Does Evangelicalism need image consultants for damage control? Evangelicals on the Trump train – are they on the wrong track?
I ask because there are certain Christians who think that the image of Evangelicalism has been damaged by an “unholy” association with Trump and his supporters. Certain Christians are worried about what people think about Evangelicalism with its brand of Jesus and the gospel.
The Build Back Better campaign to restore the image of Evangelicalism is concerned about two things: Evangelicals promoting a man of Trump’s character and (using the language of the Left) the “extremist” and “fascist” character of so-called Christian nationalism.
No doubt, Trump has an earthy communication style. He’s from New York. He speaks like a New Yorker and not like Evangelicals and Evangelical elites. On the record is a September 2005 conversation when he spoke in graphic, vulgar language about trying to commit adultery and forcing himself on women.
Eleven years later (October 7, 2016) and one month before the United States presidential election, the Washington Post published a video and article about the conversation between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and television host Billy Bush. Trump immediately issued an apology on Facebook, posted Friday, October 7, 2016:
“Here is my statement. I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not. I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. Anyone who knows me, know these words don’t reflect who I am. I said it, it was wrong, and I apologize. I’ve travelled the country talking about change for America. But my travels have also changed me. I’ve spent time with grieving mothers who’ve lost their children, laid off workers whose jobs have gone to other countries, and people from all walks of life who just want a better future. I have gotten to know the great people of our country, and I’ve been humbled by the faith they’ve placed in me. I pledge to be a better man tomorrow, and will never, ever let you down. Let’s be honest. We’re living in the real world. This is nothing more than a distraction from the important issues we are facing today. We are losing our jobs, we are less safe than we were 8 years ago and Washington is broken. Hillary Clinton, and her kind, have run our country into the ground. I’ve said some foolish things, but there is a big difference between words and actions. Bill Clinton has actually abused women and Hillary has bullied, attacked, shamed and intimidated his victims. We will discuss this more in the coming days. See you at the debate on Sunday.”
After hearing about the conversation, Trump’s wife Melania put out her own statement:
“The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.”
And Trump’s former campaigner, Corey Lewandowski, said on CNN, “Is this defensible? I don’t think so.”
“But we’re not choosing a Sunday school teacher here.”
I wonder. Should all Christian Never Trumpers have their past conversations exposed, as was done to Trump? I think it should be done. Never-Trumpers, as they are wont to tell us, are very concerned about the character of those they surround themselves with and support. For example:
Christians Against Trumpism & Political Extremism, was founded by friends and partners John Kingston and Joel Searby. It is at root a spiritual endeavor, because John and Joel believe in the potential for renewal in our church and the nation.
The wife of the staunch Never Trumper David French, Nancy French, is a supporter of this organization as are other of our Christian “betters” who are very worried about “the darkness of Trumpism and other political extremism.”
But the following recent report is sullying for all in support of this “informal yet organized group of Christian leaders, thinkers, influencers, and everyday believers who publicly stand against the personal behavior, degrading policy proposals, and poisonous rhetoric modeled by President Trump and extremist groups from the far left and right.”
The “Christians Against Trumpism” co-founder [Joel Searby] is facing charges for lewd/lascivious conduct, two counts of obscene communications related to luring a minor to meet for sex, and using a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony.
‘Christians Against Trumpism’ Co-Founder Arrested for Soliciting Sex from 15-Year-Old Boy | The Gateway Pundit | by Brian Lupo
And, here’s Never-Trumper David French in “extremist” mode:
CANNON: Never-Trumper David French Picks Half a Million Abortions Over Trump Being Re-Elected… Seriously. – The National Pulse
And, again, David French in “extremist” mode:
NYT Columnist Says Trump Support Less Excusable Than Slavery. (thenationalpulse.com)
~~~
Can Anything Good Come Out of Trump Tower?
Would God use a person of “questionable character” to lead the country?
In the previous post I wrote . . .
Like all of us, Jacob is a work in progress. He is of questionable character and not someone we would have thought of to be the namesake (Israel) of a nation of people who are to represent God’s character to the world. But God, in His wisdom and mercy, works with Jacob – his faults, his dysfunction, his deceitful ways, and his sins – and seeks to redeem him for his purposes. God is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy (cf. Psalm 103: 6-18) (unlike many judgmental types today who are loathe to work with God to redeem relationships with those they do not consider worthy of redemption.)
No doubt, if today’s Evangelical image consultants lived back then they would have worked vigorously to keep the scoundrel Jacob out of that role. They sure wouldn’t associate with Jacob. “He’s not one of us,” they would say.
“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
-The gospel of Mark 9:38-41
Over and over in the gospels I find Jesus being counter-cultural. He isn’t constrained by demands of the image consultants – the Pharisees and legal experts, the religious types.
There are certain Christians who are very ‘concerned’ about Trump being associated with Evangelicalism because he is “not one of us.” (Trump’s not the squeaky-clean sweet old Sunday School teacher type– someone who looks Evangelical and talks Evangelical-ese – that we had in mind for the position.)
But haven’t Never-Trumpers and all Americans received a cup of water in the form of humanitarian goodness – peace and prosperity – under the scoundrel Trump’s first term? Was Trump working against Christians or for us? Wasn’t the Unprecedented Economic Boom under Trump something of a miracle?
The arm chair holier-than-MAGA disparagers no doubt benefitted from Trump’s presidency.
Trump Administration Accomplishments – The White House (archives.gov)
A summary:
Unprecedented Economic Boom (3-1/2 years before the Chinese-Fauci virus), including:
Jobless claims hitting a nearly 50-year low
The number of people claiming unemployment insurance as a share of the population hit its lowest on record
Incomes rose in every single metro area in the United States for the first time in nearly 3 decades.
Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.
The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.
Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue-collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.
Tax Relief for the Middle Class
Massive Deregulation
Fair and Reciprocal Trade
American Energy Independence
Investing in America’s Workers and Families
Life-Saving Response to the China Virus – Restricted travel to the United States from infected regions of the world.
Remaking the Federal Judiciary
Achieving a Secure Border
Restoring American Leadership Abroad
Serving and Protecting Our Veterans
Making Communities Safer
Cherishing Life and Religious Liberty, and more.
During Trump’s first term there were NO wars. There was a Middle East peace deal – the Abrahamic accords. Constitutionalist SCOTUS justices were installed, securing Democracy. (Abortion decisions are to be made at state level.) And, . . .
Supreme Court delivers MASSIVE VICTORY for J6 politcal prisoners and a crushing blow to regime’s lawfare…
Supreme Court overturns Chevron deference, striking MASSIVE blow to the administrative state…
By shooting down ‘Chevron deference’ doctrine, SCOTUS restored democratic rulemaking, experts say | Just The News
Under Trump there was no invasion of our southern border.
There were no flood of illegals murdering our daughters.
Illegal Alien From Turkey Accused of Raping 15-Year-Old Girl in Albany, NY (legalinsurrection.com)
Open Borders Subject Women and Girls in the US to Rapes and Wanton Violence | Frontpage Mag
Under Trump there was no deluge of fentanyl killing people.
There was no surge of terrorists, gangs and drug cartels.
Inflation was around 2%. People had money to support themselves, buy a home, and to give to charitable causes like The Roy’s Report and The Trinity Forum, (where Never-Trumpers hawk their Never-Trumper wares.)
Americans weren’t ghosted by Trump. Trump was ghosted by Never-Trumpers who supported the mess we have today.
Under Bidenomics – “You will own nothing and be happy.”
This Is Fine: Average Salary Required to Own a Home Increased 80.5% Under Biden – Twitchy
During Trump’s four years in the White House, Never-Trumpers sat around and whined and nitpicked about all things Trump. They had the time and the means to write books about terrible Trump and Evangelical MAGA “extremists” who will destroy “Democracy!!”
~~~~
“White Raging” Rubes and MAGA Christians
Keep in mind two of Saul Alinsky’s 13 Rules for Radicals that are at work in Never-Trumper’s campaigns:
– “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.” There is no defense. It’s irrational. It’s infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions.”
– “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
The sneering class has deemed people of MAGA persuasion “deplorables” “bitter clingers” “extremists” “conspiracy theorists” “xenophobes”, “authoritarians”, and “fascists.” And MAGA Christians are deemed not just “a threat to Evangelicalism!” but to “DEMOCRACY!”
This while, (Our Statement – Christians Against Trumpism) . . .
“Political extremism, whether from the “left” or the “right,” uses violence, chaos, and degrading language as tools for social change.”
See above for who uses degrading language. But who uses violence and chaos as tools for social change? The “extremist” Left, for example;
Portland’s grim reality: 100 days of protests, many violent | AP News
47 arrested, 59 officers injured in Seattle protests that turned violent – KIRO 7 News Seattle
Masked Activists Violently Attack Jews at North Carolina Public Library – Algemeiner.com
Judge Rejects Biden Admin Bid To Dismiss Lawsuit Over ‘Illegal and Dangerous’ $1.5 Billion Palestinian Payment Plan (freebeacon.com)
We are told on MSM that us hobbits are white raging rubes who don’t know any better and are in a cult of personality and that the Christians in this sad group are making Christianity look bad. With the election season upon us, there’s a growing list of shaming screeds promoted on MSNBC.
These Never-Trumper books are meant to make readers feel morally superior if they make the ‘right’ choice: to not support and vote for Trump. Three of these authors want to move you in the direction of being an ‘acceptable’ Christian and politically ‘acceptable’ in their eyes:
Tim Alberta and The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, published December 5, 2023
Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman with White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy published on February 27, 2024
Jim Wallis: The False White Gospel: Rejecting Christian Nationalism, Reclaiming True Faith, and Refounding Democracy, published April 2, 2024
The After Party: Toward Better Christian Politics, Nancy French and Curtis Chang, based on project by David French, Russell Moore & Curtis Chang, published April 23, 2024
Please don’t tell me that these authors are writing and talking about these things to protect Jesus from the rabble. “Put down your sword, Peter.” Jesus – very God and the One who cast out demons and calmed the storm – is not beholden to anyone for protection. Their version of Christianity is what they are protecting.
Tom Schaller and Paul Waldman of White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy went on MSNBC to push their polemic rant of a poorly researched book. They posit “fourfold threats” coming from the “White rural” rube demographic:
- Rural “Whites” are racist and xenophobic, adverse to DEI and are an impedance to a pluralist society
- Rural “Whites” embrace conspiracy-mongering because of their proclivity to anger
- Rural “Whites” rubes form authoritarian rebellious groups with “right-wing” money
- Rural “Whites” harass, intimidate, and are violent
Victor Davis Hanson reviewed On White Rural Rage by Tom Schaller & Paul Waldman: All the rage | The New Criterion. He handily refutes the book’s “often-incoherent polemic.” Here’s his response to number 3 of the “fourfold threats” posed by raging “Whites”:
“In their psychodramatic formulation, the authors allege that
“U.S. democracy is in peril. Ballot blockers, wannabe authoritarians, White Christian nationalists, and constitutional sheriffs each pose existential and often overlapping threats to American constitutional government. Unfortunately, rural Whites form the tip of the spear for each of these movements.
“No data is supplied to support such an “existential” threat, much less one originating in rural white America—other than polls that suggest about half the nation feels that America is a Christian nation.”
Hanson’s impression of the book . . .
“White Rural Rage is for the most part a compilation of misleading polls, left-wing news accounts, interviews with state and local Democratic politicos, and sloppy, cherry-picked references to and quotes from kindred academics that reinforce the authors’ preexisting belief in a vast rural white cabal of violent racists and conspiracists. . .
“In the end, White Rural Rage is not so much a warning about a national, seething, rural white danger to democracy as it is a projection of the fears of elite white authors, conspiracy-minded as they often are themselves.”
Tim Alberta, journalist and staff writer for The Atlantic and author of The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, was also showcased on MSNBC to promote his own psychodramatic formulation about MAGA Christians. He also podcasted on The Trinity Forum where he talked about his book and on The Roy’s Report where he talked about The Corrupting of American Evangelicalism. Julie Roys interviewed Tim Alberta and shares his concerns about Evangelicalism.
Listening to the Trinity Forum podcast, I understood Tim Alberta to say that Christians should understand that as Christians they live “under siege” and basically that they should cool their jets (don’t get out of hand) and get used to abuse and persecution because that’s the way it is for Christians. I get the sense from Tim that Christians should be more like white suburban women, like Julie Roys.
Alternatively, on The Roy’s Report website – “reporting the truth and restoring the church” – Julie Roys posts articles and podcasts exposing abuse within the church. Victims of abuse (typically women) submit to the abuser (typically male) for a while and then they react and take action. You hear their stories on the website’s podcasts.
Per Alberta, shouldn’t church abuse victims just be quiet and take it like good little Christians?
Are we to believe that reacting to church abuse is more Christian than reacting to political abuse?
Isn’t it good to work to forestall persecution in society? Should Christians clamor to be martyrs?
Is it OK to expose and denounce abusive leaders in church but not leaders in politics? Never-Trumpers criticize Trump all day long. If MAGA criticizes what is being forced on them by the Left they are labeled
“extremists” and “a threat to democracy.”
What about “reporting the truth and restoring America” – is that out of Evangelical bounds?
Aberta labels “Trumpism as a kind of sub-cult in the evangelical world,” Wow. To use his own term, that is “extremist” language.
Is it Ok for Never-Trumper Christians to vilify MAGA Christians?
~~~~
“Unholy mix”
The Roys Report promo for Corrupting of American Evangelicalism podcast:
“On this edition of The Roys Report, bestselling author and journalist Tim Alberta joins host Julie Roys to explore a disturbing phenomenon in American evangelicalism. Though once evangelicals understood that the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of men are separate, now the two are being combined into an unholy mix. And sadly, for millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—and proper adherence to their political ideology is their litmus test for Christian orthodoxy!
“. . .major players and institutions within the evangelical movement that have succumbed to political idolatry.
“. . . mixing political advocacy with the gospel is misleading and wrong.”
Huh?!? You wouldn’t advocate for someone willing to abolish slavery and drug and sex trafficking? You wouldn’t advocate for someone willing to bring peace and prosperity and uphold the rule of law? Are these good things outside the bounds of The Roys Report gospel?
“Though once evangelicals understood that the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of man were separate, now the two are being combined into an unholy mix.” Huh?!?
When Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news” the kingdom of God and the kingdom of man came together in an “unholy mix” and Christians have been trying to sort out what that means.
And when Jesus sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. Now there’s an “unholy mix” according to the scribes of the Pharisees – guardians of their religion’s image.
Jesus taught his disciples to pray May your kingdom come, may your will be done, as in heaven so on earth? Sounds political, especially when the elements of this world fight against that happening and work to divide Christians with books, documentaries, media campaigns, etc.
Calling Jesus “Lord” is political. Living under his lordship is political.
(I don’t understand Jesus of the gospels as docile, demure and worried about image. He did take offense when the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” They were implying unholy things about the Holy Spirit.)
(Note: In the podcast, Tim Alberta and Julie Roys set their disapproving sights on Liberty University, Jerry Falwell Sr., Jerry Falwell, Jr., Robert Jeffress, and Ralph Reed. They don’t talk about Francis Schaeffer, Focus on the Family or other Christians who were engaged early on in the culture and politics.)
The Roys Report put out another NeverTrump article, one written by Jim McDermott promoting a documentary:
‘Bad Faith’ Sounds The Alarm On The Past & Future of Christian Nationalism (julieroys.com)
(BAD FAITH is a feature-length documentary that explores the dangerous rise of Christian Nationalism in the United States. Part archival chronicle, part exposé, the film reveals the secretive political machinery that has relentlessly sought to weaken and destroy American democracy in order to promote its authoritarian vision. Bad Faith – Movie Reviews | Rotten Tomatoes)
Jim McDermott writes:
“In Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy, filmmakers Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones trace the origins of Christian nationalism from the Ku Klux Klan in the 19th century through the creation of the Moral Majority, the sudden rise of the tea party and the election of Donald Trump. What they uncover is an essential aspect of our current political situation, one that puts evangelical Christianity in new light.”
(Note: The records of Congress reveal that not one Democrat either in the House or the Senate voted for the 14th Amendment. Three years after the Civil War, and the Democrats from the North as well as the South were still refusing to recognize any rights of citizenship for black Americans.”)
One of its filmmakers, Stephen Ujlaki, spoke in an interview by phone in Los Angeles, about the making of “Bad Faith”. Here are excerpts from that interview:
“When Trump got elected, I was shocked. Nobody thought he had a chance. He was obviously a joke. It was never going to happen. When he got elected, I realized I didn’t really know anything about what was going on. I was in a bubble.
“More than anything, . . . the film was just to find out: How did [Trump} do it, how did he win, and who were the Christian evangelicals (who supported him)? But then I discovered all of this plotting, all of these deals, and the fact that those behind them were anti-democratic from the beginning.”
“Would it be fair to say Christian nationalism’s goal is fascism? Yes. It’s pure fascism. It’s pure power.”
“Bad Faith” . . . tells of how a large swath of religious voters came to believe that President Joe Biden is in league with the devil while Trump is essential to the spiritual salvation of America.”
(Not: Joe Biden is in league with a lot of bad actors as we find out more and more about his dealings. Trump during his first term did “save’ the nation from decline and left Democracy still standing.)
Ujlaki wants us to know that Christian nationalism “has nothing to do with theology, nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with God or with Jesus. I don’t even consider Christian nationalism as a religion. What is its ethos? What is its morality? It’s actually amoral, which is why it uses the church. The church lends it that moral, ethical authority that it doesn’t have otherwise.”
“If you look around you at the divisiveness and the distrust of institutions that exist today in this country, you will realize how incredibly successful they have been in executing their plan. It’s been like a slow-motion revolution in a way, happening bit by bit all over the place.”
The creators of Bad Faith have shown their own Bad Faith by knowingly misrepresenting, with a broad brush, Christians who want to restore America and Chrisitan values when having to deal with Progressivism’s in-your-face values. It appears the documentary, like the books above, was created in time to impact the 2024 election – to scare voters away from anything Chrisitan and Trump.
Never-Trumper David French has continuously railed against Trump. He thinks Trump supporters have “unrighteous rage.” In this self-promoting mea culpa, French uses the divisive language of the Left: “rage.”:
“French, who has now spent the best part of a decade bemoaning the 45th President, now acknowledges the “bond” between Donald Trump and most Republican voters and concludes:
“I don’t regret my arguments against Trump. I’d make them again, and I will continue making them. I do ask myself how I missed the sheer extent of Republican anger. And I’m deeply, deeply grieved by the thought that I did anything in my life before Trump to contribute to that unrighteous rage.”
Do white suburban women and their epicene men find railing against Trump both titillating and necessary to emote their tribal scorn of Trump?
BTW: Democratic strategist James Carville is very concerned that ‘preachy females are to blame for Biden’s polling numbers:
“A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females. Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you – the message is too feminine,” Carville said. “If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?”
‘Preachy females’ blamed for Biden’s polling numbers: ‘This is about driving men out of the Democratic Party’ | Fox News
~~~
“unrighteous rage”?
According to people like French there were no catalysts for MAGA anger. There was no hellish COVID handling with church closings, social distancing, masking and vaccine mandates. There has been no “fundamental transformation” of America. Our children were never indoctrinated with CRT and Queer Theory. There has been no “trans” mutilation of children, no drug trafficking and fentanyl deaths. There has been no FBI monitoring of Catholics who want Latin masses. There has been no massive illegal migration. No highest rate of inflation. There has been no janky lawfare to hamstring Trump and no political persecution. Yeah right.
This Is Fine: Average Salary Required to Own a Home Increased 80.5% Under Biden – Twitchy
The Left, along with the enabling Never-Trumpers, have created the existential crisis they claim Christians on the Right have created. The Left, along with the Never-Trumpers, have created a Constitutional crisis just like what happened before the Civil war. Our country has been exposed to great evil, incompetence, and risk under Joe Biden and the Democrats with the help of the Never-Trumpers who put them in power.
We are told that Christian Nationalism poses “a threat to democracy!” This is projection and a lie. It is the Democrats who are putting political opponents in jail. It is the Democrats who wanted to take Trump off the ballot. It is the Democrats who stole the 2020 election and are working to steal the 2024 election.
15 Secretaries Ignore Subpoenas While Refusal Lands Bannon In Jail (thefederalist.com)
Tell me, is it the Christians who are in control of things or is it the Progressives who taken over every aspect of society with their long march through the institutions? Progressive Christians write against Christians who oppose them calling them an “extremist threat.” But Christians working against Progressivism’s lies and authoritarian ways are not “a threat to democracy!”
Given that it’s an election year, Democrats and Never-Trumpers will unleash every tactic under the sun to disrupt the 2024 election. See the above for a sample. They are franticly trying to keep Trump out of the White House. Trump will take apart the administrative state that rules every inch of our lives, that so enjoys having rule over every inch of our lives.
Who will the Never-Trumpers vote for this November? Will they vote or stay home? Will they vote for the continued destruction of America and more of the Biden regime. Will they vote for neo-con Nikki Haley and more wars? If they vote solely on the basis of character, as they say they do, then who will they vote for? Is there someone who looks and talks Evangelical like the stiff Mike Pence? Ron DeSantis?
It seems that elite Christians, of either political stripe, spend their days with their tribe and in their bubble. And it seems they believe themselves to be the voice of reason, pluralist, inclusive, and magnanimous to a fault. Next to the Trump they portray they come across as good little Christians. And that is why they are loved by the Left and paraded thru MSNBC, CNN, WaPo, NYT, etc. They are controlled opposition.
The image consultants of Build Back Better Evangelicalism have no clue about us Hobbits. They view people from top down – not as one of them. Middle America has been ghosted by them.
God works in mysterious ways, but the elites – the scribes and Pharisees of Christianity – proscribe ways, fundamentalist ways, that God must not work. How sad! My Lord doesn’t need image management. And I don’t need their sanctimonious scolding.
~~~~~
Are people now afraid to put the American flag in front of their home out of fear people will think them patriotic and Christian and nationalist? Fear is the psyop produced by the Left to get people to back off love of their country. Progressives along with Globalist-dominionists have plans for you. Totalitarians include, as I have written about, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Democratic party.
“If you grew up in the 21st century, all you know is our current hangdog, ashamed, self-conscious country, embarrassed by its own shadow, tail between its legs, stooping and supplicating, begging everyone’s forgiveness for its sins.
“But if you were fortunate to have experienced any of the last few decades of the 20th, then you know: it was not always thus! The national vibe (until quite recently!) was cool confidence bordering on arrogance.”
American Swagger – Peachy Keenan’s Extremely Domestic
Independence Day is Thursday. Put your flag out.
Patriotic picture of the day
“After a windstorm last July, the flag in front of our home got flipped up and stuck on the flagpole. My boyfriend, an Air Force veteran, went outside to untangle it. About 15 minutes later, I realized he was still there, admiring the flag and watching the cars go by. I grabbed my camera and took this photo from our kitchen window. My boyfriend had no idea until he came inside, but now he thinks it’s just as idyllic as I do.” —Michele Garrant, Mooers Forks, New York
~~~~~
Evangelicals, after all, have made heroes of those who have smuggled Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, who have sought to evangelize tribes that met them with arrows, and who have engaged in bait-and-switch campaigns closer to home, such as “study skills seminars” offered on college campuses or “neighborhood clubs” hosted in summertime backyards that conclude with an unadvertised gospel call.
The ultimate end of winning souls justifies a sometimes-startling variety of means. One might wonder to what extent this tradition of pragmatic ethical bargaining has enabled evangelicals to support Donald Trump.
Evangelical support for Trump continues to be wildly inconsistent with some basic Christian values. It is also, however, consistent with a combination of fear and exceptionalism—along with a flexible pragmatism—that has been part of the story of American evangelicalism going back to its seventeenth-century roots.
Donald Trump and the Exceptions of American Evangelicalism – The University of Chicago Divinity School (uchicago.edu)
~~~~~
The Left Doesn’t Want You to See What You See
Remember Build Back Better and the Inflation Reduction Act?
The Biden Economy Image Consultants want us to believe Trump will be a disaster for the economy.
But, The Nobel Laureates Strike Out | City Journal (city-journal.org)
Modern Monetary Theory employed by the Biden Regime has created the massive debt and inflation that we and our children and grandchildren must live with.
“Most Americans believe it is unhinged to deliberately destroy the border and allow 10 million illegal aliens to enter the country without background audits, means of support, any claims to legal residency, and definable skills. And worse still, why would federal authorities be ordered to release repeat violent felons who have gone on to commit horrendous crimes against American citizens?
“Equally perplexing to most Americans is borrowing $1 trillion every 90 days and paying 5-5.5% interest on the near $36 trillion in ballooning national debt. Serving that debt at current interest exceeds the size of the annual defense budget and may soon top $1 trillion in interest costs, or more than 13% of the budget. . .
“The Biden years did the country great damage and rendered Biden himself one of the most unpopular incumbent presidents in American history. But his agendas may have fundamentally changed the country for decades, if not longer—and will require tough remedies that may be almost as unpopular as the wreckage they wrought.” – Victor Davis Hanson
The Logic in All the Madness – Victor Davis Hanson
~~~~~
The Character of The Lincoln Project:
21 Men Accuse John Weaver, Lincoln Project Co-Founder, of Online Overtures and Harassment – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Inside the Lincoln Project: Claims of harassment, sexism, ‘toxic’ workplace (usatoday.com)
Lincoln Project founders knew of alleged harassment months before they claimed (usatoday.com)
Anti-Trump ‘Lincoln Project’ Paid $35,000 to Hackers. (thenationalpulse.com)
Lincoln Project, Co-Founded by ‘Predator’ John Weaver, Funded ‘Bloodbath’ Hoaxsters MeidasTouch. (thenationalpulse.com)
The Lincoln Project: Leadership
Regarding Steve Bannon going to prison:
~~~~~
Water, Rural Rage, and Popular Classes
June 13, 2024
Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Jack Fowler talk about the California water madness, the Gaza pier bust, white rural rage hoax, and why the international leftists hate the popular classes.
Water, Rural Rage, and Popular Classes – Victor Davis Hanson (victorhanson.com)
Home – VDH’s Blade of Perseus (victorhanson.com)
Biography – VDH’s Blade of Perseus (victorhanson.com)
Read this instead:
The Unprotected Class: How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart: Carl, Jeremy: 9781684514588: Amazon.com: Books
The Unprotected Class – Chronicles (chroniclesmagazine.org)
No wonder, then, that we should expect some sort of similar hoax to arise before the 2024 election. Do not be surprised when told of a “secret” Trump plan uncovered to round up critics in 2025 and send them to “camps,” or lurid revelations about “evidence” that Trump is in worse physical and mental shape than is a debilitated Biden, or some fantastic MAGA plot to implement “voter suppression,” or allegations that the Trump campaign’s “dark money” involves “collusion,” “disinformation,” and “sinister foreign actors.”
How Left-wing Conspiracies Work – Victor Davis Hanson (victorhanson.com)
~~~~~
Watch Young Voters Explain Why They’re Walking Away From Joe Biden and the Democrats (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit | by Mike LaChance
I said this would happen:
Outrage as Surgeon General Vivek Murthy Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Crisis
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From Bad to Walz
August 11, 2024 Leave a comment
Just when you hear that the phoniest candidate ever, a media astroturf job without a single vote in primaries, is now running for president, we find out that the running mate is the pro-riot Maoist Tim Walz.
It was bad enough when the media would have us ignore reality one moment – “Biden was never better” (MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough) – and in the next breath say that Biden was incompetent and had to go. Now we find the media again wanting us to ignore reality – the record of the radical Leftist Tim Walz – and working to invert that reality.
The Pravda-like media would have us warm to and even fawn over the alternate reality the man presents to the public. We are to believe that Tim Walz is just a folksy Minnesotan, normal and neighborly, a populist ‘everyman’, a military and football wonder, and even a Bernie Sanders of the Prairie in hunting gear. But we can’t ignore reality like this Walter Mitty of this election.
Unlike many of us including Trump, Tim Walz “never ran a business or worked long in the private sector. His entire career has been spent working for the government, either as a teacher or as a politician. His politics, despite a pivot to the middle while in Congress, are rooted in the far left.”
One Christian website that apparently has sold its soul to Progressivism gaslights with Walz’s faith bona fides. These include being a Lutheran dad. These include being a great unifier, as he “rallied” with faith leaders after the death of George Floyd and advocated for the Minnesota Muslim population. And, these include having to feel sorry for Walz, as he faced blowback from religious communities during the pandemic — including conservative Lutherans —for closing churches.
What the article does not say about Walz’s faith bona fides:
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz attends a church that preaches beliefs related to gender, race and sexuality that many Christian denominations strongly oppose.
Walz, who is the governor of Minnesota, identified Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul as his parish during a 2020 briefing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials published by Pilgrim Lutheran Church instruct parishioners not to refer to God using male pronouns, push congregants to support reparation funds, encourage them to celebrate Ramadan and include a modified gender-neutral version of the Lord’s Prayer, among other liberal practices.
Tim Walz’s Church Doesn’t Like To Call God ‘Him,’ Supports Reparations And Pride Parades | The Daily Caller
(Walz’s faith bona fides remind me of Barack Obama’s faith bona fides: 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, under the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and “God damn America.”)
Walz has feminist bona fides, too. J. Robert Smith writes at American Thinker that “Walz is attractive to feminized progressives because he’s a feminized progressive.”
Smith asks . . .
What can we say about a man who protects those who mutilate children’s bodies in the name of “gender-affirming health care?” How about promoting the savagery of no-limits abortion? How about banning counseling for gender dysphoria sufferers? How about safeguarding graphic LGBTQ themed pornography in public libraries and schools?
RVM reports (Emphasis mine.):
Walz signed a bill last year that makes Minnesota a “sanctuary state” for so-called “trans kids” (there is no such thing as a transgender child because there is no such thing as a transgender person). What this means is that a parent who wants to mutilate her child can take him to Minnesota, and the state will not obey an extradition or arrest orders from the originating state—even if the family is in a custody battle and the father does not want his child surgically abused.
So this won’t be any surprise, either. LibsofTikTok highlighted a story about how Walz used taxpayer money to hire a “Satanic” drag queen to perform at a show open to children.
Quite the faith bona fides!!
Who is Tim Walz? He was not the obvious, logical, or straightforward choice to be Kamala’s VP. He’s the in-your-face radical choice and what the puppet Kamala needs as her ventriloquist.
Don’t ignore reality! Tim Walz . . .
1. Fueled BLM Riots in 2020, stalled on deploying the National Guard for an entire day
2. Let rioters loot and wreck Minneapolis “Those who don’t build must burn. It’s as old as history and juvenile delinquents” (Fahrenheit 451).
3. Changed MN state flag to resemble Somalia’s
4. Was a COVID-19 tyrant; sent sick, elderly patients back to nursing homes where the infection often spread to other vulnerable people, causing a disproportionate number of coronavirus deaths
5. Pushed youth trans surgery, ‘hormone therapy’ agenda
6. Put tampons in boy’s bathrooms
7. Embellished and selectively omitted facts about his military career
8. “Quit” on fellow soldiers under him when they were deployed
9. Got a DUI in 1995 going 96mph in a 55 MPH speed zone
10. Praised socialism; Minnesota Gov. Tim “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness” Walz.
11. Signed a law that provides driver’s license for illegal aliens in Minnesota
12. Traveled to China 30+ times; governs like a Maoist/communist
13. Married June 4, 1994, the five-year anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown – on purpose
14. Has ties to the Chinese Communist Party
15. Backed an Orwellian hate speech registry
16. Has never seen a California energy policy he didn’t try to implement in Minnesota
17. Managed to oversee the largest COVID fraud scheme in the country
18. Oversaw a net loss of 13,455 individuals leaving Minnesota for other parts of the United States in 2021-2022.
19. Tim Walz marched in an “Abolish ICE” protest in Minneapolis on June 30, 2018
20. Wants all of America to be the same as Minnesota
John Phelan & Bill Walsh write at American Experiment, What America needs to know about Tim Walz of Minnesota (Emphasis mine.):
During his first term as governor, Walz faced two major challenges: The riots following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and COVID-19. He fumbled both.
As the Twin Cities burned for three days in May 2020, Walz froze, terrified of upsetting his party’s activist base which sympathized with the rioters, for whom Kamala Harris raised money. Walz hesitated to commit the National Guard – whom he dismissed as “19-year-old cooks” – but when they finally were deployed, the violence ceased immediately. . .
In response to the second challenge, COVID-19, in defiance of the science, Walz shut down schools, churches and businesses and instituted draconian mask mandates and shelter in place orders. . .
Tim Walz also created a phone line for people to snitch on their neighbors who violated COVID regulations.
From snitching on your neighbor to censoring your neighbor, Tim Walz is a true communist:
On Thursday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) responded to a question on what he will do to make sure there are penalties for disinformation about elections by claiming that “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.” (Emphasis mine.
Dem Gov. Walz: ‘There’s No Guarantee to Free Speech on Misinformation or Hate Speech,’ ‘Especially Around our Democracy’ (breitbart.com)
This will happen in America if Harris-Walz are elected:
Citizen Free Press on X: “Tim Walz embroiled in military controversy. Accused of stolen valor. https://t.co/KDwEZ4h8iB” / X
The Harris-Walz Burn-it-down Open Borders ticket is the most radical ticket this country has ever seen. If you ignore the reality of what they have said and done – the inversion of the good for the inflation of evil – then whoever you are, wherever you are, you will not be isolated from the price. Be careful what you vote for. This is election is about our survival.
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From Bad to Walz – Politicians with Policies that Plunder
These short videos provide more perspective on Tim Walz:
“He’s the most anti-parent candidate.” Tiffany Justice on VP pick Tim Walz (youtube.com)
Under Tim Walz, Something Happened That Never Happened Before. People Packed Up [Out Of Minnesota] (rumble.com)
‘RED FLAGS’: This is just ‘inexcusable’ from Tim Walz, China expert warns (youtube.com)
Paul Ramsey:
The Passion of Tim Walz (youtube.com)
https://www.foxbusiness.com/video/6360090369112
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Podcast
Be Careful What You Vote For
In the Friday news roundup, Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc discuss Jamie Raskin’s call for invoking the 14th Amendment to take down Trump, the Harris choices, the Squad losing re-election bids, how the Left deals with debt, Biden’s absence from the scene, and California as Kamala’s offering to the country.
~~~~~
Links exposing Tim Walz:
You thought Governor Tim Walz was bad before? Well, wait until you hear his latest… – Revolver News
In short, Walz has never seen a California energy policy he didn’t try to implement in Minnesota. His standard tactic has been the bait-and-switch, first proposing a seemingly moderate policy during election season and then lurching to the extreme end of the spectrum at his first opportunity.
Green New Walz – by Isaac Orr and Mitch Rolling (substack.com)
Jesse Watters: Tim Walz is a ‘trick pick’ (youtube.com)
FLASHBACK: Tim Walz Will Invest in ‘Ladder Factory’ If Trump Finishes Border Wall. (thenationalpulse.com)
Norm Coleman slams Harris-Walz as ‘most far-left, radical ticket this country has ever seen’ – Alpha News
Nearly 13,500 people moved from Minnesota to other parts of the United States from April 2020 through July 1, 2021, making it the eighth highest state for population loss through domestic migration, according to Dec. 21, 2021, data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Minnesota’s ranked in top-10 of highest outbound migration states | Minnesota | thecentersquare.com
#TamponTim goes mega-viral, threatens to derail ‘Harris/Walz train’ before it even leaves the station… – Revolver News
Tim Walz’s Authoritarian Shift: His Ties to Communist China and Radical Policies will Reshape America – Stephen K Bannon’s War Room
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, on at least five occasions as governor of Minnesota, hosted a Muslim cleric who celebrated Hamas‘s Oct. 7 attack last year on Israel and promoted a film popular among Neo-Nazis that glorifies Adolf Hitler, the Washington Examiner found.
Tim Walz repeatedly hosted Muslim cleric who celebrated Oct. 7 and shared pro-Hitler website link – Washington Examiner
No more of Politicians with Policies that Plunder:
Tim’s (and Kamala’s) disastrous policies have plunged this country into a black hole of despair. How do they counter that? Well, if you’re a liberal, you treat Americans like they’re clueless and pretend everything that’s tearing us apart is actually “great.” They better cook up a better strategy, because real Americans are just getting started on this ticket that is straight from the pit of hell. Things are about to turn very ugly, very fast.
Hillary makes one of her biggest online blunders trying to defend #TamponTim… – Revolver News
“Open Borders” Harris-Walz:
Just when you think it can’t get any worse for the Dastardly Duo, more dirt surfaces. Now we can add “wide open borders” to the list of radical issues Harris and Walz are pushing, thanks to some old info that’s made its way back to the surface.
Who can forget when Kamala Harris likened the hardworking men and women of ICE to the KKK? That old video has resurfaced, perfectly timed to undermine Kamala and Tampon Tim.
After all, you have to admit that likening ICE to the “KKK” and showing up at an ABOLISH ICE march reveals a deep commitment to keeping our borders wide open and fully vulnerable. Maybe that’s why Kamala, the so-called “border czar,” hardly shows up at the border or does anything to curb the Biden/Harris invasion. With their support for Abolish ICE and Defund the Police, it’s clear that Kamala and Tampon Tim are pushing for a lawless country overrun by foreign illegals and ruthless criminals. Is that the kind of country you want? Vote wisely. (Emphasis mine.)
Harris/Walz takes another savage blow thanks to a fresh round of dirt that was just unearthed… – Revolver News
Lisa Hanson warns Americans against electing Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as vice president: ‘He will take your rights away’
Minnesota grandma jailed for defying Walz COVID lockdown orders warns ‘you do not want tyranny at this level’ | Fox News
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Filed under 2024 Current Events, 2024 Election, democrats, Political Commentary, Politics Tagged with 2024 Election, Democratic Party, Donald Trump, Kamala harris, news, politics, Tim Walz, Trump