Published February 12, 2025
There is an air of triumphalism in many corners of the American right since Donald Trump’s re-election and inauguration. After years of feeling like political and cultural underdogs, victories are stacking up. Even progressives at the New York Times are admitting the right’s current momentum. Trump critic Bill Mahar even admits that Trump is not only politically powerful but also culturally popular.
Big changes are evident everywhere. Mainstream media’s influence seems to be at an all-time low. Corporate America is repealing its commitments to woke capitalism. Academia’s ideological rot is under profound scrutiny. Censorship regimes are falling while renewed commitments to free speech spring forth. Democratic power and the progressive brand are spiraling to historic lows. The “demographics are destiny” canard that Democrats based their future upon is now matched by a Republican coalition that is as diverse as it has ever been. Add to that the rapid-fire sequence of executive orders undoing four years of Joe Biden’s chaos at the border, lawfare, and gender ideology, and it seems like the wind in the right’s sails has never been stronger.
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Andrew T. Walker, Ph.D., is a Fellow in the Evangelicals and Civic Life Program at The Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is also the Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Christian Ethics and Public Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and the founding Managing Editor of WORLD Opinions. He co-hosts The Bully Pulpit, a weekly podcast exploring faith, culture, and politics from a conservative Christian perspective.
