Author: TheConversation

By Stewart Clem, Assistant Professor of Moral Theology, Aquinas Institute of Theology Donald Trump, by his own words and actions, does not appear to be the religious person or even someone who believes in a higher power beyond himself. He has claimed he doesn’t seek forgiveness from God, and he once tried to put money in a Communion plate. Apart from his controversial photo op while holding up a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, he doesn’t seem especially concerned with Christian symbolism. And yet 76% of white evangelical voters supported him in the 2020 election. It’s...

By Adam G. Klein, Associate Professor of Media Studies, Pace University One in four American millennials believe the Holocaust was exaggerated or entirely made up, according to a recent national survey that sought to find out what young adults know about the genocide of nearly 6 million Jews at the hands of Nazis some 80 years ago. That startling statistic was cited as one of the main reasons that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided in October to finally ban Holocaust denial across the social network. Denying the Holocaust ever happened is an enduring form of anti-Semitic propaganda that attempts...

By Sylvia Taschka, Senior Lecturer of History, Wayne State University Comparisons between the United States under Trump and Germany during the Hitler era are once again being made following the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Even in the eyes of German history scholars like myself, who had earlier warned of the troubling nature of such analogies, Trump’s strategy to remain in power has undeniably proved that he has fascist traits. True to the fascist playbook, which includes hyper-nationalism, the glorification of violence and a fealty to anti-democratic leaders that is cult-like, Trump launched a conspiracy theory...

By Don Hummer, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice, Penn State; and James Byrne, Professor of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell After rioters flooded the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, there was an immediate call for those who overran officers on the scene and swarmed the House and Senate floors, as well as congressional members’ personal offices, to be identified, arrested and prosecuted. The coordinated law enforcement response to this incident is massive. As researchers who study criminal justice, we see that law enforcement agencies are accessing large amounts of information via technological sources to investigate...