I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Just when I think the so-called “Christian” enablers of Trump can’t go any lower, they do. It makes me wonder if there is any bottom to the cesspool of their devotion to this man who is the antithesis of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Following Trump’s felony conviction on all 34 counts against him, no less than Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Al Mohler rushed to the felon’s defense, calling the trial a “sham.”
Has Mohler simply given up on any semblance of truth or fact in service of the right-wing’s quest for absolute power? This is especially rich coming from someone who in 2016 argued Trump was morally unfit for the presidency and suggested that were he to vote for Trump he’d need to go back and apologize to Bill Clinton. I imagine Clinton is still awaiting that apology.
Then, there’s this gem from anti-choice activist Frank Pavone, which he claims is not to compare Trump to Jesus, but you decide for yourself.
How can anyone suggest with a straight face that the serial adulterer, never-ask-for-forgiveness, lying cheat, insurrectionist is anything remotely like Jesus? The attempt to turn Trump into some kind of messiah figure smacks of desperation and idolatry. It suggests that its purveyor knows so little about the Jesus of the Christian Testament that he can’t recognize his antithesis in Trump. Or perhaps, to be even more cynical, he’s so hungry for power he’s willing to see Trump as his savior in a quest to hold on to the dominance of white, cisgender, heterosexual masculinity.
This gem was posted on X at the beginning of Trump’s trial, and a screenshot of it was reposted by Trump himself on Truth Social.
I would think this is something from The Onion were Dom Lucre not a rabid Trump supporter who includes more than his fair share of misinformation, conspiracy theories and homophobia on X. I still don’t know if I should laugh or cry when I look at the image.
How have people so come to misunderstand Jesus that they imagine him approving of Trump’s crimes? Even as I write this, I think I’m asking the wrong question. I don’t think they misunderstand Jesus. I think they see Jesus as an exceedingly effective image to use in their campaign against truth, democracy, civil liberties and human rights. For them, Jesus is a PR tool, a way to enlist others by playing on their beliefs and manipulating their field of vision to turn a scofflaw into a savior.
Other Trump sycophants stretch language itself beyond the realm of comprehension. Take this example from Lauren Boebert whose definition of communism must be all her own.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims Trump is innocent.
Just for fun I took a look at Merriam-Webster’s definitions of “innocent.” Here’s what I found: pure, free from blame or guilt, free from any attempt to deceive or impress others, harmless. Synonyms are words like guiltless, faultless, honest, genuine, honorable, virtuous. I could go on, but in what way is Trump any of these things? The man falsified business records to cover up hush money paid to a woman he had sex with to keep her quiet during his first presidential campaign. Where’s the innocence in that?
While these examples horrify me, I fear the truth is so-called Christian Trumpsters can go even lower and will in coming months as they seek to ensure Trump’s reelection and their own continued quest for power and dominance. I’m afraid if Trump is reelected and the Right takes both houses of Congress, The Handmaid’s Tale will look like children’s fiction.
We’re already seeing in red states like Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Idaho what this dystopian white Christian nationalist world looks like. In these places, politicians would rather allow women to die than access abortion; they’d rather trans kids commit suicide than receive medical care; they’d rather rewrite history than have children learn about this country’s legacy of genocide and enslavement.
What happens when a right-wing federal government overwrites the state laws of places like California, Oregon and Massachusetts, upheld by a right-wing Supreme Court that has stopped even pretending it is in any way fair and just? After all, this is the control the right-wing seeks. They’ve renounced democracy, claimed Christian nationalism and embraced any means necessary to that end.
I don’t think we can even begin to fathom how low they will go to achieve their ends.
That’s no laughing matter after all, no matter how ridiculous their memes.
Susan Shaw
Susan M. Shaw is professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Ore. She also is an ordained Baptist minister and holds master’s and doctoral degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her most recent book is Surviving God: A New Vision of God through the Eyes of Sexual Abuse Survivors, co-authored with Grace Ji-Sun Kim.
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