Mark Galli, the editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, is stepping down. He will not be Christianity Today's editor tomorrow. He’s so yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how so many businesses, movements, and even governments become so detached from the people who created them. 

Years ago, Rush Limbaugh gave me one bit of advice I have never forgotten: Always go home with the people who brought you to the dance. In other words, don’t betray the people who support you. But time and time again, we see people in business and politics stray from this simple principle. 

For example, The Washington Post has three self-identified “conservative” opinion columnists, but not one writes a column that could be considered conservative. They have become creatures of Washington, comfortable in the swamp. Not surprisingly, none of them are serious entities in today’s conservative/populist movement. 

Benghazi vs. Baghdad

When news of the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad broke, there was a strange reaction on the left. Many progressives seemed happy about it, almost cheering for the worst possible outcome. But what a contrast between Benghazi and Baghdad, and how two presidents dealt with a crisis at an embassy/consulate.

President Obama and Hillary Clinton allowed our diplomatic personnel in Benghazi to be brutally murdered. And then they told us a convenient lie that some guy made an anti-Islamic video that caused the jihadists to go crazy. 

President Trump, Vice President Pence, and Secretary of State Pompeo responded forcefully to the Baghdad crisis. They publicly identified the attackers as Iranian puppets. They immediately sent reinforcements, and more troops are on the way. 

Early Wednesday, there were reports that the rioters were digging in for the long haul. Tents, toilets, and bedding were sent in. It looked like they were preparing for an extended siege of the embassy. Suddenly, there was a dramatic change — the pro-Iranian militias began leaving.

I suspect we may learn someday that there were stern communications between the White House and the mullahs of Iran, and we saw the results. Keep in mind, we are squeezing Iran hard. The mullahs are in great danger. There will be more Iranian outrages in the days ahead as they lash out, desperately trying to cling to power.

Here’s one final thing that should make your blood boil. The Marines guarding the U.S. embassy and the rioters outside trying to get in are both being paid for by you, the American taxpayer. 

The Marines are paid for by the Defense budget. The rioters were paid for by the Obama administration, which gave Iran billions of dollars in sanctions relief as part of the 2015 nuclear deal. Tehran distributed this newfound wealth to its terrorist proxies. 

This is what happens when a great nation goes off the rails, as the United States did during the Obama years.

Progressive Fascism

As the year begins, I want to remind you of how modern day progressivism is moving toward real fascism. A perfect example is what former Vice President Joe Biden said last week about energy executives who don’t bend their knee to the progressive agenda. 

Biden said that we should “hold them liable for what they have done,” adding that he would “put them in jail.” This guy is supposed to be the “moderate” candidate, but he knows which way the wind is blowing in his party.

Think of the irony here. The left is going all out in its efforts to empty the prisons. Every place where the left is in control, it is decriminalizing various actions and even doing away with bail. The results are predictable.

But this same movement is now threatening the executives of important industries that have fueled our economy and our standard of living by telling them that they will occupy the empty prison cells of drug dealers, vandals, and thieves. That is a very telling contrast.

Gertrude Himmelfarb, R.I.P.

On December 30th, Gertrude Himmelfarb, affectionately called “Bea” by her friends, passed away of congestive heart failure. I was proud to know her. She was the wife of Irving Kristol, who passed away in 2009, and the mother of Bill Kristol, who I have known and worked with since 1983, although we now find ourselves at odds over the Trump presidency.

Dr. Himmelfarb was a neoconservative Jewish intellectual and Victorian scholar. But conservatives of all stripes admired her because of her cogent work on the importance of the “moral order” to the survival of Western civilization. 

She was a critic of the 1960s moral breakdown and condemned radical feminism, abortion, and the sexual revolution. I highly recommend her 2000 book, One Nation, Two Cultures, as well as her essays and other writings.

Rest in peace, Bea. You will be missed.