How First Things is Reimagining Post-Trump Nationalism

America is in a period of tug-of-war politics, with cultural elites fighting to determine which views should be excluded from public life. For decades, overt racism has been stigmatized in polite society and penalized by the government; while racial disparities persist everywhere from the prison system to public education, many Americans regard openly racist views with horror, and quickly move to marginalize the people who hold them.

Now, the question is what other views will be similarly classed as intolerable, justifying the loss of a job, inviting a public shaming, or earning the label of "bigotry." Among activists on the left, the spirit of the day tends to favor purity tests and bans: The rare student or professor who openly criticizes same-sex marriage or transgender rights often faces backlash or, occasionally, is fired; conservative legal groups that oppose the expansion of LGBTQ rights are includedon hate-watch lists alongside white supremacists and neo-Nazis. Some public figures have pushed for similar treatment of those who oppose abortion. Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. senator from New York, recently compared anti-abortion views to racism: "I think there are some issues that have such moral clarity that we have, as a society, decided that the other side is not acceptable," she told the Des Moines Register. "There is no moral equivalency when you come to racism. And I do not believe there's a moral equivalency when it comes to changing laws that deny women reproductive freedom."