Trump as Cult Leader

This is a very interesting, well researched, and thoroughly accessible article about how our President has become a dangerous type of cult leader within his own party and, sadly, our nation. Here's the thesis:

"Trump exhibits features of what psychologist Eric Erickson called 'malignant narcissism'—bombastic grandiosity, a bottomless need for praise, lack of empathy, pathological lying, apparent sadism, and paranoia. In short, he fits the stereotypical psychological profile of a cult leader."

What's truly amazing to me is how easily Trump has bewitched so many evangelicals to abandon their Bible's principles, their Savior's actions, and their God's mandates to worship him as he attempts to destroy anything and anyone "non-Trump." 

Just a reminder to all of those evangelicals: Loyalty to a man (one who exhibits wholly anti-Christian values on a daily basis, by the way) does not equate to loyalty to your sacred text or to your professed Savior.  In fact, in this case, they are definitively mutually exclusive of one another.

(And, by the way, please click on the link above to read the entire article.)

Isn't This One Act a "Two-fer"?

So, he abandons Christian Kurds ...

in order to protect his own business interests and money.

When will evangelicals see that this man wants nothing to do with real Christianity? 

Someone Is Giving Jeffress and Graham a Run for Their Ass-Kissing, Soul-Selling Monies

And that someone is Pastor Ralph Reed. 

Reed has written a book (first sacrilegious title: Render to God and Trump; actual published title: For God and Country--The Christian Case for Trump) in which he argues that Christians "have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back" our current president.  (I assume Reed will be ignoring literally everything about this man's character and actions beyond the abortion and LGBQT things, thereby falsely equating those two topics with every other spiritually damnable issue on the other side of Trump's long ledger.)

Funny, I thought the prophets in the Old Testament (ya know, the ones who were in direct contact with Yahweh) had a "moral obligation" to call out Israel's leaders for their sinful words and ways, not to encourage all of the Israelites to "enthusiastically back" their adulterous, greedy, destructive, power-hungry, God-ignoring men-children.

Congratulations to "Pastor" Reed for jumping to the head of the line for the coveted title of "Ignorant Hypocrite of the Year."  (However, there are over 2 months left in the year, so don't count out Robert Jeffress or Franklin Graham or even dark horse Paula White just yet.  Still a lot of time left, folks!  It's still anyone's game!)

Trump's Divisiveness via Falsehoods

Here, our elected President whips his base (which includes up to 70% of evangelicals right now) into a rabid, frenzied fury of blind acceptance by tweeting more thoroughly divisive rhetoric that is grounded in nothing but his desire to hold onto power for himself.  Let us count the fallacies:

• First, he falsely equates the legal, Constitutionally sound, and (in this case) well deserved process of impeachment with a militaristic, violent, illegal overthrow of the government.  That is an intentional obfuscation via emotionally charged language; in other words, that is a blatant lie. 
• Second, he equates "Religion" (which, of course, we know he means "Christianity") with voting, the second amendment (the gun one), the military (more guns and destruction), and a border wall (which keeps out all of those bad brownies) by putting them all in the same list.  So, all of those important Republican talking points are now lumped together with being a Christian, solidifying the blasphemous marriage between politics and spirituality.
• Third, he continues this unholy marriage by stating that a "Citizen of The United States of America" has "God-given rights," thereby perpetuating the racist myth of Manifest Destiny.  Just so we're clear, being a citizen of a particular country does not, in any way, grant anyone "God-given rights" (the implication is that if one is not a citizen of that particular country, then s/he does not receive those rights); rather, being a human being with an eternal soul should be the sole cause of receiving those rights.  Plus, maybe some of those rights, if we were to follow the example of the Christ and/or the Bible, should include universal healthcare; clean air, soil, and water; protection of the disenfranchised and alien; and empathetic compassion towards others--all of which this administration has specifically fought against.

This man's tweets, along with being exceptional examples of atrocious reasoning and horrendous writing skills, should be insulting to every single citizen right now, at least to every single citizen who has the ability of critical thinking.  Maybe that's the problem, for evangelicals are taught not to think for themselves but just to have "faith" in what their superiors tell them.  Since this is the case, Trump (and not true Christianity) is winning.

The Textbook Definition of 'Blasphemy'

Paula White had the audacity to pray the following: “Let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the purpose, against the calling of President Trump, let it be broken, let it be torn down in the name of Jesus.”

Her willful ignorance of this man's true character and purposes has allowed her to become nothing more than a willing tool of vanity and power and divisiveness for this administration.  It is she who blasphemes against the focus of her sacred text and the spirit of her God.

A Misleading Meme from Republicans? Say It Ain't So!

So, I've decided that I have two possible responses to this less-than-facts-based meme that I found the other day--either logically argumentative or satirically snarky.  I have chosen to do both; thus, you, the reader, have your choice as to which one to read.  Enjoy.

Satirically Snarky
Take your choice of the following:

• Anyone else notice that it was Trump that brought chaos, division, harassment, and love of his own money back into the White House?
• Anyone else notice that it was Trump that brought greed, incoherence, fear-mongering, and love of brutal dictators back into the White House?
• Anyone else notice that it was Trump that brought lies, deceit, falsehoods, and love of disinformation back into the White House?
• Anyone else notice that it was Trump that brought ignorance, infantilism, idiocy, and love of insults back into the White House?
• Anyone else notice that it was Trump that brought racism, nepotism, narcissism, and love of anti-environmentalism back into the White House? 

There are certainly more, but you get the point.  I'll move on.

Logically Argumentative

Let's break down all the problems with this simplistic meme:

• First, we are NOT a theocracy; in fact, our Founding Fathers fought specifically against the idea of making this new nation a theocracy, for that's what they felt they were escaping.  Thus, for any president to bring God, Bible, and prayer explicitly into the White House (meaning, as a political tool for policy-making decisions) is against our Constitution and the very basis of our democratic republic.  I realize that factual point means nothing to evangelicals, but (and let me make this clear) it is not an anti-Christian point.  Anyone can worship freely in this country (thankfully), but no leader is allowed to make his/her religion the centerpiece for our national laws or policies.
• Second, no, Trump did not bring those first three in the list back into the White House, no matter how much the evangelicals blindly believe it.  That is simply a lie.  Both his words and his actions are thoroughly, comprehensively, absolutely anti-Christian, and you can read just about any other entry in this blog if you don't believe me.  Simply put, you are an utter fool if you accept that Trump reflects the life of a true follower of Christ.
• Notice the four concepts in the list.  Allow me to characterize them for you, in order: Christianity, Christianity, Christianity, patriotism.  There is a glaring attempt at transfer here; meaning, Christianity and patriotism go hand-in-hand.  They are practically synonymous with one another.  Jesus's cross was probably red, white, and blue, in fact.  AND, because Trump (the Republican president/candidate) represents one, he naturally represents the other.  It's seamless; it's natural; it's perfect.  And, by association, those damn Democrats represent neither. This is the simplistically misleading type of sound bite that Republicans are serving up and the evangelicals are swallowing whole.  Pathetic.  

If you are someone who indiscriminately accepts the unholy, blasphemous marriage between Republicanism (and specifically Trumpism) and Christianity (i.e., you are someone who nodded your head in total agreement when you saw the meme at the beginning of this entry), then you most certainly need to start reading your Bible more closely and start paying attention to the clear immorality of the one in charge right now. 

Moloch Is a Democrat.

(I've fallen behind on my posts recently, and there is SO much that needs to be tackled.  So I will try to catch up over the next few days.  Sorry, and keep reading!)

A Fox"News" contributor, Todd Starnes, recently led an on-air conversation with right-wing pastor Robert Jeffress (practically the patron Saint of the Gospel of Republicanity) in which they suggested that Democrats worship an Old Testament pagan god known as Moloch, who was known for child sacrifices.  You can find a brief article summarizing the incident and quoting both men here.

So, to summarize:

                                    Democrats = Child-sacrificing, hell-bound pagans
                                    Republicans = The only true Christians

Please note that boot-licking Trump sycophants are no longer just implying that political affiliation determines the individual soul's salvation (or lack thereof); they are now outright announcing it to the world (or at least to their ignorant, unthinking base of evangelicals who swallow anything a "pastor" would feed them).  These blazing, brainless hypocrites willfully ignore Trump the individual who lives a thoroughly anti-Christian lifestyle replete with lies and lust and greed and anger and lies and sloth and spite and fraud and lies and racism and hypocrisy (and have I mentioned the habitual lying?); they willfully ignore Trump the politician who creates policies that destroy the environment, that punish the poor and disenfranchised while lining the already lined pockets of the filthy rich, that remove basic affordable health care from millions of people, that shut out (and even cage) human souls who are fleeing from catastrophic living situations in other countries; and they willfully ignore literally ANYTHING (including both science and morality) that is not associated with their rigidly anti-abortion stance.

Now, to FoxNews's credit, Starnes was duly fired for peddling that kind of propaganda bullshit while masquerading it as journalism.  However, "Pastor" Jeffress is still free to continue to sell his soul publicly to Trump and the political realm while masquerading his words as God's. He is the exact man who should be calling Trump's "Christianity" into question, yet it is he who, sadly, is actually validating it for the rest of the evangelical world to accept blindly.

And we can only hope that both he and Trump shall eventually be held accountable.