French Friday: What Happened to Checks & Balances?

[@Garfield-f2b]

“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

[@LauraKasson]

Love Skye’s books…thank you for making them so accessible…looking forward to reading this new one.

[@petersonjimmyjoe]

Awesome! So happy to see this program coming on line!

[@messman5847]

This has been an incredible French Friday discussion. Thanks gents!

[@colinw7205]

AMEN !!! Brother French AMEN !!!! I'm 65 yrs and Black and all my life the American Evangelical Church esp. our Caucasian brethren have fetishized martyrdom esp. when they talk our brethren' in the old Soviet Bloc and Third World aka the Global South.. Well brothers and sisters here's your chance to see if you are indeed worthy of the Martyr's Crown or will you cower like so many did in the first three centuries of the Early Church.

[@Wren_Farthing]

38:31 I’d add in the AM radio shows like Rush Limbaugh, which made the polarized rhetoric ubiquitous in the way that internet does today.

[@enigma1865]

historian Heather Cox Richardson has pointed this out too.

[@Wren_Farthing]

@@enigma1865 I'm a fan of HCR.

[@enigma1865]

@ I have used her talks with my college classes too.

[@TroyKnoell]

We should've taken all our antibiotics and finished the impeachment after Jan 6th.

[@1achordproductions422]

As a non American, it seems like a silent majority of Americans don't want a multicultural/multi-racial America and backlash is always a thing any sense of movement towards that goal.

[@vallogan5492]

I agree but please don't use "silent majority". There has never been anything silent about the people who support people like Trump. They have always been loud and clear to the people they hurt.

[@markdouglas8073]

You are correct. My high school was named in honor of Robert E. Lee (in 1961 to oppose desegregation). It was open Southern rebellion to honor a Civil War General who led the killing of thousands of Americans in order to preserve his putative “Christian” right to own slaves. The Southern Baptist denomination was created over this evil malware. And today too few pastors are willing to stand up against White Supremacy that has been rebranded by Trump Republicans as “Anti-Woke”-a dog whistle that gives them plausible deniability. Churches need to teach that “race” is not biblical or scientific, but malware (social construct) constantly reinforced so that people feel skin color is essential to their identity (or “othering”) leading to discrimination and division. I dropped identifying as “white” and emphasize in my teaching that the Church is to be multi-ethnic, which results in opposition that I am “woke.”

[@LincolnDWard]

I think the problem is that a lot of people have been sold a really destructive picture of what that looks like. The number one predictor of people being in favor of multiculturalism is having actually experienced multiple cultures. When people from really homogenous areas imagine a multicultural America, they picture the crime they see on the news and a loss of local identity, which just isn't an accurate picture of what cultural diversity actually looks like.

[@TheW3rd0s]

That is want they want you to think, the majority of Americans don't believe in this movement. They're just louder about what they want for the country.

[@chappellroseholt5740]

Good morning from a rainy SF Bay Area. Another really informative conversation. I wish you did these weekly. From your old Hippie Leftie Friend, blessings.

[@davidfenrick3651]

Outstanding conversation! I am going to have a Holy Post listening and discussion party with my friends and family. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[@helgmelia84]

When you get to the point where you’re asking “What can Congress or the courts do to stop him from doing anything he wants?” you’re talking about a dictator.

[@monzorella1]

When I see Mr. French I click!!! Big fan 🥰

[@luxunumbracrj4311]

We sold our soul for the price of eggs and bread. "Do not neglect their bread and circuses" indeed!!

[@dandathomas6852]

Hahahaha. The bread tastes better now. Are you an illegal alien? Hahaha. See ya!

[@kkat54]

Let them eat cake.

[@enigma1865]

I want French’s quote on Madison’s position. Loved it!

[@RevEricEvans]

This is a very good analysis of where we are as a nation as guided by our current political system and insight on how we got here. I'm afraid we'd be fooling ourselves to think that all of a sudden people will grow a spine or that there will be one to come in to get us back on the right path. That's not going to happen. The only reason is not devolving faster, is because those that are allowing it to happen need enough time to turn their blind eyes without getting whiplash. There is One to fix it though, and He already has... And His name is Jesus. As Christians, our consolation is not that this world will get better but that He's prepared a better one for us.

[@vallogan5492]

Schmitt I think is more realistic than David French because for many Americans they have ALWAYS been treated as the enemy. The idea that polarization only entered American politics based on blue/red, GOP/Democrat is not true. It has always been here if you were a member of certain groups and people who have tried to help those groups. As much as I understand why you have French Fridays I am begging you have these same conversations with others besides French. His viewpoint and understanding of American history and politics is incredibly limited.

[@-_-DAVe]

It's a one hour podcast not a 7 year doctorate, don't expect every nuance. Not saying they should never invite others, but honestly I prefer it when HP doesn't focus so much on politics.

[@vallogan5492]

@@-_-DAVe I said it was limited not in scope but by his own experience and understanding of the moment. He is limited from a very narrow perspective. When I say talk to others I mean there are existing Christian movements and organizations that have been fighting against the harm being done not just by this administration but others. The Holy Post would do well to talk to Christians who are experienced in the kind of resistance French is talking about.

[@NicolasBabarskis]

To get really inside-baseball about DC dynamics, I would add Tom Delay to the list of figures David mentioned from the 90s. Newt may have been the inspirational face, but how the realities of loyalty based power politics was reimagined for the 90s onward was pioneered and operationalized by Tom Delay.

[@RonBissey]

I don't care who you are or what you have to lose, it is not a high bar to stand up to Trump. No excuses. What that leaves is a bunch of people that don't care enough. That is where we are...and who we are as a majority of the country.

[@markdouglas8073]

I am getting targeted ads here trying to get me to support Israeli settlers, who are illegally displacing Palestinians.

[@pastorofmuppets8834]

Yep! That's why TikTok was banned. Too much truth coming out from there about Israel.

[@wegder]

Within the executive branch, responsibility for interpreting the Constitution is vested in the President-by the vesting clause and by the oath to defend the Constitution that all Presidents take. I assume that the argument will be made that the supreme court and Congress must submit to trump

[@kkat54]

Not even close....Congress can tell him when he is wrong. They can if they are united cut off his funds.

[@AJ-bi3pq]

I don't see how the fact that race played an important part to Trump winning isn't brought up as a factor, and that's apart of the problem. The first thing Trump did was to remove as much diversity from the government as he could. Not to mention, yes, inflation has been high, but among other developed country we had the lowest. So saying inflation is a scapegoat.

[@michaelbrowncando]

💯

[@lisareed5738]

Enjoyed the episode as usual but am feeling pretty hopeless. Are we just stuck with this type of leadership indefinitely? There has to be something we can do to try to make a change 😢 😢

[@enigma1865]

Madison!? Perhaps we need Hamilton

[@guialogistica-canaloficial779]

LOL

[@markboland1181]

Checks and balances are between branches of government NOT the bureaucracy controlling the elected president.

[@enigma1865]

I was hoping you would bring up Jackson

[@knight1167]

29:10 - 29:19 The types that actually believe that are incredibly dumb.

[@shanewilson2484]

The 'base' is debased

[@niqhtt]

Did you seriously just say if trump can maintain current employment and inflation...

[@GeneDascher]

I think that comparing Trump to a cockroach rather than a antibiotic resistant bacteria would be more appropriate at this point

[@chuckthompson5724]

SCOTUS has said the president can do as he pleases as long as he says it is part of my job. We have a king.

[@Wesley_Todd]

Based

[@dandathomas6852]

Is this SNL?

[@yeahnothx-e9l]

I hate what this country is becoming.

[@Wesley_Todd]

You are free to leave

[@yeahnothx-e9l]

@Wesley_Todd Very Christian of you. Thank you.

[@batmanop9254]

​@@yeahnothx-e9l typical abuser logic.

[@dandathomas6852]

Hahahahahaha

[@dandathomas6852]

Are you an illegal alien? Hahaha

[@kkat54]

I'm nobody but have no fear of Trump.

[@patrickmiller9030]

As someone who thinks Trump is morally abhorrent and unqualified to hold public office, I still find it interesting that Skye and David French have little to nothing to say about anything the Biden administration did (pardoning family, hello) but then scrutinize everything that the Trump administration does. The concern rings a bit hollow. And yes, I do think Trump is much worse than Biden. I just find it hard to listen to your concerns when they are mostly one-sided.

[@Wren_Farthing]

They were critical of Biden in this very episode.

[@jeremydavis3631]

​@@Wren_FarthingYes, but that was about two sentences in an hour-long conversation. There were also references to what other Democrats have done wrong, but the vast majority of this was about Trump. If they had clearly attempted to find ways that Democrats had broken established norms and laws to the same extent that Trump has (especially Biden since the memory of his presidency is still fresh in people's minds), I might feel comfortable sharing this video with a Trump-supporting friend. As it is, I definitely can't do that without watching it together and being prepared to pause and discuss things they left out. Even if they concluded that no Democrat has ever gone as far past the boundaries as Trump has, they would at least have avoided the appearance of making Republicans their enemies.

[@patrickmiller9030]

@@Wren_Farthing Very briefly

[@andrewzook8648]

@@jeremydavis3631 Well, we're kind of past the Dems/Biden being in power, are we not? I would agree with your point if made During that admin/Congress etc. Certainly some moves deserved criticism, back then. (I think Skye especially did that over the years, here and other platforms...) But now it's the Trump admin, a Trumpian Congress and a Trumpian Supreme Court. Context allows, even dictates, that those entities get the majority of critique/accountability... especially when those 3 are the most depraved, morally rotten, Constitutionally defying, corrupted gang of unfit, ignorant, money/power hungry (mostly men) governing group probably in the history of this country (excepting maybe the white supremacy/plantation gang of fools & louts, Civil War era).

[@soundcat2kat381]

​@@andrewzook8648 Current Democrat elected officials and the DNC officer elections tomorrow Feb 1 are critical to the pushback to the Trump administration and the 2024 election cycle postmortem examinations are essential for Democrat influence and governance.