"Instead, it makes them perversely grateful that he’s doing it so their hands can be clean."
But they aren't clean. They seem to think that voting has no moral consequence. They are wrong. If you vote for a liar, you have committed an act of falsehood. If you vote for a racist, you have committed an act of racism. If you vote for someone who promises violence, you have committed and act of violence. If you for vote for a corrupt person, you have committed an act of corruption. If you vote for an immoral person, you have committed and act of immorality. Especially if you vote for them BECAUSE they are these things.
MAGA Americans aren't really into self-awareness, especially the ones who are into performative Christianity. But the rest of us see them for who they are.
People are leaving Christianity because of the unclean hands of Christians. That and the "Punishers" eventually come for the Christians. Trump is doing it to them at the prayer breakfast: mocking his evangelical sycophants.
Uh - if they don't actually BELIEVE in God - what does it matter to them?
I think most of them are devout atheists.
The only things they worship are power and money.
Nearly every time trump back tracks its because he's cost one, or several, of the Big Guys money. He can do what he likes - but don't mess with the profits.
When public opinion is STRONG, Trump knows he has to back down. It's time to call Congress (202 224 3121) and the White House (202 456 1414) about ICE reform. The next 10 days are critical. Read about the 10 Democratic proposals to curb ICE.
They’re also willing to undermine nearly every value they say they have because of abortion. DOGE indirectly killing how many thousands of people doesn’t matter, downstream effects of cutting research doesn’t matter, maternal health doesn’t matter, etc.
Way to make me get educated so early in the day! I suspect his numbers are legion. The Knights Templar were surely up to no good. Religion starts with pure intentions but gets perverted to power in a nanosecond.
my feelings about religion are similar to sex; “Keep it to yourself and practice it in private”.
One reason why America is so complicated is that the original settlers were mostly religious fanatics, though of different sects. They left home to escape religious persecution by other religious fanatics..
Similar to when colonies are liberated from oppressors, and elect worse oppressors. Like Rhodesia>Zimbabwe. Humans seem to have an irrepressible need to dominate others. I’m still trying to figure out how to dominate a dog, so it’s probably a male trait.
Trump reposted: "'4G wireless chips' were discovered 'embedded' in a 2020 Michigan voting machine, leading to the 'transmission of electronic data' and the manufacture of votes for Joe Biden. The video ends with a hard cut to a totally unrelated clip: two seconds of Barack and Michelle Obama’s grinning heads AI-superimposed onto the bodies of dancing apes."
Where's the outrage! Seriously, in what universe of any decency is this permissible? This manchild not only stomps on the Constitution and everything related to it, he consistently shows his blatant racism, sexism, and most other disgusting "ism" w impunity.
There's this interesting thing Supreme Court justices do: When it's an issue they oppose, they get realllll strict about Constitutionality and who is required to do what and how. (Example: undoing Biden's student loan actions) In other cases, when it's something that they support, the Constitution becomes more of a general guide that can be set aside in favor of this thing they really like. (Examples: criminal immunity for official presidential acts, letting partisan gerrymandering cover for racist disenfranchisement)
It's motivated reasoning, all the way down. If we fall for their "I'm just such a Constitutional purist!" pleading, we're being naive
That is true, but Roberts knows as well as all of us do that a Republican majority and theSenate's 67 votes threshold can never be overcome in the 21st century. So yeah, he is also worthy of ire.
The WH clean-up on aisle Trump crew is saying "fake outrage," as it is part of a longer video w Trump as the Lion King. Even a 4th grader would know better than to put it out. There is no acceptable context, unless your a MAGA.
The MSM should know to take Trump seriously & literally. Chris Christie said Trump never does something by accident.
Some guy named Saul watched the coats of a gang as they killed Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and was going to get more to bring back in chains when a funny thing happened on the road to Damascus. He went on to become Apostle to the gentiles. The conversion of Donald Trump wouldn’t be easy, but it is possible, and sure would be awesome.
I think the difference will be that the Apostle Paul repented in this life - yeah it took a blinding shock to his system but he repented and did the Lord's work. Trump is not going to repent in this life and he will pay for it in the next and will receive a just judgement for his works while on the earth (per my religious upbringing).
All of my grandparents came to the U.S. from Finland more than a century ago. I pretty much ignored my heritage until only a few years ago, when I started to study Finnish culture. One thing I learned is that the Finns generally consider religion to be a private matter, particularly when it comes to politics.
I seem to have absorbed that attitude by osmosis because I have always gotten nervous when Americans have interjected religion into political discourse. As a case in point, I don't think the state of Trump's soul is any of my business. What I care about are the impacts of his actions on our all-too-fragile republic. That this is being done in the name of a religion only underlines the wisdom of the founders in trying to separate church and state.
Ideally, yeah, I'd like all of them to have profound epiphanies and become good, decent people.
But I truly believe Trump is psychologically and mentally incapable of even simple, honest introspection. I don't know that it was ever a thing he was able to do.
If he were truly incapable, that would mean he didn’t have free will, and free will is the one thing God has given every human being regardless of race, religion, or station in life.
Thank you for that. I truly believe every person is deserving of forgiveness if they truly repent, even if it’s as they are standing before the locked pearly gates—if it is genuine (and Jesus will know what the heart truly holds). Your words were a salve to my aching heart.
He's not going to repent. He's got all these faux christians around him saying he's the very best thing since sliced bread. Why should he repent when they're all praying a path to Heaven for him?
I say let's deal with him now (impeachment, prison) and let God deal with him when he kicks off. When there is no justice there is no peace.
Since when is Trump religious? Has he ever even walked into to a church to attend Mass or service, and not just to count up how much gold and marble is in tbe place?
Trump's spiritual advisor/booster Paula Michelle Furr-Knight-White-Cain is right about one thing: Trump has brought religion all over America and beyond. In the sense that most of us are praying daily for deliverance from masked, unbadged agents of the state (who can put even citizens in detention sans lawyers, and forget where the key is) and/or from the barrage of arbitrary state actions and/or the barrage of obscene memes (Karoline Leavitt: "what are you so bothered about, it's just a meme!"). In the old days, it was just math tests that would ensure prayer in schools, now we have the constant mercies of Donald Trump and his gang of criminals and sycophants and spiritual advisors to keep us on our knees.
Well, he did teargas a bunch of parishioners hanging out on the lawn of a church near the WH in his first term, so he could get a snap of himself holding a Bible upside down...
While campaigning in Iowa in the summer of 2015, he said, "When we go in church and I drink the little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and I eat the little cracker."
The seeming majority of Christians (or at least the loud and politically powerful groups of 'em) embracing Trump immediately is part of what soured me on my own faith a decade ago. I think like many foul things he exposed within the GOP, it was there all along and I just didn't see it.
I think this is spot on about Trump's own relationship to the big Evangelical bloc, being their personal "Punisher" is so right.
Not a thought original to me, but perhaps the strongest argument against Christianity is Christians. But also, sometimes, the strongest argument for the faith. As a frail and often failing follower of Jesus myself, I try to keep both of those in mind at all times.
Individually or collectively? As a country, I think our electing him for the second time reflected who we collectively are now. The innocent always suffer.
Under Trump, people are definitely going backward now. Highest level of layoffs since 2009. Social safety net programs shredded. Entire industries being gutted - Ag, EVs, manufacturing. The dollar plummeting. People are right in believing the system is stacked against them. They just got the perpetrators wrong. It wasn't the Dems. It was the billionaires.
rlritt - I get the jest. You raise a point worth mentioning: many followers of the ways of Jesus DON’T really imagine a deity controls every human event, let alone so that every eventuality is just.
Except perhaps for sporting events? Other than clergy, athletes seem to be our most public people to cite this myth. I notice, however, that only after winning a contest. The losing team doesn’t generally thank god and give all glory to god for their loss. So even their sense of cosmic puppeteers is only about.600 for the better teams
As an IU grad I spent the fall shaking my head at the football team. Still don't quite believe it. But after each game I had to turn the tube off before somebody got a mic to the QB.
That made me chuckle. As a Raider fan I like the prospects of the UI QB being drafted. As a person I find him a little odd and off-putting for some reason. Maybe the religious thing but since I am religious I have to check myself
Yes, the teachings of Christ are not the same thing as any of the religions or pastors or politicians or anyone else who advocate them. They may be more or less related but they're never the same thing.
Bill, thanks for continuing to beat the Epstein drum. It's maddening that the info which has come out is having serious repercussions in the UK, but zilch here.
'Unsurprisingly, at his age, Trump has the afterlife on his mind a lot.... “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he’ll muse; or “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound....”
'Trump plainly thinks he’s going to heaven.'
Trump is not seriously worried about the afterlife; if he were, he would be conducting himself very differently. Trump is not a Christian, he's just someone who finds Christians useful to himself and thus plays along. But there is no way Trump believes in any sort of an afterlife that exists as a punishment or reward for our earthly deeds. And on that I agree with him, but this belief of mine has not turned me into a monster who solely exists on earth to satisfy my personal desires no matter the collateral damage. It would possibly be helpful if Trump believed in an afterlife, but what he does speaks more loudly than what he says, and this is a man who does not think there is a heaven or a hell, who thinks the Bible is a political prop, or else a book you can sell for profit that is already written and ready to go.
In my book he traded his soul for all of the power and attention that he craves. I've never seen a clearer case of Faust and Mephistopheles come to life -- I'm at least half-serious in considering it as a possibility, and that we all are stuck as bit players in his personal drama.
It would make sense, because it's hard to see how we elevated the worst, least worthy man of our own free will as a nation rather than some divine intervention by a malevolent deity with whom he cut a deal. But, I tend to discount the supernatural while being bullish on the flaws of us evolved apes, so I have to conclude the blame for this sordid catastrophe is entirely our own.
Agree. And what does it say about the solid percentage of Americans who worship him, eyes wide open. None of Trumps’s ugliness was hidden! It was displayed with ever more vileness with each passing rally. A large part of our country shows traits of sociopathy.
I tend to blame those shit-head pastors who lead their flock astray in a political-filled rant every Sunday. I should also blame the congregation for allowing (ie: paying) that to happen.
I’ve read a few times that many pastors are dismayed because their flock demand the Trumpian hate. It’s hard to say who is leading who, I guess. It seems to be a feedback loop that picks up steam. It’s definitely a malignancy.
Thanks for recently letting us know when there's not going to be a Triad; I spent a couple of hours yesterday repeatedly checking for it. Hope JVL's OK.
Trump won TX-15 by 18 points, so normally I'd say that was a pipe dream. But a Dem just won a special election in Tarrant county in a district that Trump won by 17 points. And the GOP is hemorrhaging Latino voters. On top of that, the Dem candidate is likely going to be Tejano music star Bobby Pulido. So, who knows?
Trump’s gotta have some Hieronymus Bosch level torture set up for him in hell. I want him regurgitating gold bars while angry black women chastise him. Idk get working on it Satan.
Given Trump’s own appetites and proclivities, I am sure the old devil can come up with some rather compromising situations for DJT, only this time he won’t be the dominant or in charge.
As he vainly made himself appear orange in life he shall be peeled like one in death. He shall hear all the thoughts of those around him who once pretended to respect him and see how they all thought he was a fool. As he corrupted his followers to turn away from morality he should… ok I’m still working on that one probably something involving a golden calf?
I am thinking more along the lines of all the women he has abused over the years. I am sure Satan has a couple of expert dominatrixes on hand for such a time as this.
Yeah I agree he should get something related to that. I just have a hard time thinking of something Trump could be tortured with about that. He has no empathy to others but especially women. I’m not sure he would be able to understand the torture of women he abused beating him up. I think he would view it all as unfair to him since I assume he thinks women have no agency and no right to complain. Devils really gotta work on that one.
The one thing I am certain about with regard to That Man is, when the day comes that his death is announced, it will occasion the single biggest spontaneous celebration and expression of sheer joy here since World War II ended.
At least in the case of about half of our nation's population, and many others around the world. The problem is that there is some 30 to 40 percent of our own population that looks forward to the closest thing to him becoming President in his wake. Convince me that we are not screwed for decades to come with so many people refusing to flush equal parts autocracy and oligarchy down the drain, into the sewer, where it belongs.
Sometimes I think back to the day Old Joe won the election. It was the Saturday several tortuous days after the Tuesday election. Both relief and elation rumbled around in me like a happy earthquake. I took a long walk up steep hills and with each gulp of air I exulted in the ability to live free of T again. I can only imagine the freedom from T that his death will bring.
When I am lying awake in the wee small hours, I sometimes get a picture in my head combining Oz, ticker tape parades, dancing in the streets, and bells ringing out…
We talk a lot about the Sermon on the Mount, or the Judgment of Nations, but I've been thinking a lot about the temptation of Christ. Think of all the good things you could do for the people you care about, if only you gave into the power of evil!
"Instead, it makes them perversely grateful that he’s doing it so their hands can be clean."
But they aren't clean. They seem to think that voting has no moral consequence. They are wrong. If you vote for a liar, you have committed an act of falsehood. If you vote for a racist, you have committed an act of racism. If you vote for someone who promises violence, you have committed and act of violence. If you for vote for a corrupt person, you have committed an act of corruption. If you vote for an immoral person, you have committed and act of immorality. Especially if you vote for them BECAUSE they are these things.
MAGA Americans aren't really into self-awareness, especially the ones who are into performative Christianity. But the rest of us see them for who they are.
People are leaving Christianity because of the unclean hands of Christians. That and the "Punishers" eventually come for the Christians. Trump is doing it to them at the prayer breakfast: mocking his evangelical sycophants.
False religiosity is worse than no religion at all. I have the feeling Jesus would agree.
God knows what is in their heart. They can not escape that fact.
Uh - if they don't actually BELIEVE in God - what does it matter to them?
I think most of them are devout atheists.
The only things they worship are power and money.
Nearly every time trump back tracks its because he's cost one, or several, of the Big Guys money. He can do what he likes - but don't mess with the profits.
I think they know that, that's why they're so loud and pushy about it. Trying to drown out what their hearts are telling them.
None of these people are the Christians they claim to be.
When public opinion is STRONG, Trump knows he has to back down. It's time to call Congress (202 224 3121) and the White House (202 456 1414) about ICE reform. The next 10 days are critical. Read about the 10 Democratic proposals to curb ICE.
https://kathleenweber.substack.com/p/the-most-important-thing-you-can
They’re also willing to undermine nearly every value they say they have because of abortion. DOGE indirectly killing how many thousands of people doesn’t matter, downstream effects of cutting research doesn’t matter, maternal health doesn’t matter, etc.
Bukele at a prayer breakfast feels like a prelude to burning witches at the stake.
Torquemada was a Dominican priest.
"Let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything."
Sorry, it's Friday. ;)
Don't make me start humming Mel Brooks' "The Inquisition." (What a show!)
Too late dammit!
Way to make me get educated so early in the day! I suspect his numbers are legion. The Knights Templar were surely up to no good. Religion starts with pure intentions but gets perverted to power in a nanosecond.
my feelings about religion are similar to sex; “Keep it to yourself and practice it in private”.
One reason why America is so complicated is that the original settlers were mostly religious fanatics, though of different sects. They left home to escape religious persecution by other religious fanatics..
Europe had the good sense to kick the Puritans out. Here, we let them write the laws.
Similar to when colonies are liberated from oppressors, and elect worse oppressors. Like Rhodesia>Zimbabwe. Humans seem to have an irrepressible need to dominate others. I’m still trying to figure out how to dominate a dog, so it’s probably a male trait.
When you master dogs, there is the cats merit badge.
A tip of Amish hat
Go to your room and pray to your father. And your father, who sees what is secret, will reward you.
Good idea but capable of perversion anyway-just look at how Epstein's rich friends, whoever they may be, were able to keep it to themselves.
Well, they didn’t keep *everything* to themselves. That’s the problem.
We are talking about two different things. One is a crime against humanity. The fact that you equate them is rather horrifying. Details, details.
You of course, misunderstand: I was replying to your earlier comment about your feeling about religion and sex.
So you can put your comment back into the column of hasty self importance.
“Of course”. You self-validate my impression.
His chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear. His two weapons are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency. His three weapons are……well, IFYKYK
Hell is fillled with irreligeous priests and ministers.
It just took me 73 years to realize how deep that rot is.
And by that time you are too tired to do anything about it.
As my father used to say 'he who sits on a hot stove shall rise again'.
Trump reposted: "'4G wireless chips' were discovered 'embedded' in a 2020 Michigan voting machine, leading to the 'transmission of electronic data' and the manufacture of votes for Joe Biden. The video ends with a hard cut to a totally unrelated clip: two seconds of Barack and Michelle Obama’s grinning heads AI-superimposed onto the bodies of dancing apes."
Where's the outrage! Seriously, in what universe of any decency is this permissible? This manchild not only stomps on the Constitution and everything related to it, he consistently shows his blatant racism, sexism, and most other disgusting "ism" w impunity.
Thanks John Roberts!
He does not receive enough opprobrium, imho.
John Roberts did point out that if Trump is engaging in illegal/unconstitutional behavior, Congress may remove him from office.
My ire isn't directed at Roberts.
There's this interesting thing Supreme Court justices do: When it's an issue they oppose, they get realllll strict about Constitutionality and who is required to do what and how. (Example: undoing Biden's student loan actions) In other cases, when it's something that they support, the Constitution becomes more of a general guide that can be set aside in favor of this thing they really like. (Examples: criminal immunity for official presidential acts, letting partisan gerrymandering cover for racist disenfranchisement)
It's motivated reasoning, all the way down. If we fall for their "I'm just such a Constitutional purist!" pleading, we're being naive
That is true, but Roberts knows as well as all of us do that a Republican majority and theSenate's 67 votes threshold can never be overcome in the 21st century. So yeah, he is also worthy of ire.
Well , not solely . Immunity -- Roberts so the ONLY remedy is impeachment which has NEVER succeeded.
And then empowered the unitary executive. Because absolute power is the American way?
You answered your own question. If there is any decency left in the universe, it will not be found in the United States in 2026.
Oh, I'm proud as hell of Minnesota.
Understand and hard agree. I was speaking hyperbolically and did not intend to disparage the heroes in Minnesota or elsewhere.
It's absolutely equal parts insane and disgustingly racist. Of course it's crickets from the mainstream American media though.
The WH clean-up on aisle Trump crew is saying "fake outrage," as it is part of a longer video w Trump as the Lion King. Even a 4th grader would know better than to put it out. There is no acceptable context, unless your a MAGA.
The MSM should know to take Trump seriously & literally. Chris Christie said Trump never does something by accident.
I think that he's re-treading 2020 is a tell. The well of conspiracy has gone dry?
Trump's epitaph will refer to 2020.
No, that well is endless, literally infinite. It's just that his limited brain can only hold so many simple topics, and it's saturated.
Hell is the only place that sack of shit, Trump, is going.
I don't want him to go to hell. I want him to repent.
...the scales falling from his eyes, his arms, his legs, his tail....
Actually laughed out loud.
Yes, like Aslan removing the scaly dragon-flesh from Eustace Scrubb in Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
That's what I want for President Trump.
The people he was speaking to in that room want us to go to Hell. They'd bring back the Inquisition.
You really do believe in miracles.
Well, yes.
I'd still go with impeachment while we wait for divine intervention.
I keep two files: impeachment and Article 15. Most items are cross-filed.
Some guy named Saul watched the coats of a gang as they killed Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and was going to get more to bring back in chains when a funny thing happened on the road to Damascus. He went on to become Apostle to the gentiles. The conversion of Donald Trump wouldn’t be easy, but it is possible, and sure would be awesome.
That would be a good bit for The Monty Python show.
I think the difference will be that the Apostle Paul repented in this life - yeah it took a blinding shock to his system but he repented and did the Lord's work. Trump is not going to repent in this life and he will pay for it in the next and will receive a just judgement for his works while on the earth (per my religious upbringing).
“The bruised reed He will not break, and a faintly burning wick He will not quench.” -Isaiah 42:3. A thing may be unlikely but it is not impossible.
Jesus did have something to say about people who have already gained their rewards in this life.
All of my grandparents came to the U.S. from Finland more than a century ago. I pretty much ignored my heritage until only a few years ago, when I started to study Finnish culture. One thing I learned is that the Finns generally consider religion to be a private matter, particularly when it comes to politics.
I seem to have absorbed that attitude by osmosis because I have always gotten nervous when Americans have interjected religion into political discourse. As a case in point, I don't think the state of Trump's soul is any of my business. What I care about are the impacts of his actions on our all-too-fragile republic. That this is being done in the name of a religion only underlines the wisdom of the founders in trying to separate church and state.
Hell will have to freeze over first.
Well, The Eagles did get back together and tour after Glenn Frey (RIP) said they would when “hell freezes over”, so……..🤞
(I am an atheist, so I don’t really have a dog in religious internecine warfare)
I don't want him in Hell, I want him in jail.
Sure, but if he started now, he may have to live to be 101 to stop confessing his crimes.
But, that would be a good thing.
Not that I think he will actually repent.
Sorry to inform you that the only way this will end involves a coffin.
He has to have a soul and heart to repent. Since only sees himself as worthy, he is unable to repent.
His heart is at least two sizes too small.
The Grinch at least had a dog who actually loved him. I doubt anyone really loves POS.
10,000 likes for you sir.
And after his heart grew, he had the strength of ten grinches, plus two!
Ideally, yeah, I'd like all of them to have profound epiphanies and become good, decent people.
But I truly believe Trump is psychologically and mentally incapable of even simple, honest introspection. I don't know that it was ever a thing he was able to do.
If he were truly incapable, that would mean he didn’t have free will, and free will is the one thing God has given every human being regardless of race, religion, or station in life.
A fine sentiment but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Ever the opportunist, if Trump repents it will be on his dying breath.
Thank you for that. I truly believe every person is deserving of forgiveness if they truly repent, even if it’s as they are standing before the locked pearly gates—if it is genuine (and Jesus will know what the heart truly holds). Your words were a salve to my aching heart.
I would also prefer genuine repentance with enough time to make genuine amends. Turning into end-of-the-story Scrooge would be great!
I'm not holding my breath.
"I want him to repent."
...as a big, strong man, with tears in his eyes.
He's not going to repent. He's got all these faux christians around him saying he's the very best thing since sliced bread. Why should he repent when they're all praying a path to Heaven for him?
I say let's deal with him now (impeachment, prison) and let God deal with him when he kicks off. When there is no justice there is no peace.
Today would be good.
Since when is Trump religious? Has he ever even walked into to a church to attend Mass or service, and not just to count up how much gold and marble is in tbe place?
Trump's spiritual advisor/booster Paula Michelle Furr-Knight-White-Cain is right about one thing: Trump has brought religion all over America and beyond. In the sense that most of us are praying daily for deliverance from masked, unbadged agents of the state (who can put even citizens in detention sans lawyers, and forget where the key is) and/or from the barrage of arbitrary state actions and/or the barrage of obscene memes (Karoline Leavitt: "what are you so bothered about, it's just a meme!"). In the old days, it was just math tests that would ensure prayer in schools, now we have the constant mercies of Donald Trump and his gang of criminals and sycophants and spiritual advisors to keep us on our knees.
Makes one muse if Televangelism of Paula White is just another sham.
She has the Jimmy Swaggart seal of approval.
Well, he did teargas a bunch of parishioners hanging out on the lawn of a church near the WH in his first term, so he could get a snap of himself holding a Bible upside down...
And then forgot to put his hand on the Bible during his inauguration.
Honestly didn't know that.
The bruises are from just being in the same room with it.
I didn't, either.
Just wow.
Burns
While campaigning in Iowa in the summer of 2015, he said, "When we go in church and I drink the little wine, which is about the only wine I drink, and I eat the little cracker."
Trump believes, or at least wants us to believe, that he was ordained by God. There's a word for someone who has been ordained by God...king.
Meme featuring Margaret Dumont and Groucho Marx:
Margaret: “I believe Trump was sent by God.”
Groucho: “Why? Did He run out of locusts?”
You made me laugh out loud!
I think he wants to be Jesus' brother from another mother.
And he ain't it.
"None of this, it should probably go without saying, is compatible in the slightest with the teachings of actual Christianity."
Yes, it should go without saying. But it is a measure of our low state that it cannot.
The seeming majority of Christians (or at least the loud and politically powerful groups of 'em) embracing Trump immediately is part of what soured me on my own faith a decade ago. I think like many foul things he exposed within the GOP, it was there all along and I just didn't see it.
I think this is spot on about Trump's own relationship to the big Evangelical bloc, being their personal "Punisher" is so right.
Not a thought original to me, but perhaps the strongest argument against Christianity is Christians. But also, sometimes, the strongest argument for the faith. As a frail and often failing follower of Jesus myself, I try to keep both of those in mind at all times.
Next time you talk to Jesus, could you maybe ask him what we did to deserve Trump?
Individually or collectively? As a country, I think our electing him for the second time reflected who we collectively are now. The innocent always suffer.
I think a lot of hardworking people were afraid they were going backwards financially. They probably were.
Propaganda and the amplification of social media didn't help.
Under Trump, people are definitely going backward now. Highest level of layoffs since 2009. Social safety net programs shredded. Entire industries being gutted - Ag, EVs, manufacturing. The dollar plummeting. People are right in believing the system is stacked against them. They just got the perpetrators wrong. It wasn't the Dems. It was the billionaires.
I had heard that there was some shenanigans going on with voting in a few swing states.
rlritt - I get the jest. You raise a point worth mentioning: many followers of the ways of Jesus DON’T really imagine a deity controls every human event, let alone so that every eventuality is just.
Except perhaps for sporting events? Other than clergy, athletes seem to be our most public people to cite this myth. I notice, however, that only after winning a contest. The losing team doesn’t generally thank god and give all glory to god for their loss. So even their sense of cosmic puppeteers is only about.600 for the better teams
As an IU grad I spent the fall shaking my head at the football team. Still don't quite believe it. But after each game I had to turn the tube off before somebody got a mic to the QB.
That made me chuckle. As a Raider fan I like the prospects of the UI QB being drafted. As a person I find him a little odd and off-putting for some reason. Maybe the religious thing but since I am religious I have to check myself
Yes, the teachings of Christ are not the same thing as any of the religions or pastors or politicians or anyone else who advocate them. They may be more or less related but they're never the same thing.
Well said Carolyn. My sincere hope is that Christians do not cause people to turn away from Christ.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
Their three chief weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope... Ugh I'll come in again.
It all started with some trouble at mill.
Fetch... THE COMFY CHAIR!
[dramatic diminished chord] Not the comfy chair!
I really want to see a list of all the pastors in attendance at yesterdays breakfast.
Bill, thanks for continuing to beat the Epstein drum. It's maddening that the info which has come out is having serious repercussions in the UK, but zilch here.
I think the Europeans will figure out the Epstein story before we Americans.
'Unsurprisingly, at his age, Trump has the afterlife on his mind a lot.... “I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he’ll muse; or “I don’t think there’s anything that’s going to get me into heaven. I think I’m not maybe heaven-bound....”
'Trump plainly thinks he’s going to heaven.'
Trump is not seriously worried about the afterlife; if he were, he would be conducting himself very differently. Trump is not a Christian, he's just someone who finds Christians useful to himself and thus plays along. But there is no way Trump believes in any sort of an afterlife that exists as a punishment or reward for our earthly deeds. And on that I agree with him, but this belief of mine has not turned me into a monster who solely exists on earth to satisfy my personal desires no matter the collateral damage. It would possibly be helpful if Trump believed in an afterlife, but what he does speaks more loudly than what he says, and this is a man who does not think there is a heaven or a hell, who thinks the Bible is a political prop, or else a book you can sell for profit that is already written and ready to go.
In my book he traded his soul for all of the power and attention that he craves. I've never seen a clearer case of Faust and Mephistopheles come to life -- I'm at least half-serious in considering it as a possibility, and that we all are stuck as bit players in his personal drama.
It would make sense, because it's hard to see how we elevated the worst, least worthy man of our own free will as a nation rather than some divine intervention by a malevolent deity with whom he cut a deal. But, I tend to discount the supernatural while being bullish on the flaws of us evolved apes, so I have to conclude the blame for this sordid catastrophe is entirely our own.
"...bullish on the flaws of us evolved apes."
That was bracing. I'm up now. ;)
Rupert Murdoch is a close 2nd
Or Leon. Always wondered, is his mother dyslexic and mixed up two letters on the birth certificate?
I didn't wanna give a 'like', but that is pretty original! I hate being stuck in my role as a powerless extra in life's one-act play.
Agree. And what does it say about the solid percentage of Americans who worship him, eyes wide open. None of Trumps’s ugliness was hidden! It was displayed with ever more vileness with each passing rally. A large part of our country shows traits of sociopathy.
I tend to blame those shit-head pastors who lead their flock astray in a political-filled rant every Sunday. I should also blame the congregation for allowing (ie: paying) that to happen.
I’ve read a few times that many pastors are dismayed because their flock demand the Trumpian hate. It’s hard to say who is leading who, I guess. It seems to be a feedback loop that picks up steam. It’s definitely a malignancy.
Very good point
Also, here is an excellent book on the topic:
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
Thanks for recently letting us know when there's not going to be a Triad; I spent a couple of hours yesterday repeatedly checking for it. Hope JVL's OK.
Like those experiments with the mice desperately trying to get their dopamine hit. I am sure JVL would be delighted to hear that.
Maybe he's on vacation in a wonderfully tropical place with no phones or TV.
I can't complain. I'm sitting here in my house looking out at Doheney Beach.
Me too.
The American people can send Trump to hell by voting Republicans out of office on Nov.3, 2026:
Give money to: http://www.dscc.org and https://dccc.org.
Vote these vulnerable Republicans out of office:
PA: Robert Bresnahan-08, Brian Fitzgerald-01, Scott Perry-10, Ryan Mackenzie-07
TX: Monica De La Cruz-15, Hal Rogers-05, OPEN-35, OPEN-22, OPEN-19, OPEN-10
FL: Maria Elvira Salazar-27, Anna Paula Luna-13, Cory Mills-07, Laurel Lee-15, Vern Buchanan-16
OPEN-02,
CA:Ken Calvert-41,Mike Garcia-27, Young Kim-40, John Duarte-13, Darrell Issa-48, David Valado-22
Trump won TX-15 by 18 points, so normally I'd say that was a pipe dream. But a Dem just won a special election in Tarrant county in a district that Trump won by 17 points. And the GOP is hemorrhaging Latino voters. On top of that, the Dem candidate is likely going to be Tejano music star Bobby Pulido. So, who knows?
I would love to see Darrell Issa gone.
Talking House is not enough: House and Senate.
Trump’s gotta have some Hieronymus Bosch level torture set up for him in hell. I want him regurgitating gold bars while angry black women chastise him. Idk get working on it Satan.
Given Trump’s own appetites and proclivities, I am sure the old devil can come up with some rather compromising situations for DJT, only this time he won’t be the dominant or in charge.
As he vainly made himself appear orange in life he shall be peeled like one in death. He shall hear all the thoughts of those around him who once pretended to respect him and see how they all thought he was a fool. As he corrupted his followers to turn away from morality he should… ok I’m still working on that one probably something involving a golden calf?
I am thinking more along the lines of all the women he has abused over the years. I am sure Satan has a couple of expert dominatrixes on hand for such a time as this.
Yeah I agree he should get something related to that. I just have a hard time thinking of something Trump could be tortured with about that. He has no empathy to others but especially women. I’m not sure he would be able to understand the torture of women he abused beating him up. I think he would view it all as unfair to him since I assume he thinks women have no agency and no right to complain. Devils really gotta work on that one.
I’m sure the lord of darkness can think of something
My imagination doesn't tend in this direction, but I think show tunes will be involved somehow.
I'd want Melania (she'd be there) tuning him up with a tire iron.
The one thing I am certain about with regard to That Man is, when the day comes that his death is announced, it will occasion the single biggest spontaneous celebration and expression of sheer joy here since World War II ended.
At least in the case of about half of our nation's population, and many others around the world. The problem is that there is some 30 to 40 percent of our own population that looks forward to the closest thing to him becoming President in his wake. Convince me that we are not screwed for decades to come with so many people refusing to flush equal parts autocracy and oligarchy down the drain, into the sewer, where it belongs.
Sometimes I think back to the day Old Joe won the election. It was the Saturday several tortuous days after the Tuesday election. Both relief and elation rumbled around in me like a happy earthquake. I took a long walk up steep hills and with each gulp of air I exulted in the ability to live free of T again. I can only imagine the freedom from T that his death will bring.
When I am lying awake in the wee small hours, I sometimes get a picture in my head combining Oz, ticker tape parades, dancing in the streets, and bells ringing out…
We talk a lot about the Sermon on the Mount, or the Judgment of Nations, but I've been thinking a lot about the temptation of Christ. Think of all the good things you could do for the people you care about, if only you gave into the power of evil!
I'm guessing all these Christian leaders think Jesus was a chump for turning down wordly power.