I haven’t read J.D.’s new book yet–I have absolutely no interest in giving him any of my money–but I’ve read enough interviews and reviews to know what it is about. J.D. is making the argument that America is too interested in material gain and individual satisfaction and not enough in community and traditional morality. To put it in my terms, J.D. is portraying himself as a CD. Will this fly?
There are two serious obstacles. First, the GOP basically drove the CDs out of its ranks after the failures of George W. Bush; it is now the party of toxic empathy, not compassionate conservatism. Second, J.D. is way too opportunistic and ambitious to write off the large segment of his party that revels in cruelty to its opponents; as a result, he uses MAGA, not Christian, language when he speaks to the base. It would, therefore, be a serious mistake to take him at his word when he engages with the center-left; that is just one of his political personas.