I have stayed up to the bitter end on election night. Secretary Clinton has just conceded the race, and President-elect Trump is delivering his victory speech as I type. There will be much to say in coming days about tonight’s result. Before turning-in for the night, I offer five quick thoughts on what we have just witnessed. 1. This is the American Brexit. It’s a populist realignment of the American two-party system. Donald Trump won 44% of the vote during the GOP primaries, and he has achieved a stunning victory tonight. The GOP is now the party of populism, not the party of conservatism. A similar populist strain runs right…

It is often said that voting for a third party is a wasted vote (see video above). But is that really true? In a really helpful essay titled “Is It a Sin to Vote for Trump?,” Owen Strachan highlights historical precedents that demonstrate the potential value of a third party vote. He writes:

David and Nancy French are evangelical Christians and two of the most outspoken conservative opponents of Donald Trump in the country. Taking this stand has not been without a cost for them. Today, they have both written searching reflections on what their opposition has cost them. The pieces linked below are difficult to read, but I think that they are necessary to read if you want to understand the darkness lurking just beneath the surface of this election season. Thank you for fighting the good fight, David and Nancy. There are many of us who admire you and your principled stand this past year. Your moral clarity in the midst…

Dr. Robbie George of Princeton University is regarded by many as the leading intellectual of conservatism. In a Facebook post today, he calls for charity among conservatives who are currently divided over how to vote in the 2016 presidential election. George writes: Lincoln famously said: “With malice towards none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.” Friends, we are in a terrible fix here. And it is putting some of us at each other’s throats. it must not be permitted to do that. Donald Trump is dreadful. Hillary Clinton is horrible. One called for the killing of the innocent family…

Christianity Today has published an unusually scathing editorial by Andy Crouch. Crouch makes the case that “Evangelicals, of all people, should not be silent about Donald Trump’s blatant immorality.” He writes: Since his nomination, Donald Trump has been able to count on “the evangelicals” (in his words) for a great deal of support. This past week, the latest (though surely not last) revelations from Trump’s past have caused many evangelical leaders to reconsider. This is heartening, but it comes awfully late. What Trump is, everyone has known and has been able to see for decades, let alone the last few months. The revelations of the past week of his vile…

The measure of last night’s disgrace is measured by the lengths I had to go to to conceal it from my children. When there is a presidential debate, our usual routine is to turn it on in the family room and to watch it. The kids may be in and out of the room if they are not in bed already. But it is a conspicuous viewing in the middle of our home if it is anything else. Last night was different. I retreated into a room by myself to view the debate. On two or three occasions, my children came into the room. And on each occasion, I had…

The video package above was produced by Jon Ward for Yahoo News. There are a variety of personalities that appear in it. What struck me while watching it is how the label “evangelical” is being pulled apart at the seams. The apparent break-up with the GOP is but one sign of a larger conflict that evangelical Christians are facing in post-Christian America. As we move from “moral majority” to prophetic minority, we are feeling more uneasy in Babylon. That is not altogether a bad thing. Christianity’s contrast with the world is becoming more evident and will compel us to theological clarity. And that is happening now. (HT: Justin Taylor)