French Friday: A Unified Theory of Trump
The Holy Post
Phil Vischer
4.6 • 4.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2025
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In his first month in office, Donald Trump has broken international agreements with allies, ended all foreign aid, voted with America's enemies in the UN, posted a plan to turn Gaza into a Trump casino and resort, purged the Pentagon of military commanders, appointed podcasters and conspiracy theorists to his cabinet, and threatened to invade or annex Canada, Greenland, and Panama. David French and Skye Jethani discuss various theories to explain Trump's approach to governing, and find one model that makes a lot of sense in an article by Jonathan Rouch. Then they contrast it with what the Founders said was necessary for the republic to survive—virtue. Finally, they discuss how the decline of virtue in American leadership may be the fruit of the church's failure to make disciples.
0:00 - French Friday's Moving to The SkyePod!
1:27 - The Theme Song
2:23 - Ukraine and Trump
8:11 - Trump 1.0 vs Trump 2.0
16:43 - Triumphalism's Shelf Life
25:53 - Bureaucracy vs Mob Boss
32:38 - Megachurches and Patrimonialism
39:38 - American Democracy and Christianity
55:52 - Prophecy's Role in MAGA
1:05:00 - End Credits
One Word Describes Trump (Article by Jonathan Rauch): https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/corruption-trump-administration/681794/
Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy by Jonathan Rauch: https://a.co/d/26wdqNC
Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen: https://a.co/d/6Crl6Hk
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody, got a quick announcement before we get into the episode. Starting next month, |
| 0:04.4 | we're going to change the way we release French Friday episodes. So the French Friday at the end of |
| 0:09.4 | March is only going to be released exclusively on the SkyPod podcast feed. It's no longer going to be |
| 0:16.1 | available on the regular Holy Post feed. So that means you're going to want to go to wherever get your |
| 0:21.0 | podcast and sign up for the SkyPod feed. You subscribe to that and you don't have to worry |
| 0:26.0 | about missing a future French Friday. Now one other note. Normally, we only release about half |
| 0:31.6 | of every Skypod episode for everybody to listen to for free and the full episodes are exclusively for Holy Post Plus subscribers. |
| 0:39.3 | But don't worry, French Friday episodes are going to be different. |
| 0:43.3 | Every month on the SkyPod feed, French Friday will be available in its entirety to everyone, |
| 0:48.3 | even if you're not a Holy Post Plus subscriber. |
| 0:51.3 | So if you haven't already signed up to follow the Skypod on whatever platform |
| 0:54.9 | you get your podcast, you should do that right now so that you don't miss next month's French |
| 0:59.6 | Friday. In fact, do it right now. Pause this episode and go to your app wherever you get your |
| 1:05.0 | podcast, look for the Skypod and hit subscribe. I'll wait for you. Go do that right now. |
| 1:13.3 | Okay, good job. You're all set. You don't have to worry about it. You'll get the French Friday in its entirety next month. And on Fridays, |
| 1:18.2 | you can listen to whatever part of the Skypot episodes you want. And if you love it, you can join Holy Post Plus and get the full thing. |
| 1:24.5 | Thanks for doing that. Now let's get on with the show. |
| 1:28.3 | Guess what day it is? It's French Friday. It's French Friday. So grab your fries and say, |
| 1:35.3 | hooray, David French is here to play on French Friday. It's French Friday. |
| 1:44.3 | David French, good to see you. |
| 1:47.2 | Sky, great to see you. |
| 1:48.7 | Okay, so let's kick off. |
... |
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