Have you ever wondered how evangelicals can tolerate Donald Trump. It’s got to be more than Hate of Hillary, right? This Salon article by VALERIE TARICO suggests that Trump is a spitting image of a prominent Old Testament character.
From Genesis through Revelation, the Bible lays out precisely how people should grovel and sing
God’s praises and otherwise kiss up. God wants his adoring followers to beg for things he already knows they need. … And he doesn’t like it at all if anyone pays attention to competing deities. “Thou shalt worship no other god!” he roars, “For the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God!”
He issues two sets of 10 Commandments, one of which contains nothing but details of how to pay him homage.. . . Imagine our world if Jehovah had been a little less concerned with attention and a little more concerned with compassion and sanitation.
He’s mean. The internet abounds with articles, sermons and videos assuring us that the Bible-god isn’t really the embodiment of mean people suck. But what exactly would you call sending a bear to tear apart 42 boys who tease a prophet? Or slaughtering a son in each Egyptian peasant family and blaming the mass murder on their unelected ruler who is actually your puppet . . .
Or let’s go back to the very first Bible story. What would you call putting a tantalizing fruit tree in front of two naïve and inexperienced creatures you’ve just made out of dirt and then punishing them brutally when they eat from it? (Genesis 2-3). Not long ago, an Alabama pastor wanted to teach a lesson about Christian obedience so he starved his chained-up dog for two days and then put food in reach but told the dog not to eat. Yeah, sadistic. Sometimes Christians reveal a little more than intended about the deity they worship.
For the entire article, see “Evangelicals believe in Trump: Their devotion to a bigoted bully actually makes perfect sense.”
The person who lives across the street from my parents’ house has two political signs in his front yard. One says “Jesus”. The other says “Trump”. I have been tempted to confront him by saying, “I cannot think of any person more UNLIKE Jesus than Donald Trump,” but I have grave doubts about his sanity and I don’t want him to take revenge upon me through my parents.
The other day I saw him hanging a Trump sign high up in a tree in his front yard. When I looked at him quizzically, he said, “Let’s see them steal it NOW!” Apparently I am not the only one who has noticed his hypocrisy.
http://marktiedemann.com/wordpress/?p=2926
Mark’s essay, referenced above, is both accurate and disturbing. Indeed, the GOP has for years been endorsing the racism, sexism, xenophobia and other bigotry coming from Trump…they just haven’t been saying it in public. And now it climbs out of the swamp, in the body of Trump and his supporters. Moreover, as Mark points out, “If the government says you may not discriminate against anyone based on their religion—or lack thereof—then they have no real power to aggressively convert.” Evangelicals are undoubtedly very concerned to see the steady erosion of state-coerced Christianity, since that forces them to argue their case on its own merits, while at the same time competing with other modern distractions. What are they to do when people spend their days chasing Pokemon characters instead of Jesus? Probably this is why they support Trump, or at least Trump/Pence: they believe (probably correctly) that electing politicians who will restore state-coerced religion is by far the easier path.
Grumpy. I agree. Trump’s problem is that he is saying what other Republicans have merely been suggesting.
grumpypilgrim: “… the GOP has for years been endorsing the racism, sexism, xenophobia and other bigotry coming from Trump…they just haven’t been saying it in public.”
Erich: “… he is saying what other Republicans have merely been suggesting.”
I honestly think that it’s more subtle, more insidious than that. Supporters of these doctrines are not even aware that they are racists, sexists, xenophobes, or bigots. It is possible that their thoughts are *not* as explicit as, “I don’t like Barack Obama because he’s (half) black, or Hillary Clinton because she’s a woman.” Instead they find a more palatable reason such as, “They’re LIBERALS” (which they use as a synonym for “evil”). It is a form of self-delusion.
The bottom line is that the things that Donald Trump says resonate with the hatred that these people feel, but they genuinely do not know why. Nor do they care — all that they care about is that their innermost feelings have found a voice.
To their credit, some of the Conservatives are starting to examine Trump’s motivations, and their own, and are facing the resulting cognitive dissonance. It may take some time, and more fortitude than some of them have, for them to break free of their demons.
Well stated, Edgar. I agree that many of the things that drive many conservatives are gut feelings that are not well understood or examined, but substantiate themselves in bigoted fear-based political actions. And yes, Trump has probably provoked some Republicans to do some introspection. Or at least I hope so.