Steven Gardiner

Dec 9, 2024 | religiondispatches.org | Steven Gardiner

On August 16, 1971, White House Counsel John Dean circulated a confidential memo to Nixon loyalists titled “Dealing with our Political Enemies” which proposed a plan for the administration to best “use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.” The memo concluded that they didn’t need “an elaborate mechanism or game plan”—just an appointed project coordinator who would be understood to speak for the President.

Dec 2, 2024 | religiondispatches.org | Steven Gardiner

There were many people, apparently, who voted for Trump who justified it with plain vanilla doubt. As in: they see the threats to imprison political opponents, to encourage police to run wild on “one really violent day,” and to imprison investigative journalists who oppose him as just so much campaign talk, overhyped by the media. Now, I’m not talking about the MAGA base.

Nov 18, 2024 | religiondispatches.org | Steven Gardiner

Thus far much of the commentary about Trump’s cabinet and staff picks alternates between “He values loyalty above all else” and “He wants to generate chaos and break the federal government.” There’s significant truth in both statements. However, a more fundamental psycho-social program appears to be at work in Trump’s nomination of people like Matt Gaetz for Attorney General and Robert F.

Nov 5, 2024 | religiondispatches.org | Steven Gardiner

The Supreme Court of Arizona, a hotly contested swing state, ruled on November 1, 2024, that 98,000 voters whose citizenship was not confirmed because of a glitch in the state’s DMV and voter registration system can vote the full ballot, state and federal. The situation stems from a unique-to-Arizona state law that requires voters to prove their citizenship before they can legally register to vote, and regards an Arizona driver’s license issued after October 1996 to be sufficient proof.

Nov 4, 2024 | religiondispatches.org | Steven Gardiner

Untold gigabytes of virtual ink have been spilled covering the story of the 2024 presidential campaign, including the potential for violence at the polls or in the aftermath. Now, on the cusp of election day, it’s important to think hard about the risks, neither exaggerating for effect nor denying them to feel better.