The Sixty Years’ War: Evangelical Christianity in the Age of Trump

Like many National Review readers, I was a young viewer of Firing Line. William F. Buckley Jr. asked hard questions and flashed smiles. He was so smart and charming that, even as a college leftist, I went early to claim a good seat at a talk he gave at the Yale Political Union. While waiting, I read parts of the book assigned for a seminar the next day, Machiavelli’s The Prince. Afterward, flush with irony, I asked Buckley to autograph the book that claimed politics had nothing to do with morality. He did so with a laugh.

Buckley made thousands of young people want to be conservatives. At the time, I was melding Machiavelli with Marxism, but five years later, when I came to believe in Christ and rethought my politics, I turned to Buckley’s National Review. Since 2016, though, numerous books with titles such as “The Power Seekers” have argued that “Evangelicals” are melding Machiavelli and Christianity.

About the Author

Marvin Olasky

Marvin Olasky is co-author with Leah Savas of The Story of Abortion in America (Crossway, 2023).

Featured Tags

Like many National Review readers, I was a young viewer of Firing Line. William F. Buckley Jr. asked hard questions and flashed smiles. He was so smart and charming that, even as a college leftist, I went early to claim a good seat at a talk he gave at the Yale Political Union. While waiting, I read parts of the book assigned for a seminar the next day, Machiavelli’s The Prince. Afterward, flush with irony, I asked Buckley to autograph the book that claimed politics had nothing to do with morality. He did so with a laugh.

Buckley made thousands of young people want to be conservatives. At the time, I was melding Machiavelli with Marxism, but five years later, when I came to believe in Christ and rethought my politics, I turned to Buckley’s National Review. Since 2016, though, numerous books with titles such as “The Power Seekers” have argued that “Evangelicals” are melding Machiavelli and Christianity.