I don’t know what to think about this column in The New York Times. It’s a hardcore ‘what our enemies are saying’ exercise. David French, a notable anti-Trumper, penned a column about how Trump is no savior, along with his critique of American Christianity, which he says is coming off the rails. It’s obsessive—the man penned a piece based on one of the former president’s Truth Social posts about Easter and how a follower supposedly compared the 45th president to Jesus Christ. He then uses Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk to make his anti-Trump pitch.
If this was a critique of Owens and Kirk, so be it. I’m sure both would welcome it, but we once again fall into ‘taking everything Trump says literally’ territory that often ends up embarrassing the media for being too stupid to use common sense regarding Trump’s remarks. The overt bias is something to behold: most Americans could decipher what Trump was saying, bluster and all, while the media could not use their cognitive abilities to report what he said accurately. Meanwhile, no one has a clue what Grandpa Dementia says except for the liberal media, who jumps up and down in frustration that no one comprehends the ramblings of this mentally degraded, frail old man.
Also, I’m not religious at all, but I’m sure when I was a kid and went to mass, I saw “Christ is King” everywhere on Easter Sunday, Dave. It’s not some dog whistle calling for the new crusades:
David French: "What we saw on Easter Sunday was a remarkable display of venom and hatred. During Holy Week, Christians all over Twitter were posting 'Christ is King' specifically aimed to assert religious dominance in a very gross and ugly way. It is very dangerous." pic.twitter.com/PSuTXgrbRx
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) April 1, 2024
Two weeks ago, Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, told a Christian gathering that Democrats “want full and complete destruction of the United States of America.” Kirk is a powerful Trump ally. He has millions of followers on social media and is hoping to raise more than $100 million in 2024 to help mobilize voters for Trump.
“I do not think you can be a Christian and vote Democrat,” Kirk said, and “if you vote Democrat as a Christian, you can no longer call yourself a Christian.”
All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of so-called prophetic utterances that place Trump at the center of God’s plan to save America. According to these prophecies, Trump is God’s choice to lead America out of spiritual darkness, to save it from decline and despair. In this formulation, to oppose Trump is to stand against the will of God.
[…]
It is true, thankfully, that a vast majority of American evangelicals do not and would not ever wield Christ’s name as a weapon against their Jewish neighbors. In fact, a number of conservative and right-wing Christians called out the “Christ is king” smear. But the argument that “most Christians aren’t MAGA” or “the majority of evangelicals abhor antisemitism” is cold comfort when MAGA and its antisemitic fringe are as prominent as they are in Christian public discourse. It’s also cold comfort when it’s evangelicals who helped push Trump over the finish line in the Republican primary race.
The MAGA method is clear. First, it whips up its people into a religious frenzy. It lies to convince them that the Democrats are an existential threat to the country and the church. It tells worried Christians that the fate of the nation is at stake. Then, just as it builds up the danger from the Democrats, it constructs an idol of Trump, declaring his divine purpose and spreading the prophecies of his coming return. He is to be the instrument of divine vengeance against his foes, and his frenzied foot soldiers are eager to carry out his will. They march eagerly to culture war, flying the flag of the House of Trump.
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Being Never Trump has to be an exhausting exercise regarding whining about how Trump supporters exercise their right to free speech. It’s also something that liberals do. If you want to know why Republicans have been rolled for years, it’s because of this nonsense. Touch some grass, dude—this wasn’t a big deal.
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