Trump’s Antics and the Highest Human Value, by Dr. Jeff Mirus

Dr. Jeff Mirus, Catholic Culture, Feb 11, 2025

Jeffrey Mirus holds a Ph.D. in intellectual history from Princeton University. A co-founder of Christendom College, he also pioneered Catholic Internet services. He is the founder of Trinity Communications and CatholicCulture.org

I confess to an occasional secret chuckle over President Trump’s more outrageous statements—like the one about annexing Canada to the United States (which Canadians, at least, ought not to think funny). But I suppose a good Catholic ought not even to smile at the deliberately bizarre provocations of a sitting President. On the other hand, I am acutely aware of how severely many bishops and even Pope Francis respond to the non-Catholic Trump’s excesses as compared with their muted or non-existent criticism of the self-professed Catholic Biden’s far more destructive abortion and gender policies—not to mention his abject refusal to address the problems of uncontrolled immigration.

I can’t help but wonder if we might be getting yet another lesson in “permissible outrage”. According to the permissible outrage theory, it is perfectly acceptable to vociferously condemn imprudent statements and decisions which are out of step with the values of the dominant secular culture, but it is completely unacceptable to denounce policies and decisions which are intrinsically immoral in all circumstances. As a case in point, compare the recent reaction of high-ranking Catholic prelates to Trump’s immigration policies with the reaction of these same Catholic prelates to Biden’s abortion and gender policies. …

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