Along with the dread I feel with every Trumpian assault on the Constitution and rule of law is a constant, nagging question: how can the MAGA base ignore the threats to their own liberties and livelihoods? How can they look at this pathetic, corrupt, mentally-ill man and his bizarre collection of incompetents and conspiracy theorists and say “Yes! Those are the people I want in charge of the economy and country?”
I’m not the only person who has mulled over that question, and–while there is never one simple answer to a complicated reality–I’m pretty sure that grievance (along with a healthy dose of ignorance) is a major factor. By “grievance,” of course, I mean the extensive racism encouraged by the Christian Nationalists who constantly play the victim card.
White Christian Nationalists are constantly told by their leaders and pastors that this country was supposed to be theirs by right–that America was supposed to be a Christian nation. Not just any Christians, of course–White male fundamentalist Christians. MAGA’s devotion to Trump is rooted in his permission to hate those “others” who have infringed upon their rights, upon his obvious agreement that equal treatment for Brown and Black folks, Jews, Muslims and “uppity” women constitutes discrimination against White Christian males and simply cannot be tolerated.
What the MAGA base supports is the administration’s frantic efforts to stamp out DEI and purge official websites of evidence that non-Christian, non-White, non-male individuals have served the country with distinction. MAGA applauds the replacement of competent minority folks with embarrassing and grossly unfit Whites. It cheers the assaults on education, and especially Trump’s attacks on the universities that turn out those hated and increasingly diverse “elites.”
The irony is visible to anyone not in the cult. The aggrieved Whites who used to complain that women and minorities were “playing the victim card” are the ones now playing victim.
A recent article in The New Republic gives the game away, reporting on the first meeting of Trump’s “Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the Federal Government.” As the article noted,
Those attending didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that no evidence of such widespread bias exists. That’s because they weren’t there to solve a problem but to create one. The Task Force claimed to be standing up for “religious liberty,” but its real goal is to amplify the persecution complex of the Trump administration’s Christian nationalist allies and base—and then to use groundless claims of religious discrimination as the basis for the suppression of dissent.
Lest we miss the real purpose of this charade, an incident the following week illuminated the fact that–as the article put it–“the Trump administration has zero interest in promoting “religious liberty.”
As the Reverend William Barber and other faith leaders opposed to Republican budget cuts gathered to pray at the Capitol Rotunda, they were swiftly surrounded by Capitol Police officers, one wearing a “crime scene” vest. The press was expelled from the building, and the pastors were arrested.
You would think that a Task Force concerned with anti-Christian bias would take an interest. But the administration appears to have nothing to say. The problem for the Reverend Barber and his fellow pastors is that they would seem to be the wrong kind of Christians. Right-wing pastor Sean Feucht has “filled the US Capitol Rotunda with worship time and time again for the last 4 years,” in his own words, and yet he has never been arrested or detained. He, apparently, is the right kind of Christian.
As most sentient Americans know–and as the article pointed out– attacks on Christians in the U.S. are infrequent– unlike attacks on other religious groups. Assaults on Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs have always been far more numerous, and their incidence has climbed dramatically during the Trump years. “The Task Force’s exclusive focus on Christian victims exposes its rhetoric about defending “religious liberty” as transparently insincere.”
As the essay points out, for members of the MAGA cult, “anti-Christian bias” is indistinguishable from efforts to protect individual rights against discrimination by people who identify as Christian. In other words, efforts to prevent these particular “Christians” from discriminating against people of whom they disapprove is labeled anti-Christian bias. To MAGA, “religious freedom” now means “privilege for conservative Christians alone, including the freedom to harass or discriminate.”
Equality before the law is seen as anti-Christian.
When Christian Nationalists are prevented from dictating the terms of the civic culture, they consider themselves victims. And so long as Trump feeds their perceptions of victimhood, so long as he supports their theocratic aspirations, nothing will shake their loyalty.
It is easy to demonstrate the support for TACO MAN emanating from the Christian right, but never mentioned is the support for Mad King Donald that steadfastly sticks to him coming from those who do not participate in, nor practice any religion. Clearly half of the people I know who support Trump are of this category. They may call themselves “Christian”, but they do not attend any church nor do they visibly demonstrate any adherence to the teachings of Jesus.
Perhaps it is this lie about themselves that allows them to buy into the lies of MAGA.
If these “christians” actually followed the teachings of the New Testament, I would be against them being added to our laws. But these “christians”, the johnsons, banks, pence’s are the ones who would nail Yeshua to the cross for being woke.
As Theresa points out, I also use the word “Christian” loosely. I think most people identify as Christian but have no idea what it means other than to believe in a God and that Jesus was his son. As for the teachings of Christ, not a clue. Most of the Christian Nationalists have been born in the Southern States. They are racist bible thumpers.
Reverend Barber is black, so I am sure that attracted the attention of law enforcement. I also think that some of the insurrectionists and “Patriot” groups have volunteered or are paid to work with ICE and local law enforcement to collect students and immigrants for deportation. Since when does ICE wear masks? Why do they need to hide their identities?
To bring this conversation locally, I read that Lt. Gov. Beckwith threw our former governor under the bus for not properly filing the paperwork so Indiana could participate in the Summer Bucks program for schoolchildren. Never mind the fact that Braun intentionally cut out other programs for children as well. I guess the Summer dollars for school-aged children were very popular, so Braun, not supporting the program, met with resistance, causing Beckwith to scramble at his church. All these half-wits love to blame others for their mistakes. It’s never their fault!
As a final note, I just started following Allison Gill on Substack, and she nailed the problem, and for Sharon, has a solution in mind. She wrote:
“Everything wrong in America can be traced to Citizens United and the oligarchy.
Lobbyists trashing health care, keeping prescription drug prices high, funding the NRA, Putin’s war in Ukraine, Trump letting Sinaloa Cartel family members into the US, private prisons raking in billions on the backs of mass deportation, the idiotic global tariff shakedown, union busting, the privatization of everything from VA health care to schools to policing to the post office. ALL OF IT is about the money. Even elections themselves.”
It’s the oligarchy using “divide and conquer” strategies. The solution is the “No Kings rally on June 14th.”
Now we are getting somewhere…
“WE”, as a nation, have supported democracy, lived by Rule of Law and upheld the Constitution, believing that they were meant to preserve the rights of everyone. We tried reasoning with them, we tried charging them in our courts; now we need to move ahead to Barney Fife’s rule of “No more Mr. NIce Guy”. That means more and tougher charges in court and more judicial support to uphold our laws by more filings against their Appeals. The courts were weakened by following the the “letter of the law” rather than the meaning of the law and we are the ones being convicted and sentenced to Donald Trump and MAGA for his kingship if we don’t show strong convictions NOW.
Sheila Kennedy, I can’t read your stuff. I always have to share it when I read it and my social media looks like a Sheila Kennedy advertisement. (LOL)
Apparently, the recipe for national destruction is simple: Take 1% of the wealthiest elites and add 30% of religiously self-righteous lackeys. Stir gently with a dash of nihilism, then crank the oven to a searing 5000 degrees by setting everyone against everyone else. Voilà! You’ve got yourself a scorched-earth casserole too toxic for anyone to swallow.
The current iteration of Christian, is not remotely Christian. It is although, an excellent iteration of pagan dogma! And, The promoter of this brand of Christian happened at the behest of the bloodlusting emperor Constantine, the ruler of the mighty kingdom of Rome.
I know I’ve talked about this before, but Constantine was trying to figure out how to keep the empire together. He was impressed by how the Christians would rather die than capitulate with the secular authorities of the time. They would willingly allow themselves to be savaged by wild beasts and executed in gladiatorial games. Constantine’s epiphany was the sticktoitiveness of the Christians could solve his problems. Sadly he missed the boat. And those that Rome paid as mercenary warriors, eventually turned on their Roman masters for not being allowed to be Romans! And trying to convert those mercenaries, Just pinpointed Rome’s weakness. You’re good enough to fight and die for the emperor, but not good enough to be a Roman. (Sounds familiar doesn’t it)
The various Nicene councils, that looked to reshape the Christian dogma, used bribery, and the threat of death of course, to get all of those in Christian leadership positions to capitulate their dogma to something put together by Constantine. He promised to return properties and monies to the church, which wasn’t really part of original Christianity anyway, because there was no leader in the Christian dogma, except Christ. And those who disseminated Christ’s teachings in the congregations. Those would have been the elders, not priests or Popes or anyone else.
So the capitulation was to eliminate those in Christian congregations that taught what Christ preached about in the first place. If you really are interested, don’t take my word for it, research it for yourself. The original Christians did not fight, they wouldn’t pick up weapons or join the ranks of the military. They paid their taxes, they were obedient to the laws except where they conflicted with the teachings of Christ. So they did not murder their fellow man, they loved their neighbor, when they were being slaughtered, they prayed. I mean the list is long, and Christians today do not come close to the conduct of the first Christians. Because those today believe in extremely different dogma. The dogma of wealth and power is the preferred dogma after Constantine bribed powerful church leaders. So the church of Rome was built, or created, but not divinely appointed. And, if this sounds familiar, the same thing happened in Nazi Germany, you should research that also! The German Protestant Church, was strikingly violent and non-compassionate or non-empathetic.
So the Roman Church, and then it’s offshoots, became the de-facto legislative and judicial advisors of the secular governments. And they were extremely cruel overlords of their responsibilities to their secular masters.
All the while, those who still tried to focus on the original Christianity, were hunted down and murdered, branded as heretics, practicers of witchcraft, The occult, and generally anti-church! This usually lead to torture and execution in the most vile means.
When Christ said the whole law hangs on loving God, and loving your neighbor, it went directly against the religious leaders of the day, the Sanhedrin. Who basically did not follow these tenets, along with the tenet of helping one’s enemy in a time of distress. Like, releasing your enemies beast of burden, if it collapsed under it’s load. And to give your enemy water if they are thirsty and food to eat if they were hungry. So that you might change their opinion of you. (Leviticus) Instead of what we see today, governments try to kill their way to acceptance, and just create a larger pool of individuals who hate them with a passion. Ones that will never capitulate to the superior authorities of those governments.
Those who actually practice Christ’s brand of law, became enemies of governments and churches, because the governments and churches were indelibly linked at the hip, and the churches lived at the teet of secular government.
The downfall that is brewing, is that so many people willingly confuse/conflagrate true Christianity, with faux’Christian dogmatic authoritarianism! And that has nothing to do with Christ. Nor does it have anything to do with scripture. As we see today, almost the entirety of religion no matter spot color or stripe, practices violence in a manner that Christ found detestable and preached against on a consistent basis. And today, it’s become about as bad as it can get.
But hey, don’t take my word for it, the fellow who these churches are claiming is the son of God today, are going to be paying the penalty of their false dogma, wanting to gain power for themselves. This goes along with scriptural descriptions of the man of lawlessness, and the composite man, if you read about it in the books of first and second Thessalonians.
And yes absolutely history is being scrubbed, but because there are many forms of documentation by many different keepers of history, you can’t get rid of everything, but it makes it much harder to find. So if you’re going to research any of these things, you better do it quick, so you can see it with your own eyes, don’t take my word for it.
There are Christians and there are Christ followers. A ven diagram would show there is overlap but not 100%. A Christ follower tries to live as the Christ taught us. Many Christ followers don’t believe in the divinity of The Christ, but find the teachings and commandments of the Christ, not to be confused with the 10 suggestions republican violate while proclaiming Christian “family” values, ideas they can embrace for a better society. The “Christian” claims to have accepted Christ as a savior and many want to go forth and convert others. If that effort involves building a school and playing tourist/preacher in some impoverished area so be it. Sadly many “Christians” (on the ven diagram well outside the overlap) think that conversion should be done at the point of a gun, sword, or law, if those heathens won’t come voluntarily, while the Christ follower lets their actions speak for them. When your church has a trumpist view you aren’t in a Christ following church.
philanthropy.com reported yesterday 15,000 churches will close this year. The National Council of Churches reports 100,000 churches will close in the coming years. Christian Nationalism is no substitute for decline of places of worship. Filling places of worship requires social capital … the human initiative to enroll. What ignites social capital to reach tipping point to launch a movement. The majority of Americans, I believe, reject authoritarian mandates. If we rally to reject kings then what will we rally for?
Last evening- amazed seeing and heard the amazing Chris Hedges- ordained Presbyterian Minister- journalist, 1 1/2 weeks the amazing Loretta Ross, 55 years ago heard The Reverend William Sloane Coffin at a Religion based Women’s Conference- I and we— haven’t Opposed more than Minimally as The Right has built towards Fascism- rule for the few. White Women and Men- Noem – for example- support through Religion- “The Answer”- is Resist While we can- However we can- stop waiting- this Forum is one tiny Step for most of us- Ridicule of DT or Indiana pops- needs to Embolden us towards Actions on various issues – now- not (only) later.
Like any narcissist, especially a malignant one, Trump is good at manipulation; in fact it’s the one thing he’s good at. And if it means playing victim while he scams and/or stabs his followers in the back, he’s a natural.
I’ve seen articles referencing that his is the “Most corrupt” administration we’ve ever had…no shit Sherlock! Corrupt is what runs in his veins! He corrupts the constitution, the culture, everything he touches, everyone he touches.
I’ll stop, now.
Yes, Mitch D. You’re defining a psychopath with too much power. What could possibly go wrong?
Norris wrote: “The majority of Americans, I believe, reject authoritarian mandates. If we rally to reject kings then what will we rally for?”
The answer “ME” – no universal ethics or morality. And if The King pretty much let’s me alone….so what?
As David Brooks wrote today: “There are also two conceptions of society. One is what we’ll call the universalist conception — that our love of family and our love of neighborhood are the first links in a series of affections that lead to our love of city, love of nation and love of all humankind. The other is the identity politics conception of society — that life is a zero-sum struggle between racial, national, partisan and ethnic groups.” The former is what major religions are about; the latter is about ME. As fewer and fewer folks identify and practicr as religious….
The two great commandments are what the ten are made of. The first four command us to love God: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven images. Thou shalt not take the name of the lord in vain. Keep holy the sabbath day. The rest command us to love our neighbors, starting with mom and dad, then on to the sticky stuff don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie about your neighbor, don’t covet his wife or his stuff. I should note that this is the King James version. The Catholics have a slightly different version, and the Jews have a very different version. The King James is the one that the red staters want in the classrooms.
So Jesus just simplified the concept to make it easier to understand and his “followers” don’t understand the simplified version. They prefer to cling to a more rigid view that doesn’t require them to love their neighbors as themselves, especially since Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan to show that the hated stranger is also a neighbor.
We all pick and choose the parts of the Bible that we like, so I really can’t fault the MAGATS for that. What I can fault them for is claiming to be Christian, while clinging to the old testament for their rules of life. They’re being used by Orange Jesus and his oligarchic pals. When they wake up and see where they are, how will they respond? It’s anybody’s guess.
Todd Smekens. I would take exception to the quote you cited only to the extent of the word “Everything.” I believe that there are multiple roots to the toxic weeds that threaten us. And, as I’m sure you know, I am a strong supporter of non-violent public protests. No disagreement between us there!
Mitch D. Lest we focus entirely on Trump, remember the Republicans in Congress who have supported every vile statement, action, order and appointment that he dreams up. They are at least as bad as, if not worse than, him. When the weeding occurs, they should all be uprooted. This includes you, Todd Young.
A few observations as to some of the above, if I may.
First, June 14 is not just Trusk’s birthday…it’s the anniversary of the United States Army and Flag Day. The latter two celebrate literally the symbol of our nation, and one of the most powerful forces in keeping our nation moving forward. So, skip the birthday party for Trump, but celebrate Flag Day and the US Army.
One of the aspects of opposition to DEI among the MAGAts is that many of the loudest voices come from the beneficiaries of DEI. Ms. Bondi may be a great lawwyer, or not, but wihtout DEI programs we would have never known…a woman would have never been allowed to succeed. And the same for Senator Scott. I keep referencing Colin Powell, who had no doubt as to the effectiveness of DEI in the military. He was good, but without DEI programs would never have been given the chance to succeed. DEI, at its heart, is all about allowing the quallified to rise up the corporate ladder, or excel in an occupational field, based on their merit and not their gender or skin color. Those who benefitted the most, including Clarence Thomas who owes his entire success in life to DEI type programs of the Roman Catholic Church, are now intent on denigrating DEI and tellling us they would have made it based on their own merit. No, they would not have. They would have been skilled, and smart. But they would have been passed over for a white male, possibly/probably of lesser skill and knowledge.
I believe the King James “version” of the Bible is really a political document used by the Church of England to vanquish what they viewed as non-believers. I could be mistaken here not being a biblical scholar. John Sorg will know.
Those who are looking for direction will not find it from individuals or organizations claiming to offer it at a cost.
The apostle Paul reassures us when he says: “Who will separate us from the love of the Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or hunger or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor governments nor things now here nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is proven and demonstrated in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 38, 39) “Jehovah” The god of Melchizedek, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Job, Moses, King David, The apostles, and Jesus Christ, is deeply concerned about us and is aware of our suffering. While still a fugitive, David wrote: “The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous ones, and his ears are toward their cry for help. Jehovah is near to those that are broken at heart.” (Psalm 34:15, 18; Matthew 18:6, 14)
Although we cannot expect an adversity-free life in this corrupted world, we are “not left in the lurch.” (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9) Jesus promised to provide his followers with a helper. He said: “I will request the Father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, the spirit of the truth.” (John 14:16, 17) At Pentecost 33 C.E., the apostle Peter told his listeners that they could receive “the free gift of the holy spirit.” (Acts 2:38) The fruitage of that holy Spirit? “Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:22, 23)
For the first time I believe every word posted here from Sheila’s to VT’s above me.
Relclaiming our country, the country of our fathers and mothers going back 10 generations is necessary.
On June 14th I will join millions of other present day Americans in leaving TV off and showing other Americans that we are here, we support the Constitution, we number in the millions, and we celebrate our military by emmulating their actions (boots on the ground spreading freedom and the American Way in numbers not to be ignored).
Long live the American Way. Retirement be to Trump and his loyalist stooges.
Very good Pete!
That is something every individual or free moral agent can do! Kind of like a consumer’s strike. We see workers strike, and that can bring huge corporations to their knees. So if you want to practice civil disobedience, awesome, so be it! Martin Luther King was a true believer in Christ, but he also believed and the power of the wallet so to speak. And making black folks sit in the back of the bus, started that boycott of buses. And even though they were used by the poorest, those nickels and dimes and quarters added up. It put them in financial straights. Imagine of all folks decided to Make an example of that sort of power.
Tesla? Why not! Amazon? Why not! Google? Why not! Apple? Why not! The trick to it, is to pick your target for the most effect! Airlines? Trains? Other automobile manufacturers? Cheese (Wisconsin)? Orange juice and citrus products? Florida! I mean the list is truly endless. The average citizen can enact their own tariff program if you will! But do people have the mental acuity or even the intellectual capacity to understand and to stick together come hell or high water? Those who are claiming to be Christians, will not stick together if they see everything going down the flusher. That throws a great big wrench into the gearbox. Learn how to buy and sell contracts, purchase oil contracts, hold on to them, and then sell off when the price goes up. Because it’s a false shortage, and that’s what they’ve been doing for over a hundred years. But the average person has not been able to do it, because they didn’t have the knowledge or the help. Now, the artificial intelligence can give everyone a heads up on how to accomplish these things. And you best believe all those wealthy, well, their eyes, they’re brown eyes, will turn very blue, and very sad. If all of the unions banned it together, every single Union in this country, that’s power! I’m not a huge fan of the way unions conduct themselves, because many times they are in the pockets of the corporations whose employees they claim to represent. Although, that being said, the unions don’t want to be outed by a national movement. So if they don’t comply with the workers desires, they can’t openly run behind the corporate Masters so they can continue their skim off the top. Light is a great disinfectant.