What, I haven't posted today? Let me go back to a New York Times article from last week, about the increasingly obvious Christofascist nature of his rallies:
Long known for his improvised and volatile stage performances, former President Donald J. Trump now tends to finish his rallies on a solemn note.
Soft, reflective music fills the venue as a hush falls over the crowd. Mr. Trump’s tone turns reverent and somber, prompting some supporters to bow their heads or close their eyes. Others raise open palms in the air or murmur as if in prayer.
In this moment, Mr. Trump’s audience is his congregation, and the former president their pastor as he delivers a roughly 15-minute finale that evokes an evangelical altar call, the emotional tradition that concludes some Christian services in which attendees come forward to commit to their savior.“The great silent majority is rising like never before and under our leadership,” he recites from a teleprompter in a typical version of the script. “We will pray to God for our strength and for our liberty. We will pray for God and we will pray with God. We are one movement, one people, one family and one glorious nation under God.”
Some, but not enough, Christians do call this out:
But some Christian conservatives are loath to join their brethren in clearing a direct path from the ornate doors of Mar-a-Lago to the pearly gates of Heaven.There is precious little push back on the wild creepiness of this, not to mention the obvious comparisons that can be made to the tactics of 20th century fascists. It just gets semi-normalised by media ignoring it (by and large).
Russell Moore, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public-policy arm, said Mr. Trump’s rallies had veered into “dangerous territory” with the altar-call closing and opening prayers from preachers describing Mr. Trump as heaven-sent.
“Claiming godlike authority or an endorsement from God for a political candidate means that person cannot be questioned or opposed without also opposing God,” Mr. Moore said. “That’s a violation of the commandment to not take the Lord’s name in vain.”
Also, I tend to agree with most of what this guy says on Twitter:
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Look on the bright side. Now that he is openly courting the mad evangelicals hopefully the sane evangelicals will turn away from him. Another possible problem is the youngins are abandoning Christianity and this open appeal by Trump will turn more from him. It will be interesting to see how the right here in Aus respond to Trump's latest tactics, or might be except that often they choose to ignore the more ludicrous aspects of his campaign.
ReplyDeleteOn the very bright side, this will turn more people in the USA away from Christianity and the GOP.
Do not think evangelicals are people who read their bible a lot. It is now merely another term too describe republican voters.
ReplyDeleteIt does not take much reading of the bible to see the blasphemy being outlined about Trump. Let me add idolatry as well.
Steve, your point about the lack of push back from Christians is well made. I've been surprised that over the decades Christians haven't been more vocal critics of the prosperity gospel, creationism, the demonization of the LGBTQI community, and the exorbitant wealth of so many high profile preachers. The trend of not speaking out against Trump is consistent with that. In a way it is understandable because groups are very reluctant to call out the sins of those within it but that's no excuse. Christianity is being mocked by those elements and the long term consequence is more people turning away.
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