Oh, here's one. "God and Donald Trump." We ought not be surprised seeing a title like this. We are waiting for the worm to turn in connection to Trump. It's not that we want to see a disruptive sort of uprising or awakening, the sort of thing that seems overdue. We want things to stay orderly. It might not even come to impeachment. What it might come to, is a general consensus that God did not send Trump, that Trump's political adversaries are not treasonous or agents of the devil.
The worm has not turned yet. The media grind away with discussions of how the Mueller report remains elusive along with the president's tax returns. It is like pulling teeth, driving us to drink as it were. And if we could just get all the Christian zealots and evangelicals out of the way, maybe the way would be open for simple good sense and prudence to prevail.
Not to prejudge anything regarding Trump - hard to type that with a straight face - but evidence is overwhelming that he has mob boss instincts. He lies continually and blatantly. All of this is so demonstrable. Let's just see the Mueller report and the tax returns. We could engage in a sensible discussion and move on.
A very sad part of all this, is how conservative media have hitched their wagon to the prevaricator in chief. You come across the Limbaugh and Levin programs and want to instantly move on, so predictable and tired are their rants on behalf of Trump. These are people who normally employ logic much better. I have never asserted they lack intelligence.
People say Ben Shapiro can whip anyone in a debate. No doubting that, absolutely. William F. Buckley once shot to stardom with similar skill. I'll quote my old college friend Brad from the Iron Range: "Republicans are good at arguing on matters of principle, but Republicans don't care about people."
Intelligent conservatives like George Will do us all a favor. The problem now with conservative media is that they are attached at the hip to Trump from a time when Trump was coming forward as a serious contender - and program hosts found their ratings went up when they talked up Trump. Ratings were tepid prior to that. These guys make money as pundits.
So I have identified a two-pronged problem here: the religious zealots who put forward the offensive argument that Trump somehow reflects God and Jesus, and the conservative media that really made a business decision on how to proceed. All of this has added up to a roadblock for simply learning the truth about serious questions pertaining to Trump and his people.
The slog of media coverage now makes us weary. What other "news" might be getting covered, were it not for this? Are we missing some important things?
Richard Nixon talked about the silent majority. He was suggesting that we should ignore a seeming cacophony of media voices, such as those encouraging skepticism about the Vietnam war. Well, thank God we ended up thinking constructively about the war, yes belatedly. Good sense prevailed. Nixon's silent majority may not have been imaginary but in the end it faded.
Right now I think there's much more skepticism about Trump out and about than we might think. I was speaking with a very intelligent employee of a local bank last week. She sensed my biases so she had no trouble showing candor. She said the problem with Trump is that "he is normalizing his behavior."
Are we becoming passive in consuming the daily news, as if all the outrageousness of Trump's behavior should draw nothing but a shrug? My banking acquaintance is not shrugging. She is paying close attention as I'm sure many people are.
There are many people streaming into churches these days who do not profess a connection between God and Trump. Only a minority of loud voices are on the other side with this. They get attention and build a particular constituency. Certain fundamentalist strains, whose presence is evident right here in Morris, probably stick with the Trump side. The Trump supporters are circling the wagons but we sense it's just a lot of noise, what we might expect of an element in our society that does not have history on its side.
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Here's what Robert Jeffress says about "God and Donald Trump": "It's a well-written, much-needed look at the undeniable hand of God working in our nation's most recent presidential election." Jeffress is a well-known Southern Baptist pastor. He undoubtedly has gained more fame as a Trump supporter than by professing any other views.
Trump's supporters tend to talk about religious liberty. I attended church often during the eight years that Barack Obama was president, and at no point did I feel my freedom to worship was impeded at all. So I fail to understand the fuss being kicked up by so many of the "evangelicals." Strang's book seriously weighs the question of whether there was "a supernatural element involved (with Trump's win)." So, does God want the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates too? Where does this reasoning end?
Promo material for the book says "Christian leaders prophesied before the election that God had raised up Trump to lead the nation through a time of crisis." I grew up when there was a real crisis in America: the Vietnam war. I think the eight years of Obama were pretty passive and nice.
The Democratic candidate for president in 2016 actually got more votes than Trump. Was it God who vetoed this and decided that Trump should be president anyway?
We learn that Strang "was involved with other Christian leaders who campaigned for Trump's election." I am nothing short of flabbergasted that so many prominent Christians find it essential to crusade for the likes of Trump. Again I sense there is self-interest involved. There is a constituency out there which is not broadly representative of America at all, but is very fervent and defensive, ready to buy books and watch TV shows feeding their ideas and justifying their paranoia.
Strang gets his profit from being a Trump supporter. Were he to be a normal, thoughtful person, this status would not come his way. Let's just call a spade a spade: these people have a "racket" going. Could they still win? As I have opined repeatedly, we cannot rule that out. We cannot always assume that good will prevail.
We cannot always assume that political tumult will end in the manner of Watergate. We ought to be genuinely scared. Pray to God for help please.
Addendum: Trump said yesterday that "America is full" and there's no room for immigrants. Well, have you ever flown across the U.S. and looked down? I used to go to Las Vegas twice a year. Just look down. America is empty.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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