Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 Takeover Has a History Among Conservative Evangelicals

 For certain intruders whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you.  They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord.  Jude, v. 4  

When the Southern Baptist Convention revised its doctrinal statement, known as the Baptist Faith and Message, in 2000, the revisions reflected the right wing political faction that had been working to take over control of the denomination since 1979.  Because Baptist churches are independent and autonomous, and do not have ecumenical connections, the denominations they form are built around various ministries that serve the churches.  So to control the denomination and use it for right wing political purposes requires getting leadersship that is sympathetic to right wing politics on the trustee boards which govern the denomination's ministries.  

The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest single denomination made up of mostly conservative, Evangelical churches whose members are very much prone toward white, Christian nationalism, that comes from a blend of the racism inherent within a denomination founded on the complete support of slavery, with some frontier revivalism, some of the old Victorian-era "anglo-Israelism" ideology that has been floating around for a while, and the common misconceptions most conservative Christians have that are the result of a faulty interpretation of supposed "end times prophecies" from the Bible.  The movement to turn the then-16 million member denomination into some kind of religious political action committee for the purpose of benefitting the Republican party began in 1979, and was known as the "Conservative Resurgence."  

There was actually a doctrinal and theological aspect to the leadership takeover of the denomination.  The theological change was led by Dr. Paige Patterson,, then President of a broken down, financially strapped Bible college in Dallas, Texas, affiliated with the First Baptist Church there, where W. A. Criswell, the pastor at the time, was deeply involved in conservative Evangelical right wing politics.  The use of the denomination's influence for right wing politics was led by Paul Pressler, a Texas appeals court judge and right wing political operative with ties to President George H. W. Bush.  

While the denomination operates six theological seminaries, two mission boards, one international, one in North America, the largest Christian publishing house in the world, Lifeway, and an executive committee that connects the operations to the churches which support them financially, it is the executive committee, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, that is responsible for operating the annual meetings, and for establishing the doctrinal parameters for cooperation.  

Prior to 1979, the doctrinal statement, known as the Baptist Faith and Message, last revised in 1963, was pretty straight up when it came to expressing the core beliefs of Baptists who belonged to the Southern Baptist Convention.  There were no overt political influences operating at the time, and the statement reflected the fact that the denomination was primarily formed around cooperation in ministry and missions, rather than around singular, hard-line doctrinal positions, like most American Fundamentalists.  

The "Conservative Resurgence," as the right wing movement became known in the denomination, was overtly theological, aimed at shifting the emphasis for cooperation in the Southern Baptist Convention from missions and ministry to doctrinal conformity around fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible, including proclaiming the written text of the Protestant Bible as "inerrant and infallible," and in making sure that interpretations by pastors and church leaders were literal, as understood in King James English, rather than being based on historical contexts and studied conclusions analyzing the text over two thousand years of church history.  

But it was covertly political.  Pressler, a state judge on the Texas Court of Appeals, was also a Republican activist and insider, with connections to the Bush family.  That he cared little about theology beyond using it as a stick to stir the pot, and get people angry enough to vote to make leadership changes in the denomination was obvious from the start.  His non-existent spiritual life was just words, as accusations of sexual assault of young men came to light with evidence.

One of my college professors characterized the changes occurring within the denomination as the application of "too much law and not enough grace," or, as he sometimes put it, "they are throwing Jesus under the bus."  

No Coincidence in the Timing of Events

It is not a coincidence that the takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention by right wing fundamentalist and political operatives coincided with the rise of other conservative Evangelical right wing political activism, such as Falwell's "Moral Majority" and Robertson's "Christian Coalition."  These efforts, along with the changes in the Southern Baptist Convention, were aimed at using right wing conservative religious structures to help elect Republicans to office, supporting the election of the very secular humanist Ronald Reagan over "Born again" Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter.  

Carter reflected a Christian faith rooted in the core doctrines of Christianity as taught by Jesus and recorded in the New Testament.  That kind of biblically based, sincere lifestyle practice of Christianity did not reflect the hard line legalistic perspective of fundamentalism, which is a theologically flawed system that ignores the New Testament text of Jesus' teaching as its primary interpretive standard.  And as a result, it does not find itself compatible with the Republican party's hard line anti-democracy stance.  As right wing Christianity has found itself more and more pulled into the maw of right wing political extremism, it has become less and less "Christian" in its theology.  

The 1963 Baptist Faith and Message openly states the core theological, foundational truth of Christianity, that "Jesus is the  criterion by which all other scripture is to be interpreted."  In the 2000 revision of this doctrinal statement, the fundamentalists and their right wing extremist political friends had that statement completely removed.  And doing so fundamentally changes the entire theological and doctrinal foundation of historic Christian faith and practice.  

In the Southern Baptist Convention, the path taken by Patterson and Pressler was to push the theology and doctrine of the denomination away from the Christian gospel itself, and create a vaccuum into which right wing extremism could fit, for the purpose of convincing church members that voting Republican is as much a religious tenet as the divinity of Jesus.

Charlie Kirk's assassination really opened up a discussion that points to the sharp differences which have developed between the doctrine and theology of conservative Evangelicalism that has allied itself with right wing politics, and the actual Christian gospel itself.  Kirk's defenders are having a difficult time when they encounter the differences that were crystal clear between Kirk's blend of right wing politics with Evangelicalism, and those who can point out the stark differences between that and true Christian faith and practice.  Kirk didn't preach Biblical Christianity, he preached right wing extremist politics.  

It was, in fact, pretty clear that Turning Point has been out of step with the Biblical Christian gospel almost since the beginning, when they invited Don Trump Jr. to their podium, to proclaim that Christians weren't 'getting anywhere in the world" because they were following those liberal talking points preached by Jesus, like turning the other cheek.  

If you're a genuinely Christian ministry, you don't invite an anti-Christian to be a guest speaker. 

 

The Trump Administration is Failing to Document "Anti-Christian Bias" Concerns Because There is No Anti-Christian Bias in America

Trump Administration Refuses to Document "Anti-Christian Bias"Concerns 

While it is true that the number of Americans connected to a Christian church in some way, whether in active participation as a member, or simply considering themselves "affiliated" or as part of past family tradition, is in relatively rapid decline, it is an observable fact that there is no anti-Christian bias anywhere in our society that has had even the remotest impact on churches and their mission and purpose.  In fact, I can say with confidence that one of the most easily provable facts about American culture and society is the privilege and favor that is given to white, Protestant Americans over all other elements or segments of society.  

The problem is that the privilege which has been extended, which is a violation of the Constitution's separation of church and state and establishment clause in many cases, has been so much of a privilege, that the withdrawal of the privilege to get things back to equal and fair treatment is looked upon as bias, rather than simply as an adjustment being made where favor has been granted when it shouldn't have been.  Putting things in the perspective of religious neutrality is seen as anti-Christian bias, even though it is nothing close to that. 

Such claims require facts.  We already know that virtually every claim Trump has made, this time or last time he was in office, is a baseless lie.  He simply asserts that something is true, in order to justify taking some kind of action that he wants to take.  His facts and figures are not factual, they are made-up lies.  And one of the biggest lies he tells is about a supposed "anti-Christian bias" that exists somewhere in the United States.  

The question is, where is it?  

White Christians are still the most favored and most benefitted group of individuals in American society and culture.  Of course, there are people who disagree with their theology, or with the manner in which they practice their faith.  But point me to any place in the country where there is any evidence at all of an anti-Christian bias?  Where are Christians discriminated against in hiring practices?  In housing?  In the marketplace?  Where is there any restriction at all on any religious practice, or on the presence of Christian witness and testimony in public?  Churches and the businesses they own and operate are free from any restrictions, based on their heavy use of the first amendment separation of church and state, especially when it suits them.  

So point to a single example of anti-Christian bias that has had any effect at all on the free exercise of religion.  Just one.  

Trump is lying about this, just like he lies about everything else. 

Specific to the Federal Government, There is No Anti-Christian Bias

There's no documented anti-Christian event where violence has been turned against Christians who have then been left without government protection of their rights.  During the Biden Administration, which is getting the blame, I can't think of a single incident where there was any violence at all that could be remotely connected to an anti-Christian bias.  

I can, however, immediately remember the violent attack against the Capitol on January 6th, involving hundreds of people wearing Jesus t-shirts, carrying Christian banners and flags and wearing and carrying crosses.  It's hard to call those anti-Patriots Christian, since there's not anything in the Christian gospel about donning your Jesus t-shirt, grabbing your Bible, putting on your gold cross and going out to violently attack people because they were doing their job under the law.  Those were not Christians, in any Biblical or spiritual sense of the term.  

But I digress.  

Any accusation pointing to anti-Christian bias during the Biden administration requires proof.  And those working hard at looking for it, and probably trying to manufacture it somehow, have produced not a single shread of evidence to prove the allegation.  

And there's just a little bit of irony here in the fact that for Trump, who openly denies a Biblical Christian confession, and sticks to his worldliness, Christian faith is about politics and political advantage, not a spiritual relationship with God.  He wouldn't know what anti-Christian bias even looked like, because he doesn't know anything about being Christian.  

There isn't an example of such bias because it doesn't exist.  

Tell the Truth

Christians, particularly white, conservative, Evangelical types, are the most privileged population group in ths country.  Most of the bigotry and racism that exists in our culture is a product of the skewed version of the populist version of the Christian gospel that conservative Christians preach and promote.  The general reaction to that in the culture at large is resentment, and rejection of the message by simply avoiding any kind of participation or contact with them.  As far as the government is concerned, the expectation is religious neutrality, and that's what they claim is anti-Christian bias.  

I really have no idea where all of this is headed, but I do know that the conservative, Evangelical branch of American Christianity that is prone to right wing extremism is not doing this country any favors by helping hand it over to a dictatorship from which they think they are going to benefit.  

 

Are Protests, Marches, "No Kings Days" Making Any Progress?

How do we even evaluate the success of efforts that are working towards getting enough people on the march, and on the move, to bring about a change in the direction this country is headed under the most ideologically and politically unAmerican President we've ever had in office.  In fact, Trump, in terms of his complete and utter lack of  patriotism, lack of understanding of American history and the Constitution, and his racist bigotry, is in a category all by himself when it comes to "UnAmerican Presidencies."  There haven't been any others.  

I must admit, I've had my doubts about the effectiveness of this direction the opposition to Trump has taken.  For the most part, at least at the beginning, the GOP, and more specifically the MAGA wing of it, serenely ignored the protests and marches, as did Trump and most of his administration.  Personally, I thought that it was too passive, that it was getting people out, but not really directing the energy anywhere, while the Democratic party leadership in Congress seemed to be kind of separated from it, disengaged, cowering behind the excuse of "well, we don't have a majority."  

We didn't do what we could have when we had a majority.  

New leadership, badly needed, came into the DNC.  I had high hopes until the status quo decided that the risk taking energy of new leadership like David Hogg wasn't going to fit, and forced him out.  And to be honest, the energy, and a lot of the money, has gone with Hogg.  The DNC remains stuck in its moribund existence, shuffling papers and passing meager cash donations around here and there.  So much for that. 

Signs That the Protest Movement Might Be Having an Effect

The far end of the spectrum that I use to measure the effectiveness of these protests is their ultimate success in getting Trump and his administration out of the White House before the midterm elections can be rigged in favor of the GOP.  That would be a huge success.  And the prospect of that happening might be highly unrealistic, for sure.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is that nothing really happens at all.  No motivation from the support generated by literally millions of people out in the streets would be disappointing.  And unfortunately, it is also a much more realistic outcome.  

I know there's supposedly some kind of political "law" that claims a certain percentage of the politically engaged population getting out in the streets is a threshold for change, but we don't seem to be able to generate that kind of engagement, and this is a much larger country than those who promote this theory have ever used as an example.  

So, the primary value of these protests so far seems to be the creation of an increased awareness of exactly how bad things are, and to move people, especially those who sat out the last election, to the ballot box.  If the trends of the more accurate polling data continue in the same direction, the Democrats will have a House majority after 2026, and it is also likely that they will have at least one more seat in the Senate than the Republicans can overcome with the Vice-President's presence.  That would, at least, put a stop to the MAGA agenda.  

Will enough Republicans get the message to make a difference now?  That's doubtful.  But they are paying attention.  

Signs of the Effect of Protests on the GOP

Republicans, especially the MAGA core of the party, have gone from ignoring the protests, as much as they can since the size of some of them have been at record proportions and they are hard to ignore, to name calling and labelling.  Inventing "Antifa" presence, because it sounds unAmerican, claiming the huge number of protesters are paid, or are Hamas allies, or terrorists is a change from simply ignoring them early on, are signs that the GOP is not only well aware of the size and scope of the protests, but they are intensely frightened of the potential outcome of them.  

A couple of the GOP's less intellectual fascists have already broken cover and run. 

Kristi Noem, in particular, waging a campaign with Homeland Security tax dollars, has broken the silence indicating that Republicans have taken note of just how badly their support has dropped since Trump got back in the White House.  Television ads promoting free trips for those here "illegally" back to where they came from, complete with cell phone contact app, and promise that "if you leave now, you can come back legally some time later on," seem to be pretty pathetic efforts, if you ask me, to try and get some success out of what has been a major publicity flop.  Now it's blaming the Democrats for the shutdown, on the screens in airports where their system, the one the GOP runs, is causing massive delays.  

And J. D. Vance has also broken the silence, whining, complaining, frustrated when reporters shut down his spin aand make him face the truth, looking very foolish and beaten.  He tries to stick to the party line, and when confronted repeatedly with the truth, loses his composure, and gets humiliated by the interviewer.  George Stephanopoulos is not exactly the most intellectually strong television interviewer, but he sure smacked Vance down when it came to Tom Homan.  And boy did he fall right into the trap Chris Hayes laid for him.  He's feeling the pressure, too. 

What little bit of a bump they tried to get out of the Charlie Kirk assassination has gone away.  Today's "No Kings" protests are sucking what little bit of gas was left right out of that balloon.  The government shutdown is not turning people against Democrats, they are, in larger and larger numbers almost every day, blaming the GOP.  

Well, why not?  They're the ones in charge.  Democrats don't have a majority in either house.  It's stupid to think that people don't know this. 

Then, there's the approaching midterm elections themselves.  Of course the Republicans are scared spitless that they are going to lose at least the House, which would be the end of anything Trumper or MAGA.  There are signs they believe they are going to lose the Senate as well.  So they are exploring all possibilities and taking every step to try and stack the deck in their favor, including the open possibility of simply figuring out how to get the Supreme Court to help them disqualify enough votes to favor their candidates.  

Their little scheme, starting in Texas, seems to have stalled out.  There's no guarantee that redrawing districts in a state where Democratic voters are over the 45% threshold now, and may actually be in the majority, given Trump's shenanigans since January, will net more than a couple of the five seats they are hoping for, if that much.  The last time they tried this, they barely flipped one seat.  Other states poised to join them, Missouri, Indiana, Florida, haven't even reached the point of introducing the legislation yet.  

Of course, the blue states who say they will counter this move if the GOP tries it in Texas can flip about an equal number of seats, according to the data from the 2024 election.  So there's that.  But the fact they are doing this is evidence these rallies indicate to GOP political leadership that they are going to lose.  And that's one reason they are successful and should continue. 

So Keep Them Up

I have hopes that as the level of frustration about Trump's attempts to make himself a dictator keeps ramping up, protests and marches will become more directly focused, and will start to have an effect on a lot of Republican politicians who want to keep their seats but see their chances of doing so slip away.  The polling data on Trump, on the average, is -16.  How much of that will jump over and have an effect on individual Republicans will translate into the number of house seats the Democrats will gain in 2026, and right now, some are saying that's looking like 30 to 35 seats.  

Some GOP members of the house, and a few in the senate, have been squeezed pretty hard by this.  They aren't reliable or predictable, but keeping the pressure up at least takes them out of some of the more extremist activity.  

Then There's Epstein

No one is expecting to be surprised by what comes out of the Epstein files.  That's because the efforts made by Trump's defenders and apologists, and by Trump himself, have given away the contents.  It's just a matter of time.  Then we are going to see whether this country is really nothing more than a morally degenerate mob, or whether we still have a sense of decency and morality when it comes to protecting our children.  I don't expect Trumpers and the MAGA crowd to understand that this is an issue which separates moral, decent Americans from their despicable selves, but there will be a lot of Americans who do see it for what it is.  

I struggle with the thought of giving something like that the kind of attention it will get at these protests, but then, people need to know the truth.  

So, enjoy another march and protest.  Get your bunion pads out, and wear a good pair of sturdy shoes.  

If This Doesn't Ring Alarm Bells, Then Question Your Own Patriotism and Political Values

J.D. Vance Mocked for Claiming Nazi-Loving Texts are "Just Things Young Boys Do"

Being from a generation that believed Americans couldn't be susceptible to the evils of National Socialism, as introduced to the world by Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, because our Constitution is solid in its defense of our freedoms, especially freedom of conscience, and because after witnessing the absolute horror that this political system heaped on everyone it considered a racial, ethnic or religious "enemy", especially the Jewish population of Europe, the Vice-President's lame defense of the blatant ignorance and pathetic stupidity exhibited by a group of Young Republicans is just one more reason why he should not be serving as Vice-President.  

The Vice-President has already told us that he is an unpatriotic bigot in many different statements he's made, mostly in defense of Trump, who he once saw as an unpatriotic, unqualified, stupid bigot himself.  How is it possible to become VP of the United States without any intellectual understanding of Naziism? Or simply being willing to defend it or pass this off as "boys being boys."  These weren't "boys." And this rises to the level of impeachment and removal.  Downplaying what they wrote is indefensible, disgusting partisanship.  It's unpatriotic and unAmerican and thank goodness there are a few journalists, like Chris Hayes and George Stephanopolous, who saw through the veneer and shut him down.  

There are limits to the free exercise of one's conscience, and free speech.  Proclaiming the non-existent virtues of Naziism, because of the clear evidence of its result from history's record, is not free speech, it is offensive and destructive and harmful, and if there aren't direct laws against it, there should be.  Some of those who indulged in this premeditated ignorance are now facing unemployment and becoming a pariah in the political world as a consequence.  Good.  That's well deserved.  The Vice President should also suffer consequences, like being impeached and removed from office, and made ineligible to run again.  

Just keep in mind, Mr. Vice President.  Those millions marching and protesting on October 18 are also protesting against you.  

This Makes Me Sick, and Frankly, I Can't Sympathize With Anyone Who Doesn't Have the Same Reaction

That may sound bigoted, and I guess, in a way, it probably is.  But I have some values and some principles, along with some family sacrifice, invested in this.  My Dad was one of several members of our family who risked his life to fight against this evil.  And as a result of his experience, which changed his life after what he witnessed and experienced over the course of almost three years in military service, provided the foundation for him to teach his son, with passion, core American values that all of humanity is created equal, and add to that the Christian value of loving our neighbors.  

So anyone who casually jokes about the blatantly hateful Nazis and their bottomless evil bigotry are deliberately being disrespectful to every veteran in this country who fought against it, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice.  And a Vice-President who tries to make light of it and excuse them from accountability is being the most disrespectful. Is it because we are just that far away from those events in history that, to him, they are meaningless?  If that's the case, then that doesn't say much about either his education or his intelligence.  

We fought a war against this ideology, so it can't be defended as "joking" or be considered as free speech.  Clearly, Vance is ignorant about that part of our history, unable to discern truth from a lie, and, worse than that, lacking any sort of convictions to take this subject as seriously as the American people once did, who felt that our own security required the ideological destruction of Naziism.  

Or is it because Vance's background has helped him grow into a bigot?  That is also a possibility, probably more likely than the first scenario.  He is certainly a duplicitous, double-speaking, deceitful liar and he's an arrogant opportunist.  My guess is that he is also a bigot, a very self-centered one who sees the sensationalism in all of this negativity as a good thing for his own political career. 

I'll be out there tomorrow, a patriotic American, uniting with millions of others who are calling out the hateful bigotry and racism that is embodied and being promoted by Trump and his supporters.  I've seen a turn in their rhetoric, more in their accusations against those who will be protesting, all of whom are the true patriots, by the way, that indicates they know they are not going to win this.  They are now pathetic and shrill, indicating that they are afraid of what tomorrow's protests stand for, and they are afraid that the turnout will indicate Trump's lack of popularity.  

Trump lost his attempt to get Jimmy Kimmel off the air.  All he did was give Kimmel an even larger audience to inform of Trump's idiocy.  As if we didn't know.  Now, he's poised to lose again, big, on No Kings Day.     

Have We Had Enough of This? Then What Will We Do About It?

Let's start this discussion with a question about our current political situation.  Have we had enough of Trump's abuse and misuse of the power of the Presidency, profiteering off the power of the office, using its power to take revenge on his enemies and making an alliance with a group intent on turning the country into a theocratic autocracy in which he benefits as dictator?  

Beecause that's what's happening in the United States right now.  

Let me ask another question.  This is a constitutional democracy, where popular sovereignty is the primary principle of government, the consent of the governed, the "will of the people."  Is what Trump has to offer what the people want?  And how did we get to that point, if the answer to that question is yes?  

But The Answer to That Question is "NO!" 

This is not what the people of this country want.  Oh, there may be a minority of those who have been brainwashed to think that the kind of populist rhetoric Trump spouts is true, but they are a very small minority.  They have the right to isolate themselves in their own world, but not to impose this view on anyone else.  

Part of the problem is that the percentage of adults who are eligible to make their voice heard in government are too apathetic to do so.  There are too many Americans eligible to vote who are far too dismissive, because they are largely ignorant and misinformed, and perhaps too lazy to figure things out on their own.  Elections have consequences, and the apathetic attitude many Americans display toward getting involved by casting a ballot is one of the reasons we are at this point in our history.  

Ignorance is a huge enemy of democracy.  People get so caught up in their own interests that they have paid little attention to how their government works.  They don't know anything about it, so they don't participate in the process, or they are easily led by the loudest and most shrill voices into believing lies.  A strong public education system has proven to be the key to sustaining democracy, not only in the United States but in other parts of the world.  The quality of our education system, from years of being starved for support and funding because it doesn't make profit, is now showing itself in the dissolution of American Constitutional Democracy.  

There are a lot of people too biased to read the words in that paragraph, and be honest about it, and they will quit reading here.  They are part of the problem, not the solution to it. 

Does The Collective Will Exist to Put a Stop to This Madness? 

We will find out.  We've let a racist demagogue, with the blueprint for a bigoted religious takeover of the government from a wealthy, active, high placed organization, the Heritage Foundation, run amok without putting any constitutional restraints on him.  The courts are nullifying his executive orders, and ruling against some of his interpretations, or lack thereof, of the Constitution.  But as far as stopping anything Trump is doing, well, what should have been happening by now, with a President this incompetent, demented and bent on personal revenge, is not happening.  

It's not like it wasn't anticipated.  We had him in office before, and how, in the name of all that is patriotic and American we did not convince a majority of the electorate to permanently send him packing is beyond me.  We know how he's been enabled.  It's the Supreme Court.  Infected by a very bad dose of partisan politics, the court's ruling on Citizens United opened the door allowing billionaires to buy the government by influencing elections with money and undermining our free press.  That's in the Project 2025 plan, by the way, getting control of the courts to prevent rulings that go against their will.  

Then, the court handed him a blank check, making the President immune from criminal prosecution while he is in office, conditioned on whether the crime he may have committed was within the scope of his duty.  They'd never let something like that get in their way of ruling in his favor.  

Democrats could have stopped this, but maybe the collective will didn't exist, or there wasn't enough foresight to see where a second Trump Presidency would lead and how to prevent that from happening. It would have required breaking the filibuster in order to amend the judiciary act in a way that would allow President Biden the ability to fill five additional seats on the court in order to neutralize the conservative majority that was, in part, stolen from them.  So this would just be stealing back. 

But the old school senate leadership wouldn't do it.  Biden, who should have been just a little bolder and more visionary that he turned out to be as President, let it go.  A packed, more liberal court could have overturned Citizens United, restored parts of the voting rights act that the court nullified, saved Roe, overturned that ridiculous immunity ruling, and any of the liberal justices could have expidited the proceedings in Trump's insurrection and document theft trials, giving Jack Smith a clear path to prosecution and conviction, and Trump a path to prison.  

But it was not to be.  I said, and it can be checked in the record here, when Trump was first accused of these crimes upon leaving the White House that the guts did not exist anywhere to actually prosecute him, and I was right.  Even when others were celebrating the indictments, over 90 of them at one point, I didn't let myself believe he would ever see the inside of a court room for anything that mattered much.  That sort of thing does not happen to people like Donald Trump in this country.  We resist it as if it is second nature.  

He Needs to be Removed From Office

Frankly, I don't think this country will benefit much from the remnants of a Trump administration.  But it will be a lot better off than it us with him still in power.  And it will take the collective will of the nation to get him out, because the Constitutional provisions for doing so look impossible at the moment.  Reality can change things, and sometimes it has to come crashing down for people to think realistically.  

But here's the bottom line.  If we have had enough of this, and it appears that every day that passes adds thousands more to that list of people who have, reality will make the system work, and we will find a legitimate, legal way to get this demagogue out of the White House.  

Democrats Made the Right Move on the Shutdown and Seem to Be In Control of the Narrative

Filtering through opinion polls from news sources that are no longer really part of the free press to gather information about how people are reacting to the government shutdown produces a mixed bag of results, though reading the comments and reactions adds a little bit of perspective.  With the understanding that a lot of people who are right wing conservatives have little to no understanding what this actually means, Democratic political leadership in Congress should be quite happy with what they are seeing.  The "American people," the catch all phrase that everyone uses when they see a slight majority of support leaning their way, are forming an opinion about the government shutdown. 

The Republicans, and Trump, are getting the blame and they are having to own the consequences of what is happening.  

The reaction, really, should be a little more overwhelming than it is, but we're used to the political polarization in this country by now.  What we are not used to seeing is GOP leadership overwhelmingly reacting in a way that gives their secrets away and tells us they are really frightened by what they are seeing, and really angry that they are in a position where they are going to have to cave in on what Democrats want in order to relieve the pressure and get the government operating again.  

It's still a secret about how many Republicans are going to break ranks.  They are still good about avoiding those kind of public commitments.  But the Democrats have some real advantages going for them here.  One is that Trump's unpopularity has reached a point where there is visible motivation of opposition.  I don't really see the growing number of rallies and marches and protests as having much of an effect from that side of the political spectrum.  They have no real objective and they are largely ignored by Republicans, or at least, up until a couple of weeks ago they were.  The other is that there are 20 million Americans whose health insurance coverage is going to either disappear altogether, or skyrocket, if the Republicans get their way on the budget.  

And so, Senator Schumer has somehow managed to find fortitude and enthusiasm that I have not ever really see him have, and that he rarely exhibited when prodded by Speaker Pelosi's presence in leadership.  He, apparently does have a spine, and he may slowly be awakening to the idea that the old school politics of give and take, negotiate, compromise and play nice, are dead and gone and the only way to beat this demagogue at his game is to stand up and fight back.  

Speaker Mike Johnson is clearly feeling the pressure, as his shrill responses and his sticking to the scripted words indicate.  Honestly, I've never seen him so animated, and so nervous, and he's normally not one to parrot the catch phrases.  He's rattled.  

Kudos to Democrats like Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, who are not only standing firm in their position, and spending a lot of time generating support for their position from their constituents, especially in a state like Arizona, where the percentage of people on the verge of this insurance crisis is almost double that of the average, where the Democrats who now hold the statewide elected offices and both senate seats as a result of their position on this very issue, but who are becoming confrontational in ways that are showing voters who is really on their side.  

Arizona's governor, Katie Hobbs, just announced her re-election bid, and has favorable polling numbers precisely because she has brought affordable health care to the top of the list of issues facing Arizonans.  Arizona has a much higher than average population who get health care from the exchanges, and a high percentage of adults living on social security alone.  The increases in health care rates would generate a crisis there that would put a lot of hospitals out of business.  

Those who are directly affected by the shudown, including those federal employees who are losing their jobs, are not being fired by a Democrat in the White House.  It's Trump, and everyone knows that.  He's a lame duck, and his goal has been to boost the revenue for his billionaire supporters out of the tax cuts his budget cuts support, but populist ignorance makes people vote against their own interests because they lack the intelligence, and are cut off from the truth, so they can't figure this out.  He's adding millions to the list of those who have a direct reason to hate him.  

Still 13 months out from the next election, which some ridiculous court ruling from the stupid six on the Supreme Court could derail, or fix for the GOP, this issue has very likely guaranteed the Democrats a house majority.  Johnson clearly sees the end of his term coming, and if the Democrats can kick the moribund DNC into gear, and focus on making some real challenges in senate races that are winnable, using these self-desctructive Republican actions, we can end the Trump tyranny and open the door to getting him out of the White House a couple of years before this term is over.

The Fabric of American Liberty is Being Ripped Apart

I'm waiting for John Fugelsang's latest book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible From Fundamentalists, Facists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds to arrive.  It's backordered, if you click the link and want to get it from Bookshop.org.  American Christianity has always been subject to the possibility of being hijacked by theological and cultural intruders who completely miss the point by making something out of the collection of ancient works the church collected, preserved and turned into "scripture" intent upon bestowing some kind of political power upon the church that Jesus never intended for it to have or use.  

Why We'd Better Get Interested in This

The First Amendment is what makes this country America.  There's a whole lot to the Constitution that is unique, powerful, and which contributes to this country being the world power that it is.  Beyond that, there's a lot more that contributes to the freedom we enjoy, under which we prosper, and which contributes to our pursuit of happiness.  The First Amendment is the core, the foundation, the thing that makes sacrifice for its protection worth it.  

It wasn't perfectly formed when it was first written and ratified.  Slavery was an acknowledged evil in the writing of some of those who were responsible for its drafting, and yet, the more powerful need to get the Constitution ratified, and the government established, caused dealing with it to be postponed for more than fifty years after it was ratified.  And even then, it took a bloody civil war before the 13th amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery.  And the struggle, and the racism, went on for at least another century. 

The founding fathers, most particularly those involved with drafting the Constitution, and especially those who drafted the Bill of Rights, had a close up seat for the kind of violence, hatred and bigotry caused by state sponsored and controlled religion.  Europe's history is one of hundreds--literally--hundreds of years of bloody violence and war over trying to protect the waning power of one religion over the growing changes brought about by the Renaissance and the Reformation which challenged, and eventually broke, that power.  

Why would we ever want to go back to that?  Why would the people in America, who came here at least in part to escape from that, want it to follow them here?  

So we have the First Amendment, freedom of conscience that includes religious liberty and the complete separation of the state from control over, or by, any religious structure or organization or church.  

But we've had our share of religious persecution and infighting among the various denominations and sects in the United States that have staked out their territory and attempted to use religious fervor and influence to try and gain a power advantage for a political agenda. 

Here's the bottom line, at least, from my personal perspective.  If a person is confident that the theology, doctrine and practice of their faith grants them forgiveness and salvation and the spiritual life they are seeking, then it is not necessary to put down, attack, vilify or otherwise disparage what other people believe.  And if it's the Christian gospel, revealed to humanity by Jesus Christ, that one has chosen to follow, then practicing that faith, and evangelizing it to others, doesn't require the use of the political power of the state to grow or to be sustained.  

In fact, to attempt to unite the church and the state, for evangelistic or control purposes, would be completely against the core principles of the Christian gospel as taught by Jesus himself.  Within the Christian tradition, Jesus is believed to be the divinely human Son of God, and part of the trinitarian godhead, so if that is the case, his word supercedes all other words on the subject, including that of the other authors of the Bible.  His teaching and the systematic theology he laid out is the filter by which all of the rest of the Bible is to be interpreted.  

History Does Repeat Itself

So why should Americans be getting interested in this?  Because there is an abberration of Christianity that has intruded upon the Christian church in America, and it is heading down a road toward the destriction of individual rights and the Constitution, specifically the separation of church and state and religious liberty.  It is destroying the orthodoxy and sincerity of an entire branch of American Christianity.  And if it continues, it will destroy our Constitutional Democracy. 

The Apostle Jude, author of one of the shortest epistles that made the New Testament Canon, slipped in right in front of the book of Revelation, warned the early church that such intrusions of distorted and false doctrine were possible, and in fact, had already occurred.  It's a prophetic warning of events that have repeatedly plagued Christianity virtually since the church itself was born.  The Christian faith that Jesus revealed to humanity was a lifestyle, lived according to a set of virtues and values that are acquired because of our understanding of God and who he is, not by following a set of rules or laws under the enforcement of some religious authority.  

The face of religious-based violence pops up every now and then.  Most recently, we saw it in the faces of those who dressed themselves in Jesus t-shirts and then went off to violently attack the United States Capitol in the name of an anti-Christ.  We are seeing it in the formation of organizations like Turning Point USA, a distorted form of pseudo-Christianity whose leader advocated the use of violence when necessary to advance what they see as their ideological "cause."  So it wasn't all that surprising that he was assassinated by one of his own disciples.  

And we saw it again in the face of the conservative Evangelical zealot who attacked a Mormon congregation in Grand Blanc, Michigan.  The Mormons have a lot of endurance of persecution at the hands of people who think of themselves as good Christians in their past.  In fact, had it not been for the targeted persecution of Mormons, specifically its original "Prophet," Joseph Smith, they would likely have scattered, dwindled and eventually died out instead of establishing the closest thing we now have to a Christian nationalist kingdom in the middle of the Utah desert.  

Mormons and conservative Evangelicals share a lot of extremist right wing political perspectives, but there is very little else they have in common, including almost nothing at all when it comes to the doctrine and practice of their churches.  Evangelicals are harsh critics of Mormonism, there's quite a market for anti-Mormon books and works which help churches teach their members about Mormon false doctrine and avoid being converted, and which lay down evidence that Mormons are not Christians by definition.  

Nor are Mormons silent when it comes to these attacks.  Mormons have their own nationalist theology, a core principle of their doctrine is that it is their destiny to take over the government of the United States in order to prepare the world for the advent of the universal Adam-God they believe will make a physical return to the earth.  And of course, that is in direct conflict with white, Christian nationalism from the conservative Evangelical perspective.  

We should not be surprised, then, that any kind of violence with the potential to disrupt American society would be religious in nature.  And that's why it's vitally important that Americans, even those who think of themselves as being intellectually liberated from religion need to know the root causes of these extremist political cults and their activity.  They are more dangerous than the Ku Klux Klan ever was.