Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Monday, March 21, 2016

Evangelicals and Trump




I'm amazed at the number of Evangelical Christians who support the vulgar, violent Trump -- a man who brags about loving the Bible but has demonstrated he knows nothing about it; a man who admitted that he doesn't like to ask God for forgiveness for transgressions, and who made jokes about eating crackers and drinking wine. 

IOW, he's everything one would think a devout Evangelical Christian would be repulsed by, yet they cling to him and his xenophobic, violent rhetoric as though he were the second coming. Apparently tribalism trumps deeply held values, especially religious values; and as long as Trump promises to smash and destroy the status quo and cause mayhem around the world, the Evangelicals -- (the majority, not all), who make up the base of the GOP, will continue to support him. By doing so they show the world that they are willing to betray everything their religion stands for to gain earthly power. None of this makes sense, unless one looks at this betrayal of their values as plain, old fashioned, hypocrisy.













Poll: Utah would vote for a Democrat for president over Trump


SALT LAKE CITY — If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll. \

"I believe Donald Trump could lose Utah. If you lose Utah as a Republican, there is no hope," said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a top campaign adviser to the GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney.



Conservative writer, Michael Gerson

Sometimes I want to shake people (intellectually,not physically) who favor political “disruption” and ask: Disruption in favor of what? Look at what you are doing!

Look at what you have done! The Republican Party is now firmly harnessed to the wild, uncontrollable horses of fear and exclusion. It has already sustained damage with Latino voters that may take a generation to undo.

And now many Republicans will find rationalizations to support Trump. That is natural — the reality of politics in every time. Many people simply go with the winner.

But this isn’t a normal time. I believe that the decision to support Trump, like an embarrassing tattoo, will follow them the rest of their lives. Republicans are not merely making a choice; they are looking into the abyss.

In a separate column at The Washington Post, to which Gerson also linked in the Facebook piece, he concluded that voting for Trump would be so immoral, he might even have to do something truly outrageous — vote for Hillary Clinton:

“All this leaves completely horrible options: sitting the election out, supporting a third-party candidate, contemplating a difficult vote for Clinton."





Meanwhile FEEL THE BERN!











Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders attracted huge crowds in Seattle, Washington, and didn't have to threaten to break anyone's head:




Thousands lined up in the drizzle at Seattle Center on Sunday to hear Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bring his anti-billionaire message to Washington ahead of this week’s caucuses.



Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders brought his message of a “political revolution” to a boisterous rally at Seattle’s KeyArena on Sunday, avoiding mention of Hillary Clinton — his rival in this week’s Democratic caucuses — while trashing Republican front-runner Donald Trump. 


 Taking the stage at 5:40 p.m. to deafening cheers, Sanders immediately launched into an attack on Trump, saying the U.S. will never elect someone “who insults Mexicans, who insults women, who insults African Americans.” 

 “If we stand together and we don’t allow the Trumps of the world to divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish,” Sanders said. 

“This campaign has enthusiasm and the energy to carry us to victory, because we are doing something very unusual in American politics: We are telling the truth.” 

 Crowds lined up early in the drizzle at Seattle Center to hear Sanders’ anti-billionaire message. 





18 comments:

Donnie Little Hands said...


Go GOP! Make Trump your candidate!

Trump puts GOP House majority in jeopardy

How Donald Trump could affect the GOP's efforts to hold the Senate

Howard Brazee said...

It's easy to read the Bible and find out what values it shows Jesus Christ as having. When self-defined "Christians" have values contrary to those values, then don't be surprised when they support people like Donald Trump. It's not about Jesus - it's about themselves.

Anonymous said...

Religious people have always been hypocrites.

Les Carpenter said...


Religious people have always been hypocrites.


Organized religious groups tend to hypocrisy anonymous and surely a significant number of religious people are indeed hypocritical. However, the blanket statement religious people have always been hypocritical implies ALL religious people are hypocrites which is not true.

Anonymous said...

Dem. Senators are telling Bernie to quit the race.
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/bernie-dems-winddown-220966

Ducky's here said...

From a certain fringe right news blog:

"Bill Kristol Is Trying to Get Tom Coburn or Rick Perry to Run Third Party"
----------
The Coburn rumor is really making the rounds.
It would take someone as tone deaf as Kristol to propose Perry.

The Republican hierarchy is certainly intent on destroying what they've created.
The get the torches and pitchforks, normals get out the popcorn.

I don't see that this can end up positively for the right.
Meanwhile Obama is demonstrating leadership in Cuba. Cruz isn't happy, oh darn.

Shaw Kenawe said...


Tom Coburn? He supports term limits, gun rights and the death penalty and opposes same-sex marriage and embryonic stem cell research and opposes abortion. Democrats have called him "Dr. No!"

Perry? Seriously? Rick "Oops!" Perry?

The righties really don't have any relationship with reality, do they. Both men are extremist right wingers. And IMO, Perry is all foam and no beer.

Shaw Kenawe said...


Howard, it's is jaw-droppingly amazing that so many "Christians" would support a man as repulsive as Trump. He's also been found by several fact-checking organizations to have no relationship with the truth. IOW, he's an unapologetic liar. It's really a hoot to read the hatred the Goops hold for Hillary and how they characterize her as a liar, but say nothing about the nonstop lies Trumpy gets away with. Tribalism -- it's making the religious right look horrible.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Donnie Little Hands: Shhhhhh! Don't spread that around. We want Donald to be the nominee!

Shaw Kenawe said...

Here's the latest on Trump's negatives:

Trump’s unfavorable rating is nearly 30 points higher than Republican nominee Bob Dole’s in 1996 (38%), and Dole lost the popular vote 49%-41% to Bill Clinton. Dole lost the Electoral College 379-159. Trump’s unfavorable rating is 18 points higher than 1984 Democratic nominee Walter Mondale (49%), who lost the popular vote to Ronald Reagan 58.77% – 40.56%. Mondale lost the Electoral College 525-13. Trump’s unfavorable rating is 25 points higher than 1988 Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis, who lost the popular vote 53.37%-45.65%, and the Electoral College 426-111.

The Republican Party is looking at a blowout if they nominate Donald Trump, who is not only unpopular but who a majority of the country already strongly dislikes.

Doctor Tomato said...


Women Hate Donald Trump Even More Than Men Hate Hillary Clinton

And Trump appeals to people who have the reading ability of 9 year olds. He's really a dream candidate for the Dems. I hope he does very, very well in the next series of primaries.

His negatives are sky high -- higher than Klintoon's, his own party detests him, (except for those 9 year olds). A liberal's dream candidate for the Rethugs!

Anonymous said...

Since I'm an atheist RN, I'll stick with my wording.

anymouse said...

Let's face it, the ONLY thing the right likes to recycle is their candidates for office. Rick Perry as the new face of the anti-Trump group? Did someone forget to tell them he already ran and then quit this time around? If Perry is the best they can come up with, it's time to ask for all new DNA for your party. Clearly, the old stuff is defective.

Dave Miller said...

For the life of me, I cannot understand how any evangelical, and yes, they are my tribe, can possibly vote for, or even consider Donald Trump. He has shown himself to be anything but humble and little of how he comports himself in public even remotely resembles a life modeled on laying one's life down, not just for your friends, but for your enemies, as Jesus did.

If, as the bible says, we are to be known by the fruits of our labor, Mr Trump must have a pretty spoiled fruit basket.

Shaw Kenawe said...



Dave,

I did qualify my post by saying "not all" Evangelical Christians. I know this for a fact because several members of my family are committed Christians, and they don't support Trump. In fact one of them is close to me, and she, like you, works to help people who have very little in this life, -- she works to make those lives better. She's dedicated her entire life to charitable works for those less fortunate than you and I.

BlueBull,

Kristol can't be serious. Perry stayed in single digits for support while he was in the race. I'm not sure how popular he is in his own state.


Rusty,

People who crow about the Trumper's YUUUUGE crowds at his rallies are blind to how unpopular he is with the entire voting demographic.

Les Carpenter said...

Anonymous, I'm an atheist as well, and, I stand by my statement.

Anonymous said...

It is quite clear from your first comment RN that you do not understand. I doubt you are an atheist. You have proven it's easy to call someone a liar. Shaw flies the atheist symbol, but I doubt she is an atheist either, or she would not have allowed you to call someone a liar for posting the truth. But maybe she would, I don't know her well. I do find it hypocritical for any atheist to be making a religious argument.

LC said...

I shall take your gibberish for what it is worth before taking it to the trash anonymous.