How JD Vance became the poster child for 'post-liberal Catholics': political scientist

08 August 2024

Extreme social conservatism in the United States is typically associated with far-right white fundamentalist evangelical Protestants, a group that on the whole, has been aggressively supportive of former President Donald Trump.

But Trump's 2024 presidential running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), is not an evangelical — he's Catholic. And far-right Catholics now dominate the U.S. Supreme Court, although Justice Sonia Sotomayor is a liberal Catholic and a Barack Obama appointee who has had some vehement disagreements with Catholic Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

In an essay/think piece published by The Atlantic on August 8, Damon Linker — a political science lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia — points to Vance as the poster child for "post-liberal Catholics" in the United States.

"When journalists write about ties between Donald Trump and the Religious Right," Linker explains, "they usually focus on evangelical Protestants. That emphasis makes sense, given that evangelicals make up a sizable portion of the GOP's electoral coalition, and their enduring devotion to the morally and religiously louche Republican nominee remains more than a little shocking. But Trump's choice of JD Vance as his running mate puts a spotlight on a different faction of the Religious Right: the so-called post-liberal Catholics, who have been Vance's friends, allies, and interlocutors since his 2019 conversion to Catholicism — he was raised Protestant — and transformation into a MAGA Republican shortly after."

Vance has been drawing widespread criticism in recent weeks for his "childless cat ladies" and "childless Democrats" attacks of 2021 and 2022. The "Hillbilly Elegy" author made scathing remarks about Americans who don't have biological children, even calling for them to be "punished" through higher taxes for not procreating.

Linker describes Vance as "the man the post-liberals have been waiting for" — as Vance identifies as part of the "post-liberal right" and is "now a contender for one of the country's highest political offices."

"Trump and his immediate circle may not share theological convictions with the post-liberals, but the two groups do share certain political impulses," Linker observes. "Both exhibit a populist skepticism of elites, deference toward social conservatism, and a preference for putting 'America first' when it comes to immigration, trade, labor, and foreign policy. Most of all, Trump and the post-liberals share a willingness, even an eagerness, to smash the entrenched power of the liberal cultural establishment."

Linker adds, "Vance is the embodiment of these shared hopes and drive for disruption. As vice president in a second Trump Administration, he would bring both to the highest levels of government, allowing, for the first time, post-liberal Catholic ideas to exert real political influence."

Read Damon Linker's full article for The Atlantic at this link (subscription required).

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