Fox's Pastor Robert Jeffress: "The effort to impeach President Trump is really an effort to impeach our own deeply held faith values" pic.twitter.com/1X751y5HU5— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) November 1, 2019
I can't say that I'm shocked when Christian conservatives turn everything into culture war, but this line of bull comes from the same place the "the Democrats are trying to repeal the 2016 election" comes from: it's a way of pretending the impeachment isn't about what Trump and his administration have done (lean on Ukraine for investigations into Hunter Biden and Crowd Strike) but about taking something away from the folks who voted for him. It's also a step on the rung to that grotesque idea that somehow, if one fairly corrupt and dishonest politician were removed from office, there would be a pretext for civil war (there's another thing Jeffress has actually said), I guess between the good Christians and the "godless" liberals.
It looks like religion is a refuge that Trump has decided to cling to in his hour of need:
Honored to pray for @realDonaldTrump and our nation! Also discussed the many great accomplishments under the leadership of President Trump. He continues to work tirelessly on behalf of the American people— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) October 31, 2019
(Official White House Photo by Joyce Boghosian) #prayer #potus #nation pic.twitter.com/rJ6ExahYXN
That's Paula White, Trump's spiritual adviser and new head of the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative. She's something of a prosperity gospel grifter, but what I find problematic is that she has used her following to tell people they must support Trump or answer to God. But this idea that the Christian Right has a duty to support Trump seems to be broader than just the handful of Trump's biggest fans. It also seems to be the mindset of Trump's Attorney General and his Secretary of State.
Where does this message go? In some ways, it reverberates in the minds of people who believe that liberals want to not only take citizens' guns away, but their Bibles as well. But an unpleasant turn can be people who move from the mere puffery of a Michele Bachmann, who claims that Trump may be the "most godly" president we will ever have, to people who consider support of Trump as a literal part of their worship.
And when Trump, in his divisive fashion, implies it's time for the civil war? Would it be wrong to disobey the anointed? I wonder where people who use this rhetoric will choose to draw the line.
(For what it's worth, I'm not sure that a narcissist like Trump needs this kind of support--it's too easy for it to go to his head. )
4 comments:
Carrying a cross & wrapped in the flag.
THIS ... is "Taking the Lord's Name in Vain". This ... is god-damned.
Not far off from the Catholic bishops telling their dioceses for many years that any vote for a candidate who supports the continued decriminalization of abortion is in a state of mortal sin.
What all of you have said--religion is cheapened by getting mixed up in politics, when people pretending to be too wise play the fool for a mere and low politician. Using the name of God to try and make anything this fool does make sense is a duplicitous use of a pulpit. That some kind of religious persons (like Jim Bakker, ex-con, seller of freeze-dried disaster-chow) wants to elevate Trump seems gimmicky and part of the grift. That people will perceive legitimate religious leaders (for whatever value will serve, of which I can not be any judge having removed myself from religion) as being pro-Trump--that people will have faith in this chud, astonishes me. Using critical thought and reason, a liar of this level of craposity can have no true value. Nothing he can do is correct, because he never thinks about the right things (fossil fuels, climate change, science in general, the health and welfare of people, water, livestock, communities, the right to not be poisoned by chemicals, the life of bees and birds, and fish, and the lead-laden brains of urban and rural babies). If he thought of the least amongst us even the least amount of time, he would have done more for any of us, and better than we expected. But he is disgraceful at every step.
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