Conor Friedersdorf

Omni-American, staff writer at The Atlantic, founding editor of The Best of Journalism–subscribe here:

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@JamesBryson_ Why specifically do you think the question was cheap?

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

Maybe victories derived from the culture war are phyrric because the short-term gains from leveraging populist emotion come at a longer term cost to credibility and actual persuasion.

[Charles Fain Lehman @CharlesFLehman]

I think the reason that the Douthat question works — and the reason that many of his questions on this topic produce surprising resonance on social media — is that he quite genuinely cares about the salvation of the soul of whichever famous person he is currently talking to.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

Yes. I wish every publication did this. (The Atlantic, the NYT, and The New Yorker all do.)

[Phil Magness @PhilWMagness]

National Review is putting its full historical archive online for paid subscribers. I'm genuinely excited about this feature.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

Cable news is full of people falsely impugning the integrity of others, and they should be embarrassed to go on TV and do this.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Fox now attacking Ross Douthat: It was a setup.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

Sure, I agree, but he was more responsible than President Biden, who you seemed to blame despite the fact that he hadn't taken office! There seems to be this mistaken memory that Democrats ran the White House through the peak madness of lockdowns and riots. But no, Trump was in charge of the executive branch then

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@BumpkinEsq No, it's very easy to distinguish him, as you well know. Stop performing.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@haggai2x19 @Heminator Who was president that summer?

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@MaryGrabar @KeenanPeachy How do you believe Pelosi needs to be held accountable, and has Trump in fact done that?

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

This is a strawman. Most people are remarking on Trump's flagrant rejection of Christian morality, not bragging or even claiming that their own soul is pure or asserting that they are going to heaven. Indeed, the humility to know how uncertain our immortal fate is, even without unrepentantly and publicly committing a bunch of mortal sins, is one reason why watching someone respond that way to an explicit question about whether they would forgive to save their immortal soul was so affecting.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@CivicNatalist What have I said about Trump that you find objectionable?

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@julie_kelly2 @Douthat60 It's fine if you reject Christian morality and believe that it is absurd, but forgiving and loving one's enemies is exactly what it calls for, and many Americans, including me, do not believe it is absurd at all.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@maticulis That's false too. Lots of people have said everything of value that Trump said. I hope reflecting on the falsehood of your successive claims clarifies how weak and unexamined the case for Trump is.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

What about all the incendiary things Trump said that didn't need to be said? Seems cowardly to fight the strawman when the steelman is right there ready to square off!

[Coddled Affluent Professional @feelsdesperate]

People will say Trump was incendiary and divisive but there was just so much that needed to be said. There were a ton of things that needed to be said for a long time and he just said them. The reason he got the reaction he did was because there was obviously a lot there.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

This suits me fine.

[Mark R. Levin @marklevinshow]

The Democrats impeached President Trump a second time and actually had a trial in the Senate when he was a private citizen.  Therefore, I propose the impeachment of every past president who is still alive for military operations in which they never received a declaration of war -- impeach them all and try them all -- as this is the new standard.  The same for every past, living SecDef and SecState.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@PlatosTrojanH @joeljmiller I'm sorry, do you doubt, at this late date, that Donald Trump frequently lies? Really?

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@joeljmiller Yes he honestly and forthrightly rejects Christian morality.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@jamesawhiite Ross is a conservative Catholic who wrote a book called Grand New Party urging conservatives to adopt policies that help the working class.

[Conor Friedersdorf @conor64]

@megbasham Andrew Sullivan urged President Trump to resign.