Peter Wehner: “Social conservatives can point to some important religious-liberty victories. But overall, this term was a judicial gut punch for the president’s evangelical supporters. The ‘but Gorsuch’ argument has not been destroyed, but it has been substantially weakened”
“‘The GOP gives social conservatives little or nothing legislatively, and hasn’t for a very long time,’ the conservative blogger Rod Dreher told Vox’s Jane Coaston. ‘True, they have blocked some bad things over the years. That’s not nothing. But I think we’ve always known that judges are the real deal here.'”
“‘Every institution—the media, academia, corporations, and others—are against us on gay and transgender rights, and GOP lawmakers are gutless. The only hope we had was that federal judges would protect the status quo. Now that’s gone.'”
“Legislatively, Trump, compared with other presidents, has not achieved all that much for the pro-life cause and religious-liberties protection. For example, George W. Bush’s pro-life record is stronger and Bill Clinton achieved more in the area of religious liberties, signing into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. (Trump has done a fair amount administratively for the pro-life cause.) Trump has also achieved next to nothing in terms of enacting education reforms.”