Trump, Taboo, and the Window They Don’t Want You to Break
The Overton Window doesn’t just explain the boundaries of political discourse. It explains how the regime tries to control our reality itself.
What is “acceptable to say” is less about truth and more about timing—less about conviction and more about permission. The Overton Window is a term used to describe the spectrum of ideas deemed acceptable in public discourse at any given time. It is not fixed, but can be shifted–narrowed or widened, moved left or right–through organic (or reverse-engineered) public effort.
That “(reverse-engineered)” part is why I sometimes think the narratives we’re watching are being staged for us– to walk back the previous Overton Window damage done over the decades. Much of this doesn’t seem organic in the least.
Which is exactly what’s happening now with the conversation around Israel, particularly among American conservatives.
Trump, Levin, and the Narrative War Over Israel
Remember, the unique focus in my work is on We the People’s response or reaction to political events–how these events, and especially the narrative deployment of them, work organically on a populace. Or how they should work on it.
Once a sacred cow that couldn’t be questioned—not even gently—Israel’s role in Middle East conflict is no longer off-limits to the conservative base, no longer anathema to that People’s sincere concern and raising of questions. And it’s not because a bunch of people suddenly became “antisemitic,” as many would have us believe in that ever-present attempt at false guilt. It’s because the old narrative is breaking–or shifting, if you see it through the Window’s lens–as reality keeps extending its arms.
A more nuanced truth is revealing itself–one that is indicating that Christians had better continue to have this conversation.
You can thank Trump and his decade-long assault on fake news for that, not to mention the example he’s given us in actually fighting what was once perceived as an insurmountable monster.
You can also thank the regime for overplaying its hand.
As I wrote yesterday in “Trump, Levin…” the resurrection of the old rhetoric—complete with fire and brimstone missiles, patriotism-as-foreign-policy, and moral guilt masquerading as strategic necessity—has collided with something deeper than partisan loyalty. People are noticing. People are thinking. People are thinking, enough.
The decades-long deception has collided with a mass spiritual awakening, a paradigm shift, an evolution that starts not in the halls of Congress but in the hearts of people who fear God more than they fear being called mean names.
Because here’s the question we haven’t been allowed to ask, and still aren’t if you talk to some: Why is it considered acceptable to challenge Ukraine funding, but still taboo to question the moral and strategic logic of unlimited support for Israel?
And why is that line finally–eeeever so slowly– starting to blur?
Or is it not slowly at all, but people are still too afraid to say it?
Because frankly I see it exploding all over the internet–including the all-important comment sections where everyday people do the talking.
The answer to this evolution lies in the same place the Overton Window does: the shifting center of gravity in public belief.
For decades, the acceptable position was that Israel could do no wrong. That any criticism—even in good faith, even from allies—was tantamount to bigotry or betrayal. But now, that window is cracking. Because Trump’s handling of Netanyahu, in contrast to his approach to Putin or Xi, is inviting Americans to rethink the entire framework. Not because Trump is “pro-Russia” or “anti-Israel,” but because he understands what the uniparty fears the most:
Independent thought.
Discernment.
The kind of foreign policy that puts peace above permanent guilt.
And the base is starting to follow.
As I said yesterday, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ we were meant to be celebrating this Easter season has nothing to do with reviving decades-long trauma as permanent justification—and everything to do with casting out the fear that keeps us enslaved to it. And that’s exactly what’s happening here. The fear-based control mechanisms—whether they involve accusations of disloyalty, of bigotry, or of being “unpatriotic,” or the dreaded “a” word—are starting to lose their grip.
Just like the term “racist” has practically vanished in the last ten years. Oh, it’s still there, but it doesn’t hold nearly the power it once did.
And that’s because of us. Our conversations. Our honesty. Our courage.
The Overton Window isn’t just moving. It’s being kicked wide the hell open.
That doesn’t mean we haven’t already pinpointed some of the enemies. Radical Islam is absolutely an enemy of Christianity. Satanism and child occult sacrifice is absolutely an enemy of Christianity. False Christianity is absolutely an enemy of the Christianity Christ commanded we practice. We have to look at all of them, because if Christ really is, well, the Christ, the assault will be manifold.
And yet, in a great paradox, all of it finds its root in a single source, that same source that was side by side with Jesus in the desert.
Until we unveil fully how exactly that desert source works through humanity, it is perhaps one nudge of the Window to at least name the different masks of evil instead of pretending there is only one. We are finally free to name all the masks correctly–to recognize that the threat isn’t simply “Iran bad” or “Russia scary”–but that the real danger comes from narratives that keep Christ buried so other gods can be enthroned.
An idea that is initially unthinkable can, through deliberate activism, become first radical, then acceptable, then sensible, then popular, and finally become the norm. Which means that yesterday’s “fringe” questions about American involvement in Israel’s wars might just be tomorrow’s consensus.
What if we’re in the early stages of that process? What stage are we in today?
What if the shift isn’t about antisemitism at all—but about a longing for moral clarity?
About realizing that you can support and pray for the Jewish people just as you would anyone else, without blindly supporting a secular government that oppresses Christians, as we’ve seen increasingly from reports inside Israel itself?
About realizing that endless guilt from past sins—real or not—should not be the basis of current military alliances?
About a longing for Christ over canned platitudes?
What if it’s finally okay to ask, “Who benefits from endless war?” and “Why is criticism of Israel still treated as a third rail–even when Christians are under literal assault in Jerusalem?”
Just as Christ himself was in the flesh 2000 years ago.
Will we run like Peter?
Will we stay like John?
Trump isn’t giving us the answers to all of this. He’s giving us the space to ask the questions, and to me personally as a Catholic political writer, the space to show how metaphysical–how eternal–all of this politics dressed in suits and ties really is.
That is why his seeming foreknowledge of everything frightens me–because of where such power might lead–and yet at the same time, inspires me to take advantage of the Window’s opening to preach Christ to people I don’t even know.
And Levin? Shapiro? Other conservative influencers? Don’t let them bully you into the “antisemite” nonsense. Levin may be one of the smartest legal minds in America. Shapiro may be one of the most successful online personalities. But being smart and popular doesn’t mean being immune to old programming–and it certainly doesn’t mean being immune to pushback from folks who simply think they’re wrong.
Reagan is not the only way to do conservatism. Nor are missiles the only pathway to peace.
Nor is simply dumping on the Muslims.
Remember, Cold War ghosts and the old rhetorics should no longer scare. The promised boogeymen often look suspiciously like the men supposedly on our side.
That’s what these most recent nudges of the Overton Window reveal. They reveal the lie that left and right are opposites in a vacuum. That Democrats want globalism but Republicans want patriotism–in a vacuum. That one side wants to deconstruct the West while the other wants to defend it–in a vacuum.
All of this is playing out in real time. And the only binary that matters is God, and not-God. Good vs evil.
The actual reality of it all is absolutely more frightening—but more liberating.
The true path forward isn’t left or right, because the only direction left and right is actually taking us is…down.
The direction is up.
Look up, my friends.
Up to the cross. Up from the tomb. And up toward a political vision that sees through the lies we’ve been fed–and to the conversations we’re not supposed to have.
The Overton Window isn’t just about policy.
It’s about power.
It’s about who gets to define what is good—and who must remain silent when evil wears the flag.
And at some point we’re going to stop just pushing or nudging–and start breaking.
Trump, for all his flaws and seeming madness, has once again become the unexpected tour guide to that forbidden terrain. Not with aplomb and polish. Not by dictating the terms. Not by answering every question. But by refusing to play along. By casting a few stones himself.
By trolling them just enough to get us talking.
Us.
He dares them, so we’ll become a little daring ourselves.
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May everyone named directly or referenced indirectly ask forgiveness and do penance for their sins against America and God. I fight this information war in the spirit of justice and love for the innocent, but I have been reminded of the need for mercy and prayers for our enemies. I am a sinner in need of redemption as well after all, for my sins are many. In the words of Jesus Christ himself, Lord forgive us all, for we know not what we do.
