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Damon Linker's avatar

Dear Everyone: I'm very busy with many things and so usually avoid jumping into the discussions in the comments on my posts. But I want you all to know that I'm thrilled you've taken to having conversations and respectful debates about the issues I write about. You're making this a real community. I also wanted you to know that I follow along with and read everything.

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Michelle Togut's avatar

You're not the only one wondering what happened to Rod. There's a whole Reddit subthread devoted to former readers speculating about what caused him to go off the rails. I started reading Rod soon after he moved to Louisiana. While I didn't agree with many of his views, at least that Rod was intellectually curious and willing to engage with readers who challenged his viewpoints. I found his writings on Dante moving and got a lot from them.

Somewhere around the time of the Benedict Option, Rod's views started hardening and the "mean girl" aspects of his personality metastasized. His obsession with homosexuality, transexuality, and wokeness took center stage, and his blog posts became predictable. His substack, where he writes about more personal matters and about his project on enchantment, shows aspects of the old Rod, but it's become impossible for me to reconcile that guy with the nasty, misogynistic guy on AmCon and Twitter, who embraces authoritarian leaders and an ends-justifies-the-means mentality. He's become a shill for Orban and Putin and what he sees as their manly virtues.

Rod's writings on Substack make clear he believes that, having been exiled (and yes, that's the term he uses) from Baton Rogue, he's now on a mission from G-d to help save Christianity from the libs. I'm sure he'd embrace being labeled as a prophet. Sadly, I think it's more likely he's on the verge of some kind of mental breakdown.

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