Are Jesus and Trump one and the same person?

#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor​

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It seems a note on priorities, and, sure, take your pick: Lincoln Project hand, author and retired Army pilot Fred Wellman↱ recalls, "Remember when these guys all got big mad because athletes kneeled during the National Anthem?" Journalist Aaron Rupar↱ simply asserts, "It's a cult".

Sean Colarossi↱ of the liberal blog Politicus USA headlines, "MyPillow Guy Interrupts National Anthem On Live TV To Say God Wants 4 More Years Of Trump", which both is what it is and not nearly so dramatic as it sounds. After all, FOX News is involved, disclaiming empathetically to their viewers who might be distressed at the chatter over the national anthem. Colorossi explains:

MyPillow guy Mike Lindell spoke over the national anthem on Saturday during a pro-Trump march in D.C. to say that Friday's Supreme Court decision was all part of God's larger plan to give Donald Trump four more years in the White House.

“This is an anomaly,” Lindell said of the SCOTUS decision. “We're going to look back and say this all had to happen in the way God's intended it to.”

In the middle of the interview, Trump's helicopter could be seen flying over the D.C. crowd, which sent the MyPillow founder even further into a cult-style frenzy.

“There's our president for four more years,” Lindell said as he looked up at Marine One flying overhead. “There he is, right there.”​

It wasn't really a frenzy, but, again, pick your priorities. Wellman's point is well-observed, but Republican hypocrisy about pretenses of patriotism are so common they seem presupposed; the real question there would have to do with ongoing equivocation in the broader discourse.

Rupar's point is direct, and, to be sure, political blogger Colarossi overplays it a little bit. But he also scribbled the transcript of what Lindell said—

My final message is everybody keep the faith, because we are in the greatest revival in history. And this is an anomaly and when we get through it, we're going to look back and say this all had to happen in the way God's intended it to. And it'll all be okay. I just want everybody in the country to have faith that God's got his hand in all this and it'll all be a blessing when it's all over. And there's our president. … There's our president for four more years. There he is, right there. God bless America. We are one nation under God.​

—which is cultish, in its way, but think, also, of what it represents. It would have been offensive speculation, in my youth, to say that our Amero-Christianist supremacism would be what we destroy the Republic for, but aside from the unbelievability of everything required to bring that about, sure, it's also true that we've long had reason to wonder.

To wit: If we attend Lindell's words, he is talking about President Trump's four more years coming now, not in the 2024 election. Sure, that latter, too, would be God's will, or whatever, but right now Donald Trump has run out of legitimate means to continue his presidency beyond January. Inasmuch as Republicans will "look back and say this all had to happen in the way God's intended it to", Mr. Lindell appears to be hoping to inoculate his conscience against the sins he hopes for. This is a very unhealthy message for conservatives, but, let's face it, not really so unexpected.
____________________

Notes:

@atrupar. "It's a cult". Twitter. 12 December 2020. Twitter.com. 12 December 2020. https://bit.ly/37ZRr18

@FPWellman. "Remember when these guys all got big mad because athletes kneeled during the National Anthem? Yeah. It's all bullshit." Twitter. 12 December 2020. Twitter.com. 12 December 2020. https://bit.ly/3n8Kf9n

Colorossi, Sean. "MyPillow Guy Interrupts National Anthem On Live TV To Say God Wants 4 More Years Of Trump". Politicus USA. 12 December 2020. PoliticusUSA.com. 12 December 2020. https://bit.ly/3gEYTTr
 
It's been quite an interesting time since the election, where we've witnessed a barrage of Trump supporters ranting and raving, holding daily rallies, protests and public hearings, all wrapped up with Jesus in the middle holding it all together. The mind-blowing ignorance, gullibility and hypocrisy of those folks were displayed for the entire world to see every day from morning till night. And now, they understand the American Conservative mindset so much more than before and also realize the United States of America has tens of millions of these fake Christians, who in some cases are in positions of power. It's a massive case study on the Dunning Kruger effect.

The world is watching.

The laughter is deafening.
 
Conservative evangelist Beth Moore↱ sounds off, and, well, right:

I do not believe these are days for mincing words. I'm 63 1/2 years old & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it.​

Before we raise our hands in praise that God has delivered the minister some portion or dose of wisdom, the problem is not, as she sees it, Christian nationalism in and of itself, but a particular manner or movement. It is a bold declaration, indeed, "This Christian nationalism is not of God", but that is a doctrinal question about sin, between believers and God. In our living, political moment, the founder of Living Proof Ministries goes on to remind↱:

And, God help us, we don't turn from Trumpism to Bidenism. We do not worship flesh and blood. We do not place our faith in mortals. We are the church of the living God. We can't sanctify idolatry by labeling a leader our Cyrus. We need no Cyrus. We have a king. His name is Jesus.​

It very nearly invites the question why these monarchists give a rat's nut about questions of democracy. There is a story I sometimes recall↗, that includes a former Vice-President of the United States, two years out of office, placing his hand over his heart and pledging allegiance to the flag of another nation. It wasn't a real nation, and what the gathered evangelical Christians really wanted was a nation in which they could decide who was entitled to human rights. And if that movement includes conservative figures like the infamous Roy Moore, revisionist David Barton, supremacist pastor Rick Scarborough, GOP hand Ken Starr, or even then and future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, the evangelical conferences on Reclaiming America for Christ are not insignificant as examples of what conservatives have long been. This part of what drives the Republican Party, and elects Republican officials, purports to answer a higher law than the Constitution, and that's all well and fine between them and God, but should have nothing to do with constitutional affairs in the mortal world. If they expect to have influence, they should answer for declaring themselves traitors against the United States of America. I mean, y'know, just to be consistent.

Meanwhile, there is, apparently, an actual Conservative Baptist Network, which is very nearly hilarious for its intimations akin to benefactor grievance revisionism, as we're talking about the Southern Baptist Convention and an evangelist known to support unhinged anti-abortion rhetoric, but still, the hashtagged magakagger pastor atting Dinesh D'Souza and Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, in his Twitter bio accuses↱ that Beth Moore "is a heretic and can't be trusted", "does not speak for the grassroots of the SBC", and "should not be published by" a particular Christian website working in conjunction with her ministry. "The SBC is scared of losing her 'followers'", Pastor Paul K complains, "so they allow her false doctrines to inundate our Convention." It's reminiscent of conservative whining about feminism, which might actually be significant of something in trying to psychoanalyze the meaning of this history we live through, but it's also crackpots hurling sherds at one another, and the tinfoil shields glitter pretty, oh, so pretty.

Except it's not.

One of the ironies of recent American history has been the myriad ways in which conservatives poison rhetorical wells; we ought not overlook traditionalist abuse of the accusation that something is anti-American. Beth Moore, like Dan Quayle or Mike Huckabee; in the years since we've seen conservatives rally around Christianist usurpers like Kim Davis, and hope that people like Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett will betray their own oaths and subordinate the supreme law of the land to a make-believe higher law. These behaviors and expectations are, by definition, anti-American.

In the question of what God wants, it can be as easy to overlook the falseness of dichotomies such as turning from Trumpism to Bidenism as it is to get caught up criticizing their myriad shortcomings, distortions, and failures, but so also should we guard against ignoring the obvious: Whatever else, appeals to higher laws, and especially kings, are anti-American. As they argue among themselves about what God wants, they seek the resolution of law intended to supersede the supreme law of the land. In and of itself, that is whatever it is, perhaps overgrown children playing fancy games. But applied to questions of law and constitution, it seems in some way disqualifying to declare themselves in opposition to the nation itself; and it's self-inflicted.

The practical reality, of course, is that such niceties are not disqualifying, but neither are they unimportant. And as anti-Americanism goes, certainly it can seem diffuse, but given questions of life, death, quality of life, and human rights, at the very least, the point of who would, in seeking justification, appeal beyond any law we might institute in this world is neither irrelevant nor insignificant.
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Notes:

@BethMooreLPM. "And, God help us, we don’t turn from Trumpism to Bidenism. We do not worship flesh and blood. We do not place our faith in mortals. We are the church of the living God. We can’t sanctify idolatry by labeling a leader our Cyrus. We need no Cyrus. We have a king. His name is Jesus." Twitter. 13 December 2020. Twitter.com. 13 December 2020. https://bit.ly/3nezv9q

—————. "I do not believe these are days for mincing words. I’m 63 1/2 years old & I have never seen anything in these United States of America I found more astonishingly seductive & dangerous to the saints of God than Trumpism. This Christian nationalism is not of God. Move back from it." Twitter. 13 December 2020. Twitter.com. 13 December 2020. https://bit.ly/3oP6wtf

@PastorPaulK. "#BethMoore is a heretic and can't be trusted. #BethMoore does NOT speak for the grassroots of the SBC #BethMoore should not be published by .@LifeWay The SBC is scared of losing her 'followers' so they allow her false doctrines to inundate our Convention." Twitter. 13 December 2020. Twitter.com. 13 December 2020. https://bit.ly/2WhQhIN
 
Remember this thread from four years ago when we were all joyous and wrong?
 
I can't decide which is funnier, 1. The idea that a small minority believes he is Jesus or was appointed by Jesus or God or some divine entity, or 2. The people who believe that the majority of Trump supporters believe this.
 
Most of my relatives live below the Manson/Nixon Line and they're Trumptards.

Me? I was born on the same month/day/year as Rush Limbaugh and within twenty miles of him*. This also proves astrology is idiotic.

*My parent were sharecroppers, so wouldn't be in the same neighborhood.
 
"Are Jesus and Trump the same person?"

Seems to me exactly the opposite. Trump is the same as Barrabas, the guilty criminal who got away with his crimes.
 
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