How Do We Know That The Republicans Know They Are Going to Lose the Midterms in a Big Way?

Watching the Dallas Cowboys play the Green Bay Packers tonight, and seeing the ads that Ken Paxton is now running as he falls further and further behind James Talarico was almost heartwarming in a way.  Paxton is obviously desperate, making accusations that can easily be proven false, and showing a level of contempt for the intelligence of those he thinks are his core base is as bad as anything Trump has done.  Claiming that there is a chance that a kid could undergo a sex change operation during the school day is about as desperate as it can get.  Claiming that his opponent isn't as Christian as he, Paxton, is, when the whole state knows that he's a serial adulterer who had one very public affair, and is known for his philandering, is the equivalent of saying that all conservative Republican Texans are stupid idiots because they will believe this tripe.   

Now I've lived in Texas, over the course of 26 years from 1983 to 2010, and I can attest to the fact that there are a lot of Republicans there who are stupid idiots, and they've proven it by electing some of the worst politicians in the country, like Rick Perry and Greg Abbott, to start with, and Ted Cruz, among some other doozies.  But I would guess that there are now some Texas Republicans who are looking at this tripe coming from Paxton, and who haven't forgotten the embarrassment of his impeachment and all that happened prior to and afterward, and are having real doubts about ruining their own political career by supporting him.  

To my knowledge, and factually, it is not possible to perform a sex change operation on a child during a school day.  And the fact that there is anyone who even thinks that there's a problem in Texas with kids leaving their house in the morning with the physical equipment of one gender and returning home later that afternoon with the equipment of another is a sign of just how stupid Paxton thinks his supporters are, and how gullible they must be.  The fact that this is now part of his campaign should tell anyone who has even the smallest inkling of political knowledge that Paxton should not get their vote under any circumstance.  

And Talarico's response is going to prove to be the best approach, which is to simply let Paxton rant, and spend millions on ineffective television ads while he continues to draw increasingly larger crowds, and has expanded his lead in 19 different polls by well over a 5% margin.  Paxton has been running these ads for weeks, now, while Talarico's polling lead has extended to take in even the more conservatively skewed polls, and his support has reached the 50% level in virtually every poll.  He now leads Paxton by percentages outside the margin of error in almost every single poll tracking this race.  

Us Conservative Evangelicals Are Right, and Them Mainline Liberal Protestants Are Wrong

It's no surprise that Paxton doesn't have a church connection that includes the identifying marks of membership and regular attendance.  He claims he was once associated with Prestonwood Baptist Church, the largest Southern Baptist church in Texas.  It's one of those kinds of places where the pastor is flattered that some Republican politician wants his name associated with the church.  But in this case, it's been somewhat controversial that Paxton, who like his inamorata Trump is a serial adulterer, a sin that Southern Baptists used to condemn.  In any case, church officials at Prestonwood have confirmed that Paxton was never a member, and hasn't attended there in years.  

Talarico is a minister in the United Presbyterian Church, the same denomination, ironically, that Trump claims he was raised in to try and legitimize a connection to his Evangelical base.  But United Presbyterians are not conservative Evangelicals.  Their theology is centered in two thousand years of Christian history and tradition when it comes to their interpretation of the Bible and their belief in the nature of God, and the Christian gospel.  It is quite different from the interpretation and practice of Southern Baptists, whose fundamentalist beliefs are not rooted in Christian tradition, but in a literalist interpretation of the Bible that ignores its historical and theological context to arrive at very skewed interpretations and practices thar go back to the promotion of the Scofield Bible and the premillennial dispensationalism of John Nelson Darby.  

The problem that Paxton is having here is that many Texas voters, even some Republicans, are not as stupid as they think they are.  They can see Paxton's corruption that resulted in a highly publicized impeachment led by some of his fellow Republicans.  The evidence regarding incidents of bribery, abuse of office, obstruction of justice and retaliation against whistleblowers, all of whom were fellow Republicans, was highly publicized and irrefutable.  And on top of that, Paxton's adulterous affair and eventual separation and divorce from his wife wasn't a secret.  Nor were allegations of other similar affairs, or his very open attitude that he considers this a non-issue.  

The effect of all of this has been to solidify support for Talarico.  A clear majority of Texas voters don't have a problem with his theological or doctrinal views regarding Christianity.  Most, in fact, find themselves in agreement with him rather than with the hard line fundamentalist Southern and independent Baptists and the Pentecostals and Charismatics with their heretical "prosperity gospel" and their phony miracles and revelations that go against the Christian gospel, along with their "speaking in tongues."  

Texas is also now a state where the majority of the population is made up of members of minority groups, particularly blacks and latinos who Paxton and Trump have managed to alienate if there ever really was a drift in that direction in 2024.  And even though Paxton, in spite of his moral bankruptcy, still has the support of a majority of white Evangelicals, that's not going to be enough to overcome what he's lost among black and latino voters, combined with the moderate to liberal white vote.  

Paxton's ads aren't aimed at bringing in new voters, they are aimed at shoring up his own base.  And that's a real sign of desperation.  His public appearances, few and far between, can't pack a high school gymnasium, while Talarico's supporters are jamming the larger venues in towns in some of what were once the reddest counties in the state.  It's hard to sell abortion restrictions in a state where there have been multiple, highly publicized instances of women dying because they couldn't find a doctor to perform surgery to save their life because of their pregnancy, or who have had to flee the state to get the life saving care they need.  

Talarico doesn't hide his Christian theology, which focuses on the exact things Jesus said were important.  In fact, he quotes Jesus directly, when it comes to what he had to say about loving one's neighbor being the core foundational practice of the Christian faith, in its context.  Those who claim that he's "not Christian" because of specific ideology are not basing their judgment on Biblical doctrine, but on their own skewed interpretation of it.  

Paxton, of course, is not the only Republican dragging out their old line political views to try and motivate their own voters.  Its happening in every place where Republicans perceive, or actually know, that the polling data is moving in favor of their opponents.  Why else would they be pulling out all the stops to try and suppress voter turnout?  

Was he paying attention to the size of the crowds in Texas who turned out for the No Kings marches and rallies that focused millions of participants on early voting?  I guess so, if we read his ads correctly. 

There's No Such Thing as a "Christian" Way to Vote

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  And the Republicans are clearly desperate.  

With the disapproval of the President's job performance extending above the 60% level in the controlled and intimidated media, the Republicans have abandoned running on the issues, and are doing their dead level best to distract voters by focusing on matters irrelevant to the government and to election issues.  Of course, the determination of which party is more "Christian" has once again reared its ugly head.  

It has worked in the past for Republicans, convincing the conservative, Evangelical branch of American Christianity--which is based on a false interpretation of the Bible and on practice stemming from that pseudo-Christian perspective--to support them.  This gave them just enough of an edge to break deadlocks in some elections, opening the door to a flood of Christian nationalists which completely changed the platform and direction of the GOP, abandoning its former values and principles for what can only be accurately defined as fascist.  

These same white supremacist, Christian nationalists also became stealth intruders into Christian churches, hijacking the pursuit of truth with a brand of fundamentalist heresy I label as the Darby-Scofield intrusion, a literalist perspective that completely alters the church's historical theological and doctrinal views, changing churches into cults and political groups seeking what Christians once called "worldly" power and influence, abandoning their spiritual lifeline.  

But that seems to have come to an abrupt conclusion.  

As conservative Evangelical churches lose members like a sieve, a slide that directly correlates to the beginning of movements like the Christian Coalition and the Moral Majority, the accusations that Republicans make against Democrats, that they are Communists, Muslims, baby-killers and Atheists, all at the same time, don't have the audience appeal they once did, A significant portion of the American population, according to multiple surveys, rejects the religious-political blending of conservative Evangelicalism with right wing political extremism, including the influence of white supremacy and Christian nationalism.  There are a couple of reasons for this.  

Hypocrisy Knows No Bounds, But People Can Figure It Out For Themselves

The current political leader of the GOP is Trump.  If there is a more notorious, and obviously morally bankrupt individual anywhere in this country, we'd know about them by now.  The argument made by Republicans, especially conservative Evangelical Republicans, about Democrats being "godless" and having thrown God out of the party, which is a lie of course, is totally and completely nullified by their unqualified support for a man who has openly denied the very core Christian doctrine of salvation by openly stating, directly to Franklin Graham of all people, that he has done nothing requiring God's forgiveness.  

That is, in the fundamentalist, conservative Evangelical doctrine, what is known as the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and it is the only unforgivable sin in the Bible.  Graham, who continues to support Trump, has gone to great length and expense to attempt to cover this statement up, made on camera during an interview in which Trump didn't have enough knowledge about Christian faith to avoid saying so directly, in so many words.  

But how is it possible to claim that one can't be Christian and support abortion rights, or any of the dozen things on the list of Republican moral no-no's, when the party's own leader is a proud serial adulterer, a convicted rapist, a treasonous rebel against the United States constitution, a pathological liar who slept with a porn star while his third wife was pregnant with their son?  How can you clam the Democrats are "Communists" when the party's leader lays out the red carpet and falls all over himself with tissues and toilet paper for the world's most notorious Communist to wipe his butt and blow his nose?  Being a mendacious suck-up to Xi Jinpeng doesn't support the weak claims of the campaign arm of the RNC that the Democrats are the communists.  

Nor does Trump's long standing political love affair with Kim Jong Un, the other notorious communist leader of the world, and enemy of the United States. 

The number of ignorant and-sorry but I have to say it--stupid Americans who still support him and live under rocks where they have no clue about what is true has dropped below the point where this ignorance can help the GOP.  It does not appear to be working and, in fact, it is having the effect of convincing a growing number of voters that electing Trump and the GOP was a huge mistake.  

The Intrusion of Trump's Version of Right Wing Extremism Into Conservative Evangelicalism is Causing a Mass Exodus of Both Individual Members and Entire Church Congregations

Trump counts on his belief that most of his followers are too stupid, ignorant and weak-willed to understand and know the truth.  When the statement is made, that if you're Christian, there are certain issues that cannot be supported, implying that one is not Christian at that point, or at least, is not as good of a Christian as the one making the accusation, it might be a good idea to make sure that there is no fault found in the one making the accusation.  It completely undermines the argument, that Christians can't vote for something perceived as immoral or "unchristlike," when the accuser is a full throated supporter of Trump, whose lifestyle is an example of the kind of licentious debauchery that the Bible condemns in no uncertain terms.  

If "those" Christians who support Democrats are wrong, and aren't Christian for supporting what conservatives say they can't support, then those Republican Christians who support Trump are at least equally unchristlike and wrong.  And frankly, if correct theology and Biblical interpretation is applied, Trump does indeed measure far worse, because he is actually engaged in blatant immorality, while the accusations against Democrats are that they support certain immoral practices.  

And what warms my heart is that I am seeing multiple posts on the social media sites spreading this Republican tripe that are answering back, and in some cases, are so overwhelming in numbers that whoever originated the post is forced to take it down.  

Jesus Didn't Put Conditions on the Christian Salvation Experience.  It's a Grace Gift, Not Conditioned on a Set of Theological or Political Beliefs

One of the major interpretation errors the Scofield-Darby Fundamentalists make in their interpretation of the Bible is making the words of Jesus, who Christians accept as a divine part of a triune God, equal with those of Paul and the apostles, or the Old Testament prophets.  But it's a grave theological error to attribute a divine nature to Jesus and then not make his words the criterion by which all other written works are measured. 

And that completely distorts their interpretation of the Bible.  It also leads to a salvation experience that is based on specific personal works to earn it, and a set of doctrinal and theological affirmations to maintain it.  Both of those ideas are contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

What Jesus actually said about what we now refer to as Christian salvation, or becoming a Christian, was simple: 

"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I will also deny before my Father in heaven."  Matthew 10:32-33, NRSV

"...what must I do to inherit eternal life?  He [Jesus] said to him [the lawyer asking the question] 'What is written in the law? What do you read there?'  

He answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself."  And he [Jesus] said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this and you will live."  Luke 10:25b-28, NRSV.  

Selective interpretation and application of a few disjointed parts of the Bible have led this fundamentalist Scofield-Darby cult to come up with a list of requirements for their version of the Christian salvation experience, which is based on praying a specific prayer that leads a person to cross into salvation when it is uttered from their lips.  But the Bible's writers, including major apostles like Paul and John, do not support this list of requirements to be saved, and then requirements to maintain it or lose it.  

According to Jesus, the simple acknowledgement of the greatest commandment, the second being like the first, is the gateway to salvation and eternal life.  Paul repeats it when his words to the Philippian jailer, recorded by Luke in the Book of Acts, are simply spoken.  The jailer asked, "What must I do to be saved?"  And Paul replied with the simple grace statement, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household, collectively, will be saved.  

This is a work of grace, which means that once it has been done, it cannot be undone.  Otherwise, its not grace, its works.  There is absolutely no other requirement, including a requirement that one cannot support a particular political position or party.  

Let's Think This Through, and Come to the Only Possible Conclusion

But if we take this Scofield-Darby Fundamentalism and its logic seriously for a minute, we can see why their view is the wrong view.  

If it is wrong for Christians to vote for Democrats because "they support abortion," which is a simplistic statement, but I'll use this as an example, then it would be at least equally wrong for Christians to support a political party which refuses to acknowledge the crimes, moral bankruptcy, unrepentant adultery and alleged child rape of their leader, Trump.  That includes his attempt to overturn a legitimate election and the continued silence, the equivalent of a lie, in refusing to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election in 2020.  And that makes them guilty of sedition.  

They can argue the finer points of Christian doctrine all they want, but the Constitution allows no religious test for holding office and the Christian doctrine of any individual candidate for office is irrelevant to their qualifications.  But their character, moral values and public example are important, and Republicans refusing to acknowledge Trump's failures makes them the worse kind of lying hypocrites.  

Democrats don't "believe in" abortion.  That's not the correct term to use.  What they believe is that the government has no place in determining a woman's health care choices.  The belief that abortion is murder is not supported by either American law, or the Bible.  So laws which restrict access to it are not only an invasion of personal privacy, they are also a violation of conscience to anyone who does not share or accept the conservative, right wing extremist view.  

If Democrats are to be held accountable for abortion, then Republicans are to be held accountable for adultery, rape, child molestation, treasonous insurrection and all of the criminal acts of Trump while in office.