Opinion

America Likes Her Heroes Humble

Getty Images

Mary Claire Kendall Author, Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends
Font Size:

Celebrities like Katy Perry and Robert Downey, Jr. are advocating getting naked to get out the vote. Perry bared all in a “Funny or Die” video. And, in a savetheday.vote video, Downey volunteers Mark Ruffalo for a nude scene in his next film.

Yet, liberals are shocked, shocked that gambling is going on in Casablanca, so to speak, judging by their reaction to Donald Trump’s 11-year-old Access Hollywood hot mic ‘locker room banter.’ Something Hillary Clinton tried to keep alive in Sunday night’s debate. “Horrific,” she had earlier tweeted to describe the incident.

It is the height of hypocrisy.  Especially considering Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct and Hillary’s ill-treatment of the victims, which Trump raised in response before, with his presser featuring these women, and at the debate.

And, it’s equal opportunity hypocrisy. Many conservative Republican officeholders have quickly lined up to say they cannot support Trump given his language. Well, the truth is, there’s been plenty of boorish behavior by powerful men in the Republican firmament—including by some of the very ones now denouncing Trump, said Trump-Pence campaign manager Kellyanne Conway in a post-debate interview with Hardball’s Chris Matthews.

Of course, everyone agrees what Donald Trump said was wildly inappropriate and offensive.

It is also true that our culture is sex-drenched.  And to pretend it is an aberration of ‘horrific’ proportions for a normal heterosexual guy to talk and behave in ways that do not comport with the relevant Ten Commandments, especially given present-day norms, is farcical.

Our culture is sick. Just look at the booming, multi-billion dollar pornography business in America, buttressed by hotel chains like Marriott International, founded by the venerable Mormon, J. Willard Marriott, Sr. They offered the euphemistically named “adult entertainment” for decades; albeit, recently, especially in the last five years, these hotel chains have stopped offering porn out of monetary, not moral, considerations.

If we really cared about our sex-drenched culture and its soul-numbing impact on both men and women, that would be the focus; not this “gotcha” game where Trump is now on political death watch. (Though his stellar performance in Sunday’s debate surely staunched the bleeding.)

Donald Trump was a playboy. We get it.  But is he still?

Word is, in recent years he had a spiritual conversion and that’s why he is running for president. He’s got the talent and he can “make America great again.” He wants to give back. In fact, he told a group of evangelicals in Florida, he thinks it’s his path to heaven.

It’s a good point. Clearly, running for president has not been an exercise of undiluted pleasure for Trump, and it has surely expiated a great many of his sins.

Just like the stars I wrote about in Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends, including Gary Cooper, Bob Hope, and John Wayne, among others.

Besides being outsized stars, they were also big sinners.  If you wonder how big, just read my book.

But, then, as in any life, they hit a crisis point and found healing in God.

And, if there’s anything America loves, it’s a repentant sinner.  Those who are pure as angels, proud as devils? Not so much.

As Fr. C. John McCloskey, who has led many conservatives to God, said, “There are no saints in this world, only in the next.”

And, in this world, as evidenced by Frank Luntz’s focus group after last night’s debate, voters are focused on the real issues that affect their lives.

Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington-based writer and author of Oasis: Conversion Stories of Hollywood Legends. She served four years in the George H.W. Bush Administration.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel