, and then make our choice. To lay my own cards on the table, I, similarly to Jake, would sooner be in a center-right coalition that includes some LGBT people than one that is explicitly illiberal and seems to seek the overturn of the American constitutional order because I find this to be the least bad choice.

Another interesting night of people watching outside the last Anti-Christ lecture by tech billionaire Peter Thiel, including some of the biggest names from Tennessee's world of Christian nationalism. 1/2

Ross is right about the vibrancy of evangelicalism. But a distinction needs to be made. The strongest currents of Protestantism in the US are Wesleyan, not Calvinist, Pentecostal rather than Presbyterian. When intellectual Protestants wax triumphant about an “evangelical century,” they are celebrating the success of a form of Christianity that differs in significant ways from their own. I was raised in a non-denominational evangelical church. When I became “young, restless, and Reformed,” my parents were alarmed. They asked the pastor how to handle my evident defection from the faith. Whatever I believed, they thought, it wasn’t true Christianity. Intellectual Protestants—the kind who attend Anglican churches or imbibe high-proof Calvinist texts—represent traditions of belief that have helped shape this country. But in terms of sociology and doctrine, they are alienated from the most vigorous contemporary expressions of American Christianity.