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Christ was the son of God, Christians believe, and He stood for everything that was proper, fair and just. Today a significant portion of Americans want to put Donald Trump in the same context, in other words as a martyr. In my mind it makes zero sense.
But I'll state again that I may be like the person in the "Twilight Zone" episode who is the only normal one in a community that has become zombie-like. Or, am I in fact the errant one? Are all the red staters around me in fact pointed in the right direction? Am I the one voicing heresy, by for example wanting to excoriate the Tennessee legislature for what it did in the last 24 hours?
The red staters would assert that both God and the NRA are in support of the legislature there. I am ashamed because I love the Nashville music community. Might a couple of song creators give us a voice of protest, perhaps? Music is supposed to lift up the masses, the downtrodden. The impulse is irresistible. If music cannot be the voice for the broad mass of people, beyond the rich/powerful, it will go nowhere. I am waiting for Nashville's response to how the legislature kicked out two of its democratically-elected members. A third was given a reprieve because she's white.
Are we back in the 1940s again or what? What happened to the Voting Rights Act? Justice Roberts felt we didn't need it any more? Once cast as a "conservative" justice, Roberts no longer stands out with such distinction. He might be seen as a moderate. He wanted the court to find a way to keep Roe vs. Wade, to a certain extent. But now we have the legacy of Trump and his court picks.
We elected Trump through our accepted process - he did in fact lose the popular vote - so now we must accept his choices for the court. (A little help from Susan Collins too.) You all comfortable with that? Do you really care to continue paying so much attention to the man?
You realize of course that he has an innate talent for being the center of attention. The talent should have nothing to do with what our best interests are as a society. You want more lax regulations as with rail safety? Republican candidates always talk up fewer regulations in their debates - sounds good as rhetoric I suppose. Freedom, right? Freedom from regulations.
We recently had a worrying train derailment in Raymond MN. What if it happened close to our Morris with a big raging fire and all? What of the consequences for our health? Our property values? But so many of you church-going Republicans shake your head at the interventionist Democrats. Then again, you're receptive to intervention when it comes to abortion. And you think book-banning is fine? The biography of Roberto Clemente?
The high-profile Marjorie Taylor Greene has linked the prosecution of Donald Trump to the persecution of Christ. In normal times she'd be written off as a total oddball. Marginalized. But the cult of Trump has such reach. If such a huge portion of the public really believes that Trump has divine qualities, it makes one wonder if Christianity's own roots grew out of a similar delusion about a charismatic charlatan, Christ himself.
I would like to believe that Jesus was the son of God who died for our sins. But the contemporary MAGA phenomenon is challenging me like never before. I look at what's happening in Tennessee. I think of the drastic ramifications of the court's rejection of Roe vs. Wade. So many exhibits. Is something deeper going on? Might it have something to do with the economy?
Perhaps we're not as aware as we should be of certain economic headwinds. Perhaps our top leaders want us to be distracted. "Look here, don't look over there." Not that our leaders welcome the distress. To the contrary, but I think what they realize is that we never solved he 2008 "financial crisis." It just got papered over.
I suppose the Federal Reserve felt it could pull strings over a period of time - the crazy low interest rates - to in effect "buy time?"
We have paid insufficient attention because of the crazy daily clown show with Trump and his associates in the middle. The daily soap opera, the daily obsession. Do you really think his lawyers can successfully plead "not guilty?" Their only hope is to appeal to political forces. They'll try to get Congress in on the act. Republicans have no problem when any of their own ilk get levers pulled with "political motivations."
William Barr refused to answer when Kamala Harris asked him if Trump had directed him to go after anyone from Barr's role as AG. Remember how Barr acted confused about the definition of "suggest?" Of course he knows the definition. So why did not the media press this matter, to show how patently ridiculous Barr's answer was. "Suggest."
Did Trump "suggest " such actions to you? Yes or no? Well the media always backed off. A good theory is that the media has recognized Trump as "ratings gold" all along. The media people would not even deny that.
What is going to happen now with the economy and inflation? Inflation is still happening - it's just at a slightly slower rate of growth. How much more inflation can you absorb in your own life?
Inflation news in the media has moved along in sort of a stealth way. It cannot be ignored. But the media has acted as guardian for the almighty stock market. Listen knaves, the stock market is not the economy. Any more than Donald Trump is a modern-day Jesus being persecuted leading up to Easter.
I refuse to join the Easter church observance this year. Too scary.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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