GOP has gone libertine. Progressives replace them as the party of morality.

For decades the political right was the party of moralists and scolds.  Trump cured them of that.

Pat Robertson. 

Now the progressive left points the finger of shame and error.

Donald Trump has gone a long way toward freeing the GOP-Christian-political right from the burden of being the "moral party." 

In the old days Republicans were American moralists--good Protestant churchgoing, people.  Straight laced. Anti-drug, anti-sin.

Meanwhile,  Democrats were "French" by comparison. They admitted they liked sex. They had human frailties.

Opposing pornography, sex education, divorce, homosexuality and other sins of the flesh came with the burden of being called hypocrite, when it was revealed that Dennis Hastert abused boys, that Larry Craig sought sex from guys in airport bathrooms, that Newt Gingrich was having an affair with Callista while he was pursuing the impeachment against Bill Clinton. It was not that GOP officeholders were worse than Democrats. Democrats err, too, no doubt equally. It was that the GOP was was the moral scold party the one who pointed fingers of disapproval. People like Pat Robertson called people sinners.

That was then. 

Now the Christian right has become realists, not moralists. Evangelical Christians were the most solid of Trump's constituencies. They ignored Trump's divorces, adultery, Trump University, bankruptcies, a reputation for not paying vendors, and the Access Hollywood video. 

It was only sin, and there were bigger stakes involved: political power. Focus on the tax cuts; ignore grabbing pussies.

We saw the purest expression of this early this week. Pat Robertson said it wasn't worth risking ties with Saudi Arabia just because they killed a journalist. "You've got to give the Saudi's an out," he said. There are bigger issues involved than just a murder. Money. Alliances. Christians need to understand the tradeoff, just like Donald Trump does. There are billions of dollars of arms sales at stake. 

Sure, Christians oppose murder, but be realistic.

Megan Kelly gaff, then apology.

Meanwhile, the left.

The news is full of talk about Megan Kelly. She mentioned that in her youth children would darken their faces as a Halloween costume. She said they didn't think anything of it.

She was instructed immediately and forcefully. A colleague said "she said something stupid. She said something indefensible."

She did not asked to be cut some slack. She didn't try to minimize. There were no two sides of this story. A white person darkening his or her face was deeply wrong, she admitted. It evokes a history of blackface costuming that was hurtful and racist. I have learned, she said.

The progressive left is busy teaching. Some things that appear harmless are not. Some things people do thoughtlessly are cruel. They are racist. They are indefensible.

A poll released last week divided Americans between the 25% who are conservative traditionalists, the 8% who are progressive activists, and the 67% in the middle who are the "exhausted majority." Click: The Atlantic  Progressive activists are small in number but they are concentrated in places that make them very powerful: the media, universities, and an essential component of any Democratic coalition that can win.

It isn't about popularity. It is about being moral.

The result is that progressive activists are clarifying and solidifying their policies, and defend them not as practical political realities, but as morally essential beliefs. Stop racism. Stop xenophobia. Stop capitalist exploitation. Stop exploitation of women.  They are not negotiable. There are no two sides. Right is right.

Meanwhile, the Trump and Pat Robertson, where murder and dismemberment have two sides and a bigger picture to consider.

Christian traditionalists joined the Trump team to win in the long game of greater political power.  Christian traditionalists have their churches, where sin is sin, but they compartmentalized.

Progressive activists have their own institutions of affirmation, which this blog noted in yesterday's post, and Trump has heightened the awareness of progressives of the subtle and not-subtle forces of racism and xenophobia. They are on high alert. They see sin and they correct it. Smart people who err--Megyn Kelly--fess up and say they have learned.

My observation within progressive groups is that a great many will not make the choice that Christian traditionalists made.  They know racism and xenophobia and cruelty when they see it. They know they are right, and you cannot compromise when the issues are so clear.

The left has become the moral party.