I can’t figure it out. These are supposedly Christian people who believe, like Jesus, in loving your neighbor, believe in the moral code reinforced by Jesus (thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill, turn the other cheek). Adultery is the least of Trump’s sexual sins and when he said “I could murder someone in Times Square and you will still love me” they did still love him. He can’t turn the other cheek. He says, “I will punish severely anyone who opposes me.” He mocked a disabled veteran so how is that loving your neighbor? How is this exemplary Christian behavior?
Anyone trying to make him accountable to the law is met with “Oh, he’s just being persecuted” (because he says he is – that’s how we know it’s true). Now we get a clue – there are pictures circulating with Trump on the cross.
So Trump is Jesus returned. But what Jesus is it? An authoritarian Jesus (authoritarian means fascist). Sadly, in Jesus’ time Judaism was authoritarian and patriarchal, and that got infused into the Christianity to come.
Here are the characteristics of authoritarianism. You see if they match Trump and match up with Evangelical Christianity which adopted those tenets whole cloth. The love of a “strong man,” a term used in research on fascism, was love of God the Father almighty who will strike you dead for disobeying. Fear is the underlying emotion promoted in fascism and acted upon. Trump said, “Power is about instilling fear.” Here is the list:
- Respect for and submission to acknowledged authority
- A need for strong leadership that displays uncompromising power
- Fear that the world is a dangerous place
- Belief in aggression toward those who do not subscribe to conventional thinking, or who are different
- Belief in severe punishment for those who disobey
- A negative view of people in general – i.e. the belief that people would all lie, cheat or steal if given the opportunity
- A belief in simple answers and polemics
- Resistance to creative, dangerous ideas – a black and white worldview
- A tendency to project one’s own feelings of inadequacy, rage, and fear onto a scapegoated group
- A preoccupation with violence and sex
- Blind allegiance to conventional beliefs about right and wrong
It has been said that we are all living in an era rife with existential fear. Trump is beloved because he cashes in on it.
Furthermore, I have never forgotten an interview with a Trump adorer:
“Why do you love him?”
“Because he will take care of me.”
That’s a child’s response, so how many Trump adorers have had abusive fascist fathers whom the child loved no matter what he did? The abuse is either forgotten and the father still worshipped, or, in the inner psyche, abuse is paired with love. If this is so, then we are in trouble as a nation. We are becoming fascist.