An original poster in Reddit’s Christianity group asked: “Even if he is technically a Republican, how did a man like Donald Trump ever become associated with Christianity or be dubbed as ‘God’s President’, when all the things he’s done point in the opposite direction of Christ?” Of course, OP got voluminous amounts of responses, including this response from yours truly: Bishop Durrell (Queer-by-God on Reddit): They worship power and use Jesus (separated from his love ethic) as a mascot.
For that sort of Xian, Trump isn’t problematic. As long he represents that power that they value, and continues to reward the powerful and marginalize those whom the powerful despise, his many atrocities can be forgiven, overlooked, or even praised as good.
The whole thing is monstrous, of course, but it is easier to worship cruelty, avarice, hatred, and bigotry than it is to follow some hippie who said love your neighbor and showed it by praising Samaritans, healing on the sabbath, affirming children (vulnerable people), feeding the hungry even when his resources seemed meager, noticing how generous the poor can be (widow’s mite), confronting businesses who were exploiting pilgrims (money changers), calling Herod an old fox and the hyper-religious self-righteous types a brood of vipers, being anointed (he was the “anointed one”) by a woman and a woman of ill repute at that, touching the untouchable (lepers), loving the unloved, never turning down one asking for care (healing), ministering to those who had been demonized by society (demoniacs)…Following that model of justice-love is so much more difficult than worshiping power and cruelty, claiming it’s all okay because if you have the right opinions (beliefs) you’ll be okay, and slapping an ahistorically white Jesus’ face on it.
It’s not a mystery that they found and devoted themselves to Trump…he’s what they have been looking for (in America) from almost the start.
