Franklin Graham Denounces the Jury Award in the E. Jean Carroll Case

Franklin Graham Denounces Jury Award in Carroll Case 

Calling it more "liberal persecution," evangelist Franklin Graham has taken sides again with Trump.  This is an open demonstration of just how worldly, out of theological balance, and heretical Evangelicals have become, and Graham is at the top of the list of apostates.  

He's been blinded by the same Satanic delusion as millions of other so-called Christians who seem unable or unwilling to acknowledge the anti-Christian nature of the MAGA cult and Trump.  I wonder, if his financial records would reveal just how much money Trump has paid to buy him.  Then again, Trump brags about giving a lot, and actually gives nothing.  Graham's ministries appear to be suffering from the same kind of decline that almost all of Evangelical Christianity is now experiencing.  So he has to stay in good graces with Trumpies in order to keep the dollars rolling in.  

The MAGA cult, which obviously includes Graham, owns Trump's worldliness.  That's their thing, they glory in it, worship it and give it their loyalty.  God and Jesus Christ, they've thrown under the bus.  They admit openly that God does nothing for them and they think Trump does.  According to them, Jesus is a liberal.  I think that pretty much characterizes the whole, lame enterprise.  Graham is sticking to Trump, because his fortune rests on it, collecting money as he does from the MAGA cult.  He may be the son of Billy Graham but his political involvement denies everything his father stood for.  He's abandoned that to support a demagogue. 

The GOP is No Longer the Party of "Family Values," or Any Values, Nor Are Their Religious Right Sycophants

Attorney Representing Southern Baptists Has Choice Words to Say About Conservative Resurgence Architect and GOP Operative Paul Pressler 

Texas Tribune: GOP Candidate for Texas House Enabled his Sexually Abusive Law Partner, Southern Baptist Leader

Baptist News Global: Where Have All the Evangelical Convictions Gone?

MAGA is Morally Bankrupt When Evaluated by Former Evangelical Christian Faith and Practice

"MAGA affirming Evangelicalism may run more people away from the church than it evangelizes." 

The author of that quote, Dr. Bill Leonard, has a long resume as a professor of church history and theology, an author and a columnist and commentator on what's going on as Evangelicals, caught up in MAGA politics, have abandoned their Christian convictions in the practice of their faith to embrace the political leadership of a man whose values are as completely and totally the opposite of theirs as it is humanly possible to get.  Leonard's evaluation of what has occurred within Evangelical churches and denominations, included in his article "Where Have All the Evangelical Convictions Gone" linked above, is right on target.  

While Evangelicals, and I use this term to refer to white Evangelicals specifically, including most of their leadership, have embraced the politics of Trump, Trump himself has embraced none of their faith or its values and practices.  He openly rejects their moral principles, when it comes to sexuality and integrity, rejects their claim to the sanctity of human life, rejects their core doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ because it requires repentance and forgiveness of sin he claims he doesn't need, and rejects their theology of the nature of God by replacing it with his own.  

There is evidence that what Leonard says about MAGA running people away from the church is true.  The Southern Baptist Convention, to which Leonard belonged and where he served as a professor of church history until the early 1990's, has lost 20% of its attendance and membership since its peak in 2006, dropping from 16.2 million to 13.4 million members.  But the vast majority of that has occurred since 2016, numbering in excess of 400,000 for each of the last three years, according to what its churches report to the annual convention.  And news articles in their own press are alluding to another precipitous drop, perhaps as many as half a million, to be reported in June of 2024.  

Among the Pentecostal and Charismatic branch of Evangelicalism's far right, where White Christian Nationalism is becoming enough of an abberant doctrine to start labelling some churches and denominational groups as cults, what was once the fastest growing branch of Christianity in America has now, apparently become its fastest-shrinking.  Some of that has happened as the result of scandal, as high profile pastors and "prophets" as some of the leaders are called have, not surprisingly, fallen into sexual immorality.  There's not a single denominational entity keeping track of the numbers here, but census data and a few church research organizations are finding that the numbers were dropping, even before COVID, and that as many as 5.5 million people have taken the exit ramp since 2016. 

Not surprisingly, Trump considers a "prophetess" of the prosperity gospel movement, the cult in which the core doctrine is centered on money, not on morality or spirituality, as his own "spiritual advisor."  Conservative Evangelicals long ago labelled Paula White as a heretic and a cultic leader, but MAGA has forced them to come crawling back, and at least playing nice while underlining their hypocrisy.  

The Decline and Fall of a Noted Southern Baptist Republican Activist

The Southern Baptist Convention went through what became known as the "Conservative Resurgence" beginning in 1979.  Led by Paige Patterson, then president of a broken-down Bible college in Dallas, connected to its First Baptist Church, and Paul Pressler, a member of Houston's First Baptist Church and an attorney and Texas Appellate Court justice, this group mobilized conservatives who claimed to believe in inerrancy, and who claimed the denomination's seminaries weren't teaching it, to gain control of the trustee boards that governed the six seminaries where pastors were trained, along with its two missionary sending boards, and its publishing house.  By 1989, the purge was complete, and professors who did not buy the party line were either shown the door or exited on their own, Bill Leonard being one of them.  

Pressler's motive in becoming involved, had to do with his position in the Republican party.  He became the chief conduit by which the Southern Baptist Convention was pushed into the GOP to be used as a means of advancing conservative politics and politicians, rather than as a Christian evangelistic and missionary supporting denomination.  He led in the creation of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, which appointed a former Bush administration sycophant, Richard Land, as its president, to actively gather support from Southern Baptists for Republican politics.  

Events have since uncovered the fact that the leadership of the revered and honored "Conservative Resurgence", especially Pressler, was spiritually and morally bankrupt from the start.  While Patterson, who used his influence to get the presidency of a seminary he wanted, failed at protecting female students on the campuses he led from sexual assault, Pressler recently settled a long-standing lawsuit brought by a man who claimed that Pressler had sexually abused him from the time he was 14, attending a youth group that Pressler led in a Houston megachurch.  

During the course of this particular lawsuit, evidence surfaced indicating Pressler persisted in this habit of sexual encounters with young men, in churches where he encountered them as a Sunday School teacher and deacon, and through the lawfirm in which he was a partner with Jared Woodfill, who is now a Republican candidate for a seat in the Texas House.  There are two stories linked above referencing the Pressler lawsuit, what an attorney representing Southern Baptists has to say about Pressler, and how this fits in with Woodfill's candidacy for the state house.  Pressler has continued to claim innocence.  

Damage Control for Evangelicalism, Political Benefit for Democrats

The implications of the fact that the SBC participated in the financial settlement of the lawsuit against Pressler, an undisclosed but apparently quite large amount, judging from the reaction from within the denomination, will have far reaching effects going to the very heart of the credibility of the "Conservative Resurgence."  The leadership of at least two well known, prominent Houston megachurches acknowledged their awareness of allegations against Pressler long before the movement gathered momentum, and, in writing, removed him from his church offices while encouraging him to stop such activity in the event that it became known, and would damage his denominational political cause.  

The fact that they were willing to let this continue, rather than calling it to account shows that there wasn't a high level of trust in that inerrant, infallible Bible, nor in the God whom they claim inspired its writing, because they were afraid of what the bad publicity would to to their political effort to replace leaders in the denomination, which was a priority for them.  The reaction to this news among Southern Baptists will be slow in coming.  Most of their media outlets are choosing to keep their audience in the dark, not publishing anything about the settlement.  

But there will be fallout.  And that's where some good can come from all of this.  

This Isn't as Hard as We Think 

It's becoming clear, in the wake of the cataract of news falling about Trump's legal woes and criminal charges, that there will be a political cost to his shenanigans following January 6th and his attack on the Constution and American Democracy.  The campaign season getting underway has revealed a significant, and I use that term in the full context of its meaning, group of Republicans who appear to be abandoning Trump, some already determined to support someone else, others saying that if he is convicted on any of the charges for which he's been indicted, they will definitely not vote for him.  Whether that means they'll just stay home on election day, vote third party, or actually switch over and vote for Biden, that's good news.  

And I say significant, because in both Iowa and New Hampshire, while the media is writhing in incredulity over the fact that two thirds of Republicans are MAGA no matter what, one third of them are not MAGA at all.  That's significant, because if he loses that many Republican votes, it would be more than enough to flip Iowa back to a blue state, and give Biden a big win in New Hampshire, where he already has chalked up a nice margin once before.  It's significant, too, because two thirds of voters identifying as independent, which are a necessary element in any national election, are also turned off the Trump train.  

In battleground states, the margins can be where elections are won and lost.  And I think this, for Democrats, is a marginal issue worth exploiting.  As a whole, Democrats tend to intellectually and politically separate themselves from white Evangelicals altogether, and settle in behind the pulpits of historically African American denominations.  But there's a lot going on here that is actually causing people to reconsider their support.  A third is worth going after, whether they just stay home or whether they actually vote for Democrats.  There are more shared values than many people realize, and there are authors and experts out there, like Bill Leonard, and Signal Press, whose Democratic party convictions are supported by their Christian doctrine and theology.   

An Alternative Analysis of the New Hampshire Primary

For the amount of attention and news coverage that has been focused on Donald Trump since he left office in 2020, the number of votes he has picked up in the two early nomination contests, the Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary, have been surprisingly low.  For all of the triumphalist declarations of victory, it has become clear that there is a significant segment of the GOP that is not going to support Trump even if he is the GOP nominee.  And while I don't want to give the media coverage in general too much credit, he's been so over-exposed that it is possible a lot of Republicans have come to the realization that giving him another term in the White House would be a political disaster for them. 

In New Hampshire last night, 45% of those who showed up to cast a ballot in the GOP primary, including independent voters who went for Haley by massive margins, did not vote for the guy who has been proclaimed as savior,  the "only" one who can resolve America's problems, and the god of the whole MAGA world.  And in exit polls and analysis of both Iowa, where the state GOP is ultra-conservative and far to the right, and New Hampshire, where it is less so, but still relatively conservative and sometimes effective in electing candidates to office, a third of Republican voters are declaring that they will not support Trump if he is the party nominee.  

The Obligatory Positive Spin

Of course, the media that depends on corporate money to operate is going to come up with an obvious spin on the positive side of winning both the caucuses and the primaries.  So the headlines read, "Trump wins New Hampshire Primary."  

But, putting this in perspective, and using it to build analysis that is reliable in predicting the outcome of a nationwide election, this is really bad news for a candidate like Trump, who once held the office he is running for, and so has a sort of "incumbent" advantage.  If he's hit a ceiling within the Republican party, then the numbers will not add up to an electoral college advantage.  He lost the independent voters who showed up to vote in the GOP primary by nearly a 3 to 1 margin.  And for all of his blabbering about unifying the party, as the other candidates dropped out of the race, and endorsed him, it was Haley who benefitted from their absence, not him.  That had to hurt.  

The media is fascinated by finding that two thirds of Republican voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will go ahead and vote for Trump, even if he is convicted of a crime.  I know math can be a difficult subject to grasp, but it should be pretty obvious that if a third of that constituency is saying they won't vote for him if he is convicted, and a fourth of them are saying they won't vote for him, no matter what, that doesn't translate into getting the electoral votes of either state, which he must have to win.  Biden won comfortably in New Hampshire in 2020, and if a third of the GOP in Iowa had stayed home, he'd have won comfortably there, too.  

The Enthusiasm Isn't There This Time Around

A New Hampshire newspaper noted that Trump rallies are being held in much smaller venues than in 2016, and that those who show up tend to start drifting out after about a half hour of demented ramblings.  There's one side that says why bother with a primary, since we know he's going to win the nomination anyway, and another that says the perceptible drop in enthusiasm among all but the hard line MAGA crowd is more than his campaign can sustain and still win.  The fact that some main stream media has noticed, and mentions this, means, at least from my perspective, that it is probably happening on a bigger scale than they are reporting.  

This is visible in something else that has become noticeable.  Up until last week, Nikki Haley was running against Trump like everyone else was, complimenting him, claiming he was the right guy at the right time and failing to mention even one of his failures or treasonous crimes to boost their own position.  But suddenly, Haley has become more aggressive.  Did she also perceive that support for Trump, tested by primaries, is not what she though it was, and sees that direct attacks on her part might actually do more for her than her conciliatory groveling?  Did she realize he's not going to pick her for his running mate, so now, her mouth doesn't matter?  Did she see that she picked up a significant amount of support when she quit soft-pedaling the rhetoric and became her own person instead of blending in?  

That's what it looks like.  

MAGA alone is not enough to win a Presidential election.  Trump's going to need a lot more than that, including moderate Republicans and a majority of independents, and it's becoming clear that's not going to happen.  If Trump loses this November, and I think the President's re-election will be by a bigger electoral and popular vote margin than it was in 2020, Haley might actually be able to step out and give 2028 a try.  But that's not going to happen as long as she's carrying Trump baggage by soft-pedaling her criticism of him.  Desantis and Scott are done.  If Haley wants a shot at the Presidency, she's going to have to be her own person, not a Trumpie, and right now, she's still in his back pocket.

The Presumptive Nominee of the GOP

The turn in rhetoric that came from Haley last night was like watching a tennis match and getting dizzy when the volleys get going fast.  She took a prime media spotlight and pointed out that Trump is a loser.  She blamed him first of all for losing control of Congress in 2018, for losing the White House, big, in 2020, and even though they have marginal control of the House now, that didn't stop her tirade.  Was that the real Nikki Haley, or is the cowering Trump apologist her true character?  That's going to make it more difficult for her to turn around, quit and then endorse him.  

She hit the nail on the head when she said that what the Biden campaign and the Democrats want to happen is for Trump to become the presumptive nominee.  That's pretty obvious.  Biden's been broadly hinting at running against Trump for a while now, and setting it up.  That's a good strategy.  Trump is very beatable when it comes to Biden, in spite of some very dubious polling data that seems to shift whenever the media's narrative needs a boost in ratings.  

Here's the difference between the two.  The Biden campaign hires top notch, successful campaign management, and listens when they give advice, and bases its decisions on their guidance.  Trump hires sycophants, screams at them and fires them when they don't do what he wants, and ignores them.  And it doesn't look like that's going to change.  The combination of his own campaign experts and those they've picked up from the Obama team, on the advice of his own, will be the key to winning this election.  They are all people who know how to win Presidential elections.  

So thanks, Nikki, for drawing attention to the obvious.

Conservative, Evangelical Christianity, Correctly Applied and Interpreted, Should Lead to Votes Against Trump, Not For Him

Since Trump embraced Evangelical Christians for their influence and votes in order to win election to the Presidency, they've given him the kind of political support that no other Republican has enjoyed from this particular constituency, at least the half of American Evangelicalism that is white.  In this country, the other half of those whose doctrine and theology are similar enough to be defined by the use of the term are African American, Latino and Asian, and while the white Evangelical support for Trump registered as high as 82% by some estimates, in the 2016 election, it was less than 25% among those of color.  

Their loyalty and support has taken the form of a complete endorsement of him, characterizing him by using terms like "God's man," and comparing him to the Israelite King David, who they say wasn't perfect, but was used by God to do great things.  

Trump is no King David, by any stretch of the imagination.  The comparison doesn't work.  According to the Biblical narrative in 2nd Samuel, David was a monarch appointed by God through a prophet to rule over a theocracy.  He exhibited characteristics of strong leadership and was considered a good leader.  Trump was an abject failure from the first momemt of his Presidency.  David, in spite of his faults and his sins, was repentant and submitted to God for forgiveness.  Trump claims he hasn't done anything needing forgiveness, which is a denial of the core doctrine of Christian conversion preached by the Evangelicals.  

And when David did commit a series of grievous sins, starting with adultery with Bathsheeba, and leading to the murder of her husband, God sent a prophet to warn him.  His household fell apart, the son conceived by the adultery died as an infant, his children fought with each other, one of his sons raped his daughter, another one rebelled against his father, split the army and tried to take the Kingdom away from him.  David had to flee for his life, lost the respect and loyalty of most of his people, opened the country up to invasions and raids by the Philistines, whom he had previously subjugated, his son was killed by one of the men who remained loyal to him, and he was not restored until he was totally repentant, depending on God to be forgiven. His kingdom suffered because of his lapse in judgment and his lack of leadership.  None of that resembles Trump in any way, shape or form.  

What Evangelical Support For Trump Says About Their Faith 

Regardless of their rhetoric, and excuses, Evangelicals who endorse and support Trump as a political leader are abandoning their convictions and principles in order to do so.  Trump is not a Christian by their definition of the term, he openly denies having done any of what they claim is required for the conversion experience that makes someone a Christian, by spiritual transformation.  And while God does sometimes use evil men to achieve his purpose, nowhere does he ever require his people, those who are called by his name, either the Jews of ancient Israel or the Christians of the church, to give their loyalty to an evil political leader.  But that is exactly what Evangelicals who support Trump are doing.  They've chosen between God's Holy Spirit to achieve their ministry ends, and the political power of Trump, and they've abandoned the former to embrace the latter.  There's no denying it. 

Evangelicals claim to believe that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are inerrant, meaning that they are without human error in the original manuscript, and infallible when applied according to interpretation in a literal context.  But in following Trump and his brand of far right wing Republican politics, they must either flatly deny some of the basic, clearly worded principles found in the scripture, taken from the Apostles themselves and in some cases, the directly recorded words of Jesus, or change the interpretation in a way that is well outside any acceptable principle of Biblical hermeneutics.  Trumpian Republican politics turns the Christian gospel upside down, into an unrecognizeable mess that starts at the point of denying the very nature of Jesus himself.  

Approval of Sexual Immorality

Elevating Trump to the stature of a political leader revered by a group of Christians has required them to make some convoluted turns and twists in their faith practice and doctrine in order to support his agenda.  Most Evangelicals based their support for him on his judicial choices to the Supreme Court, leading to the eventual overturning of Roe v. Wade.  There's some hypocrisy, even with that, as there are allegations Trump himself has paid for multiple women with whom he had adulterous affairs to have abortions, and at least one of the justices who ruled against Roe did the same.  

But aside from that, there's no consistency whatsoever in that position, when, throughout his entire married life, right up to the present time, Trump continues to be engaged in adulterous affairs with women while being married to someone else.  Each of the women he married, subsequent to his previous wives, were also "other women" in affairs, something about which he continues to claim as a mark of his worldly reputation, and in which he expresses pride.  

So the Evangelical Christians who support him have, whether they admit it or not, abandoned their doctrine of sexual purity in order to support this politician who unapologetically engages in adultery by Bibica definition.  And for all of the finger pointing and shrieking from many Evangelical leaders over the fact that President Clinton may have had an affair in the White House, they are now shameless hypocrites, in the face of the highly publicized case of Stormy Daniels, a porn star who Trump paid to keep their adultery a secret, and of evidence indicating that this has been a regular occurrence in the Trump White House, and afterward. 

Thou Shalt Not Lie, Except to Win in Politics

Integrity is a value that is an integral part of Christian practice.  It's mentioned by every Apostle who is a New Testament writer as one of the identifying marks of believers in Christ.  It was vitally important, for a church existing in a pagan culture, that the lifestyle of those who were Christians was lived according to a set of values opposite those practiced in the pagan world around them.  Noticing that these characteristics and practices were valued by Christians, and were part of their regular lives was a testimony that attracted people to the Christian faith, and led many pagans to convert to Christianity.  

Turning a blind eye to Trump's lying is bad enough, but allowing themselves to get caught up in the lies, none of which help advance the Christian faith or encourage people to convert to become followers of Christ, is an endorsement of evil.  Claiming that the election of 2020 was "stolen" from Trump is a lie.  There's evidence to prove that it is.  Repeating it, as many of his supporters do, makes them evil liars just like he is.  And that turns his Evangelical supporters into hypocrites who deny their faith. 

Those Who Say "I Love God" and Hate Their Brothers and Sisters, Are Liars

Trump's rhetoric about how he treats other people is the most convincing argument proving that he is so much the opposite of Christian faith and values as to fit the Bible's definition of antichrist.  The "our" in "take back our country," means the descendants of white, European settlers who came here and displaced the natives in their taking of the land.  It clearly does not include any, and I mean any Americans of color, including those whose ancestry is Latino, Asian, African or even original native American.  

Human beings, all of them, are created in the image of God, according to the scripture.  So the blatant discrimination and hatred of people of different ethnicities and racial backgrounds, is not only sinful, according to Christian doctine and theology, it is a denial of the very nature of God himself.  The apostle John defines this principle in his first epistle, when he says, "Those who say, 'I love God," but hate their brothers and sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they hae seen cannot love God, whom they have not seen."  [I John 4:20, ESV]

So looking at all of the rhetoric about revenge, getting even, the "foreigners" who poison the blood of the country, the anti-Semitism, the hatred of and threats of vengeance against Democrats and Republicans who didn't support him when he committed crimes, all of that defines Trump as an evil antichrist, by the literal definition of that word (See I John 4:1-3), and it makes his Evangelical apologists and supporters either hypocrites, or insincere imposters.   

Making Politics Their God and Trump Their Savior

The flood of white Evangelicals who are now relying on far right wing politics to do what they once prayed to God to achieve is an abandonment of principle and faith.  Some of them are throwing out rhetoric that actually criticizes core teachings of Jesus that don't fit their particular political preferences, such as "loving your enemies" and "turning the other cheek," labelling those actions, which, according to Jesus, were clear identifying marks of true faith, "liberal."  Others push for varying forms of Christian Nationalism, holding on to the belief that God has set Christians aside, because of their faith, to be the ones who rule everything from their perspective, a practice which resembles most of the 1,700 year history of the church after Constantine.  

The Apostle John makes it clear, in the same passage where he identifies the anti-christ, that love is the single, most visible identifying characteristic of the members of the Christian church who were, at the time he wrote those words, living in the middle of a completely pagan society.  

Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.  God's love was revealed among us in this way:  God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.  In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.  I John 4:7-12

And he adds this, just a few sentences later on, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." 

I would argue, based on what is conveyed in these words from the Apostle, which conservative Evangelicalism considers inerrant, infallible, and literal in their application, that any Christian who gives loyalty and support to Trump must first deconstruct their Christian faith, and abandon its principles and practice, because it is not possible to do so and have the love of God perfected in us.  Instead of perfect love casting out fear, these phony Christians are using fear to cast out perfect love.  

The "Dots" Aren't Connecting: So What am I Missing?

It's been crystal clear since before the 2016 election that having Donald Trump in the White House was dangerous for this country's national security and for the democracy that is at the very heart of this constitution and government, and out identity as a nation.  He's spent the time since the voters ousted him plotting revenge against his enemies and laying out a campaign to get back in that includes having political power unrestrained by a government of, by and for the people.  He's been open and public with statements revealing his fascist intentions, sounding more like the European dictatorships of the 1930's than an American Republican.  

There's no question, in any reasonably intelligent, well-informed mind, that he incited the January 6th insurrection with the intention of disrupting the constitutional peaceful transfer of power, for the singular purpose of subverting the will of the people and remaining in office.  His deliberate theft of classified documents, and his attempts at intimidation of Georgia election workers in an attempt to subvert the will of voters in that state are all part of a pile of evidence which proves his unfitness to serve in any capacity in American government, much less the Presidency.  

Add to all of that his marital infidelity and immorality, which, again by weight of evidence, has continued unabated and goes back to the period right after his first marriage to Ivana, with affairs, according to his own admission, running into the hundreds, along with the public humiliation he brought his wives.  Evidence indicated that this was happening all through his term in office, and has continued since his departure.  He's a pathological liar, a tax cheat, a business fraud, a rapist, and a con artist.  

On top of that, his four years in the White House show a record of incredible inept incompetence when it comes to government service and leadership.  He failed at everything he did, including nominating competence justices to the Supreme Court who would rule by the Constitution rather than by their political agenda.  His negotiations with the Taliban, eventually leading to the collapse of the democratically-elected government in Afghanistan, kicking that can down the road and causing his successor to have to deal with it, border on treason.  So do his meetings with the world's most notoriously cruel dictator, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, his attempts to blackmail Ukraine, for which he was impeached, and his dealings with Vladimir Putin.  His COVID policy and dealings with that crisis bear the marks of criminal incompetence, and lack of concern for the lives of millions of Americans.  

But he's running again, is headed toward being the nominee of the Republican Party, and, if we believe most of the media's rhetoric, has a shot at being elected again.  

I'm missing something here.  On both sides.  

Why Isn't Biden Getting Any Traction?  

Joe Biden has had one of the more effective Presidencies in modern history.  What a difference it was, in this country, when his administration put plans into place for dealing with the COVID crisis, in spite of some of the ridiculous conspiracy theories and the turning of medical research and scientific evidence into a political issue by far right wing extremists.  In front of the collapsing Afghan army and government, undermined by his predecessor, he got over 100,000 people out of the country in  matter of days, a huge accomplishment, especially given the way the media tried to make it sound like a disaster.  

The economy has hit milestones in low unemployment, in wages and prosperity, in spite of the adversity of dealing with supply chain issues and the aftermath of the pandemic, that we haven't seen in almost six decades, and it is a sustained prosperity and growth, in spite of media attempts to stoke fear of a recession they were predicting would happen two years ago.  Inflation came along, the result of the economic recovery from COVID, something he predicted, and in the process of dealing with it, his economic timeline is working exactly as he said it would.  

The infrastructure bill is historic.  I do not have to venture very far from my house to see and experience the benefits of it.  A much needed reconstruction project along the eastbound Kennedy Freeway, which carries two major east-west interstates, 90 and 94, through the heart of Chicago, was completed a month ago.  The reduction in travel times, and in traffic congestion was noticeable on the day it opened, clearing backups on other freeways out into the suburbs.  Another huge project funded by the bill widened the westbound Kennedy between I-94 and I-190, which is the exit to O'Hare Airport, opening two additional exit lanes, and a third ongoing project, doing the same to a long stretch of I-294, I-88, I-290 and I-80, a chronic traffic nightmare on Chicago's west side, is nearing completion.  That's just locally.  This is happening all over the country to highways, bridges, airports, even the seaports and inland river waterways.  

The repairs and solidifying of the NATO alliance in the wake of Russian aggression will go down in history as one of the greatest moves ever made by an American President.  Biden's predecessor was going to end NATO, and open the door for Russian aggression to destroy the freedom of tens of millions of Eastern Europeans, and stop those who are still struggling to ever experience what we take for granted in this country.  Yes, the Ukraine war has been a long one, and it's caused a lot of damage and destruction, and loss of life.  But the Ukrainians are fighting for their freedom, because of what they've seen in us, and they're still able to fight because of the diplomacy of the Biden administration.  They chose that over the slavery of dictatorship and corruption.  That's patriotic American idealism in practice, in contrast to what Trump was offering. 

I'm a beneficiary of President Biden's economic policy every time I walk into the pharmacy, and get my 90 day supply of insulin.  I'd have to settle for a different brand, because what I take now would have cost more than I could afford, and even at that, would have been prohibitively expensive.  But I pay $105 for 90 days.  The drug company that makes it, and the pharmacy that sell it still make a profit, even at that cost.  

And yes, the President is an older guy, the oldest we've had in our history, at least as far as his age goes, though life spans are longer now, and medical care is a lot better than it used to be.  But this is the guy who rode a train ten hours each way in and out of Kyiv to meet Ukraine's President Zelenskyy in the middle of a war, and then took a brisk walk through the streets of the city to a press conference, without the benefit of American military security.  He's obviously in much better physical and mental shape than the potential GOP nominee, even with cameras hiding the Republican's ailments and gaffes. 

And yet, he gets a much smaller share of the news cycle, even on the networks that are known to be better at fairness, they seem to relish putting out every single C rated poll that show him trailing Trump, even by one or two points, and somehow miss those which are coming out every week showing the opposite.  They report the fragments among Democrats, give almost as much attention to candidates like RFK Junior, Cornell West and Jill Stein, who don't have a chance at winning the Presidency, and focus their coverage on his age, over and over and over.  

So yes, I'm clearly missing something here.  Because to me, this looks like a deliberate and concerted effort to control the election and determine the outcome, with someone behind it pulling the strings. 

That leads me to this one question.  What are we going to do about it?  

What I'm Going to Do About It

I'm pretty active and engaged with local Democrats in my precinct.  We are blessed to be in an area where we are a clear majority, where we have good leadership and where we can provide some assistance in the way of resources and help to those in other areas where they need a little bit of a boost.  We had a real nice effort going here on behalf of Tony Evers and his re-election campaign in neighboring Wisconsin, along with the other state candidates, and Mandela Barnes' Senate race.  

I have a budget for monthly political contributions.  It's not much but it's regular, monthly and added to that of others for better effect.  

And I use this blog to get a hearing on social media.  I hope others who read it, and readership has improved to about 1,800 a month, also share it on their social media and with their friends and political foes.  Not all the feedback gets shown here, because at lot of the discussion and comments are senseless, rude, threatening or just plain stupid.  But it's there.  

I'm going to vote.  It takes me five minutes to go inside that booth, get to the straight ticket screen and cast the ballot for every Democrat running.  

What we ALL Need to Do About It? 

We need to speak up.  Counter the crap that the media puts out.  Encourage our candidates to get themselves on a solid narrative, like the President has done, pointing out that his candidacy is in contrast to the Maga extremists who want to rob us of our freedom.  I also think, at that level, the President's campaign needs to bring in the best minds of the Obama administration's re-election campaign and unify the effort.  We MUST get this right this time.  For the sake of the nation, everyone needs to work together.  

We have the ability to apply pressure as we head toward nominating conventions locally and nationally.  I'm working to get my self elected and sent to the DNC.  I'm sending out email responses to the junk I get from Jill Stein, Cornell West and No Labels, telling them their nothing but a distraction and if they are truly interested in seeing their agence accomplished, they need to get out now and endorse the President for the sake of the country.  When I have a chance, I show up at rallies and make my voice heard.  I got cut off halfway through my comments on a local talk show last month when I criticized Stein and pointed out what she did to Hillary Clinton.  The host had to back down, because afterward, there were multiple callers who picked up that theme and he couldn't get away from Stein's critics.  

I will canvas my neighborhood and make sure, days before the election, that I knock on doors and help people understand that they need to go vote.  I did that in Wisconsin in 2022, along with about 100 volunteers, and Democrats carried the precinct we were working in for the first time since 2012.  

And of course, I will vote.  

I'm confident that Joe Biden will win re-election and that the country, seeing the threat that Maga Fascists pose to our freedom, will stop Republican enablement by keeping them away from control of Congress.  I really have serious doubts that the polling data being pushed regularly now, even on MSNBC, is anywhere close to accurate.  Even the famous Ann Selzer's final Iowa poll was off by more than her claimed margin of error for the caucuses.  I'm not seeing, in my social media circle, or here locally, any of the hysteria over Joe Biden's age, and I'm not seeing anyone who is planning on breaking for a third party candidate.  Are there people who might like to see someone younger run?  Of course.  But that's not going to change their vote for Biden when he is the Democratic Party nominee.  

I think the problem is taking this political mess seriously.  But we'd better.  

 

Buying Time, the Political Message This Short Term Spending Bill is Sending

Another Short Term Spending Bill Passes Congress, Buys Time 

It upset the Freedom Caucus, but the House overwhelmingly passed the most recent stop-gap spending bill over their objections.  We've had several of these kinds of bills now, one of them cost the former Speaker of the House his job, and he left the House as a result.  The pressure was on Mike Johnson, threats from Marjorie Taylor Greene, who doesn't care about government protocols or the damage she can do, were loud and obnoxious, as they always are.  I can't stand him or his politics, but Johnson may have figured out how to do an end-run around her and make Congress work, at least on some little things like this, by making an alliance to get things done with House Democrats.  

Republicans May Be Acknowledging Political Reality

Don't get carried away by giving this group of House Republicans too much credit for good sense but this particular bill, and others like it, that have gotten through the mess that the GOP has made of the legislative branch, are sending a very clear message.  Republicans are acknowledging that the Freedom Caucus/Maga agenda is going to cost them control of Congress in the next election, and that the President is in a great position to win re-election. 

There are Republicans in the House, more of them than it takes to make a GOP majority, who are feeling intense pressure when it comes to their re-election chances.  I'm reading reports of fund-raising difficulties, of opponents riding the wave of anti-Dobbs sentiment, and fallout from Trump's random bombshells, ridiculous claims, and potential convictions.  They have clearly recognized that the reality of taking a political stand by shutting down the government would tip the very delicate and precarious balance that currently exists toward the Democratic side of the House and set things up for a potential sweep of objectives in November for the President's party.  

How Long Can Johnson Survive? 

One of the cues that I am now using to sense exactly where politics is leading popular opinion, since there's no longer any trust in the media to tell the truth, is to watch what certain Republicans do and say when it comes to what's going on in the House and Senate.  Marjorie Taylor Green seems to be wearing thin on the side of the GOP that isn't the Freedom Caucus.  The knowledge of how government works has not penetrated her thick skull, her "no compromise" and "let the government shut down then, if I don't get what I want" position has run its course.  

Continuous threats of moving to vacate the speaker's position have lost their punch.  The political damage that was done when McCarthy was ousted and when it took forever to replace him has had its effect.  The removal of George Santos, resignation of McCarthy and departure of Ohio Congressman Bill Johnson, who took the president's position at Youngstown State University, has dropped the GOP's thin majority to a dangerously low level.  It's hard to stick together when you have seven or eight members, more than enough to overwhelm the current majority, insisting on our way or the highway.  

Apparently, Johnson ironically must survive now by making deals and compromising with Democrats.  Ouch!  That's a tough word there.  To go back to the old ways of making government work after decades of trying to dismantle it must hurt pretty deeply.  I'm not convinced that Johnson has much in the way of integrity or honesty, he's got a very skewed perspective of his own Christian faith following along the lines of those who have a solid reputation for being more political than they are spiritual.  

It's really kind of a unique position we have in the House at this point.  I don't think Democrats really want to go through the exercise of futility of finding yet another speaker.  This position that the Freedom Caucus has created has given them at least some opportunity to stop the abuses and get some of what they're interested in doing accomplished.  As long as it continues to deliver the message that the Republicans are not capable of running the House, and that making government work requires a Democratic party majority, it keeps the door open for a political victory in 2024 that will bring real Democratic control of both houses. 

If he gets booted, it's no great loss.  

Admitting They're Wrong While Not Wanting to Pay the Consequences

It's a tough political reality for a party that is committed to making sure government doesn't work to come to the conclusion that they're not going to have control over any government if they don't make it work.  They sacrificed integrity and values when they made Trump their nominee in 2016, knowing exactly what they were getting and now there are many of them who deeply regret doing so, but they're too cowardly to stand up to him.  I'm not sure what they're hoping for, but some of them are lamenting the position they are in, and the very loud silence coming from some of them, like Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, even the usually loudmouthed Lindsay Graham, speaks volumes about their knowledge that electoral disaster is right around the corner, if they don't make some immediate changes. 

I can't wait to see the reactions that these Republican big shots have when Trump's trial for January 6th starts, and the replays of the attack on the Capitol get played over and over, while people once again watch in horror.  They're hoping he goes down, but doesn't take the party with him and that's going to be difficult to do.  It may be too late to stop his nomination and if it does get that far, there are more than enough Republicans who won't support him if he goes to prison.  

The media, most of them, know this too.  That's why they're not spending a whole lot of time covering this.  It got through Congress, Biden signed it today, that's it, over and done and on to the next Trump story.  They must cash in on his antics and dementia and craziness while they can.  

This could not be more well-deserved if it had been orchestrated and manipulated.

 

A Slightly Different Perspective on Iowa Than Most Media

Trump wins the Iowa caucuses, in which just under 5% of Iowa voters participated.  Well, caucuses always lower voter turnout, that's the intention.  Reading headlines leaves the impression that this was a smashing victory that secures the GOP nomination and the White House for Trump.  There are a few mentions of the fact that the Iowa Caucuses are not a bellwether on politicians and that its rare for the winner of Iowa to go on and get the GOP nomination.  Other than that, some of the details I picked out, with a little help from the panel at MSNBC, seem to indicate that this wasn't exactly what it has been billed.  

Trump got 50.9% of all votes cast.  In the math courses I had in school, that's just a sliver over half.  In a state with a conservative GOP dominated by Evangelical Christians, for a man who has dominated news cycles since he first started running for the White House in 2016, that's not a great showing.  The fact that half of the Republicans in Iowa voted for someone else, in a very weak field, isn't the kind of dominance I'd expect to see from someone who the media has covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  I'd think that 70% of the Republican vote would be a disappointment, at this point, especially considering his opponents.  

Then there were the exit polls, which, according to MSNBC's panel, showed that one third of Iowa Republicans consider a conviction on current charges a disqualification.  One third also don't believe the 2020 election was stolen.  Now I get the panel's fascination with the fact that two thirds of Iowa Republicans do think the election was stolen, and more than likely the same two thirds think the convictions would just be political and not worth considering as a voter, but that's a remarkable figure.  We're talking Iowa Republicans here, one of the most conservative state GOP groups.  Trump cannot lose the votes of a third of his own party, matched with the percentages of independent voters and Democrats, who have a large presence in the state, who also hold the same beliefs.  Losing that many of his own party's votes in Iowa means he can't win the state.  And if that holds true across the country, it's not a good sign for his re-election bid.  It's a very bad sign.  

A Growing Opposition is Showing Up

The media is fascinated by the fact that people listen to, and believe, Trump.  That's not surprising, really.  Media polarization and isolation keep a lot of people in the dark, and while we like to think we are immune to ideology that is oustide the norm for us, such as Communism and Fascism, we've seen from evidence in our history that we are not.  But along with the constant news items mentioning Trump every day, there are some developments that can't be ignored.  The isolation and relative loyalty of his base is not enough to sustain a second run for the White House.  The Republican party isn't offering a lot of opposition to that, to its shame, but ultimately, there are many indicators pointing to the fact that the voters will not put Trump back in the White House.  

When the time comes, and the voters have a choice between him, and the sitting President, who they might not like for various reasons, a majority will choose the latter, simply because a majority, 55-58% of voters, know what is at stake and understand politics well enough to know that Biden needs a second term so that we can save our democracy.  There will be enough Evangelicals who see the truth, and enough conservatives who are honest, to cast a vote to keep Trump from getting back into government. 

And that's what we saw happen in Iowa last night.

Conservative Christians Lose Leadership Credibility Along With Conservative Republicans

"Politics, Faith and Mission" Series by Greg Garrett Contrasts True Christian Theology with "Religious Right" Political Heresy

"Smoking Gun Evidence" Surfaces in Lawsuit Against Southern Baptist Convention

Back in 1979, two men began a political movement within the Southern Baptist Convention, claimng to be "restoring the denomination to its conservative roots."  Their primary goal was to require seminary professors and missionary personnel at the denomination's six theological schools and two mission boards, to align exactly with the doctrine of Biblical Inerrancy and Infallibility.  This doctrine, which is the belief that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are without error in their original manuscripts, and should always be interpreted in a literal context, is a core doctrine of what is known as Fundamentalism.

The two men who launched this political campaign within the denomination have since been exposed as having motives other than moving the denomination in a more conservative direction.  They simply used it to point fingers, make accusations, get professors fired and replace the convention leadership serving on the seminary trustee boards and the denomination's executive committee with like minded conservatives, mainly those of the fundamentalist ilk.  

One of the men was Paige Patterson.  When he helped launch the movement in 1979, he was president of the broken down, financially strapped Criswell College, a tiny school affiliated with the First Baptist Church of Dallas.  Patterson was the theological voice of the movement, using the term "liberal" to apply to anyone who disagreed with his view of just about anything.  Once he achieved his goals within the denomination, he used the power and influence he had aquired to get himself into the presidencies of two seminaries, from which he expanded his own personal preaching ministry with private donors.  During his tenure at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Ft. Worth, the enrollment declined and the school ran up a multi-million dollar deficit spending bill.  

The other man, Paul Pressler, was an attorney, and an appeals court and circuit court judge in Texas.  He was also a Republican mover and shaker, an influencer and kingmaker in the state GOP with ambitions to do the same on the national level.  He was also a youth pastor and Sunday school teacher on the side, originally in a Presbyterian church in Houston, but later as a member of both First and Second Baptist Churches of Houston, large, mega churches with lots of wealthy, influential members.  

On the surface, these men were perceived as "saviors" of the Southern Baptist Convention from creeping liberal theology.  But their behavior out of the public spotlight shows a measure of hypocrisy that calls their credibility into question.  During Patterson's tenure at Southeastern, he mishandled a reported sexual assault that eventually led to a lawsuit being filed, after Patterson's departure.  At Southwestern, his hand-picked board of trustees never called him to account for deficit spending, including money spent on a complete renovation of the President's home, or for the declining enrollment which was significant over his term.  And there were mishandled sexual abuse cases there as well, eventually causing even his stacked board to dismiss him.  

Pressler used the theological controversy to bring the Southern Baptist Convention into a secular, political alignment with the Republican Party.  Part of that alignment was to help Republican candidates for office and part of it was to boost his own standing in the party.  He helped establish the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a right wing lobby organization supported by denominational dollars, and had Richard Land, a Bush administration hold-over, made executive director.  

Presssler just recently settled a lawsuit dating back to his time as a youth leader in an independent Presbyterian church in Houston, involving allegations of sexual molestation and abuse of a 14 year old who was a member of his church youth group.  At the time the allegations first surfaced, Pressler left the church and joined First Baptist Church of Houston, where he became involved with Patterson in the resurgence movement.  During his time at First Baptist, serving as a Sunday school teacher and deacon, church leaders were informed of at least one other incident involving abuse of a teenager.  A letter from church leaders to Pressler has surfaced, in which they warned him that his behavior was wrong, removed him from his church positions and then swept it all under the rug by telling him that if word of such instances got out, it could ruin his reputation and the cause he was promoting in the denomination.  

The lawsuit also turned up allegations from former male employees of the lawfirm in which he was a partner with Jared Woodfill, who is currently running as a Republican for a state legislative seat.  And it turned up evidence that Woodfill and the firm were aware of the allegations.  

Pressler has denied all of the allegations.  The lawsuit, which expanded to include the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee, because of evidence suggesting it was aware of the allegations against Pressler, and the Woodfill law firm, along with Pressler, was settled during the past month.  The amounts were undisclosed, and there's been very little said about it.  The Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee is already in a complicated mess over years of reported sexual abuse by clergy within its churches, reported to them, and about which they did nothing.  Woodfill is running for the state legislature and doesn't need the publicity.  Pressler, at this point, is 93 years old, protected by statutes of limitation and no longer has any role in the Southern Baptist Convention.  

But this is typical Republican modus operandi.  It's become standard operating procedure since Trump first ran for the White House in 2016.  It undermines the credibility of the Southern Baptists' "Conservative Resurgence."  How can men lead a spiritual movement if they're not spiritual?  There is no evidence from the inerrant, infallible Bible to support the statement that God sometimes uses evil men to achieve his purposes.  Not in this way, he doesn't.  Denominational leaders remain silent, avoiding talking about either man at all, in any setting, simply ignoring what they did and the fact that it calls their own credibility into question and that makes them hypocrites.  

And it certainly puts a context on how it is that Christians of this particular ilk can give their political support to a man like Trump, whose worldly, evil lifestyle is the exact opposite of what they claim to preach.  No matter what terms are used, there is no justification for a person who is truly Christian, by that definition within an evangelical context, to support Trump.  

We're About to be Able to Measure the Corruption in Our Justice System

It's become pretty clear that the expectation of the former failed President of the United States, when appointing judges to the federal bench, was expecting that they would eventually do him favors, if and when the time came that he needed their help.  It remains to be seen how many of those he appointed plan to return the favor, or how many of them will uphold the law and rule according to that perspective.  

We're about to find out just how corrupt our justice system became as a result of his influence and his appointments. 

Few things in politics fit the definition of corruption better than an attitude of "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine."  Expecting special treatment that places one above the law by a politician who appoints a judge is corruption by its dictionary definition.  It's unfortunate that lawyers in this country do not have a good reputation, and, in fact, in opinion polls and surveys, lawyers come out just a little better than conservative clergy do when it comes to ranking their integrity as a profession.  And from that profession, with a reputation for lacking in integrity, come the judges who sit on the bench and whose rulings affect our lives for decades after their decisions are made.  

Trump has openly stated on more than one occasion that he is banking on his judicial appointments to get him out of the legal trouble that he now faces.  He lacks any awareness of integrity and expects that those whom he helped will now help him.  He's made it clear, as he files for appeals out of desperation to derail trials that inevitably will lead to convictions and prison time, that he expects the help of those he helped get their current jobs, at the expense of the law.  He's getting some help so far, if not in outright ignoring the law, at least in conforming to the calendar he wants.  

As his flailing appeals approach the Supreme Court, will the justices have the integrity to apply the Constitution and the rule of law fairly?  Or will those whom he had the opportunity to appoint work toward either helping him by making it more difficult for the prosecution to proceed, or delaying tactics, or outright rulings which skew the intent of the law in his favor to the point where it becomes meaningless?  

In other matters, there are judges in the federal system whom Trump appointed to the bench, who have not followed the intent of the law in their rulings, but have clearly showed that they lack integrity.  In terms of accepting expensive gifts for their own benefit, we've clearly seen that.  In terms of their lack of objectivity in presidential elective campaigns, we've seen that.  And I fully expect the same thing to happen to any case he brings before the court.  

Such is the problem with a court that does not have any accountability to its constituents.  

Keep an eye on it.  We, the people, don't really have any recourse for a court that decides to do this instead of following constitutional law except going to the polls and replacing any politician who supports such a court.

Observations About President Biden's Speech at Charleston's Mother Emanuel Church

Biden Denounces White Supremacy in Charleston Speech

Yesterday's speech by President Biden, at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was, of course, part of his re-election campaign.  But I got a whole lot more out of it than that, by watching it, more than once, and going back to make sure I got the full effect, not only of his words, but of the whole context of his appearance there.  

I've been waiting for him to come out swinging when it comes to his campaign, and especially in opposition to Trump.  He speaks with clarity of purpose and with a determination that is powerful and visible.  Critics of his age and mental state will be disappointed.  Not only did he give them absolutely nothing with which to criticize his age and vitality or his mental state, he buried their criticism and proved them wrong.  I know, that won't stop the critics, but compared to Trump, who is stupefyingly boring, bumbling and fumbling, he's so much easier to listen to, to understand, focused and sticks to the topic.

He Attacked Trump Head On

Attacking the lies and the crimes head on, up front, is the right thing to do.  As James Clyburn noted in his introduction, not a whole lot is being said about Biden's achievements and accomplishments, and not a lot of emphasis is being placed on the crimes and lies of Trump.  Why not point these things out directly?  More people will hear, and of course, the President does have a bully pulpit.  So use it.  

The phrase "second lost cause" will get a lot of traction and will resonate with people.  That's an excellent phrase that speaks for itself and makes the point without a lot of explanation.  I can't ever recall a President of the United States saying, about his opponent in an election, "He's a loser," in a context that was so glaringly evident.  I sat up straight when he said it, just a natural part of his complete thought, but wow, what a comment.  Not an insult or name calling, just a fact. It must have taken the crowd by surprise, because it took a few seconds for them to take it in, and then respond with loud applause and cheers.  Their chants of "four more years" were also heart warming.

He's using a strategy that the other Republican candidates are missing, except, of course, for Chris Christie.  But Christie's problem is that he's still a Republican. The fact of the matter is that 60% of the voters in this country have no desire at all to see Trump return to the White House, and Biden made the case for them to give himself four more years, as the crowd at Mother Emanuel church kept chanting.  

He linked everything to a few simple themes that people can easily understand.  He used all of the common terminology, the "big lie", conspiracy theory and the biggest theme of all, white supremacy, used in a historically African American church in front of a predominantly African American audience   

Comfortable in a Protestant, Christian Pulpit

It has been very difficult for me to understand how conservative, Evangelical Christians, most of whom are critical of the beliefs and behavior of non-Evangelical Christians and especially of Catholics, don't have any problems with an unbelieving, worldly fraud like Trump, who, when he started after their support, didn't even know enough of their beliefs, practice, or culture to use the lingo.  He still has no idea what to say when he sits down with one of their celebrity media pastors or leaders for a chat, and puts them in the awkward position of having to make excuses for his unorthodox statements and gaffes.  

But President Biden doesn't require a briefing.  He's Catholic, and in spite of their caustic criticism of the Catholic church, its doctrine and practice, he's perfectly comfortable behind the pulpit of a historically African American Protestant church.  He and Jill have comfortably worshipped there, for the purpose of bringing comfort in a time of grief, but also graciously accepting their ministry to him when he was grieving the loss of his own son.  

He wasn't uncomfortable using the terminology because he's familiar with it himself and he knows what it means, and he wasn't uncomfortable speaking about it because its something he has in common with them.  He was sincere.  Trump never is, and that's a big difference that people can see.  And you'll never find Joe Biden imposing his religious beliefs on anyone.  He understands religious liberty and freedom of conscience and practices it.  Trump and Republicans want to get rid of it.

Energy, Vitality, Clarity, Passion

The President does have thinning, gray hair and eyebrows to match.  In some ways, that's refreshing compared to Trump, who clearly looks his age in the face and tries to cover it up with ridiculous hair color and makeup that is quite visible.  Trump is also obese, and needs help getting up on and down off podiums and platforms.  I wonder what the walk through the streets of Kyiv that the President took with President Zelenskyy would have done to Trump and whether he would have been able to line up at a microphone and speak afterward.  But then, Trump would never have taken a ten hour train ride through a country at war, without the protection of the American military, into its capital city, even if he'd have made money doing it.  He's not that courageous.

In Biden's speech to the audience packed into Mother Emanuel, there was no fumbling, bumbling, rambling lack of clarity.  I could not tell if he was using a teleprompter or not, since he kept eye contact with the camera and the audience.  When he was interrupted by Pro-Palestinian protesters, he kept his cool, didn't threaten, let them have their moment, and then addressed their concern.  That moment alone is a stark illustration of the difference between the two men, one of them a confident, self-assured leader, the other a hothead who can't control his anger.  

It was inappropriate to use this moment, during a commemoration, to protest by interrupting the President.  The protesters were removed, as they should have been, peacefully, eight of them in all according to the reports of the incident, the crowd had the chance to express themselves with chants of "four more years," and then, Biden went right back to his speech.  There were no threats of violence, or acts of violence in contrast to Trump rallies.  

And if someone was watching for a mental slip, or some kind of indication that the President isn't mentally capable of the job, they had to have been sorely disappointed.  And they're also quaking in their boots, because it's pretty clear their guy's cheese has slipped off his cracker.  Trump is scared spitless to get engaged in a debate with Biden, because he doesn't have the mental capability to stay focused on the discussion and the grasp of facts with which to respond.

The Right Side of the Issue

Any American who understands the values on which this country is built got that speech.  There's a lot of talk in the media about Biden's polling numbers among African Americans, Latinos and young people slipping.  Slipping, where?  Among groups Trump has openly stated are "poisoning the blood of our country," and whom he considers to be enemies of the country?  Seriously?  I'm not trusting any poll that tries to tell me groups of people who are targets of Trump's wrath are planning to vote for him in 2024.  

But the President is on the right track with his campaign themes here.  He attacked this right wing drivel head on, with facts, making direct references to the big lie, the stain of white supremacy and the threat to Democracy that Trump poses.  Trump likes to use the words and the themes, and to him and is ilk, democracy means they get what they want and no one else does.  And they narrowly define who benefits from its privileges as only those who look like them. `The President's vision of democracy is a real one, benefitting all Americans regardless of their differences. 

And there isn't anyone in it who is "poisoning the blood" of this country. 

Evangelical Interpretations of Christian Faith and Practice Offer the Best Reasons for Not Supporting Trump

One of the distinguishing features of Christians who have become known as "Evangelical" is their way of interpreting the Bible.  They claim that the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are "inerrant and infallible in their original autographs."  That's difficult to prove, given that the original manuscripts have long since crumbled to dust, though many of the more fundamentalist Christians among the broader Evangelical branch of American Christianity follow that up with the doctrine of preservation, meaning that God has preserved the inerrancy and infallibility of the scriptures, including the King James Version for English speakers.    

But, their doctrine of scripture goes further than that.  Included in the doctrine of inerrancy and infallibility is a literal, "verse by verse" interpretation of the scriptures which ignores, or is completely unaware of, historical and cultural contexts that existed at the time the writers produced their work.  That leads to some real differences in how most Evangelicals see the message of the Christian gospel, and how other Christians, especially those who have clearly devoted themselves to an intense study and analysis of the Biblical text, including the historical and cultural contexts in which they were written.  

What I've done here is use Evangelical fundamentalism's literal interpretation of the Christian gospel to point out how completely and utterly inconsistent it is for anyone who accepts that perspective to support a politician running for the American Presidency like Donald J. Trump.  From calling him "God's man" to comparisons to King David, Evangelical Trump supporters have made a serious departure from what they claim to be "Biblical truth" and have been deceived and blinded, calling the veracity and sincerity of their faith into legitimate question.  

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.  Their end will correspond to their deeds. I Corinthians 11:13-15, ESV

For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of or God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ...These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.  Jude, V. 4, 16 NRSV 

These words from the New Testament are quite prophetic in a modern day application, relevant, in any Evangelical context, to American twenty-first century politics.  They are so descriptive of the Maga right wing of the GOP, it's as if they were written or spoken yesterday.  Read on and familiarize yourself with the arguments, and share them with your Maga friends.

A Conservative, Evangelical Interpretation of the Gospel of Christ and Christian Practice Should Direct Christians Away from Demagogues Like Trump

Those who don't practice a religion, or who don't go anywhere near Evangelical Christianity need to make themselves familiar with their core theology and doctrine.  Rather than relying on commonly held perceptions, the benefit that comes with being familiar with what these people actually believe is the ability to see where their spiritual convictions completely disallow and depart from permitting support for the blatant worldliness and, in their terminology, sinfulness of Trump's brand of politics, and of Trump himself.  

When politically motivated, far right wing Evangelicals are confronted with the realities of their misplaced support for Trump, they are faced with the choice of either denying, or completely re-interpreting something they have established as an essential doctrine of the Christian faith, or of setting aside those values and virtues, and compromising their spirituality for the sake of their political beliefs.  What they are saying, when they do this, is that they do not believe that God's Holy Spirit is powerful enough to achieve His will in the world, and compromising with evil is the only pathway to success.   

The context and framework of conservative, Evangelical Christian theology and doctrine makes one of the best cases, outside of the preservation of democracy itself, for rejecting Trumpism, labelling it the worldly, sinful intrusion into this branch of American Christianity that it is, and refusing to cast a ballot for the man if he happens to survive the inevitable guilty verdicts that will accompany his 92 indictments.  The scripture themselves make a good case for labelling Trump as an "anti-christ" by definition.  So read on, get familiar with the points and use them as often as you have the opportunity to confront those caught up in this political and religious heresy. 

Trump Can't Be God's Man, Because he Rejects Christian Soteriology 

It makes me ill to hear Christians refer to Trump as "God's man."  This is a term that is very clearly indentified in the Bible, and when Evangelicalism's literal interpretation of the scripture is overlaid on this term, it becomes very clear that Trump is not God's man at all, but he is his own man, and that conclusion can be drawn by using his own words.  

"For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."  Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV 

A specific, and identifiable conversion experience is at the core of Evangelical doctrine when it comes to Christian identity.  By literally following the instructions of a collection of specific verses found in the book of Romans, conversion is called a "salvation experience," and involves a series of steps in which a "lost" person, one who is not a Christian, becomes spiritually regenerated by God's Holy Spirit.  This process involves being convicted of one's sinful nature in contrast with God's perfection, repenting of it by acknowledging and receiving the blood sacrifice of Christ at his crucifixion as the divine son of God with the spiritual power to save souls.  Having done this, spiritual regeneration occurs as God's spirit forgives the sinful nature and restores the now repentant sinner to new life as a Christian, committed to the virtues and values of the Christian gospel as set forth in the New Testament. 

The key point in this conversion experience, according to Evangelical teaching, is the conviction of one's sin, the acknowledgement that one is a sinner, confessing that sin to God in repentance from the lifestyle of sin that is separation from God, in order to receive grace which restores one's spirit to God and brings about forgiveness of sin.  That is followed by living the virtues and values of the Christian gospel.  

But Trump publicly denies that he has done anything which he must ask God to forgive.  That's not a misrepresentation of his terms, that's what he says.  It's rare to find any place where he even discusses his own faith at all, and the references to those places where he has said something about it lack any characteristic that Evangelicals could use to point to his conversison, including what he claims to believe about God.  He has his "own" belief, mostly kept to him self, none of it resembling anything Evangelicals claim to be essential evidence of Christian faith and practice.  

The record of political leaders in the Bible who were designated as "God's man" makes it pretty clear that men who did not submit to God, who were caught up in their own power, and who were put in positions of leadership in theocratic Israel or Judah as kings were judged and removed if they "did evil in the eyes of the Lord," as all of those who served in Israel did after the split from Judah, along with most of those who reigned in Jerusalem.  That was what the Babylonian captivity was all about.  

So, if Trump isn't committed to the soteriology of Evangelicalism, then he can't be "God's man," because he is his own man.  Everything he says on the subject confirms this.  

Using King David as a comparison is also not relevant to this point.  King David was a committed follower of God, accepting God's spiritual authority over him, though he did, at times, break down and fail to live up to godly expectations.  Trump has not followed the Evangelical profession of faith formula at all.  He has invented his own perspective of "God" specifically to avoid the kind of submission to his will that Evangelicals place at the core of their theology.  He is un-repentant when it comes to his own sins, and in fact, because that kind of worldliness is his brand, he revels in the negative attention attracted by his dishonesty and immorality, flaunting it and continuing with it because it does get him media face time unlike any other American politician gets.   

I don't have the kind of spiritual discernment it would take to know for sure if Trump has actually been redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ.  But I can use his words, and his lifestyle as his own testimony, and from an Evangelical perspective, he is not only unrepentant, but defiant when it comes to the submission to God that is required to be converted to Christianity.  In I John 4:3, the apostle says, "and every spirit that does not confess Christ is not from God.  And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world. [NRSV].  This isn't a matter of making a judgment, then.  It is a matter of observing what Trump wants the world to see about himself.    

It is not possible, within the context of Evangelical theology, doctrine and practice, to flaunt forgiveness, reject redemption and deny one's need for Christ's salvation and still be Christian. Therefore, Trump cannot be God's man.  

Practice of the Christian Faith is Guided by Its Virtues and Values 

"So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead."  James 2:17, NRSV

A conversion experience is empty if it does not lead the convert to understand that the goal of the Christian life is not just to make sure one is on their own way to heaven, but to serve the other people around them. It is not possible to do enough good works to compensate for the sin in one's life, according to Evangelical theology, apart from the confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ.  But it is also not possible to have experienced conversion through confession and then not practice the values and virtues of the Christian life.  The two things go hand in hand.  

Jesus himself emphasized the practice of virtues and their importance and significance in the gospel that he preached and taught.  Much of the content of his teaching is found in a narrative known as the "Sermon on the Mount," recorded by both Matthew and Luke, both of which note the emphasis Jesus placed on the practice of virtures as indicators of the presence of an indwelling faith in the life of those who believe in Christ and are Christians, followers of the Christian gospel.  

The life example of one who has truly been converted to Christ is the identifiable presence of these virtues.  By listing, they include poor in spirit, grief or mourning over one's own sinful condition, meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaking and enduring persecution.  

It's not a matter of judgment, but of observation and discernment, to take note of where, in Trump's public appearances, mainly at his campaign rallies, where either he, or those gathered there to support him, are exhibiting any of these virtues.  The rhetoric in his speeches, which have become hate filled tirades promising vengeance against his enemies, spewing hatred against non-white ethnicities from backgrounds he claims are "poisoning the blood of the country," continuing to spread lies claiming the election was stolen from him, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, and pitting his followers against ethnic minorities, as well as people of different social and economic backgrounds.  

Where, in all of those diatribes, can be found anything that looks like it was motivated by the virtues Christ declared as identifying characteristics of true Christian faith?  

"The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.  From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.  My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be.  Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?  Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs?  No more can salt water yield fresh."  James 3:8-12, NRSV  

All through his church epistles, the Apostle Paul emphasizes characteristics which identified people who he said were indwelled with the Holy Spirit, having been converted to followers of Jesus, becoming Christians.  A clear list, found in Galatians 5:22-23, says that the "fruit of the spirit," the characteristics produced in Christians by the Holy Spirit in the active practice of their faith, includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  He contrasts these characteristics with their opposites, which come from a spirit that has not repented and experienced forgiveness of sin, including fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkeness and carousing. 

Noting that for the purposes of this discussion, it is the Evangelical interpretation of these words that we are using to make our observations.  The image that Trump has consistently conveyed, the manner in which he wishes to be known and in which he publicly expresses himself is his own brand of worldliness and he continues to characterize it that way, claiming he regrets nothing he has done, claiming that things Evangelicals call "sin" are not wrong, and denying any need to ask forgiveness for anything.  

The second list is the subject of hundreds of Evangelical sermons.  This is the stuff they love to preach, stepping on toes and pointing out just how bad the world is and how it is going to hell in a handbasket, in a loud, shrieking voice with lots of hand motions.  But when it comes to Trump, who revels in the worldliness characterized by the second list of characteristics, they are silent.  

A Very Prophetic Word from the Apostle Jude

At some point during the mid-first century of the Christian church, one of its apostles, Jude, identified as the brother of James, and so, believed to be the half-brother of Jesus, felt led to warn a group of Christians about the infiltration into the church of people promoting a philosophy that was subversive and damaging to the Christian gospel.  Apparently, the infiltrators were difficult to detect, ingratiating themselves by appearing to be righteous, and authoritative on the gospel, but who were described by Jude as "ungodly, perverting the grace of our Lord into licentiousness and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."  

From the tone and emphasis of Jude's writing, it is clear that these infiltrators had gained acceptance from many of the Christians in the churches where they had embedded themselves, and were influenced into perverting the mission and purpose of the church, allowing congregations to be hijacked for the purpose of promoting a false gospel, or a different belief than Jesus and the apostles had preached and taught.  

This epistle, not a common subject of preaching or teaching among Evangelicals, is prophetic in that Jude was dealing with an intrusion of lies and false teaching into the church similar to the intrusion of far right wing extremism in the form of Trump Republicanism into Evangelical churches today.  There are conservative Evangelicals who are criticizing some of the actual teachings of Jesus himself as "weak," and "liberal."  And they are completely distorting the Christian gospel by introducing practes that are worldly and anti-Christian.  Jude says, "It is these worldly people, deviod of the spirit, who are causing divisions." [Jude v. 19, NRSV]  

What is happening in Evangelical churches and among the Evangelical Christian community in America fits Jude's description of the ""intrusion of licentiousness" he was addressing in the first century church.  Jude recognized that false teachers were able to get inside churches because there was little awareness of the false nature of their teaching.  Likewise, the influence of far right wing secular politics has been able to get inside the church and become doctrine and practice, while many Christians seem unable to recognize the difference between truth and a lie.  And it is dividing American Christianity, and more specifically Evangelical Christianity.  

One of the major appeals of far right wing politics, especially of the Trumpism variety, is a strong appeal to the prejudices, biases and fears of people.  Christians are not immune from such influences, especially when they imitate what appears to be the "Christian" thing to do, or when acceptance is gained either because they are unfamiliar with their own doctrine and theology, found in scripture, or they accept the skewed, twisted interpretations and practices which become their own.  Churches are still the most segregated bodies in this country, and their waning influence in the culture results from their replacement of the gospel of Jesus Christ with right wing political influence as their own salvation.  That may sound harsh, but it is an exact description of what Trump's influence has had on Evangelicalism.  

"This is the Spirit of the Antichrist..." 

The Apostle John, writing to at least one of the churches he served as an apostle, makes this very clear statement in his first epistle: 

"Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love."  [I John 4:8]  

Anything that comes along with the intention of replacing this central, core belief of the Christian gospel is subverting it.  Evangelical teaching is very black and white clear on this point and that clarity is based on scripture.  Everything that I've pointed out here has come from an Evangelical interpretation of that scripture.  There's no gray area in Evangelical teaching, it's either one way or the other.  

John is the only one of the apostles who actually uses the term "Antichrist," a word that he defines as being any spirit which does not acknowledge Christ, meaning the acknowledgement that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, and the gospel he preached, based on his own sacrificial death and physical resurrection, was to save humanity from its sin.  

Whether or not there is acceptance of this particular belief, in Evangelical theology and practice it is an essential doctrine.  To deny it, according to I John 4:3, is to exhibit the spirit of the antichrist.  

Everything that Trumpism does to Evangelical Christianity replaces the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice with a loyalty focused on a different kind of "salvation," a false gospel that is deceptive, aimed at using the influence and power of the church for puposes other than spiritual ones, such as becoming a political party of its own making in order to achieve a political goal.  That's very short sighted, and dangerous in that it leads to what Paul calls, "anathema," or absolute condemnation.  Elevating a political candidate, whose worldly behavior doesn't live up to Christian expectations, to the position of savior, while dismissing core principles taught by Jesus as "too liberal" is anathema.  It is also a clear indication that a significant number of Evangelicals have chosen to be part of the Maga base, and have set aside their Christian faith in favor of a heretical, political cult.  

If You Know the Truth, It Will Set You Free

So this is left up to the reader.  Be an observer and figure this out.  To me, this is obvious.  If I follow a purely Evangelical interpretation of the scripture, I cannot conclude that Trump is "God's man," nor sent by God, but I must conclude that the whole spectrum of his politics is, as Jude says, they are, "waterless clouds carried along by the winds, autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea castong up on the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved for ever.  

It's easy to figure this out.  Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-13, and the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and compare Trump's rally statements and social media posts to those virtues and values.  Find even one that he gets close enough to claim.  Just one.  

Evangelical followers of Trump and the Maga cult have been deceived.  

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.  So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.  Their end will correspond to their deeds. I Corinthians 11:13-15, ESV