I was pitched "The Temptation of Kayleigh McEnany" today. It's a new piece appearing in @TheAtlantic. It's certainly worth a read. But I also have thoughts. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/kayleigh-mcenany-trump-evangelicals/613471/

Kayleigh is an evangelical millennial, and in that way, she reminds me of every other bright evangelical millennial I went to college with. Did I mention I went to a relatively conservative Christian college?

The fact that she's four months younger than me is a trip. We would have been the same year in college. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I feel like I've met 100 Kayleighs in my life, and we probably would have been Facebook friends.

So to see her taking shots at "the media" and spinning everything the president does into a strength, I'm not really surprised. Like zero percent. It's what evangelical culture does. Rather than cancel people, it uplifts "imperfect" leaders. The practice has biblical roots.

What the profile may have missed, however, is the fact that Kayleigh McEnany is one of millions of Americans who think the same way. When evangelicals see her, they see a familiar face - maybe even someone they'd be proud to call their daughter.

I used to be in a men's choir in college. We'd tour churches across the country in coats and tails and sing songs about Jesus. Grandmas would tell us all the time, "You should meet my granddaughter." We looked like good, clean, Christian, American boys.

... not all of us were. Still, when we sang to those rural congregations, they'd short of sign over their social security checks to college. Why? Because they believed that we were the men who would lead the nation's Christian revival.

I guess what I'm saying is, the evangelical population has proven that they're willing to overlook some obvious shortcomings in their leaders because they believe the ends will justify the means. And again, that's just the way they roll.

I just wonder what it's like to be someone with no Kayleighs on their friends list. A significant chunk of the country must seem quite foreign. Bizarre even.

But, I can tell you from experience, the left seems no less bizarre to them.