TIMESWASHING AN AGING RIGHT-WING PUNDIT'S CAREER

In The New York Times today, Jane Coaston interviews Tim Alberta, a political journalist who's written a book on evangelicals and Donald Trump. At one point, Alberta -- who's the son of a prominent evangelical minister -- tells a story about Cal Thomas, who had a long career as a right-wing pundit, and who's now in his eighties.

Alberta: For the book, I spoke with Cal Thomas, who had been one of Jerry Falwell Sr.’s lieutenants in the Moral Majority, and he talked to me in these really broken, regretful tones. He was very emotional talking to me about how during his years with Falwell and the Moral Majority, how he knew that they were just ripping these people off.

Alberta says that, according to Thomas, the practice at the Moral Majority was to "to pick the pockets of these sweet little old ladies in Tulsa, Okla., or Topeka, Kan., or wherever," while "sneering at the simple-mindedness of these people who they’re taking advantage of."

Thomas worked with Falwell from 1980 to 1985. He told Alberta he knew then that Falwell was corrupt. He subsequently left Falwell's employ and became a pundit.

So if Falwell's behavior troubled Cal Thomas as far back as the 1980s, how do you explain what Thomas did in 2014?

Syndicated columnist, author, and political commentator Cal Thomas visited Liberty University on Thursday to donate his personal collection of columns to the university archive at the Jerry Falwell Library.

The collection spans 30 years, comprising more than 3,000 articles....

Thomas’ long relationship with the university began under Liberty founder Dr. Jerry Falwell. Between 1980-85, Thomas was the vice president of communications for the Moral Majority, Falwell’s conservative political lobbying group. Several of Thomas’ children and grandchildren have attended the university throughout the years, a trend he expects to continue through succeeding generations.

“This is a university that I am happy to be identified with, and have my columns identified with,” Thomas said. “I think this is where the future is for serious believers, and it is just great to be back here. It’s exciting and full of energy, and I’m very proud to be associated with it.”

Here's Thomas speaking at Liberty University in 2011, and again in 2012, 2015, and 2019. Thomas says now that he thought Falwell was sleazy, but speaking at Falwell's university was good for Thomas's career, so he kept doing it.

Falwell's son and namesake, who was also corrupt, ran the university from 2007 until he was forced to leave in 2020 because of a sex scandal involving a pool boy. In a subsequent column about Falwell Jr.'s departure, Thomas criticized evangelicals who seek political power, while downplaying the sexual aspects of the scandal.

And now, through the magic of the Coaston's column, Thomas has elite secular readers believing that he always knew the Falwell empire was bad. Can we call this Timeswashing?

Thomas is an LGBTQ-basher and an Islamophobe. In a 2014 interview, he described public schools as "the enemy’s re-education camps where [children are] taught they evolved from slime and their nearest relative is down at the zoo and that’s why they like bananas on their cereal." But now Times readers think he's a decent guy. Excellent work!