Unlike the MAGA movement, which is led by a candidate who is defiantly amoral, post-liberalism is steeped in a revolutionary religiosity.

Most Americans havenā€™t heard of the post-liberal right, the small but influential group of conservative, mostly Catholic men who have declared that liberal democracy, the animating principle of Americaā€™s founding, hasĀ failedĀ and want to bring about a new social order where there is no separation of church and state and men and a hyperconservative Catholicism reign supreme. They are disdainful of secularism and individual liberty. Just like Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump illustrated during Tuesday nightā€™s debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, these menĀ idolizeĀ the authoritarian Viktor OrbĆ”n, the prime minister of Hungary.

Theyā€™re alsoĀ nostalgicĀ for Spain as it was run by the dictator Franco and see OrbĆ”nā€™s government and Francoā€™s as potential models for the kind of regime they wish to install in the United States. The groupā€™sĀ political prioritiesĀ ā€” which include restricting access to contraception and divorce and banning marriage equality and pornography ā€”Ā areĀ wildlyĀ unpopular. And yet the Republican nominee for vice president, my former friend JD Vance, isĀ a prominent voiceĀ of this fringe movement, as so many of his regrettable podcast interviews have demonstrated.

    • geekwithsoul@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Too true. I have however noted to the admins/makers of the bot that links like this (also the New York Times and others) often include ā€œ/opinion/ā€œ in the URL so it should be fairly straightforward and easy to at least address those. Low hanging fruit and all that.