Donald Trump the Epitome of “Projection”©

 Donald Trump the Epitome of “Projection”© 

At a political rally on 5 August 2023, presidential candidate Donald Trump lashed out at Special Counsel Jack Smith who is prosecuting cases against him. He used what has now become common language–Smith was “deranged,” “sick,” “maniac.”(1)  I noticed long ago that one of Trump’s habits, probably calculated, is to accuse his opponents of the same things of which he is guilty. In recent weeks, commentators, pundits, and now some of the press are calling attention to this phenomenon as “projection.” Projection in this context is a psychological term. On the Psychology Today website, projection is explained as:

...the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. For example, if someone continuously bullies and ridicules a peer about his insecurities, the bully might be projecting his own struggle with self-esteem onto the other person.

The concept emerged from Sigmund Freud’s work on defense mechanisms and was further refined by his daughter, Anna Freud, and other prominent figures in psychology.(2)

It is interesting that “projection” is often a defensive mechanism growing out of insecurities and fears. Given Trump’s constant projection on to others his own egregious thinking and behavior, this may tell us even more about Trump than the projection itself. It suggests insecurities and fears may drive this behavior at the deepest levels of his infantile-juvenile mind.  

But, I think there is more to it because projection is one of the favorite techniques of autocrats, demagogues, tyrants, and dictators. Just this week Trump accused Joe Biden of trying to destroy American democracy.  We have been warned for years, and in recent years and months, a plethora of books mostly from Republicans, many former members of the Trump administration, are being published to “warn” America of Donald Trump’s intent to cast aside the Constitution and destroy American democracy. Liz Cheney’s book which came out today, Oath and Honor: A Memoir and Warning, is the most recent example. Equally interesting is this month’s The Atlantic magazine is given over entirely to two dozen essays about “If Trump Wins.”

Jack Smith may be one of the least “deranged” attorneys Donald Trump has ever encountered, especially when compared to Rudi Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and John Eastman. And if you hear those around Smith in the legal profession, he also may be one of the most dedicated, thoughtful, clear eyed, and under control prosecutors Mr. Trump has had to deal with. Smith is anything but “sick” physically or emotionally. He is not obsessed, but he is tenacious, dedicated, and thorough, which may well spark DT’s fears and insecurities.  As for “maniac,” which Webster’s online dictionary defines as “someone who is or acts mentally unsound, especially: a person who behaves in a wildly foolish, reckless, or dangerous manner,” well, none of these things fit Jack Smith, but each one is a bull’s-eye accurate description of the former President himself!

Pay close attention to Mr. Trump’s words and how often he “projects” his own thinking, desires, wishes, and actions on to his opponents and enemies. It is quite uncanny. But, please believe him when he says the Constitution should be terminated, and when, though he believes without any evidence but his own fears and insecurities, that Biden has weaponized the DOJ against him, therefore he will do the same if he becomes President again. I agree with Liz Cheney and many others who warn that he is the greatest threat to our democracy since World War II, and he will make every effort to set himself up as our dictator. I’ve believed this about him from the time he entered the political arena, and everything I have seen from him since confirms that original impression. I’m glad that so many of his former associates and others, are raising the warning trumpet. Though the MAGA base may be hardening against all of this, I believe they must also be shrinking in size, because it is so obvious that he is the one obsessed, sick, and maniacal–in his quest for power.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:  

1.  David McAfee, “‘This guy is a maniac’: Donald Trump lashes out at Jack Smith at event,” Raw World Daily, available online at: https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-jack-smith-2662816861/?utm_source=msn

2.  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/projection

Evidence Seventy-Four: Joseph Smith and the “Lamb of God.”©

 101 Reasons Why I Believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God.

Evidence Seventy-Four:

“Joseph Smith and the ‘Lamb of God’”© 

If you keep studying the Book of Mormon and trying to keep up on current literature on this amazing volume you inevitably run into new things that set you back in your chair. That happened to me this week.  It involved an interesting set of circumstances. For many years I have met with several friends (now on Zoom) to discuss the temple. We read and discuss books and articles, and currently we are reading Margaret Barker’s book, The Revelation of Jesus Christ Which God Gave to Him to Show to His Servants What Must Soon Take Place (Revelation 1:1). It is basically her commentary about the temple as found in the Book of Revelation.

Then three days ago I started reading Joseph Spencer’s wonderful little volume 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction. Last night and this morning the two came together in an amazing “ah ha!”  I learned from Joseph Spencer a remarkable series of little facts. Here is my summary of his discussion of Nephi’s use of the title “The Lamb of God” in First Nephi. Spencer calls the title  “theologically fraught,” which is central to Nephi’s visions in 1 Nephi. The title does not appear in the Old Testament, but 30 times in the New Testament–twice in John 1 and 28 times in the book of Revelation! Here is its distribution in Restoration scriptures. Once in the Pearl of Great Price, 14 times in the D&C, and 70 times in the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon distribution is very interesting.  It is used 57 times in 1 Nephi 10-14–Nephi’s account of his visions, 4 times in 2 Nephi 31-33, 4 times in Mormon’s writings, and 5 times in Moroni’s writings.(1)

Here is Spenser’s analysis of the meaning and importance of all of this:

...the Messiah’s baptism introduces readers to a key theological title for the Messiah.  Lehi prophesies not only that the Messiah’s prophetic forerunner would baptize him but also that this forerunner would “behold and bear record that he had baptized the Lamb of God” (1 Ne. 10:10).The preparatory prophet would thus do more than administer a necessary ordinance.  He would see something others wouldn’t, and he would bear public witness to it: that the Messiah is God’s Lamb. This theologically fraught title–”the Lamb of God”–proves central to Nephi’s vision. We’ll see that it’s the Lamb that lies at the heart of the presentation of Israel’s God in 1 Nephi.(2)

He goes on to tell us that the title first appears in the New Testament testimony of John the Baptist in John 1:29, and 36. Interestingly, its use in the scriptures of the Restoration are almost exclusively used in reference to 1) John the Baptist’s testimony, 2) Nephi’s “apocalyptic” vision , or 3) John’s Revelation!.  Spencer writes, 

In the Book of Mormon, the title is almost entirely restricted to Nephi’s vision. Lehi introduces it in 1 Nephi 10, and then it appears fifty-six times in the course of Nephi’s vision, which is explicitly related to John’s Revelation (see 1 Ne. 14:18-27). After that, the title mostly disappears. Nephi uses it late in 2 Nephi, referring back to his vision. And then it appears a few times in the remainder of the volume, but always mirroring the book of Revelation or the Baptist’s words in John.

Thus, references to God’s Lamb throughout scripture derive either from the Baptist’s testimony or from the apocalyptic visions of John and Nephi. (3)

It only requires a little reflection to see that this information uncovers some remarkable evidence for the Prophet Joseph’s inspired translation of the Book of Mormon.  For one, the bulk of the uses of the title “Lamb of God” appear in the New Testament and the Book of Mormon, in the recounting of apocalyptic visions of Lehi/Nephi and John the Revelator. Nephi knew of John’s future work and was told not to encroach upon it, but we do not know whether John knew of Nephi’s visions. (See 1 Nephi 14:19-27.) Indeed, Nephi is told, “behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold the remainder shalt thou see.”(4)

My simple faith leads me to ask myself, isn’t it amazing that the very first thing in the Book of Mormon, the thing that becomes one of the core themes of the entire book, is a series of visions given to Nephi that are exactly the same things John saw? And... both speak of Jesus Christ using the same title! Since Nephi was restricted from relating what John would see and he is careful not to do so, one cannot accuse the Prophet of plagiarizing John. If one is inclined to attribute the origin of the Book of Mormon to the Prophet Joseph, the worst one could say is that his genius, creativity, and unbridled hubris led him to mimic the Book of Revelation in 1st Nephi.  

However, there are some things that make this theory more than a little suspect in this case. First, as Spencer discusses his analysis of First Nephi he repeatedly argues that LDS are so familiar with its story that they often overlook and miss such subtleties as these. Second, the theory presupposes that Joseph Smith had a thorough knowledge of the Book of Revelation, yet family members and others who knew him, confirm his account of the First Vision, that his religions inclinations were aroused about the age 12 to 14, and there is virtually no evidence this author knows of that he pursued an understanding of the book of Revelation between 1819-20 and 1829-30 when the Book of Mormon was translated. Third, Spencer also discusses the relationship of the Lamb to the Old Testament temple sacrifices, and observes;

Although there is disagreement among scholars about exactly which form of Israelite sacrifice ... the image derives from, numerous Book of Mormon passages show that it’s the blood of the Lamb that’s most essential to the Nephite prophets.(5)

This is interesting, because again Nephi and John are one on this, but only quietly so.  The word “blood” shows up seventeen times in the Book of Revelation. The same emphasis on Christ’s blood is found only in the following: Revelation 1:5, 5:9, 7:14, 12:11, and 19:13(?)  

Fourth, as our understanding of the complexity of the Book of Mormon grows through ongoing studies such as Spencer’s, the more difficult it is to attribute the multitudes of such subtle details with so many combinations and permutations to plagiarism.

Fifth, although I have no question that Joseph Smith had an ego which tended to surface when he faced opposition, I am also aware of an amazing humility before God that flows through his life.  That is another topic for another time, but it is easier to attribute the boldness of the Book of Mormon to the idea that Joseph Smith translated it by the gift and power of God as to it is to ascribe it to Joseph’s ego. Here it is a choice.  I choose to believe the evidence suggests ego was not Joseph’s impetus for producing the Book of Mormon. That doesn’t explain much that follows.

Sixth, Spencer’s summary of the pervasiveness of the Lamb in Nephi’s story, suggests it is  possibly a broader view of the Lamb than found in Revelation.

What Nephi sees in vision regarding the destiny of Lehi’s children is principally the story of the Lamb.  Christ is the Lamb when Nephi first sees him in the arms of the Virgin (see 1 Ne. 11:21), and he is the Lamb again when Nephi sees him baptized (see verse 27).  He’s the Lamb in his mortal ministry (see verse 31), and he’s the Lamb when he’s “judged of the world” and killed (verse 32). He’s the Lamb when he descends from heaven to visit Lehi’s children (see 12:6), and he’s the Lamb when the Nephites write and seal up his teachings (see 13:35). The pure gospel corrupted by the abominable church belongs to the Lamb (see verse 26), as does the pure book that goes from Jews to Gentiles before its corruption (see verse 28). It’s also the Lamb who reaches out in mercy in the last days (see verse 33), brings forth the Book of Mormon (see verse 39), and destroys the abominable church (see 14:3). And, of course, it’s to the Lamb that “all men must come” in the end, “or they cannot be saved” (13:40).  In the vision that forms the theological heart of 1 Nephi, it’s the Lamb of God who requires our worship.(6)

Finally, once again I point out that all of this is consistent with and reinforcing to the central purpose of the Book of Mormon. If Joseph Smith was a dupe of Satan when he produced the Book of Mormon and organized the Church of Jesus Christ, Satan sure had an odd way of trying to draw us to his side buy making one of the central visions of the book and doctrine of the Church about the Lamb of God!

I finish as I began. I’m in my 81st year of life and I still get a buzz when I encounter this kind of wonderful information, and I almost always sense the whisperings of the Spirit saying something like, “See, Dan, here is another piece of evidence to add to the mountain you already have, that Joseph Smith was and is a Prophet of God. The Book of Mormon is of  divine origin, and the Church Joseph Smith organized is the restored Church of Jesus Christ.”

Thank God for Joseph Smith!

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  Joseph Spencer, 1st Nephi: A Brief Theological Introduction, Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Neal A. Maxwell Institute, 2020, 48.

 Ibid.

3.  Spencer, 1st Nephi, 49.

4.  1 Nephi 14:24.

5.  Spencer, 1st Nephi, 49.

6.  Ibid, 49-50.  Barker emphasizes several things about the Lamb in the Book of Revelation that are not strong motifs in Nephi’s vision. A particular one is her view that the Lamb goes through “apotheosis”–become a God, (“the vision of Revelation 5 is a scene of apotheosis, corresponding to temple ritual underlying Psalm 2 and Psalm 110") and is enthroned (Rev. 7:17).  See Margaret Barker, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, London: T&T Clark, 2000, 139-41.

Donald Trump and Bilking the MAGA Base©

Donald Trump and Bilking the MAGA Base© 

Twenty minutes after court was dismissed last Monday in the first day Donald Trump attended the civil lawsuit against him for fraud and other associated crimes in New York, his campaign team sent out a fund-raising email.(1) I’m not telling anyone who is paying attention anything new when I call attention to the fact that every time the former president has been in court in recent months he immediately uses the opportunity to raise funds. We already know he is a con man, he has been found liable for business fraud in New York. So would-be donors must consider the high degree of probability that they are being suckered. Trump’s constant pleas for money are perverse. To begin with, he claims he is very wealthy man. He never tires of boasting about his wealth. If he is so wealthy, why does he come with open hand every time he comes out of court?  Here are a couple of possible answers to this question. First, maybe he is lying about how wealthy he really is. Given his innate mendacity, that is also a distinct probability. Second, he doesn’t want to use his own money and knows he can bilk his MAGA base. In either case, as always, Trump constructs his fantasy world to have it both ways to his benefit. In the Good Book, the Apostle Paul teaches Timothy “the love of money is the root of all evil.”(2) Donald Trump is Exhibit A in the evidence for Paul’s case; meanwhile the dupes in the MAGA base pay his bills.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  Many commentators and pundits note that Trump’s non-mandatory appearance at this trial is indicative of where his values really are. He is most concerned, they say, about his pocketbook and the superiority, fame, status, and power he believes wealth gives him.  He sees his court appearances as an opportunity to bilk–or maybe more accurate–filch the MAGA folks.

2.  1 Timothy 6:10.

“Breaking News! Former Chief of Staff Says Trump Has No Idea what America is About and Has Contempt for the Constitution.”©

 “Breaking News!  Former Chief of Staff Says Trump Has No Idea what America is About and Has Contempt for the Constitution.”© 

Just this afternoon (2 October 2023), CNN’s Jake Tapper disclosed an on-the-record-statement from John Kelly, Donald Trump’s longest serving Chief of Staff, critical of his former boss. This is noteworthy not only for the length of time Kelly served Trump and therefore knows whereof he speaks, but heretofore Kelly has been somewhat reticent to speak out against the former president.  Kelly had many scathing things to say about Trump, but I am concerned with and will only publish one brief excerpt.  He said Donald Trump is:

“A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior [General Milley] who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”(1)

On 21 June 2023, I wrote a blog here titled “Donald Trump: An ‘Enemy to the Constitution” in which I quoted Trump’s own words on Truth Social that he felt that the circumstances of an alleged stolen election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” I also cited Liz Cheney’s statement at the end of the House Investigation of Trump that “No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution.” [My emphasis in both quotations.] And General Milley referred to the former president as a “wanna be dictator” in his exit remarks as Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff.

The point I’m making here is that Kelly’s remarks very strongly sustain and confirm what I wrote three months ago. I’m not crowing here. I’m simply trying to keep my eye and your eye on the ball. Tapper appeared to be more offended by Kelly’s revelations that Trump dissed dead or wounded veterans than of his “contempt” for our institutions and the Constitution. On January 6 the man broke his oath to sustain the Constitution, and probably many other times previous to that. Those who know him by serving with him or closely investigating him keep warning us that he does not uphold the Constitution nor the institutions, rights, and freedoms it provides for, that he does want to be a dictator.  

Tapper is right in one other statement he made: “No other presidential candidate in history has had so many detractors from his inner circle.” [My emphasis.]  The “tell all” and books warning us about Trump by former members of his administration has no equal in our history and the list continues to grow.  Yet, apparently 20 to 25 million of the so-called Trump base, ostrich-like, hide from, simply ignore, or believe Trump contra these assertions. They are like the proverbial guy who says, “Don’t confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up!” It is inexplicable, but sane voices need to keep resisting the totalitarianism Trump and the MAGA base would impose upon this country.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  Jake Tapper, “Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump,” CNN, 2 October 2023.  See it online @:  

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/exclusive-john-kelly-goes-on-the-record-to-confirm-several-disturbing-stories-about-trump/ar-AA1hBaQp?cvid=47d629c459ba46d1a808a22e922200b8&ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&ei=17#image=AAUU2x4|1

Donald Trump prefers the South of France to America: Let’s Help Him Pack!”©

 Donald Trump Prefers the South of France to America: Let’s Help Him Pack!”© 

Updated: Thursday 10 August 2023

In recent times Donald Trump regularly attacks America during his campaign speeches. It gets old from a man who aspires to lead the country. An example comes from remarks made Tuesday, 8 August 2023, in New Hampshire. He complained about the indictments against him, deplored ever getting into politics and said:

“I could have been relaxing at Mar-a-Lago or in the south of France ― which I would prefer to being in this country, frankly.”(1)

What a excellent idea!  He should be encouraged to follow this preference.

I also like the thinking of Steve Benen who wrote for MSNBC on Thursday, 10 August 2023, following an interesting review of Trump's long-standing criticisms of America, "it's more than a little jarring to see the Republican, at different times, both claim the moral high ground on patriotism and run down his country in ways no former president has ever done."(1)  It's standard hypocrisy for him which his base regularly overlooks in their cult leader, but would not for any opponent, Republican or Democrat.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  Ed Mazza, “‘He Hates America’: Trump Slammed for Admitting He’d ‘Prefer’ to Live Overseas,” HuffPost, Tuesday, 8 August 2023, emphasis added.  Available online at:tps://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/he-hates-america-trump-slammed-for-admitting-he-d-prefer-to-live-overseas/ar-AA1eZIKL?ocid=winp2fptaskbarhover&cvid=09ae87e2693d482bd0312016cefb2cde&ei=62

2. Steven Benen, "Maddow Blog: The Political Relevance of Trump's Preference for the South of France," MSNBC, available online at:  Maddow Blog | The political relevance of Trump’s preference for the south of France (msn.com)  Emphasis added.

“Donald Trump and a Generation that ‘received not the love of the truth’ but ‘had pleasure in unrighteousness.’©

 “Donald Trump and a Generation that ‘received not the love of the truth’ 

but ‘had pleasure in unrighteousness.’© 

Updated: 6 August 2023

Many, many politicians, pundits, journalists, and common folk like me have been deeply puzzled by Donald Trump’s strong base that stays with him regardless of his: narcissism, innate mendacity, total absence of moral character, irreligious lifestyle as the following list shows he commonly without conscience violates the sacred teachings, principles, and wisdom pertaining to civil human conduct of every known major religion; insatiable hunger for power and wealth, despotic desire to be a “strong man” tyrant, endorsement and embrace of neofascism, violation of his oath of office, unprecedented double impeachment in a single term, life-long womanizing and out-of-hand degradation of women and found legally liable in a court of law for sexual abuse, calling women he doesn't like "fat pigs," "dogs," "slobs," "bimbos," and "disgusting animals,” continually insulting, belittling and stereotyping women; running thoroughly corrupt business and political organizations; malignant tactlessness, mannerlessness, straight-faced hypocrisy; insatiable contention and litigiousness--using the courts as a weapon against opponents and enemies (over 4000 cases in his pre-presidency days), his never ending tactic to villainize opponents and worse, to aggressively pursue not only retribution but vengeance--to destroy careers, families, and lives of those he villainizes; repeated sophomoric threats to weaponize the DOJ against his enemies while at the same time complaining it is illegally weaponized against him; runaway pubescent playground bullying involving name calling and merciless mockery and belittling of everyone who annoys him in any way; bare racism, unbridled hot temper and volatile anger, ungoverned mean spirit, raw, uninhibited insults, vulgarity and crudeness, without refinement, class, and nobility in any form; duping and/or intimidating others, especially attorneys, to do his dirty work, yet absolutely disloyal to former friends, colleagues, staff, employees, and any peer who disagrees with or opposes him; repeated and ongoing intimidation of prosecutors and witnesses (he posted on Truth Social, 4 August 2023, the day after a judge warned him about this, "IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU"); harsh, reactionary and juvenile judgmentalism; impulsiveness, showing signs of "impulse control disorders," or "disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders" which include “intermittent explosive disorder” and “oppositional defiant disorder;” apathy and indifference about negative consequences his erratic behavior produces, incessant character assassinations; egotistical, arrogant, and pompous to an unbelievable degree, at the same time monumentally and insufferably ignorant and stupid although he thinks he is always the smartest man in the room, ("my IQ is one of the highest" he boasted on TV), and see exhibit "A," his threat above, or that he apparently does not know the difference between a civil and criminal case, referring to the indictments against him as "law suits"; disdain for the expertise and opinions of others, especially those who disagree with him, and always right while everyone else is wrong; promotion of wild-eyed and irrational conspiracy theories, hysterical crybaby whining about his alleged victimization in contrast to his boasts of strength and toughness; speaking of toughness, Mr. Trump has remarkably thin skin, he can dish it out but he cannot take it as evidenced when Nancy Pelosi said this past weekend that Trump looked like a "scared puppy" when he came out of court in D.C., last week and Trump immediately responded on Truth Social, "I wasn't scared.  Nevertheless, how mean a thing to say!  She is a Wicked Witch ....  She is a sick & demented psycho who will someday live in HELL!"; cunning manipulation of others, greedy grifter enriching himself while allegedly serving the people, continual lawlessness, without conscience, a callous Spock-like deficit of emotional sensitivity, kindness, compassion, sympathy, or empathy, detached and cold; calculating, full of guile, relishes cruelty to others, thinks himself above the law; complete irrationality and utter disregard for facts, truth, and reality bordering on mental illness, a colossal braggart--"I will be the greatest job President God ever made" or "nobody builds walls better than me," and he claims a kind of clairvoyant and/or world-class historical knowledge without reading a book (or his security briefings) such that he knows and says really factual things the rest of us do not know or say, like his defense for saying he could grab women by their genitals without their consent, "Historically, that's true with stars.  If you look over the last million years, I guess that's been largely true," or that Jack Smith is deranged and a drug user because he was photographed wearing a purple robe and his face is unattractive to Mr. Trump, or that the Bidens were responsible for the drugs discovered in a White House locker room, or that he could end the Russo-Ukrainian war in 24 hours, or he could build a wall and have Mexico pay for it, or touting disinfectant/bleach and hydroxychloroquine as a cure for Covid-19; persistent sociopathic if not psychopathic behavior, chronic exercise of unlawful influence by virtue of his position and status, abandoned recklessness with national security and handling of classified information, nearly unimaginable administrative incompetence like his deranged response to the COVID-19 pandemic and--where is the “wall” and what about the brainless scheme of Mexican money to pay for it?--that staggers the imagination!

What an example for America's youth! What a specimen of American politics! What a representative of the United States of America to put before the world! What a amateur, moronic madcap buffoon to put in charge of the most complex and powerful democratic government in the world!  What an unstable power-hungry demagogue to protect and uphold the Constitution with the freedoms and rights it guarantees! What a demon to have his finger on the nuclear button!

In light of all this, a base that remains loyal is not evaluating the man with a crystal clear critical eye, but are parading lemming-like loyalty to a political party and its frightful figurehead.  Their problem is that they are, as one long-time observer of the base, Sarah Longwell, founder of "The Republican Accountability Project" says, living "in an entirely different information ecosystem"(1)--that is they only read, see, and hear Trumpian propaganda such as Fox News.  In words borrowed from C. S. Lewis, they are enclosed "in a tiny windowless universe which [they] mistake for the only possible universe."(2) American education has failed these people according to the amiable Alan Simpson, former Republican Senator from Wyoming who defined an educated man as one who is "thoroughly inoculated against humbug, [and] thinks for himself...."(3) They evidence a similar irrationality, blind mindedness, and hard heartedness that characterizes the behavior of a religious cult like that of Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple or David Koresh’s Branch Davidians.(4) These same characteristics were hallmarks of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. I can understand Nazi Germany better now, in a way I never could before 2016. Understand may not be the correct word, but I see so many social and historical parallels that, if I were not a man of faith, it could be worrisome.

My wife and I read scripture together every night, and recently we have been reading Paul’s epistles. Within the week we encountered a passage that put Hitler, Fascist Italy, Communist Russia, China, and Cuba, Jones and Koresh, and Donald Trump and his base in a religious perspective.  In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul is writing of a time when there was a “falling away, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” (Vs. 3)  He goes on to discuss Satan and his influence. I invite the reader to consider some of the characteristics of the period Paul is discussing in 2 Thess. 2:9-12. I have highlighted several that stood out to me.

KJV 2 Thessalonians 2: 9-12    9) Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,  10) And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  11)  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:  12)  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The context is, of course, a religious declension, but to me it also fits an ultra-contemporary political counterpart. Donald Trump and his ilk: Lindsey Graham, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and a host of other like-minded irrational crazies and hypocrites should all be sent packing.  Latter-day Saints know the Constitution was inspired by God, not that it is perfect, but it’s the best this world has ever seen.  Why turn the government of this great nation over to people who act like the people Paul describes?

Until a year ago, I’ve been a life-long Republican, but these irrational demagogues have commandeered the party and turned it into a political cult revolving around the worst man to ever hold the office of President of the United States. So, I left and became an independent. I will not vote for Donald Trump nor Joe Biden. But, I believe we can go back to some fundamental Republican ideas and ideals without the baggage, and more importantly, the danger Donald Trump represents to our Constitution, the republican form of government it authorizes, the Rights it guarantees, Democracy in general, and to the good of our society and culture.

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:  

1. Sarah Longwell to Christiane Amanpour, 3 August 2023, on CNN @ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-supporters-live-in-an-entirely-different-information-ecosystem-says-political-strategist/vi-AA1eNY3V

2.  C.S. Lewis, "Christianity and Culture," in Lesley Walmsley, ed., C.S. Lewis: Essay Collection: Faith, Christianity and the Church, London, Harper Collins, 2000, 81.

3.  Alan Simpson, Newsweek, 1 July 1963, cited in Stephen Donadio, et al., eds., The New York Public Library Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations, New York: The Stonesong Press, 1992, 163.

4. See for example, this very recent article:  Seth D. Norrholm, "A Neuroscientist Warns: We're Watching the Largest and Most Dangerous 'Cult' in American History," Raw Story, 5 August 2023, A neuroscientist warns: We're watching the largest and most dangerous 'cult' in American history (msn.com)

Donald Trump and the Sucker Generation©

  Donald Trump and the Sucker Generation© 

The 180 degree difference between Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump is found in Reagan’s challenge to students in Chicago.

"Don’t let me get away with it.  Check me out.  Don’t be the sucker generation.”(1)

Let’s think together again, soon.

Notes:

1.  Ronald Reagan cited in Stephen Donadio, et al., eds., The New York Public Library Book of Twentieth-Century American Quotations, New York: The Stonesong Press, 1992, 298.