There are static site generators written in Python you could use to publish a blog, like Pelican (https://blog.getpelican.com/) and Lektor (https://www.getlektor.com/). But yeah, if you want software that works like WordPress and generates pages dynamically on the fly, I'm not sure there's any good Python-based alternatives.

> If you thought Perl was a bad language, PHP is way, way worse

In fairness to PHP, it's a lot better today than it used to be. (Though modern PHP would probably strike a Pythonista as too Java-ish.) And WordPress has had tons of engineering resources poured into it for a decade-plus now, whereas Movable Type has been maintained on a relative shoestring due to its fall from popularity.