Bloomberg: Trump's Militant Christian Nationalism is Emptying Churches

 Trump's Brand of Christian Conservativism is Driving People Away from Churches

Southern Baptists lose almost 500,000 members in one year

Though it would be difficult to find anyone within the denomination to admit that the current sharp drop in attendance and membership in the Southern Baptist Convention has anything to do with the blending of the more extremist elements of far right wing politics with conservative, Evangelical Christianity in the United States, there are some stark facts about this unprecedented decline that directly correspond to the election of Trump and his first term in office that can't be denied.  The Southern Baptist Convention, which is the nation's largest conservative, Evangelical denomination, has seen a drop of over 20% of its membership and attendance since 2016, the year Trump was elected to the Presidency.  

What's happening in the Southern Baptist Convention is similar to what other conservative, Evangelical denominations are experiencing.  Membership is falling, attendance is dropping, not just because of COVID restrictions, but the decline began well before COVID, and has continued unabated even after the recovery period ended limits and restrictions on church attendance.  Across the board, declines in membership among denominations identified with various branches of conservative, Evangelical Christianity in America have seen a decline of more than 20% in membership and attendance since 2016. 

Much of Conservative, Evangelical Christianity in America Has Been Subverted and Had its Mission and Purpose Redefined and Redirected by Trump, and the Far Right Wing Extremism of Trump Politics

Francis Wilkinson, an opinion writer for Bloomberg, said in an April 7 editorial, "Donald Trump, a 77 year old Bible salesman from Palm Beach, Florida, has emerged as the nation's most prominent Christian leader.  Trump is running for President as the divinely chosen champion of white Christians, promising to sanctify their grievances, destroy their perceived enemies, bolster their social status, and grant them power to impose an anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ, white-centric Christian nationalism from coast to coast." 

That's a pretty good description of the extremist views of the far right, which now encompasses most of the Republican party.  The reason this is causing conflict, and an exodus of members from conservative, Christian churches is that it is completely inconsistent with the Christian gospel, even the gospel that has been produced by the literalist interpretations of the Bible that are standard doctrine for Evangelical churches.  

Don't get me wrong, here.  Evangelical Christians do have definitions of behavior considered to be sinful, requiring conviction and repentance leading to forgiveness and redemption and restoration to God, but their saving faith is based on grace, not a literal, legalistic set of government-imposed values and virtues which do not transform human conscience.  And there are many white, Evangelicals who are able to separate their secular politics from their church life, and do not appreciate this "intrusion of licentiousness" into the sermons and Bible study groups and Sunday school classes of their church.  They do not accept the shift from dependence on spiritual power to bring about conviction of sin, and the spiritual formation of redemption to the need for political power to spread the influence of the church under the control of the government.  

"That Trump doesn't [and never has] attended church, and has obviously never read the book he hawks for $59.99, seems of interest exclusively to his political opponents," said Wilkinson. 

"In a single decade," according to Wilkinson, " from 2013 to 2023, the percentage of Americans saying that religion is the most important thing, or among the most important things in their life plummeted from 72% to 53%," he noted.  

Wlkinson cites Dr. Michael Emerson, a sociologist at Rice University, who says, "The now intimate tie between religion and a host of social and political positions, for many people, either drives them away from religion altogether, or leads them to distance themselves."  

According to Wilkinson, the increased infusion of secular politics into conservative, Evangelical doctrine and practice led to an increase in the number of people leaving their churches.  What started as a slow trickle in the 1980's and 90's has turned into a flood of people, mostly those who see Christian faith as a grace-based lifestyle based on a set of values taught by Jesus, as opposed to what Kristin Kobes Du Mez described as "the culmination of their half-century long pursuit of a militant Christian masculinity that disdains pluralism and valorizes masculine aggression."  

Numbers Don't Lie

There is little acknowledgement of the fact that the intrusion of secular politics into the doctrine and theology of the Southern Baptist Convention coincides directly with the steep decline in attendance and membership they've experienced since 2015.  Membership and attendance peaked in 2006, as the total number of church members reached 16.2 million.  It slowly started to drop back, but a much more precipitous decline set in starting in 2015.  Since then, membership has declined by 3.5 million, down to 12.7 million currently, more than 20%, and attendance, which was also affected by COVID in 2019 and 2020, even after a recovery, is down 25%.  

That this decline is due directly to the more extreme, militant brand of far right wing politics intruding into pulpits and classsrooms of churches via right wing politics is evident in the way people are leaving the church.  Prior to 2015, death was the top reason for church membership decline.  In churches where the median age of the congregations has been past 60 years of age since the early 2000's, there are more of those than births, or conversions. 

But since then, the numbers have grown so significantly, that the biggest cause of decline in membership and attendance is 1] people leaving churches in which the doctrine and theology has become to infested with right wing politics and 2] entire congregations, disillusioned by a denomination full of infighting and unable to resolve problems due to the elevation of right wing politics to the forefront.  Some of those liberal, mainline denominations and congregations have been beneficiaries of this exodus, as their recent membership records have reflected much less of a decline than they did over the past three decades.  And while I don't have any research to cite specifically, I'm aware of a couple of newer congregations made up of groups from several conservative megachurches where the pastors have gone openly MAGA.  

Many of them, having had the only faith they've ever known, so easily corrupted by political elements from outside of the church, have just quit going.  

The Loss of Evangelistic Outreach

One fact which confirms that much of the membership loss now being experienced among conservative Evangelicals is directly related to Trumpism's intrusion into the church is the staggering drop-off in evangelistic activity, or the winning of new converts.  Among Southern Baptists, this is measured by the number of individuals who are baptized, which gives them membership in the local church.  

Baptism numbers in the Southern Baptist Convention have been tanking for a long time, falling from somewhere around 400,000 in a year, down to the low 100,000's.  And on top of that, 90% of those who are baptized as a symbol of a conversion experience, into church membership, are children under 12 years of age.  Church membership growth in this denomination has always depended on the number of new converts made each year, because the focus of the church's outreach ministry was to "reach the lost."  

So when the focus shifted to "elect conservative Republicans as President," the baptism numbers started to slide.  The steepest declines in the number of baptisms in any specific year has occurred since 2016.  And while those numbers have recovered to pre-COVID levels since the pandemic, those numbers are the lowest recorded since the mid-1940's.  

Christianity Was Never Intended as a Theocracy or as a Political Movement

The Christian gospel preached and taught by Jesus and his apostles, recorded in the New Testament, is a conversion experience leading to a life transformation that becomes a lifestyle.  It's not a legalistic set of rules, laws and edicts, with success being achieved by counting how many of them one successfully obeys.  It does not win converts by first gaining the favor and endorsement of the secular government.  It is a lifestyle motivated through spiritual formation, not by coercion applied through the use of political power.  

From the time of Constantine, Christianity endured centuries of subversion, perversion, the intrusion of licentiousness and the corruption of its precepts that lead to a spiritual conversion experience, as it grew fully dependent on political power to preserve churches as institutions, rather than as gathered groups of Christians for worship.  When conversion was nothing more than a ritual requirement of the law, the kind of Christian experience of his gospel that Jesus preached and taught was in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth.  

When James Madison observed Baptists being persecuted in Virginia by the state-controlled Anglican Church, he determined to put religious liberty, in the form of freedom of conscience, into the Constitution.  Jefferson agreed with him.  It set the church free, and led to two centuries of a thriving influence and the evangelization of an entire country.  In other places where there is religious freedom, the same thing has happened.  And America has been spared the war and bloodshed caused by centuries of politically motivated religious strife that Europe experienced.  At least, it has been spared such since the Constitution became the law of the land.  

So it should come as no surprise that the intrusion of secular, far right wing politics, into the conservative, Evangelical branch of American Christianity is responsible for its decline.  

We can either learn from history, or be doomed to repeat it.

 

History Will Rank President Biden at the Top of the List of Modern Era Presidents

In a time where selflessness from politicians attracts a huge amount of attention, because it is something that rarely happens, the President's announcement of his decision to bow out of the 2024 election campaign, and his subsequent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic party nominee is a rare act of self sacrifice and a demonstration of commitment to the good of the country and its people, will mark this President as one of the best since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  Putting country above career and above one's own ambition has become as rare an event as a total eclipse.  

The fact that it came at the end of three weeks of inexcusable chaos and panic, resulting from the President's debate performance makes it all the more remarkable.  I'm still angry at the manner in which party leadership fell apart, in many cases taking it upon themselves to make their own pop-up announcements of their opinion about what the President should do, and at the fact that major donors used money as a means of pressuring the President into deciding to do what they wanted him to do.  

I remain unconvinced that President Biden would have lost this election.  I don't trust either the media or the polls they rely on to support their contentions and theses, the main one being that President Biden is too old, and doesn't have the strength to finish out a second term.  I do think that the President had lost control of the narrative, and in spite of a towering list of achievements and accomplishments, about which many people were just unaware, communicating his achievements and success was part of the reason he did not seem to be getting much traction.  

But when it comes down to the actual election itself, if this country was willing to elect a convicted felon, who, as the President noted in the debate, "has the morals of an alley cat," who led an insurrection against the Congress in session with the intention of imprisoning, torturing and possibly killing members, along with the House Speaker and Vice-President, who is a pathological liar that can't be trusted, who himself doesn't trust the system that once elected him to the Presidency, and who is an anti-patriotic America hater, over a man with the achievements of President Biden during his first term, then that would be a sign of a major political paradigm shift.  We would have arrived at a point where our electorate was putting our constitutional democracy in danger of falling because it lacks the education and information necessary to conduct a government "of, by and for the people."  

I don't believe we were going there.  

But it was this President's decision, as a result of his own uncertainty after observing three weeks of demoralizing chaos within the Democratic party, that will go down in history as one of the most selfless acts in American political history.  The President had earned a second term based on everything he had accomplished.  But he acknowledged that his ability to communicate his achievements was a weakness, and he also acknowledged this might prove to be costly during an election when there's no room to make mistakes.  He recognized his Vice-President's viability as a potential candidate and made sure the party coalesced and unified around her leadership as quickly after he decided to step down as he could.  

There's a difference between being a good, effective President, and being a great President.  This is one of those kinds of selfless acts that identify greatness.  The fact that even his critics can see this, and are furious that it is being recognized, is confirmation of the significance of this act.  It is the thing that adds to his long list of accomplishments and five decades of selfless service to the people, and elevates him from being a good President, to being one of the great Presidents.    

Voting for Trump is Voting to Turn America From a Constitutional Democracy to a Christian Nationalist Theocracy

 CNN: Trump, Urging Christians to Vote, Says "You won't have to do it again"

For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ...These are blemishes on your love-feasts, white they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.  Jude, v. 4, 12,13  NRSV

Any speculation that a return of Trump to the White House would be the end of American Constitutional Democracy has been confirmed by multiple political events in recent months.  There's a reason why, as word leaked out past our censoring media about the contents of the 900-plus-page Project 2025,  Trump rushed out a somewhat incoherent statement to attempt to separate himself from it, deny he had anything to do with its development, and attempt to convince people he was not supportive of it.  

All of that, of course, as with anything else having to do with Donald Trump, is a lie.  Deceit is the trademark of his campaign, that, along with placing a monetary value on any aspect of politics or the practice of morality and values.  The Heritage Foundation is responsible for Project 2025, which is a blueprint for "reconstructing" the American Republic, turning it into a Christian theocracy, eliminating all aspects of the rule of the people in favor of what they interpret as "the rule of the Lord," in their hands as his chosen ones.  

This is, as the quote from the Apostle Jude says in the cited quote above, an "intrusion" of licentiousness and denial of the gospel of Jesus Christ into the Christian church.  There's nothing new here.  Trump is relying on the support of fundamentalist, Pentecostal/Charismatic, Evangelical Christians to use their votes to gain the power of the Presidency in order to implement every point of Project 2025.  This is a deal with the devil.  They help Trump get back in office, he implements their Christian nationalist theocracy, and stays in office until he dies.  

They have a new savior.  He has all the power and money he ever wanted. 

Project 2025 is a Dangerous, Radical, Christian Nationalist Plan for the Destruction of the American Republic

Turning Point is one of the vehicles being used by Trump's campaign to subvert Evangelical churches, turning them into political action committees for his campaign.  This is the place where people are told that the points made in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount are "liberal talking points," where turning the other cheek and loving one's enemies "have gotten us nowhere," according to Don Jr., speaking at a Turning Point rally.  

So it should not come as a surprise that it was a Turning Point rally where Trump broadly hinted at the eliminating elections. 

"Christians, get out and vote.  Just this time," he said. "You won't have to do it anymore.  Four more years.  You know what?  It'll be fixed.  It'll be fine.  You won't have to vote any more my beautiful Christians," he urged.  

Take that seriously.  He means it.  

Christian nationalism, in some form or another, has been around in conservative Evangelical churches, ever since people first came to America to escape religious persecution, at the hands of state controlled churches, in Europe.  I grew up in Southern Baptist churches, and the idea of Christians being in control of government, and a candidate's personal Christian faith being a qualification to serve in office was something I heard in Sunday school as a kid.  I heard people pray publicly that God would take control of those in leadership, give them the "wisdom" and "courage" they needed to lead, meaning, to use their position to the advantage of the church and to promoting Christianity over all other religious beliefs.  And I've heard prayers ask for God to use people in office to bring judgment on "sinners."  

This is not a Christian doctrine.  The idea of a Christian "theocracy" along the lines of Old Testament, ancient Israel is not only not found anywhere in the Christian gospel, it is actually something that Jesus dismissed, in clear, direct terms, and which is communicated clearly by several of his Apostles.  When Jesus said, "My Kingdom is not of this world," he was referring to what is known as the "ecclesia," the local groups of people who gathered together around the common beliefs, values and conduct taught by Jesus and the apostles, held together and motivated spiritually, rather than having beliefs, values and conduct enforced by what was, in his day, the power of an emperor who believed himself to be absolute and divine.  

Most of the history of western civilization since the Roman Empire is an illustration of multiple failed attempts at establishing Christian nationalism and the rule of the church over the political state, resulting in a whole lot of failure and the massive oppression and suffering of people who had to live under it.  Starting with the rule of Constantine, through all of the history of feudalism, European monarchies, the institutional church, with political power behind it to enforce its creeds and practices, was one of the most brutal, cruel, inhumane and godless institutions on the face of the earth.  

Even after centuries of struggling against oppression, the resulting Renaissance, which produced the Age of Enlightenment, and the subsequent Protestant Reformation did not put an end to the bloodshed and violence produced by various forms of Christian nationalism.  The largest branch of Christianity, the Roman Catholic Church, negotiated a political treaty with Hitler's National Socialist government in Germany and Austria in order to protect its property, influence and the intellectual property of its schools, known as the Reichskonkordat, and essentially turned its back on the evils perpetrated by the Nazis, including the Holocaust.  

Don't think that Project 2025 will be any less violent, cruel, oppressive or disruptive to the lives of millions of people as past attempts at enforcing Christian nationalism have been.  It won't be.  When people have convinced themselves they are fighting for a righteous cause, on God's behalf, and they think he's right there holding their coat-tails and cheering them on, those who think they're doing God's work will ignore, or justify, abandoning core principles of the Christian gospel like turning the other cheek or loving one's enemies.  They've got a whole set of heretical doctrine aimed at nullifying the core values of the Christian gospel in order to be the beneficiaries of political dominion.  

Another Lost Cause 

I doubt that much of conservative, Evangelical Christianity in the United States can be redeemed from this intrusion of licentiousness and the denial of the core, foundational principles of the Christian gospel, taught by Jesus himself.  Even Trump's public claim that he has never done anything in his life requiring God's forgiveness, which is just about as stark and thorough of a denial of the core, foundational principle upon which the Christian gospel rests, a denial that the Apostle John calls "the spirit of antichrist" in his first epistle [I John 4:1-3], does not deter the support of most conservative, white Evangelicals.  Nor has the steady stream of church members leaving churches whose leaders are aligned with right wing extremism deterred the political support, even though across the spectrum of white, American Evangelicalism, that number has reached 16 million since 2016, including a whopping 3.5 million from the Southern Baptist Convention alone.  

The immorality keeps piling on.  From the adulterous affairs he had, committed against all three of his wives, as he married the "other woman" in each instance, except the most recent public affair, with Stormy Daniels, to his admission of having had sexual relations with "hundreds" of women, along with grabbing them indiscriminately by the genitals, to a civil rape conviction, and now, to his association with Jeffrey Epstein, and his 34 felony convictions, nothing deters the support of conservative Evangelicals.  By their own doctrinal standards, that refusal is an indication that, to use an Old Testament expression, "Ichabod has been written over the door."  The Spirit of God has departed from these churches.  

They cannot be redeemed or restored.  

The rest of us, whether we are following a Christian faith, a religious belief or not, must unite together to keep this worldview from getting its hands on the political power of the United States government.  We need to make sure that those whom we elect are committed to the preservation of American constitutional democracy, and to the preservation of the American Republic.  We must vote.  But we must also work together to defeat the onslaught of attempts that are already in the works to steal this election, subvert the results and suppress the turnout.  And once we have secured a victory, we must encourage those who have been elected to make sure the weaknesses we have seen, and feared will be exploited, are corrected, so that every election we have is free and fair.  

 

 

Prominent Evangelical Pastor Warns American Christians That Voting for Trump Could Bring God's Judgment on the United States

 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ...These are blemishes on your love-feasts, white they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.  Jude, v. 4, 12,13  NRSV

As a child, I was actually attracted to the church, in addition to my West Virginia born and raised parents requiring my attendance every week.  I had a Sunday School teacher who made a huge impression on me when I first started school, and the Southern Baptist church in which I was raised, though small, was keenly interested in keeping its youth engaged and focused on reaching the point of having a conversion experience, and then finding ways to keep them involved, deepening their faith.  

Over time, I grew to understand that churches were not made up of perfect people, and that there would be problems and issues that would arise, leading to the need for its leadership to practice wisdom and discernment in keeping unity of mission and purpose and directing the congregation in the faithful practice of the Christian gospel.  As I grew older, I learned how to handle relationships with people who let their sense of power and authority in the congregation get the better of them, including a couple of pastors who wound up losing the trust of the congregation because they got a little too heavy handed and intrusive.  

What has become intolerable is the intrusion, as the Apostle Jude mentions in the passage I quoted, of an ungodly element that has found its way into and through a good percentage of American Evangelicalism.  It has come in through the window of right wing politics.  I never heard a pastor, or church members for that matter, mention politics from the pulpit until I had almost graduated from college.  It was 1979, Jimmy Carter was running for re-election and the "Moral Majority" and religious right were just getting their start by supporting Reagan.  The battle lines were on abortion rights and in spite of the fact that President Carter was one of the best examples of how to balance a fervent and sincere Christian faith against service of all of the people as President, the extremists on the right could not tolerate the idea that people who didn't share their religious convictions should have rights with which they disagreed.  

Does Character Count?  Yes, It Does, According to a Prominent, Evangelical Pastor

Politics, especially on the Republican side of things, really ramped up during Reagan's two terms, but it was quite prolific, along with being characteristically vitriolic and hostile toward President Clinton, who was himself a member of a Southern Baptist church, along with Vice President Al Gore.   Toward the end of President Clinton's term, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor and denominational leader, Dr. Adrian Rogers, of Memphis' Bellevue Baptist Church, one of the largest Baptist churches in the country, preached a rousing sermon declaring that while political issues were of importance, sometimes they didn't always align with religious values, so in choosing who to vote for, Christians must sacrifice support for potential political benefits to themselves, such as lower taxes, or affordable child care, or the ability to afford health insurance, in order to vote for candidates who demonstrated a high standard of Christian character.  

That, according to Dr. Rogers, was really all that mattered, and of course, he added that choosing such candidates was a necessity for the nation to "avoid the judgment of God."  That latter statement is actually contradictory to the Christian gospel itself, and I'm sure Dr. Rogers knew that, but it plays well in the pews.  The sermon was entitled, "Does Character Count?" and it was aimed at discrediting President Clinton as a professing Christian, based on a judgment of his behavior that included several alleged affairs and the incident with Monica Lewinsky, which prompted the sermon.  Dr. Rogers concluded that Christians were obligated to support leaders whose character demonstrated divine transformation, bridging Christian nationalism and Old Testament Jewish theocracy.  

I don't hear very many Christian leaders citing Dr. Rogers' sermon now.  Insofar as it was a condemnation of President Clinton's behavior being a disqualifying factor for getting the votes of Christians, it likewise does exactly the same thing to Donald Trump.  It's not difficult to apply Rogers' admonitions and warnings in exactly the same way, with exactly the same result.  Following Dr. Rogers' conclusion,  Christians who vote for, and support someone as immoral and worldly as Donald Trump are subjecting this country to the possible judgment of God.  

"Righteousness exalteth a nation," declared Dr. Rogers.  According to him, given the freedom and the choice that Christians have to choose political leaders in this country, Christians need to elevate character to the top of the voting list, and avoid choosing immoral, worldly leaders because that makes them subject to their immorality and worldliness.  There are passages from the Apostles in the New Testament that instruct Christians to respect the authority of the civil government, and when the freedom exists for Christians to choose leaders, it becomes easier to respect leaders who share the same values and beliefs, than to respect an immoral pagan, according to Dr. Rogers.

There's no turning this around or walking it back.  Dr. Adrian Rogers, former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, and former President of the Southern Baptist Convention has openly told Christians that voting for Trump would be against their Christian convictions and could lead to God's judgment on the United States.  Certainly a man who is civilly liable for rape, who is a convicted felon on 34 counts of business fraud, who is a pathological liar, a worldly adulterer who has bragged about his sexual conquests in humiliating each of his three wives, and who led a rebellious insurrection against the United States government would be completely unqualified to serve in office by this Christian standard.  Add to that his open rejection of Christian conviction and conversion, and I think it is safe to conclude that Dr. Rogers is instructing Christians not to cast their ballots for Donald Trump. 

Dr. Rogers passed away before Trump came on the scene.  Whether he would have reversed this position, like almost all of his Evangelical colleagues have done, abandoning principle and shedding their credibility to support a pagan despot, is difficult to say.  A lot of effort has gone into ignoring this sermon, an amazing development given that his sermons are still replayed and broadcast and his ministry still collects money.  But Dr. Adrian Rogers laid out the best argument against Christian support for an unrepentant, adulterous, grifting scam artist like Donald Trump that exists among the Evangelical political right wing.  

Sincerity is No Substitute for Truth in Practice

Evangelical doctrine and theology rests on two primary core points.  One is belief that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are without human error "in their original autographs," in other words, in the original text written by the Apostles.  The other is what most Christians would call conversion, or confirmation of a "salvation" experience which involves one being "convicted" of their sin by the presence of God's Holy Spirit, using words of the text to show individuals that they are, by definition, sinners and that they can only be saved from this sin, and restored to God, by repentance, or turning away from a sinful life, and trusting the crucifixion of Jesus to satisfy the sacrifice demanded by God for living sinfully.  This experience is symbolized in baptism, which, in Evangelical churches is administered by dunking, or immersing, the convert completely under water.  

The Apostle John, in his first epistle to the church, makes this notation: 

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this  you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.  And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now already in the world."  I John 4:1-3, NRSV 

Most Evangelical doctrine defines the term "Christian," and says that being "Christian" requires this confession, basically that Jesus is the "Christ," or the promised savior or "Messiah," addressed in the prophets of the Old Testament, as part of the repentance from sin, and the forgiveness and restoration to God.  It is this experience that makes one a "Christian," as opposed to the only other option, according to the words of this apostle, which is antichrist, a spirit that does not confess Christ.  

It's inconsistent and incongruent for conservative Christians who lean heavily into Christian nationalism, which advocates for establishing a Christian nation along the lines of the theocratic nation of Israel of the Old Testament, to accept and support a politician and a national leader with their votes, who is antichrist by his own confession.  Although many Evangelical leaders have tried to publicly pin him down on this point, and get him to say he has confessed his sins, repented, and turned to Jesus as his savior, Trump himself, on multiple occasions, declares his belief in God to be his own "private matter," and proclaim that he has never done anything for which he needed God's forgiveness.  

This is a repeated theme of his when this subject comes up.  Most Evangelical leaders are aware of it, but are deceptively taking great pains to prevent this from becoming common knowledge.  By saying that his adulterous affairs through three marriages, including the highly publicized affair with Stormy Daniels that he tried to cover up, his pathological, provable lies, his fraud, his rape of E. Jean Carroll, his dishonest business practices and his attempt to overthrow the government by inciting an insurrection do not require God's forgiveness, Trump is defining himself as antichrist [not "The Antichrist," a terms frequently interchanged with that of "The Beast" in the Book of Revelation].  

He has led a large contingent of politically influenced Evangelical church members, pastors and leaders, churches, and even denominations into doctrinal and theological apostasy.  He is, by definition, one of the kind of "intruders" that the Apostle Jude warned the early church to expect, infiltrating with licentiousness and subverting the mission and purpose of the church for political gain.  Trump himself will not share loyalty with anyone else, including Jesus Christ, and some of his surrogates and followers have gotten around to branding the teachings of Christ as being "woke" or "liberal talking points."  

Don Junior has even declared that Christians need to abandon the idea of turning the other cheek, "because it hasn't gotten us anywhere," he said.  When a politician and a political campaign deny the effectiveness of the gospel preached by Jesus Christ, they are apostate.  This is the point to which Trump and Trumpism has brought those American Evangelicals who follow him.  

This Political Subversion of American Evangelicalism is Behind Project 2025

What's happened here is a "deal with the devil."   While most Evangelicals are as blissfully unaware that Trump is, by their own definition "antichrist," many of their leaders are aware but don't care.  Trump is useful in that he is willing to make deals in order to get votes.  Whatever he might have to give up in exchange for political support from this constituency, he will do, because he needs their votes to have any chance at all of winning elections.  

Their interest has nothing to do with Trump's behavior or morality.  They have abandoned the convictions and the doctrine Dr. Rogers used when he preached against voting for Clinton based on his moral character.  They have brought an agenda which is essentially an establishment of a particular brand of Christian nationalism, known as dominionism, which he has agreed to implement if he wins the election.  It's called Project 2025, authored, published and financed by the Heritage Foundation, and in spite of some scattered objections from corners of the GOP, it has replaced what they would typically call their party "platform," as their intended party goals.  

I suggest readers make themselves as keenly aware of this over 900 page document as they possibly can.  It will be one of the best defenses Democrats have for beating Republicans in the coming election.  And it must be defeated, or Americans will lose freedoms and rights we have had established in this country since it was founded.  Their rhetoric indicates that they are willing to push this using violence, especially against those identified as being un-American by their definition.  Europeans endured several centuries of bloody violence and war caused by draconian enforcement of religious dogma.  That will be the result of pushing this.  

There is nothing in Project 2025 that bears any resemblance to the Christian gospel.  And I guess, from my own perspective, one of the good things about the politics of our time is that it is separating out the goats from the sheep, the true believers in the Christian gospel from the false prophets.  This must be defeated, along with every politician who supports it, or who is deceptively trying to downplay its prominence in the Republican party platform.  It is the party platform, plain and simple, the blueprint of what they will do if Trump is elected.  

If this happens, it will not be because God has brought his judgment on America.  It will be because we failed to learn the lessons of history.  

What it's Going to Take For Democrats to Win This Election [Revision of Post from 7/22/2024, 9:30 a.m.]

Author's Note

This post was originally written on Sunday evening, July 21, 2024 and published on July 22, 2024 at 9:30 a.m.  The original post can be found here.  What you are now reading here includes revisions which update the situation as it has transpired, as Democrats have coalesced rapidly around Vice President Kamala Harris, and as she immediately and effectively hit the campaign trail with a measure of enthusiasm that has already changed the circumstances existing when the piece was originally written.  

Sometimes, politics can be painfully slow.  But there are times when things can also move at the speed of light, inexplicably.  President Biden's campaign had most of the "keys" that it needed, according to experts in presidential politics, to win, in addition to running against a candidate who, by every professional evaluation, was the worst President in American History.  He had the record of achievement and a roaring economy, he is a man of integrity who can be trusted, he has incredible political experience and even in this most politically polarized and contentious time, could get things done.  

But it seemed that an unseen weight was pressing him down, holding back his campaign. His opponents, along with the media, kept pushing his advanced age as his biggest handicap.  And ironically, while anything which happened to disable him from serving would have led to his replacement by his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, as long as he was President, and nominee, it seemed that nothing was moving.  

But when President Biden selflessly and out of consideration for absolutely nothing else but the good of the country, decided to drop out of the race, an act which contrasted sharply with the temperament and attitude of his opponent, who does nothing for anyone but himself and publicly displayed complete bafflement at this selfless act of sheer patriotism, and endorsed Vice-President Harris almost immediately, the chaos and confusion of the past three weeks literally vanished within hours.  So, this piece has been revised, with the original left posted as a demonstration of transparency and honesty.  We were caught by surprise  And that's OK.  

The President deserves a tremendous amount of credit and admiration for putting the country first.  This was a very difficult three weeks, much more so for him than for us, and it was not the way he deserved to have his political career come to an end.  This must be made up to him.  

A Disappointing, Unexpectedly Poor Debate Performance at the Root of the Panic

Ever since the debate, we have been watching the Democratic party fall into chaos and confusion.  The rhetoric prior to the debate actually helped set the President up for failure.  There was a lot of talk on social media, on message boards like Democratic Underground and even on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, of how this debate would contrast the stumbling, rambling inability of Trump to organize his thoughts and coherently discuss his campaign with the sharpness of the President who, for the most part, had successfully "won" the debate contest with Trump in 2020. 

Democrats who were expecting another debate kick in the pants delivered to Trump were more than disappointed in the President's halting, somewhat feeble performance and confusion.  They were panicked.  They had put a lot of stock in the Presidential debates being a point for the President to kick start a slow campaign and add some points to disappointing polling numbers.  On one hand, Trump's failure to answer questions, and his incessant and continuous lying prevented a polling disaster.  But on the other hand, the President did not help himself at all.  Instead, this gave the media, already pushing his age as a primary reason for not re-electing him, more reason to pile on.  And of course, they did. 

It's been difficult to reconcile the President's job approval rating with what has been a stellar record of achievement.  In spite of polls, what has happened in virtually every election cycle at the federal and state level, since President Biden took office has been Democratic party victory. The pollsters and the pundits started off predicting a "red tsunami" in the mid-term elections in 2022, based on the President's job approval rating and the conventional wisdom that the party in power in the White House always loses seats in Congress during the mid-term.  And based on the polling numbers, the prediction was for a huge loss for Democrats in the House, 60 seats was the number being tossed around, and as much as a five-seat Senate majority for the GOP.  

That never materialized, though most of the polls, right up to within weeks of the election itself, kept hammering that theme, in spite of data that was showing otherwise.  But the media kept insisting, in spite of the numbers, that voter enthusiasm among Democrats wasn't going to be high enough to prevent the mid-term "red wave" from the GOP.  

But something sure did.  

The "red tsunami", then "red wave," turned into the "pink trickle" on the house side.  On the Senate side, the election of Democrat John Fetterman as Senator from Pennsylvania, to replace Republican Pat Toomey, and flip a seat, combined with the re-election of Raphael Warnock, in Georgia, to hold a seat flipped in 2020, gave Democrats enough support to keep control of the Senate.  

So, one poor debate performance by the President, and a cluster of polls with some provably dubious data, sent Democratic party leaders and donors into a panic, and created what has been some of the most damaging and destructive internal confusion and chaos within a political party since the Vietnam War.  Democrats, in typical fashion, could not grab control of the narrative in the media.  Not even the assassination attempt on Trump or the chaotic Republican convention could wipe it off the news cycle, because in what appeared to be a clearly orchestrated effort, Democrats kept popping up to ask the President to bow out.  

And so, on July 21, a Sunday afternoon, after consulting with his advisors and with his family, he did.  

Where do Democrats Go From Here?  

One question that I think needs to be answered, for President Biden's sake if for no other reason, and it is something he deserves, is why this was not laid out a year ago, prior to his decision to run again, with serious, firm discussions about the fact that, to preserve his legacy, and to help ensure that Donald Trump, who was certain to be the GOP nominee again, would be defeated.  The President was 80 years old then, he had said, on more than one occasion, that if he could be convinced he was too old to run again, he would accept that advice.  Media coverage always focuses on whatever it is Trump is doing, so I may have missed the high level party leadership negotiations during which he got the green light to move forward.  

The Democratic bench is full of politicians who, given a year's worth of primary elections running up to the convention, would have established a front-runner who would be able to win against Trump and make his age and dementia an issue.  Instead, they opted for this very bad public relations disaster, which was characterized as the rebellion of a small group of big donors subverting the will of the people by using their money.  Whether that's an accurate perception or not, it's what it looked like.

However, the President followed his announcement with an endorsement of his Vice President.  Amazingly, in the middle of chaos, that worked beautifully.  There were a few donors who stubbornly resisted, and pushed other courses of action like a mini-primary.  I don't know how accurate the reports were, but I did see the name of Joe Manchin pop up, pushed by major donors.  And this is one of the problems when people with money want to use it as a means of influence.  This was a case where it would have been better to tell the donors, keep your money.  Fortunately, Manchin said no.  

By endorsing Kamala Harris, the President avoided what would have been the alienation of his core supporters from whomever the party chose as its nominee, as a result of the actions of the past three weeks.  A lot of his loyal supporters were pretty upset about how this all came about, and his endorsement of Harris, and the coalescing of the party around her candidacy, ensures that the vast majority of them will show up and vote, instead of staying home on election day.  President Biden is still the party leader, and his endorsement carried a significant amount of weight.  It was the right thing for him to do, and it seals his reputation as one of the greatest Democratic Presidents of our time. 

 And, in the Meantime? 

It's been amazing to observe, on Democratic Underground, the shift that took place in just one day, Sunday, after the President announced that he was stepping out of the race.  Suddenly, as if by some miracle, support for Vice President Harris appeared from everywhere.  Just the day before, a poll on DU showed over 90 percent of those who responded wanting the President to remain in the race.  By late Sunday evening, after President Biden made his announcement and endorsement, Vice President Harris had the majority of Democrats in her corner.   

We are facing an election in which the other side is completely sold out to a convicted felon and insurrectionist, and is intending to pull every trick in the book to steal the election, regardless of how the votes turn out.  They've been in the Viktor Orban school of "How to use Democratic Processes to Build a Dictatorship," and if one really believes history repeats itself, shades of the Weimar Republic come to mind.  Democratic party leadership must be prepared to fight off and stop Republican efforts to suppress the vote or steal the election outright.  The unity that has been demonstrated will go a long way toward doing so.  

As a volunteering, contributing, supporting Democrat, who has accepted the party's goal of keeping Donald Trump and the GOP out of the government because he is an existential threat to Democracy, I have a right to expect the party leadership to be as committed to the goal of winning control of the government, and doing what it takes to achieve that, as anyone else does. We must be assertive, take control of the narrative and force a biased, incompetent media to act as a free press for a while, anyway.  I believe Kamala Harris will succeed in controlling the narrative and getting the party's message out.  

In addition to knowing who is carrying the torch, we also need to know what is being done to effectively counter Republican efforts to steal the election.  We know this is going to happen, they've talked about it for four years.  We know what they're planning to do.  What's being done to stop it or prepare to prevent it from happening, such as calling it out and getting law enforcement on top of it?  Our justice department doesn't move very quickly, these days.  

A Victory for Democrats is a Victory for Democracy

I will cast my ballot for whomever the Democratic party nominates for President.  I have no plans to spend much time at the polling place, I will walk in, get my ballot, press the key for "straight Democratic ticket", turn in the ballot and head out.  But in order to do this, we need clarity, not confusion and we need to look like we know what we are doing, and not have this chaos which not only alienates Democrats, but other voters we must have in order to win elections.  These past three weeks have been a demonstration of inexcusable incompetence and have done more to put the party in danger of losing the election than the President's debate performance or his age ever did.  Thankfully, it appears we have dodged a bullet, but we cannot let anything like this happen again.  

The focus right now is on winning the election, making sure that we have the White House, and as much of a congressional majority in both houses as we can get.  But Democrats are going to have to address a real problem when it comes to campaign finance reform.  This cannot be allowed to happen again, and whatever it takes to eliminate donor money as a greater influence over the party's politics than the will of the people who make up 98% of the party's membership must be done.  And if that means breaking the filibuster in the Senate to get things done, so be it.  The rules have to level the playing field on both sides of the aisle.  

We are running against the biggest anti-American, anti-democratic threat to our Constitution and to American Democracy that we have faced in over 150 years in Donald Trump.  We have been sharpened by our experience and we need to motivate our voters to turn out and elect the first female President in American history, in Kamala Harris.  

We Have a Winner Here

American politics can be volatile, unpredictable, cruel and vicious, and crazy all at the same time.  We've had three weeks of all of that rolled into one and it has been emotionally draining for those of us who, for the most part, watched it through the stained, distorted lens of a biased media.  I cannot imagine how it felt, for President Biden in particular, along with his advisors and close associates and his family, along with all of the other Democratic party leaders who were engaged in that drama.  

Personally, I remain unconvinced that President Biden would have lost the election.  It very likely would have been closer than it was in 2020, because the media kept the issue of the President's age right up in front of the news cycle.  Had he gone into that debate and delivered the kind of performance he did during the 2020 campaign, I wonder if things would be different now?  There's still the issue of the polling data, and thresholds they appeared to be monitoring in their internal data that apparently were not convincing.  Democrats have raised the stakes on this election to a very high level, considering Trump as an existential threat to American democracy.  I believe he is.  And I think the pressure of that belief has a lot to do with the panic and chaos that was the response to the President's debate performance. 

Maybe I'm more naive than I think, but I have difficulty imagining that enough of the American people would vote for this potential despot to elect him to office, after seeing his anti-patriotic outbursts which included instigating and orchestrating a violent attack on the Capitol during a joint session of Congress for the purpose of counting electoral votes that he had lost.  And if his election is even remotely possible, then I'm fearful for the future of the country, a good portion of which has lost not only its common sense, but its understanding of American idealism and the blessings and benefits provided by constitutional democracy.  

Joe Biden will go down in history as one of the best, most effective Presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt.  We've had some giants during this time, so that's saying a lot.  He did not deserve the manner in which this was handled, and the past three weeks of chaos and confusion must have been horrible for him.  The party must find a way, during the Convention, not only to apologize, but to make up for it.  I'm sure that will happen.  

We Are Ready for Kamala Harris

Back in 2020, the Democratic party provided its nominee with one of the strongest "benches" from which to choose a Vice-President that I can remember in a long, long time.  I thought then that Senator Harris, along with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, would have been excellent nominees, and that we might be successful with an all-woman ticket.  It didn't turn out that way, but when President Biden chose her as his Vice-President, I remember posting on social media, much to the dismay of some of my friends, that this could well make her America's first female President.  

That possibility has moved much closer to being reality over the past few days.  I have been around for a while, and I have never seen the Democratic party fall into such confusion and chaos as I saw the past three weeks.  We have a knack for this kind of thing, don't we?  

I have also never seen it get its act together, clear up the confusion and chaos, and pull itself back together, uniting behind a candidate, in such a short period of time.  This all happened Sunday, and now it's Tuesday.  There are already polls out showing Harris leading Trump, she has already secured more than enough delegate support to win the nomination, which she will have before the convention, the process for vetting the next VP nominee is already underway.  

There was some concern that the ugliness of the politics of the past three weeks, associated with the donor class and its apparent manipulation of the party's nomination process, might continue on into a fight over who they wanted to be the nominee as opposed to who the party's grassroots members wanted.  That cleared up really quickly.  I'm not happy with donors who want to control processes because of the influence of their money, as opposed to those of us who volunteer, work on behalf of the party, and contribute, even though it is a small amount, but it is a sacrifice.  And I'm in favor of solid legislation that puts everyone on an equal playing field.  But we seem to be past that now.  

Yes, She Can Win This 

The presence of Trump, and all of the baggage he brings into the campaign, makes this a winnable election, in terms used in the past, "for a yellow dog."  Joe Biden in a coma would be a better President than Donald Trump.  His failed presidency, along with his criminal record, his friendship with dictators who hate our country, his Supreme Court justice nominees and his association with, and intention to implement the draconian Project 2025, engineered by the fascist, extremist Heritage Foundation, all contribute to the ceiling that hangs over this three-time Republican nominee who has never won the popular vote.  If not for the quirks of electoral college politics, I would not be worried about this election at all.  

But, with Vice President Harris as the nominee, I think our odds of winning go way up.  I think the potential voters were already out there, but the Vice President has already brought a level of energy to this campaign that we had not seen before now.  Turnout wins elections.  The Democratic base is energized like it hasn't been since before the mid-term elections.  

One of my favorite books recently is On Tyranny:  Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder, Levin Professor of History at Yale University.  Here's one of my favorite quotes: 

Stand out.  Someone has to.  It is easy to follow along.  It can feel strange to do or say something different.  But without that unease, there is no freedom.  Remember Rosa Parks.  The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.  

Kamala Harris broke the spell of the status quo.  Others are following.  We have a winner here.  

Let's make sure we turn out, bring our independent and third party neighbors with us to this table, and elect the first woman President of the United States.  It is long past time.

A Civil War to Save the Country From What?

Ohio State Senator Says it Will Take A Civil War to Save the Country if Democrats Win 

There are times, in the face of extreme, persistent ignorance, when it is very difficult to be courteous.  

Here we have yet another conservative state legislator opening his mouth and proving to his constituents that he is epically, tragically and cataclysmically ignorant. And, as an elected official, he has no confidence or trust in either the U.S. Constitution, or his state's constitution.  

So why did he bother to waste his time and run for office?  Is he power hungry?  Or money hungry? Because if he has that much disrespect for the constitution, and for the sanctity of all human life, he has no business being a member of the Ohio legislature.  

This is Trump babble.  It's a way to fire up a crowd and get them cheering to claim that Democrats, and specifically President Biden, are "ruining our country."  It gets cheers from the equally uninformed, uneducated, frankly stupid people (sorry, as I said it is difficult to be courteous) cheering as those remarks are made.  And then, waiting for the other shoe to drop, which is exactly why and how Democrats and the President are "ruining" the country, nothing is ever said in support of that statement.  And so, up and down the MAGA line, you have less than imaginative legislators in state government, like this poor chap, Senator George Lang, pop up with the "Civil War" talk.  

You'd think, after an assassination attempt against their party leader and presidential candidate, Republicans would tone down the shooting, killing and civil war talk, since they have accused Democrats of promoting violence, based on a phrase or word here or there spoken by some Democratic official.  They tend to forget the multiple, recorded Trump references to the use of violence if or when Republicans don't get their way when they try to criticize Democrats.  

But what I want to know is the rest of the rhetoric.  I want to know, from their perspective, exactly how Democrats are "ruining" the country.  

I hear the extremist religious right's rhetoric all the time, screaming about rights being taken away and persecution and blah, blah, blah.  I am a Christian myself, an active member of a local church, and I worship corporately every week, and do plenty of Bible reading, studying and even teaching from time to time.  I can't think of a single right I have lost, a single restriction that has been placed on my religious practice or a single imposition that has occurred into my faith practice.  Nothing.  And when I engage in a discussion, and ask about this, specifically, where has the government, during a Democratic Presidency, ever persecuted, interfered with, disrupted or legally restricted your church, your faith practice, or your Christian service?  

Insisting that it has does not prove that it does.  If something specific can't be named, used as an example or a reference, then it's not happening.  And the usual end of such round and round conversations is an angry, frustrated conservative who resorts to name calling and threats.  And what that tells me is exactly what I asked.  There is no persecution, restriction, or interference with the religious liberty of any American.  

So when I look at a stock market that has reached record heights in its growth, which represents the prosperity and economic productivity of the country, an unemployment rate of under 4%, meaning that people who really want to work can find a job, wages that have steadily increased and kept pace with inflation, in spite of complaints of high prices, mostly caused by unnecessary gouging and profiteering, I have to wonder exactly how the President is ruining the country.  How, ruining?  

I also have no understanding as to how it is that not following the social agenda of the far right has anything to do with ruining the country.  LGBTQ persons, black persons, or Latino persons having civil rights like I do has absolutely no affect on my rights whatsoever.  Granting asylum to immigrants fleeing violence, persecution or famine in their home counrty does not affect my rights.  And there is no evidence whatsoever to prove the presence of an immigrant community increases the crime rate.  That's just not true.  

So tell me, Mr. Ohio State Senator, exactly how are Democrats, and President Biden, "ruining" the country?  

I'm willing to bet that neither you, nor your family, suffers from any kind of deprivation, any restriction of rights, and that you very likely are not worried about where your next meal is coming from, or whether you have a roof over your head.  I don't know, maybe you've been a victim of a crime, though in your idyllic rural area, that's probably less of a worry than it is where I live.  But the crime rate was worse when your guys were in the White House, fro 2016-2020, and before that, from 2000-2008.  Crime rates are much more locally focused than a Presidential responsibility but Democratic presidents by nature spend more money on law enforcement than Republicans, who think cuts are the way to run government.  

Of course, the violence you are advocating, sir, would most definitely ruin the country.  And you are the one here advocating for violence as a way to resolve your perceived problems.  Frankly, violence is the result of a combination of a lack of intelligence, a lack of education and is rebellion against God.  So you might want to check the Bible and see what it says about humans who want to solve their problems with violence.  

Have you ever thought about what a Civil War would look like?  Does the thought of perpetrating violence against other human beings because they don't think like you do excite you?  Give you a thrill?  Make you feel good about yourself and who you are?  A civil war would result in the deaths of millions of innocent people, women, children, and very likely the invasion and conquest of the United States by either Russia or China.  A civil war, perpetrated by right wing extremists, is a sure way to ruin the country.  

Politicians who advocate violence as a means of settling differences are pushing for the ruining of America.  They are demonstrating a lack of ability to serve in public office and as a representative of the people, because they are incapable of representing people with whom they do not agree ideologically, politically or religiously.  They are not earning public trust, they are only making enemies.  They should resign from office and apologize for their violent rhetoric. 

I believe in free speech.  Advocating for violence against the will of the people, expressed through the ballot box is not free speech, it's sedition.  And public officials should be held accountable by losing their position immediately when they pull this crap.  When an election is over, and the winners are declared, this is the will of the people expressed in a Republic.  You can have a revolution the next time there's an election.  That's constitutional democracy.  If elected officials are not willing to recognize that, and make statements advocating violence, it is an indication they do not agree with the constitutional provisions under which they were elected.  They should not be allowed to serve.  

What it's Going to Take for Democrats to Win This Election

Ever since the debate, we have been watching the Democratic party fall into chaos and confusion.  The rhetoric prior to the debate actually helped set the President up for failure.  There was a lot of talk on social media, on message boards like Democratic Underground and even on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, of how this debate would contrast the stumbling, rambling inability of Trump to organize his thoughts and coherently discuss his campaign with the sharpness of the President who, for the most part, had successfully "won" the debate contest with Trump in 2020.  And when that didn't materialize, panic set in.  

In spite of what has been a stellar performance and a solid record of achievement, President Biden has suffered low job approval ratings and a drop in support, according to polls, going back to the end of his first year in office.  In spite of what he has done to curb inflation, a problem that has occurred largely due to the recovery of the economy from COVID, and to tariffs and tax policy set in place during the Trump administration, which he couldn't change, because it persisted, he got blamed for it and that, rather than the fact that the economy is actually in better shape from a growth and productivity standpoint, and from an unemployment perspective, than it has been in over sixty years, due to his leadership, is the main factor in his low polling numbers.  

Or is it? 

It's been difficult to reconcile the President's job approval rating with what has happened in virtually every election cycle at the federal and state level, since President Biden took office.  The pollsters and the pundits started off predicting a "red tsunami" in the mid-term elections in 2022, based on the President's job approval rating and the conventional wisdom that the party in power in the White House always loses seats in Congress during the mid-term.  And based on the polling numbers, the prediction was for a huge loss for Democrats in the House, 60 seats was the number being tossed around, and as much as a five-seat Senate majority for the GOP.  

That never materialized, though most of the polls, right up to within weeks of the election itself, kept hammering that theme, in spite of data that was showing otherwise.  But the media kept insisting, in spite of the numbers, that voter enthusiasm among Democrats wasn't going to be high enough to prevent the mid-term "red wave" from the GOP.  

But something sure did.  

The "red tsunami", then "red wave," turned into the "pink trickle" on the house side.  On the Senate side, the election of Democrat John Fetterman as Senator from Pennsylvania, to replace Republican Pat Toomey, and flip a seat, combined with the re-election of Raphael Warnock, in Georgia, to hold a seat flipped in 2020, gave Democrats enough support to keep control of the Senate.  

The composite pollsters defended their missed prediction by claiming most of the elections fell within the margin of error, though in Georgia and Pennsylvania, the statewide Senate races fell well outside the margins.  The "odds" of winning, they said, is what they calculate, so as long as there were odds for a particular candidate to win, even if the odds were calculated at 1 in 3, is still an "accurate prediction."  

Democrats have, in fact, enjoyed a higher level of electoral success during Biden's term in office than they have since 2006, the year that the Bush Recession, almost depression, set in.  Even when there were setbacks, such as in Virginia when Glen Younkin got elected as Governor, there have also been comebacks, such as the surprising flip of the Virginia House of Delegates in 2023, which took pollsters by surprise, especially after redistricting from the 2020 census had been done in favor of the GOP.  

So, one poor debate performance by the President, and a cluster of polls with some provably dubious data, sent Democratic party leaders and donors into a panic, and created what has been some of the most damaging and destructive internal confusion and chaos within a political party since the Vietnam War.  Democrats, in typical fashion, could not grab control of the narrative in the media.  Not even the assassination attempt on Trump or the chaotic Republican convention could wipe it off the news cycle, because in what appeared to be a clearly orchestrated effort, Democrats kept popping up to ask the President to bow out.  

And so, on July 21, a Sunday afternoon, after consulting with his advisors and with his family, he did.  

Where do Democrats Go From Here?  

The question of whether President Biden could have won the election will not ever be answered.  Those who heavily depend on polling data and media perception are the ones who provided the agitation necessary to force him to step down, because they don't see a pathway for him to win.  Those who see the current polling data as dubious, at best, and the media coverage biased against the President's age, a long standing theme going back to before his first election, think otherwise, especially against a candidate Republicans are stuck with, a convicted rapist, felon, insurrectionist, unpatriotic, self-interested former failed President.  

Why this wasn't thought out, and carried out, a year ago, before the primaries and caucuses, is beyond my ability to understand.  The President's job approval had been hovering around 40% even then, and he's only aged one year since.  His speech difficulty, and his physical frailty, were observable.  It's hard to get to 80, and not look 80.  What I don't understand is why party leadership didn't have those kinds of difficult, but serious discussions, looking to the future, knowing the GOP couldn't nominate anyone but Trump, and knowing that the President's age was going to be a factor and convince the President then, that the best thing he could do for the country, and for his party, would be to step down and let someone else run.  

The Democratic bench is full of politicians who, given a year's worth of primary elections running up to the convention, would have established a front-runner who would be able to win against Trump and make his age and dementia an issue.  Instead, they opted for this very bad public relations disaster, which now looks like complete subversion of a democratic primary process in favor of the rich donor class who got in front of the chaos from the start, and who have seriously impaired the party's ability to field a candidate who can beat Trump, and cast doubts about its ability to get control of Congress back. 

There are a lot of unanswered questions.  Will the party get behind Vice President Harris, who has been endorsed by the President, and who, along with him, have 90% of the delegate support at the convention?  Does she have that kind of support among the party leadership, and the donor group who caused this controversy in the first place? These are not the kind of people who generally have to accept the consequences of their actions.   So is the goal and the energy going to go to defeating Trump or are there other agendas at work that over-ride this concern and have the potential to split the party.  

And, in the Meantime? 

It's been amazing to observe, on Democratic Underground, the shift that took place in just one day, Sunday, after the President announced that he was stepping out of the race.  Suddenly, as if by some miracle, support for Vice President Harris appeared from everywhere.  Just the day before, a poll showed over 90 percent of those who responded wanting the President to remain in the race.  By late Sunday evening, posts were "hurrah for Kamala" and declaring she was going to kick some Trump butt.  

I certainly hope she does.  

But, this is not "problem solved," not by a long shot.  We are facing an election in which the other side is completely sold out to a convicted felon and insurrectionist, and is intending to pull every trick in the book to steal the election, regardless of how the votes turn out.  They've been in the Viktor Orban school of "How to use Democratic Processes to Build a Dictatorship," and if one really believes history repeats itself, shades of the Weimar Republic come to mind.  How prepared is Democratic party leadership to handle that, or will it be the normal response of raising our hands up and declaring "How can they do that and get away with it, tsk, tsk, tsk?"  

And while there may be some folks at Democratic Underground who see this as a resolved problem, has the rest of the party arrived at this same place?  Have the wealthy donors who upended Biden's candidacy by withholding their contributions approved of Kamala Harris as the nominee, or are they wanting to support someone else?  Not only is this not settled, it has the potential to blow up into an even bigger disaster that winds up electing a felon and insurrectionist to the Presidency.  And if preventing that is still the party's goal, then we need to see some real leadership and get a handle on a solid sense of direction over the next couple of weeks, or it is going to get out of control.  

And as a volunteering, contributing, supporting Democrat, who has accepted the party's goal of keeping Donald Trump and the GOP out of the government as much as possible, I have a right to expect the party leadership to be as committed to the goal of winning control of the government, and doing what it takes to achieve that, as anyone else does.  This needs to be settled now, not a week or a month from now.  Every day that goes by is a day that Trump has to campaign that we don't.  We can't be tentative and iffy, we must be assertive, take control of the narrative and force a biased, incompetent media to act as a free press for a while, anyway. 

In addition to knowing who is carrying the torch, we also need to know what is being done to effectively counter Republican efforts to steal the election.  We know this is going to happen, they've talked about it for four years.  We know what they're planning to do.  What's being done to stop it or prepare to prevent it from happening, such as calling it out and getting law enforcement on top of it?  Our justice department doesn't move very quickly, these days.  

A Victory for Democrats is a Victory for Democracy

I will cast my ballot for whomever the Democratic party nominates for President.  I have no plans to spend much time at the polling place, I will walk in, get my ballot, press the key for "straight Democratic ticket", turn in the ballot and head out.  But in order to do this, we need clarity, not confusion and we need to look like we know what we are doing, and not have this chaos which not only alienates Democrats, but other voters we must have in order to win elections.  These past three weeks have been a demonstration of inexcusable incompetence and have done more to put the party in danger of losing the election than the President's debate performance or his age ever did.  

It's been a display of disrespect toward those of us who support the party as best we can, because we are committed to its ideals, particularly the preservation of individual rights in a Constitutional democracy.  For the most part, we are still going to be supportive.  But don't ignore the support we gave to the President, or the grief that most of us are going through over what has happened, nor our disgust or displeasure over the way it was handled.  Taking that is the price that must be paid for the chaos and confusion that has been caused and for forcing out the best President we've had in decades.  

We are running against the biggest anti-American threat to our Constitution and to American Democracy that we have ever faced in our history in Donald Trump.  He's given us everything we need to win.  Let's use it and do exactly that.  

In This, Trump Has Been Successful

We've known, since the criminal, anti-American, anti-Patriotic Trump insurrection of January 6, 2020, that Donald Trump is the leading internal enemy of American Constitutional Democracy.  I think, after watching him actually win an election and then serve as President, we know this long before January 6th.  Aside from just branding himself as a worldly person with an arrogant disrespect for anyone else, a despicable way of using people for his own purposes and then throwing them under the bus as he moves on, and his complete lack of respect for women, including his own wives, along with the fraud crimes and sexual assaults, his term in office was characterized by ongoing total ignorance of the constitution and how a republican form of government with balance of power worked.  

He was the single worst President in American history, an evaluation made, not by his political enemies, or by the 80 million Americans who voted him out of office after one term, but by Presidential scholars who have been respected in their unbiased, non-partisan, objective evaluation of Presidential success.  

He has been, in both politics and business, a failure. 

The Republican Party Has Nominated Him Three Times

It's not been that long ago that insider Republicans considered a candidacy for President by Donald Trump as a joke.  But Trump had a political following built for him to step in, one that he didn't have to build from the ground up.  Rush Limbaugh helped bring prejudices and ignorance to the surface, overwhelming establishment Republicanism, at a time when they were having trouble winning elections.  And Trump successfully capitalized on that bigotry, which the Republican establishment ignored, to get to the top.  

What happened was a replacement of establishment Republicans within the party with MAGA Republicans.  The MAGA Republicans also pushed a lot of the establishment away from the voting booth.  These people, for the most part, didn't go to the other side, but they did stay home on election day.  So by moving the party in a regressive direction with regard to social issues, Trump was able to replace the Bush family in party leadership.  George W. Bush has quietly but openly stated he will vote for Biden, again, as has daughter Jenna, an NBC morning television personality.   

He won this nomination through the primary system, though a persistent 21% of Republican primary voters who went to the polls, even after Nikki Haley had dropped out, made an effort to show up and vote against him.  Whether they do that in the general election remains to be seen.  If they do, he loses big. 

Control of the Political Narrative via Control of the Media

I'd be curious to see if a study has been done on how much media attention and screen time Trump has sucked up with his scandals and indictments, compared to the amount of time President Biden has appeared in the media.  Trump has unofficially been on the campaign trail for four years, and he has received more media attention than his campaign could ever raise money to pay for.  I have yet to see a fair comparison of all of the negatives Trump brings to this campaign, compared to the achievements and accomplishments of President Biden, which match the best of those of the entire modern era.  

The media focus is on keeping the divisiveness going, and growing, something from which they benefit.  And almost all of them, corporate owned and interested in massive profiteering, have replaced what we used to call a free press in this country.  We don't have that anymore.  Democrats, never good at controlling the narrative because of insisting on covering every policy benefit and achievement rather than actually pointing out the good they have done, have yet to devise the kind of methodology that gets media attention like the immorality and the seedier side of Trump, which provides an infinite amount of sleeze and corruption. 

Right at the time that exposure of Project 2025, a draconian set of political platform planks that would put an end to a lot of individual freedom and would curtail the rights of millions of Americans, turning women back into second class citizens and considering Latinos, Blacks and Asians as "foreigners," regardless of where they were born or how long they've been here, an orchestrated, "pop up" campaign to sew doubt into the perception of the President's ability to lead the country has stretched on for three weeks.  

Built on a panic generated by what most people would call the President's "poor" debate performance, which is insignificant in the campaign, as far as I am concerned, and bogus polls that mysteriously shifted in Trump's direction in the spring, after failing to accurately predict the outcome of the Mid-term elections the previous November, Democrats, who appear to be driven by threats made by some of their bigger donors, a relatively small and insignificant cluster, in terms of their money and their help, are sabotaging their whole election picture.  

Is that, too, a Trump "success?"  

If a single debate performance, which, fairly considered alongside the Trump debate performance in which he failed to answer any of the questions truthfully, wasn't all that bad, can prompt a few donors to threaten some Democrats in Congress to create a stir to force the elected nominee off the ticket, something has to be happening somewhere.  I'm not yet convinced there isn't some opportunistic Republican strategy in there somewhere.  And I think some of those donors need to prove their loyalty to the Democratic party and openly declare they believe Trump is an existential threat to democracy.  If they aren't willing to do that, we don't need them and they need to go. 

No Imagination Necessary

It's not difficult to imagine what a second Trump Presidency would look like.  But take a few minutes to do that anyway.  

Anyone who is sincere and committed to that not happening needs to understand that what Democrats are doing now will lead to the worst possible outcome, a second Trump Presidency.  

Are you sufficiently horrified?  

Those polls that some people think are infallible are pretty clear in showing that a change of candidate now would lead to a democratic defeat, not only for the Presidency, but it would drag down Congressional candidates as well.  

Here's what I want to know:  

1. How committed are those donors who are threatening to hold out if Biden is the nominee to keeping Trump out of the White House?  Do they understand the implications of his being re-elected, and if they do understand, why are they doing what they're doing?  

2.  If they are simply using money to manipulate, cut the loss and move on.  They're doing no one, including themselves, any favors.  

Joe Biden is the best democratic candidate to beat Donald Trump.  He's done it before and with good support and enthusiasm, he will do it again.  

The Signal-Press Endorses President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for Re-election in 2024.

This small, amateur journalist blog, The Signal-Press, is proud to endorse President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, for re-election as President and Vice-President of the United States.  

President Biden's first term represents some of the greatest legislative achievements of my lifetime.  Aside from its handling of economic policy and practice that has helped the economy not only remain strong, but actually grow, fight against inflation, prevent recession and secure the lowest unemployment rates in more than six decades.  

The President is 81 years old, which means that he grew up in a generation that understood, and respected American values.  He is genuinely a politician who is a "man of the people," whose life experiences give him an understanding of how things are for the rest of us.  He sees his role as being a servant of the people.  When we needed a strong candidate with a solid background who could defeat Donald Trump and rid us of his anti-democratic politics, along with his brand of immoral worldliness proudly on  display for the world to see, we asked Biden, who had unofficially retired after eight years of service as Vice President of the United States, to come back, run, and give us the kind of inter-generational leadership that we needed.  

His return has required sacrifice, which he has been willing to do on our behalf.  It has subjected his family members to undeserved criticism and political attacks.  Through all of this, unlike his predecessor, he has been unwilling to use the powers of his office in a selfish manner, for family purposes.  This has been a demonstration of his commitment to the rule of law, something his opponent is willing to trash for selfish ambition.  

The President is a man who depends on his faith for strength and guidance, not one who uses it to gain a political advantage while denying the power of its practice, like his opponent does so openly.  

And, about that debate.  

Obviously it was an off night.  He's acknowledged responsibility for it.  Does anyone think his opponent would have had that kind of integrity, if the situation were reversed?  

But the President answered the questions that were asked of him, giving facts, not lies, laid out his achievements, again factually, supported by evidence, and told the American people what they could expect, supported by past history and performance.  

Trump lied.  About everything.  And he failed to answer one question asked of him. 

We have a system which our founding fathers created that provides for circumstances in which a sitting President is unable to fulfill the duties of their office.  So that does not preclude an 81 year old man using his experience and his accomplishments, from serving the people of the United States as their President.  If the job does become overwhelming, as a result of declining health or ability, we have one of the most competent Vice-Presidents in our history ready to step into the job at a heartbeat.  

Vice President Harris has exhibited presidential leadership qualities that will enable her to do the one thing required of a Vice-President, step in when necessary.  And that completely removes the issue of the age of the President  

Vice President Harris is one of the strongest, most progressive Vice-Presidents we have ever had, and she has made her capability and qualifications to be President very clear.  It would be a smooth transition, if it were ever necessary.  The Vice-President has been actively engaged in the administration and is knowledgeable, with a wealth of common sense.  I particularly like her more progressive political position and hope that leads her to serve in her own right, elected to office at some point.  

Regrettably, there are forces which have infiltrated the Democratic party for the purpose of disrupting the election.  There are multiple individuals who would benefit if the result of their intriduction of chaos into this campaign succeeded.  Fortunately, the issue of who will be the Democratic party'snominee for President was settled long ago, by the votes of 14 million Americans who chose Joe Biden as their top candidate.  Our aim, at this point, is to ignore the distractions and work to support the campaign of President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.  There will be time afterward to settle the wrongs being done at the present time, and make the Democratic party more unified in its resolve to preserve Democracy and prevent oligarchy.  

Elections are won by turout.  As it appears there is well more than enough support for President Biden to win this election, we commit to stand behind him and help secure all of the votes necessary for hin to win.  He is the candidate of economic growth, of positive international relations and gaining respect for America's position in the world, of law and order, and of sacrificial public service.  His opponent is none of those things.  

We proudly endorse President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris for re-election.  

Putting This Election in Perspective: Fellow Democrats, it is Time to Move On

Who is the person who benefits the most from the chaos and confusion created in the Democratic party following President Biden's debate performance?  

For those who have never read Mary Trump's Too Much and Never Enough  I suggest you pick up a copy and take in the insights she provides into the character of her uncle, Donald J. Trump.  Given the level of family disfunction she describes, it's quite understandable that her perspective would be one of the results.  Essentially, Mary says that Trump is unable to accept any responsibility for wrongdoing or admit mistakes, and he is especially enraged when he is beaten.  He cannot put it down, cannot accept the loss and must find a way to get even with the person or persons who defeated him.  

She was proven correct in her analysis by Trump's behavior following his election defeat to Joe Biden in 2020.  He has, according to her prediction, failed to accept the fact that he lost along with subsequently blaming it on "massive voter fraud," and was incapable of acknowledging the lack of any such evidence, through over 60 different court challenges, some of which turned up evidence that Trump allies had tried to corrupt the vote totals to his advantage.

There was really no doubt that he would run again.  And here we are, a nominated Republican candidate who is still facing federal indictments for inciting an insurrection, for document theft and possible espionage, for election interference in Georgia, a case which still stands in spite of the recent horrific Supreme Court immunity ruling, and has been convicted in a civil trial of rape, and on 34 felony counts of business fraud in New York, with a postponed, but not overturned, guilty verdict.  

The biggest enemy in his life is still Joe Biden. President Biden is the one person who legitimately, and rather convincingly, defeated Trump in the 2020 election.  And if there was any doubt left in anyone's mind, the current chaos and confusion in the Democratic party, regarding President Biden's fitness to serve a second term, is being instigated and pushed along by Trump interests.  He is the one who stands to benefit the most from what could be a very disastrous result for Democrats.  And regardless of all possible speculation, there's no question, based on evidence provided by Mary Trump, and from a news media that seems bent on running on rumor, inuendo and unconfirmed "sources."  

Trump Does Have the Resources to Cause This Confusion

Trump is the favorite candidate of virtually every American billionaire.  Oh, there are a few who see through the fraudulent schemes, but he and they share what they value in this life the most, and that's the acquisition of massive amounts of money, because of the power that comes with it.  When Russia finally threw off its oppressive Communist rule, while attempting to fight the battles necessary to establish credible democracy, the billionaires stepped in and created an oligarchy.  They run the country, the legislature is meaningless and so are elections.  

Billionaires are not proponents of democracy, because it invests power in the people, not in their money interests.  So Trump is their guy and they give him the resources he needs to push his candidacy.  They also have influence and power, because of the amount of money they control, within the Democratic party.  And that's been the key they needed to unlock the door to Biden's vulnerability, which is his age, and try to capitalize on that weakness in order to help Trump back to the Presidency.  

Russia, too, is involved.  This is not just a smear or a rumor.  I have, sitting on my bookshelf, 538 pages of evidence indicating exactly how Russia is involved on Trump's behalf, what they did the last time they helped out, and what they are capable of doing and getting away with.  It's called The Mueller Report, the evidence of a travesty and miscarriage of justice unseen in American political corruption before.  And I think what we are seeing develop right now in this election is quite similar to previous events.  The money is being used to buy the influence, even reaching to big contributors to the Democratic party, who will all benefit from the $8 billion or so that Trump will spend of our tax money to give them tax cuts.  

It appears that Democrats have fallen for it.  At this point, I'm reserving judgment regarding the sincerity and commitment of those Democrats who have publicly called for Biden to step down, to the idea they've been pushing ever since Trump started running for President, that he is an existential threat to democracy, and must be defeated or he will destroy democracy and the Constitution, and turn the United States into another oligarchy of the rich.  Perhaps the stock they are putting in relatively flaky and inconsistent poll results, which ironically have showed Biden increasing his percentages while Trump's have been dropping, since the debate, is causing their panic.  Or, maybe they aren't sincere, don't see Trump as a threat and, as all politicians do, are thinking about feathering their future political nest.  

What Do We Do About It? 

This particular attack, and the orchestrated, regular release of new information popping up every few days to keep this in the news cycle, along with the lack of any evidence confirming the alleged conversations Democratic leaders are supposedly having and no sources being reported is a very clear indication that Trump and his campaign still greatly fear the fact that they will lose this election.  And frankly, if Democrats would just sit still, ignore this public polling data because it is not even August yet and no one else is paying attention, stay the course, let the convention delegates, overwhelmingly won by the President, do what they are supposed to do and move forward with a campaign.  

They have multiple issues on which to attack Trump that he supports and which are known to be extremely unpopular.  A woman's right to choose is one.  The draconian platform worked up in collusion with the Christian nationalists of the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025, has only begun to horrify people who read and see what's happening.  

Then, there are character issues.  Trump is a convicted felon, on 34 counts, plus a civil rape conviction.  There is increasing evidence pointing to his involvement, at some level, with child trafficker and abuser Jeffrey Epstein, whose death in prison while under the supervision of the executive branch is still a mystery.  

Even at this point, with the Republican convention just ending, Trump is clearly not taking the direction of attempting to add more moderate voters to his base.  His choice of J. D. Vance as his running mate is a clear indication of this.  And it is somewhat of a slap in the face, or an acknowledgement that he already has white Evangelicals in his pocket, choosing a running mate who is not only not Evangelical, but is one who converted from conservative Evangelicalism to Catholicism, and then married a Hindu.  Typically, Evangelicals deliberately ignore, and give easy passes while swallowing their pride and accepting another denial of their principles from Trump.  It's hard to say what the white supremacist branch of MAGA will do, since they get violent and their hatred is vitriolic and consistent.  

So I think we just move forward, after, of course, an effort has been made to stop the ridiculous chaos going on among a small and relatively insignificant group of Democrats.  Get on board, be supportive, understand how this all works in an election, and if you sincerely believe that Trump is the threat that he's been characterized by Democrats as being, then vote and be a spokesperson supporting his re-election.  

The support for Biden staying in that has erupted over the past three weeks has been phenomenal.  I have not seen anything like it since the surge from the grassroots finally put Jimmy Carter over the top in 1976.  And before that, not since Lyndon Johnson's 1964 campaign.  This chaos has lit a fire under the grassroots of the party and they're going to see it to success.  With the record of a successful president behind him, and the gross and horrible conduct of the opposition, I believe we will win this 2024 election comfortably, for the President, and with enough of a shift in Congress to do the things the President wants to do, such as reform the Supreme Court.