Introduction
Let me just say on the front end, that I am making the general assumption that anyone who is listening to this is probably familiar with Wilson. I would also like to add that any observations I am making, I am making from the outside looking in.
I have followed Doug Wilson for some time and am incredibly grateful for his ministry in Moscow. I am thankful for all the success that has come his way in recent years, particularly the last few, and think it is well deserved. He has always been a bit of a voice crying in the wilderness and has been right regarding cultural issues the vast majority of the time. Some of his doctrinal positions have received…well, opposition, and rightfully so in some cases. I’ll let you choose which ones, but even here, I think he defends himself and his positions well and is always willing to do so with anyone that is willing to have the conversation. This is to be commended. I find this to be an interesting phenomenon, even where I disagree with him, I find myself liking him all the more.
I just recently did a podcast, “Doug Wilson and the Wussies Strike Back,” making some observations regarding Kevin DeYoung’s article entitled, “On Culture War, Doug Wilson, and the Moscow Mood.” True to form, and as I predicted, everybody and their grandmother has had something to say about this. What I think was a surprise to many, and I think, particularly those in DeYoung’s camp was the amount of support that came out in favor of Wilson regarding this article, and I think rightly so. DeYoung’s article was mean spirited, condescending and self-righteous, and he simply defaults to all of the same Wilson tropes and accusations throughout. All of which, I believe, Wilson has clarified and adequately defended on multiple occasions in the past.
Whether you agree with him or not, you should at least interact with his positions instead of showing no willingness to do so. Like I said in the previous podcast, this is having unintended consequences for guys like DeYoung, by broadening and deepening Wilson’s followers, perhaps because they look into what Wilson has really said and agree with him, and perhaps, in part, because they can see through all of the sanctimonious, self righteous nice drivel coming out of what I have deemed the evangelical establishment. They see the weakness and vanity of these guys on full display and like Wilson, if for no other reason, because those guys suck and are moderately gay.
My focus then in that podcast wasn’t to repeat all of the talking points that both sides were going to jump on, but was to reflect upon the broader cultural moment that we find ourselves in by making some comparisons of Doug Wilson to Donald Trump within their respective spheres, in order to illustrate why Wilson is hated so much by the evangelical establishment. I would encourage you to go back and rewatch or relisten to that podcast several more times.
So, although I disagree with almost everything DeYoung said in his article, and think his mood was proud and mean-spirited, though wrapped up in a bunch of nice religious sounding language, this doesn’t mean that everything he said is baseless. Regarding Wilson, and Moscow and everything contained therein, I have some concerns of my own. My concerns have nothing to do with his doctrine or his tone, nor do they have anything to do with what has happened, and is something that I hope doesn’t happen, but is probably probable to happen, as least in some form or fashion just based on the nature of how things go, but I hope not.
Lessons From Trump & Becoming the Establishment
In the last episode I compared Wilson to Trump, which I am sure, thrilled some and upset others in varying ways and for varying reasons. My point was not to compare the men per se, certainly not their character and temperament, but rather to simply look at them both as disrupters to the status quo and to the establishment within their respective spheres. In so doing, we can see why there is such an irrational hatred for these men and why there seems to be a constant need to misrepresent these men from their opposition.
Donald Trump tapped into something in 2015. Conservatives had felt abandoned by the Republican party, because they were, and they could look around and clearly see the disintegration of a once great nation. You had the rise of ISIS, the velvet fist of socialist policies being implemented, mass illegal immigration, and the government redefining marriage, just to name a few little things that people were concerned about, and oh yeah, the constant murder mill that is abortion. Trump was able to cut through all of the Republican talking points, and did so in a way that people listened.
In short, Trump was able to prioritize, at least in speech, what mattered to people. So you had, and still have an interesting phenomenon occurring, where you have a New York, billionaire populist speaking for the middle of the country. They saw in Trump an advocate, and they saw in Trump someone that would fight for them when everyone else had abandoned them. When Trump was attacked for saying the most obvious of things, they felt like they were being attacked too.
When Trump was constantly mocked and maligned, his followers could clearly hear what the intelligentsia thought about them. Regardless of all the negative things regarding Trump, and there are many, people were beginning to realize that all of the hand-picked, establishment bona fides had screwed things up so bad that they came to the conclusion that not only was Trump necessary, but what he was saying and the way he was saying it was necessary too.
That was 2015. I think we could all agree that much has changed since then. When you kick the hornet’s nest they don’t remain dormant, they swarm and attack and that’s exactly what happened, and I think it’s obvious that Trump was not prepared for that. He had developed a reputation as a fighter and a counterpuncher during the campaign and was successful in doing so, and certainly proved to be much more resilient than anyone had anticipated, but as Vince Lombardi said, “fatigue makes cowards of us all,” and that’s exactly what happened. If you get bit by a handful of hornets, it’s one thing, but if you are unable to get away from the swarm, and the constant, endless barrage of stings, it’s quite another.
Here you had a catch 22 developing, where he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. His followers loved that he was a fighter, because they believed that he was fighting for them.
However, now that he was the president things changed. There were those among his followers, who loved that he was scrappy and wanted to see him scrap with everyone and everything. They believed this was part of Trump’s brand and when he was doing this, it was just Trump being Trump. If he wasn’t doing this, he would appear soft, or weak, or even worse, he would becoming one of them. However, there were others that didn’t mind the scrappiness, but thought it should be more strategic and thought through, and now, as President of the United States, it’s a bad look to be constantly punching down.
Not only that, but if he remained undisciplined, bit the bait and responded to every personal attack, a temptation that seemingly was unavoidable for Trump, his opposition would render him null and void in fulfilling his mission, because the focus would constantly be on defending himself. When Trump entered the Oval Office, the swarm never stopped and still hasn’t, and that’s coming from both sides of the aisle, I believe he got played again and again and again. The constant, perpetual and irrational attacks on him, which to rightly use an overused word, was unprecedented. To many, this was an affirmation that everything he said was true.
Many would like to see him reelected, for a multitude of reasons, but in part because what
happened in 2020 was absolutely disgusting, and because the threats have grown to Godzilla proportions. However, somewhere along the line, mission creep has set in. The message seems to be more about Trump defending himself than about the American people. In part, this is a product of our own making. Our country is incredibly polarized and tribalistic, and because of that, we’re looking for a chieftain to fight for our tribe, instead of a principled leader to cut straight.
I think Trump has changed from 2015 to now. He seems bitter and jaded. A man who once enjoyed the fight and engaged in it purposefully because there was something bigger to fight for, is just fighting because it’s part of his brand and because he wants to beat those who have legitimately wronged him. Always a caricature, he has now become a caricature of himself. And as far as the establishment goes, he seems to be just a different brand of the same monster.
Some may hear everything I just said and say, “yeah, but we’re talking about totally different people in totally different spheres.” This is true, but people are still people and we all occupy the same space, that is, we’re all swimming in the same waters. Doug Wilson is a jolly warrior and praise God for that, and this is one of a multitude of reasons why many love him. For decades, he has fought, and fought well against the enemies of Christ and has proven to be right on a multitude of issues.
He sees secularism, and Marxism and all of the nerves that fire off of that stem as the threats they are and has been calling a spade a spade for the duration of his time in ministry. He has not only warned the church of these evils but has called them out when they have made their way into the church. He has confronted evil, not just outside but inside the church, and seemingly has no less pep in his step, and praise God for that. It’s not just the negative aspect of tearing down strongholds that he has engaged in, but also the building up of a strong Christian culture in Moscow primarily though worship, education and publishing. Even Kevin DeYoung is impressed by this.
So then, why would I have any concerns about Moscow and Wilson, and everything that he, along with a multitude of others have built and are building there? In many respects the DeYoung article is nothing new, and looked like a desperate, half-hearted hit piece, that he didn’t really want to engage in but felt like he had to, but in other respects, I think it is reflective of a lot of other things going on.
Wilson has engaged in a lot of battles without any loss of that jolly warrior status, and praise God for that. But for the most part, has always been seen as kind of a fringe guy within broader evangelicalism, who was ministering in a town that no one really cared about. Many still don’t really know who Wilson is, but if things continue as they have been over the last few years they will, and the intelligentsia and the evangelical establishment and those who fund them, can’t have that.
Hit pieces on Wilson are nothing new, however, I think the article by DeYoung is a tell. What is happening in Moscow is now getting noticed. The fringe is no longer the fringe, so we have to send out an orthodox guy (like DeYoung) to malign this guy’s character, to make it look like the fringe is still the fringe. Just as an aside, the thinking person should ask themselves why the Gospel Coalition and several organizations just like them see Wilson and the “Moscow Mood” as a greater threat than the alphabet soup Nazi’s?
Do I think this article will stick? No, but it wasn’t meant to. This was just the buzzing of one hornet, but the sting of one hundred thousand more are on the way. In many respects, people’s responses to DeYoung’s article was encouraging because many believe that it didn’t have the intended effect. In many respects it was very encouraging to see how many people are beginning to see through what the evangelical establishment was doing and has been doing for years. Many are seeing through the sanctimony and manipulation. Somewhat akin to 2015, but now they are seeing it within broader evangelicalism.
So in response to this article, many rushed to defend Wilson. But again, remember the swarm. Multiply this effect out thousands of times over, and all of the conversation will be about Wilson, either his malignment or defense, either way, you have a complete mission creep. Also, Wilson the jolly warrior is now inextricably linked to the label “Moscow Mood,” which, without a doubt is a term that is meant to have negative connotations. Has that term had that effect? Certainly not at present, and is more so seen as a badge of honor, which is hilarious but also troubling strategically because it creates the same catch 22 situation for Wilson and all in his orbit, now successfully labeled, as it did for Trump.
Whatever you may think of Wilson, he is not a fringe guy anymore. He was never welcomed to the cool kids table, so he built his own. This is awesome, but will also come with unintended consequences. The very thing that has enabled much growth over the last several years, that is, the scrappiness that throws the sacred cows outside and inside the church into the fire has now defined them as Trump’s “mean tweets” did. And the No Quarter November (NQN) stuff further perpetuates this branding.
What started off as something fun, has now grown into something that is a caricature of itself and has to be bigger and better and badder every year. When things are going well, this feels wonderful, but it’s a lose-lose scenario and is a model that is unsustainable. If the law of diminishing returns sets in, which it inevitably will, they are no longer the cool kids, and if they voluntarily scale it back, they are sell outs.
Not only that, but one has to be aware of optics. When Wilson fights, he does so, not only as someone who is witty and verbally gifted, but also as an elder statesman. That is, he does so as someone who has a grandfatherly presence and wisdom now. This is to say, if the guys under him, the guys that are getting much airtime, who have moved from one organization to another, which some have called defectors, make the exact same arguments they will not be received the same way, and will only hurt, the Wilson brand, or if you will the, “Moscow Mood.”
In many respects the situation is similar to those in congress or the senate who come to Trump’s aide or defended Trump. Whether or not they may be right to do so at any given point is a none point at this point because the point being that when they do so, they look like someone just trying to make a name for themselves by association. Again, whether or not this is actually the case doesn’t matter because optically it appears to be so.
Not to mention the fact that success does change things. This is not to say that it always changes things for the worst, but it does change things nonetheless. Everyone knows that the attitude and focus and hunger of an up and coming fighter who is scrapping for survival is much different than someone who has been ranked in the top five for a while. What happens when you become the cool kids table? What happens when you’re not on the outside looking in anymore? What happens when you become a different brand of the same establish? Is this actually the case? I don’t know, but I think you’re going to find out.
Conclusion
Do I hope that Wilson’s success and the growth of everything happening in Moscow continues? Absolutely, I do and I think it will for a multitude of reasons, the likes of which were not even mentioned in this blog. However, I think that growth is going to have to look different than it’s current form that seems to be singularly centered on Wilson and the Moscow brand, which I believe will ultimately fall prey to everything mentioned in this blog.
I don’t think Wilson is Trump in that he’ll fall victim to all the same temptations. I think Wilson is incredibly smart and has picked his battles strategically. I also think that he has a lot of good people around him and better still, they seem to have built a strong infrastructure to be able to whether the battles ahead. But I also know that people are fickle and are popularity whores and fatigue sets in very easily, as the last few years have illustrated repeatedly. This is a war of attrition and the enemy fights it very well.
As we hear the buzzing of the hornets, we should remember to pray for Christ’s people and for Christ’s Church in Moscow. We should pray that we all remain focused on Christ’s mission and advancement of Christ’s gospel in the world. If we all do this, and do it with joy, perhaps we’ll alleviate some of the pressure on Moscow, so that the enemies of Christ begin to hear a buzzing in their ears.
_edited_edited.png)
Comments