Listen to @MZHemingway — she gets it
I like both men. I'm adult enough to handle that Vance was publicly addressing the undeniable reality of the GOP wipeout, caused by deep national frustration with a war and its resulting spikes on gas prices and other costs, while Rubio was talking to a tiny group of people at a fancy gathering who desperately need to be comforted following that shellacking.
It's unfair to compare the two sets of remarks. If they switched their audiences and roles, they might say something similar as the other one did. That's just politics.
HOWEVER, the less people care about whether either one of these guys will win the (likely way beyond Pyrrhic) nomination that they may or may not seek of a party in crisis thanks to the failures of its leadership across all branches of government, the better the party can fix the problems that brought it to this point and the better the party can work to repair the harm done. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter who gets the nomination!
Now I know that it's absolutely true that many older GOP voters fully support the war and fully support Trump's decision to do what he did. And most diehard GOP voters in other age groups would continue voting GOP even if they were less enthusiastic about the war. We see a lot of representation of the first group in particular in the media.
I know it's unpopular to say so, but these groups comprise a dramatically shrinking minority of voters that is unable to deliver election wins. Fully 65% of the country opposes the war. It's not a winning issue. Prosecuting it resulted in serious electoral costs -- largely due to the increased gas prices but also because of the sense that the Trump administration was not focused enough on domestic crises requiring major work. You may wish it were otherwise. I'm sure you do. But the reality is that this war has never been popular and has gotten less so. Thoughtful people should care far more about the very real concerns of the recent GOP voters who left or gave up and not just the ones who don't leave.
So you can pick the person who most aligns with your particular views on the war all you want! Donors and special interests can get behind whichever person they want and maybe they even have the power to get him the nomination! They frequently do! But it's a very, very, very, VERY long road between picking that nominee and returning the Republican Party to any semblance of power.
I'd care less about the fight over who gets nominated and much more about building a winning coalition going forward.
Also, as someone who genuinely likes Rubio, I think his vocal supporters may be hurting him by positioning him as a huge fan of the war. For whatever it's worth.
Went to Hey Bébé for some pregame jambalaya and a liturgical reading of Vic and Nat’ly from Chef Joe, greatest Yat in all of north Alabama, but he was out on the food truck.
Rod Dreher retweeted
Replying to @scott_colom
This is why so many Republicans i know and moderates like me voted for you. You seem to actually be a Mississippian, not a DC person. The most hard-core Republican i know (my business partner at our law firm) changed his vote from a wrote in to you because you came to talk to people at the Trump Rally. You treated people who disagreed with you as humans that just should be talked to. Do that in DC for us and you'll stay in tge Senate forever in my book.
On this National Day for the Victims of Communism, look at this memorial in Budapest for those who suffered under Communism but were not murdered. One of the most powerful monuments I've ever seen.
Rod Dreher retweeted
Today is the National Day for the Victims of Communism. Communism killed more than 100 million people in the 20th century.
This memorial, The Memorial to the Victims of Communism in Prague, powerfully captures what communism does to the human person.
A generally fair RNS piece mentioning me & my upcoming book "Weimar America," but says it "compares the infant Nazi Party in 1920s Germany to 2020s America." WRONG! Book compares *psychosocial fragility* of US to Weimar. US cd go hard left or hard right.
religionnews.com/2026/10/30/…
I knew nothing about Ossoff other than what I had read. Then this past week, I watched a couple of clips of his speeches. The guy is GOOD. We have to hope and pray that the Democrats don't have the sense to nominate him in 2028.
Fear Jon Ossoff
nationalreview.com/2026/11/f…
Absolutely agree. @HarmeetKDhillon has done vastly more to fight for and achieve equal treatment for whites than any of these whiny right-wing male bitches have ever done. Don't let the haters get you down, Harmeet!
This is tragic.
Harmeet has been a champion for the civil rights of young white Christian men. No one has done more than her to crush the DEI regime that targeted them.
And this is how she is repaid by the very people she fought for.
These young fools—ignorant, arrogant Nick Fuentes acolytes—are trying to make the Right a “Christians only” party while simultaneously making Christianity look as repulsive as possible. It’s electoral suicide.
Rod Dreher retweeted
🇺🇸 Trump didn't lose millions of voters to the Democrats. Many of them simply STOPPED showing up.
In several 2026 Senate races, only a small share of Trump's 2024 voters switched to Democrats. Far more stayed home or voted third-party.
In North Carolina, for example, an estimated 41% of former Trump voters didn't vote Republican or Democratic, while only around 4% switched to Democrats.
Meanwhile, Harris voters from 2024 remained overwhelmingly loyal to their party.
And that changes how we should understand the midterms. Democrats didn't necessarily convince huge numbers of Trump supporters to change sides.
A big part of their victory came from showing up while many Republican voters didn't.
Source: Broome Street Labs / Writer: Samuel
Today is the High Holy Day of LSU & Alabama football fans: the day of our annual game. I'm here in Birmingham, which, as a Tigers fan, is like celebrating Purim in Abu Dhabi. Gonna find out where the tribe is gathering to watch the game, and join. Wish you were here, @DennyBurk
This is profound. I'll be thinking about it for days. What happens when you lose the logos, and everything is chaos? Christ -- the Logos made flesh -- is the answer, but probably not the way you imagined. Read Fr. Stephen Freeman:
frstephenfreeman567039.subst…
In Compact, @darelmass brings the bad news to us social conservatives.
compactmag.com/article/why-v…
Just got back from WILD HORSE NINE. One of the best movies I've seen in ages. If Malkovich doesn't win the Oscar for this performance, there is no justice. And Martin McDonagh's screenplay is a thing of wonder. GO!
Rod Dreher retweeted
For months, White House chief of staff Susan Wiles raised concerns about Pete Hegseth's management of the Pentagon, personal disputes, and habit of self-promotion, according to numerous people familiar with the matter.
With her gone, Hegseth quickly posts this meme of him and Miller:
Atlanta! Y'all better have a good reason for missing this weekend's big conference featuring PAUL KINGSNORTH and CARL TRUEMAN, two of the most important Christian public intellectuals of our time. Kicks off tonight, continues Saturday. Tickets, info:
tacticalfaith.com/events/bei…
Noonan today. It's coming for sure. Yesterday Trump tweeted that America deserved the stock market crash for not voting the way he told Americans to.
wsj.com/opinion/trump-is-the…























