“God has placed some prominent evangelicals in Trump’s orbit, and they’re going to have to give a full accounting of why they did not do more than they did, because the whole project has descended into getting scraps from the table of power at the expense of the President’s soul.”

~ Eric Erickson quoted by Ron Filipkowski

#Trump #Republicans #RobReiner #ThoughtsandPrayers
/15

meidasplus.com/p/today-in-poli…

Today in Politics, Bulletin 271. 12/15/25

… As Americans were waking up to the shocking news of the murder of beloved and acclaimed director and activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, Donald Trump reacted with perhaps the most vile and disgusting post of his life - and that is certainly s…

^{Ron Filipkowski (Meidas+)}

"Only four House members that I can find spoke out, with empathy for the family: Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie, Mike Lawler, and Stephanie Bice."

~ Joyce Vance

joycevance.substack.com/p/the-…

Nicole Lafond names the names Vance mentions and provides quotations.

#Trump #Republicans #RobReiner #ThoughtsandPrayers
/14

talkingpointsmemo.com/where-th…

Trump’s Vile Remarks on Rob Reiner’s Death Prove a Bridge Too Far For Some GOPers

In the wake of President Trump’s “inappropriate and disrespectful” remarks — making what appears to be a tragic double murder of director and actor Rob Reiner…

^{Nicole LaFond (TPM - Talking Points Memo)}

"CNN tried without success to get Republicans on Capitol Hill to comment on Trump’s post, reporting that Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson 'are not addressing' Trump’s post about the killing of Rob Reiner, but instead are 'offering prayers for his family.'”

~ Lucian K. Truscott

#Trump #Republicans #RobReiner #ThoughtsandPrayers
/13

luciantruscott.substack.com/p/…

Donald Trump desecrates the memory of Rob Reiner and everything else he touches.

By now you have no doubt heard of Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social this morning about the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.

^{Lucian K. Truscott IV (Lucian Truscott Newsletter)}

"The gesture towards divine power invokes an American taboo -- we are not to criticize anyone who invokes God, no matter how obviously hypocritical and self-serving, as in this case. The taboo, once summoned, prevents us from seeing the obvious, fundamental thing: a basic reason that we have government is to prevent us from becoming a society in which we simply shoot one another all the time."

#MassShootings #BrownUniversity #guns #firearms #ThoughtsandPrayers #platitudes #EmptyPiety
/5

"The notion that all elected officials have are their thoughts and prayers, regardless of by whom it is uttered, is a direct attack on the purpose of government itself. It is not a response to the anarchy of gun violence. It is a normalization of it and one of the preconditions to its repetition and spread."

~ Timothy Snyder

#MassShootings #BrownUniversity #guns #GunViolence #firearms #ThoughtsandPrayers #platitudes #EmptyPiety
/4

snyder.substack.com/p/what-a-t…

What a terrible thing it is

Mass shootings as regime change

^{Timothy Snyder (Thinking about...)}

"Thoughts and prayers. The laziest phrase in the American lexicon. It costs nothing. It risks nothing. And it changes absolutely nothing."

#MassShootings #BrownUniversity #guns #GunViolence #firearms #ThoughtsandPrayers #platitudes #EmptyPiety
/3

"Thoughts and prayers for the students senselessly murdered at Brown University. Thoughts and prayers for Jewish families in Australia who gathered at Bondi Beach to celebrate the start of Hanukkah, only to watch Day Two transform into a memorial after antisemitic violence shattered what should have been joy."

~ Michael Cohen

#MassShootings #BrownUniversity #guns #GunViolence #firearms #ThoughtsandPrayers #platitudes #EmptyPiety
/2

meidasplus.com/p/the-politics-…

The Politics of Hollow Platitudes

Thoughts and prayers have become America’s ritual of surrender; comforting the powerful, silencing accountability, and ensuring the next memorial is already being planned.

^{Michael Cohen (Meidas+)}