Donald Trump’s late February speech to the annual National Religious Broadcasters’ convention received a short-lived spurt of media attention, largely for its menacing pledges to protect Christians from supposed persecution by a “wicked system” and the “radical” left. But it would be a mistake to consign this speech to one-day-on-the-campaign trail status. Despite some assessments of the speech as “rambling,” “wild,” and “incoherent,” it actually lays out a cogent, comprehensible narrative — for evangelicals.
Christ has been hijacked into the class struggle to lend his cosmic imprimatur to actions that will need divine sanction. The will to power cannot exist without the invocation of religiosity to demonize the other. Without it violence is mere violence and not the battle for the soul of America.
Vegetarians do not eat meat. Those do are not vegetarians. Evangelical Christians do not lie, take the Lord’s name in vain or commit adultery. They do not seek secular power or have a lust for money. Those that do are not Evangelical Christians.
Please stop calling these folks Evangelicals. They do not evangelize or come close to walking the walk of Evangelism.
How many evangelicals see the obvious: That Trump is a tool of Satan? If theology is taken as metaphor, and spirits as a larger-scale relative of memes, this is – in Christian metaphor – entirely true, as true as anything understood through metaphor, literature and art. Abraham Lincoln would have been able to speak directly in these terms, as he did in his day. We on the side of democracy now, if we will speak to evangelicals … why are we not loudly raising the central issue about the Elephant Party in the American room: their current leader is possessed by Satan?
A good retort to T’s appropriation of Christianity is David French’s op-ed in today’s (4/1/24) NYT opinion section, “Trump Is No Savior.” : “In Christ’s kingdom, the last are first. You love your enemies. You pray for those who persecute you. His teachings consistently contradict our will to power. They frustrate our very human desire for vengeance. . . .”
Don’t worry the evangelicals can find events they will spin into full blown religious persecution. Trump’s wild claims will bear fruit among the freak wing of the Christian Church. The evangelical business model depends on keeping the flock riled up about some affront.
Fuck that fatassed felonious fascist and the god-drunk murderous authoritarians who will support anything as long as he gives them permission to hate. They are not us, and they do not run this country. Nor will they.
A: See above: “god-drunk murderous authoritarians.”
Let me get this straight, because members of SCOTUS are in a superstitious cult (Opus Dei) rational members of society can’t get needed healthcare. Is that right? BTW Why don’t the Dems show a running tally of how many women and girls have had to take a rapist’s baby to term? Let’s highlight the interracial rapes; maybe it will get the bigots on board.
