Which Way Today, Tay? Taylor Marshall and the Long Con of Trad Inc.

How Trad Inc. learned to stop worrying and love Leo XIV and why their silence is cementing Francis’ revolution.

Photo and “Which Way Today Tay?” Courtesy of Novus Ordo Watch.

What happens when the loudest voices in so-called “Traditional Catholic” media suddenly go mute the moment a new pope takes the throne? You get Taylor Marshall on Avoiding Babylon; a man who made his career hammering Francis but now condemns those who speak out and tells his followers to keep calm, pray rosaries, and “wait and see” while Leo XIV cements the revolution of Vatican II.

Marshall’s Deleted Prophecy

The hypocrisy could not be clearer. On May 5, just three days before the conclave, Marshall released a video called “A NEW LIBERAL POPE? Worst Case Situation Analysis.”

In it, he declared Robert Prevost one of the worst possible candidates for the papacy. He laid out in detail why:

• Prevost was responsible for the global slate of bishops under Francis as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. If you hated those appointments, Marshall said, blame him.

• Prevost was a liberal who emphasized migrants and “being pastoral;” which Marshall rightly noted is code for denigrating dogma and morals.

• He had supported Amoris Laetitia and Fiducia Supplicans, opening the door to sacrilege and blessing same-sex couples.

• He was implicated in abuse cover-ups: sheltering Fr. James Ray, a credibly accused molester, across from a Catholic elementary school in Chicago, and later in Peru allegedly refusing to investigate priests after one admitted guilt in his presence.

“This man does not deserve to be the pope,” Marshall said flatly. “Cardinals who are going into conclave in two days should not elect Cardinal Prevost.”

He even scoffed that the only “silver lining” might be that Prevost “chants great.”

Then Prevost was elected as Leo XIV. And Marshall deleted the video on YouTube.

The 24-Hour Conversion

By May 9, Marshall was on YouTube with a new video: “I Submit to POPE LEO XIV.”

Gone was the fire. Gone was the outrage. In its place was syrupy submission:

“I submit myself to His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, Supreme Pontiff… Pope Leo XIV is the Vicar of Christ… We must accept the vote of the conclave… I bend the knee.”

He admitted he was aware of the “stack of facts” against Prevost, indeed, they hadn’t changed in the 72 hours since he called him the worst-case scenario, but he waved them away because now “the weight of the office” had descended, bringing “special graces.” He prayed a family Rosary, had a “good feeling,” and decided Leo was worth twenty years of docile optimism.

In other words, the same man who told you Prevost was a danger to children and a continuation of Bergoglian liberalism now tells you to trust the process, pray, and wait.

The Cover-Up, Not the Correction

If Marshall had simply said, “I was wrong, and here’s why,” perhaps his about-face could be respected. But that’s not what happened. Instead, he scrubbed his May 5 episode not just from YouTube but from his blog. He erased the record.

Why? Because admitting he had judged correctly about Prevost but chose to oppose him anyway would have meant alienating his base, threatening his book sales, his podcast subscriptions, his “dad with a webcam” influencer brand. So instead of truth, he pivoted to positivity. The “scariest dark horse” suddenly became a hope for the Church, and the evidence went down the memory hole.

Waiting for the Aha Moment

Marshall’s new line is that we must wait. Pius IX began liberal and turned conservative, Benedict took two years before Summorum Pontificum, so who knows? Give Leo a chance. In the Avoiding Babylon interview he even said we may have to wait three years before seeing how Leo will govern.

But what have we already seen? Leo has canonized Francis by word three times. He praises schismatics as saints. He keeps appointees who favor women’s ordination. He defends “for all” at the consecration. He praises Abu Dhabi, explains away miracles, quotes Francis constantly, and refuses to lift a finger to halt the Latin Mass bans.

And this is just the first 100 days.

The fantasy of some future “explosive” heresy that will finally justify resistance is a lie. Leo is not an explosion. He is cement. His entire strategy is to let Bergoglian errors harden quietly until they are indistinguishable from Catholicism.

The Money Question

Even Marshall lets the mask slip, speculating that Leo was chosen partly because America is rich. He admits that allowing the Latin Mass would bring relief and “the money would roll in.”

There it is. This isn’t about doctrine. It’s about optics and cash. Trad Inc. is waiting for Leo to throw them a bone so they can keep their access and their audiences without rocking the boat.

From Watchdog to PR Man

Under Francis, Marshall postured as the bold watchdog. Under Leo, he’s become the papal PR department. He attacks those who won’t play along as divisive on Avoiding Babylon, even though three days before the conclave he himself called Prevost “dangerous” and “the worst case scenario.”.

The Clock Is Running

Marshall is right about one thing: Leo may reign for twenty years. And if Catholic commentators remain silent out of fear, careerism, or brand management, then in twenty years everyone under forty will have known nothing but Bergoglian Catholicism as “the faith.”

The time for patience is over. The time for rosaries and fasting is always now, but so is the time for blunt truth. To tell Catholics to wait and see is to tell them to sit quietly while the cement dries around them.

Taylor Marshall once warned you not to let Robert Prevost become pope. Now he tells you to trust him. Which Taylor do you believe; the one who spoke before the conclave, or the one who sells autographed books and erases the record after it?

Trad Inc. wants Catholics waiting in the lobby forever, murmuring about unity while the house burns down. But the question that must be asked, again and again, is brutally simple:

Wait for what?