Evangelicals in the USA are a key part of Donald Trump’s
base—it’s hard to imagine a more unlikely conjunction. What secret sympathy binds these strange
bedfellows together?
The Book of Revelation
is a favorite of right wing believers, in part because of the violent imagery
that promises to wipe out all the bad guys. The word love is nowhere
to be found in this book. If you
go through the text in Greek, line by line (I have), you’ll find no words that
refer to love or any of the reputed Christian virtues such as kindness,
patience, or forgiveness. That of
course is consistent with Trump’s vindictive, loveless persona.
The word that does recur in this adored text is dynamis, or “power.” The Book of Revelation is not about love but
power, which also says something about the affinity between Evangelicals and
Donald Trump. Evangelicals believe
in the power of the Biblical deity to orchestrate the climax and final battle
of human history. In Donald Trump,
Evangelicals have a man whose talk of using atomic weapons and obliterating
whole nations suggests real apocalyptic potential. Someone like Trump is necessary to proceed with the divine
plan: according to which, we end not at the peace table but with Armageddon.
Trump is enthusiastically pro-Israel, and evangelicals see
Israel through a supernatural spy-glass--another link between our strange twosome.
According to the Biblical endtime-plot, the people of Israel must re-occupy
their homeland and rebuild the Temple before Armageddon may commence. Everything must be in place before
Evangelicals can believe that the Rapture and triumphant return of Christ are
nigh. Trump feeds that psychopathic fantasy, which (it must be said) implies
destruction for the majority of humankind—including all the unconverted Jews.
Commenting on Trump’s Declaration of Jerusalem, evangelical
John Hagee was more ecstatic than Netanyahu. He alluded to the issue of last things, and said grandly: “I believe at this point in time,
Israel is God’s stopwatch for everything that happens to every nation,
including America, from now until the Rapture of the church and beyond.” Is this a voice of sanity and
humaneness or a voice of madness threatening global catastrophe?
The president inspires hope among Evangelicals that their
horrific end-time scenarios may be coming true. For Trump, catering to Evangelical fantasies is just about
clinging to his shrinking base. So
we have a partnership between fanatical over-believers and somebody who
believes in nothing but the grandiosity of himself. A perverted collusion
such as this should make our hair stand up at attention. Highly dangerous is the evangelical
yearning for eschatological closure when combined with the bravado of a
commander in chief with low impulse control.
Evangelicals eager for Armageddon should take a good look at
Donald Trump. Figures like Hitler
and Stalin have served retroactively as iconic Antichrists. More subtle versions make the Antichrist
a great liar and hypocrite, a word
that in Greek means “actor.” Who does that description fit? The real Antichrist
is a fake prophet, a purveyor of fake good news, a pretender, not the real deal.
If I were an Evangelical who also had a conscience, the
Donald would be my candidate for the “Antichrist” du jour. The
Antichrist is the arch deceiver, a megalomaniac who loves only himself. He is also a vicious exploiter of fear
and chaos. Trump entered politics on the back of a big lie about the birth of
Barack Obama. His lies are all on
record, long, detailed, and damning. A basic human respect for truth seems wholly lacking in the
man, as is a basic human decency.
If I were a pious Evangelical, I’d be appalled at Trump’s
cruelty and indifference to the poor, the helpless, the ordinary, average
citizen—indeed, to whole countries he alludes to as “shitholes.” I would be alarmed by him gravitating
to dictators and murderers; his anti-Christian intention to expand our nuclear
capabilities, and our being the leading arms sellers on the planet, in effect,
promoting a nuclear reign of terror on Earth.
The worship of Mammon--the philosophy that Might Makes Right—the
sexist, the racist--why do Evangelicals fail to see Donald Trump as he really
is, a cartoon version of their “Antichrist?”
Evangelicals need to break the trance that Trump has induced
in them. Let them wake up and see the nature of the beast they have embraced as
their savior.
Exorcism by withdrawal of support is possible and urgently
needed for the health of the nation.
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