Let me share this from the beginning: I met Matt and Mercedes Schlapp years ago when I was editor of a local newspaper in Culpeper, Virginia. I was covering a GOP event where they were the guest speakers. Keep in mind that this was well ahead of the 2016 presidential race, and there was no indication that President Donald Trump would be the Republican Party candidate. They spoke on other issues; all of the election stuff was a coming attraction.
As I listened and observed them, I was struck by their forthrightness, their faith, and their commitment to family. As I recall, either all or several of their five daughters had accompanied them. The couple were gracious and sincere, they moved easily in the crowd, and clearly their roles as “mom and dad” were their highest priority. Much has happened in the political arena since then.
The Schlapps are regular faces on national media platforms. They believe former President Trump to be a fighter. They continue to be in the public eye, but they also remain targets for their outspoken beliefs about the sanctity of faith, family, and foundational values.
Committed Conservatives
A former White House political director, Matt Schlapp is the chairman of CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference). In “The Desecrators,” he partners with Deal W. Hudson, host of “Church and Culture” on the Ave Maria Radio Network and former editor of Crisis Magazine.Mercedes Schlapp pens the foreword, giving the reader an inside look as to their “why” in the decision to write this book—a decision not without risk. He expresses the hope that the reader will be encouraged to engage and join in building up rather than tearing down, and not desecrate lives and communities.
For Schlapp and Hudson, the battle is on sacred ground.
For them, the desecrators are going straight for the jugular, attempting to destroy respect for America, the church, and citizen virtues—virtues that the founders considered necessary in order for the country to grow and flourish.
While they list a litany of forces that threaten democracy—such as cancel culture, Black Lives Matter, shaming, and critical race theory—they also highlight where many are standing up against these forces at school board meetings, town councils, state legislatures, and so forth. More and more Americans are moving beyond “whispering” their support to openly voicing their opinions in public forums.
Tired of conservatives being bullied, the authors urge Americans to reject being shamed and put on the defensive. Shrug it off and stand with confidence to say that America has millions of good people. One shouldn’t think otherwise.
Hudson is a convert to Catholicism and the Schlapps are devout Catholics. As such, their faith plays a major role in guiding their decisions, political decisions included. They give a fair amount of space in the book to the role that Christians, specifically Catholics, can play in the outcome of elections. They are transparent in their praise for certain church leaders and their keen disappointment in others when it comes to pro-life issues.
Suffering for Beliefs
Schlapp and Hudson don’t mince words when it comes to the persecution that they have experienced in their professional and personal lives. They’ve lost business. They’ve lost friends. They have felt firsthand the sting of prejudice and humiliation by standing strong with their life-affirming and conservative beliefs. Their hope is that anger, hostility, and hatred do not become America’s daily bread.Whether you are a Trump fan or not, much of his victory in 2016 signaled the need for a champion, a righter of wrongs.
Schlapp and Hudson are taking a fighting stance. They are razor sharp about pointing out the ongoing threats to civil society and the tactics being used to undermine the country. They would like to see the negative narrative turned to one more nurturing.
They end the book by summarizing steps that Americans can and should take to win the country back. In many ways, they are modern-day crusaders on a mission that they believe is to save the heart and soul of America, a country threatened.
The read is short, crisply written, and unabashedly biased, offering Americans a path to recovery and an end to the desecrators.
Their hope is that others will join in the good fight. As they state: “We offer this book as a blueprint to find the gumption to fight back and to defend the societal order centered on the family which has been so enduring. This moment in history is at a crossroads: the America envisioned by the founders hangs in the balance, as do freedom-loving individuals around the globe.”
