Snobbery and Embarrassment

I’ve been having a set-to with Catholic priest and monk I used to work with who supports Rowan Williams’ assault on Trump’s “idolatry.” By this I think Williams meant the publicity stunt with the Bible outside the burnt Presidents’ Church was sacrilegious because it used God, the Church and the Bible as a means to a cheap political end. In the end I wrote this:

“So, why did this enrage Lord Williams so much? I’ll treat you to my view. I think we are at a civilisational moment where all the long brewed acquisitions of a western culture underpinned by Christianity are under threat. A self-loathing and near suicidal impulse from the liberal left is attempting to dissolve and neuter it even further by making it apologise for itself using the stalking horse of race. The over-cerebral and ineffectual Lord Williams and Justin Welby have presided over part of that dissolution in the decline of the Church of England. They have spent inordinate amount of time in synods agonising over LGBT issues and, in Williams case producing the thin gruel of his poetry. A vulgar orange-tinged yobbo like Trump comes along and steps spectacularly into the breach with his stunt making it very clear what he will champion and how he will be a bulwark for the achievements of conservative Christian America. This steals Williams’ thunder and embarrasses him. Really what he feels is snobbery that such a coarse, untutored fellow is doing what he failed to do in his mincing preciousness. This simply cannot be allowed or go unchallenged. Hence his strange intervention.

Later I added:

"What they don’t understand is that Trump's wit and his instinct aren’t a contrivance. He just draws on the resource of being a normal American with all the benefits that confers on one. They’ve spent so long despising it they’ve stopped noticing that it’s the most valuable resource of all. He doesn’t even have to try.