How Donald Trump has evolved into a Messianic figure among the white religious right
Donald Trump is now publicly proclaiming that he is some type of messiah, a man chosen by God and Jesus Christ to do their bidding on Earth. For Trump, this means becoming America’s first dictator.
If Trump were a private citizen and not a former president and leader of a right-wing fascist movement, his claims to divine power would be viewed as the ramblings of an unwell person and de facto cult leader. Unfortunately, public opinion and other research shows that many millions of Americans actually believe that Trump is some type of divine figure, a man with a mandate from God. This is more evidence that Trumpism, like other forms of fascism and fake populism, is a form of collective pathology and emotional and mental unwellness on a societal scale.
Trump’s claims that he has a mandate from God should not be a surprise or in any way shocking: it is the predictable next step in a years-long pattern of megalomania, fabulism, malignant narcissism and other such negative behavior where he has claimed to have secret knowledge and insights that no one else possesses, and that his followers should just believe what he says and reject the facts and empirical reality itself.
Last week, Donald Trump took an even bigger step forward in his claims to being God’s leader on Earth, when he shared a campaign ad declaring that “God gave us Trump.”
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.”
1 Timothy 4:1-2
Okay, but this could describe any number of presidents, kings, and high priests.
Yeah, that’s the point. Don’t worship politicians, kings, and priests. Or anyone for that matter, except God… I’m atheist though, so not even “God” in my opinion.
Sure. But I see this stuff lobbed at damned near every high profile figure, from Hollywood celebrities to Presidents to Popes.
Some base of mega-fans get attention for going off the edge, and suddenly any vote for Obama or tickets to the next Beyonce concert means you’ve been corrupted by evil brain demons. This quote gets abused to imply everything popular is an abandonment of faith or a form of idolatry.
It leads you to the “I only need to read one book” style of evangelicalism. I’m not a fan, even if it gets espoused by an atheist who pivots to “And even God doesn’t count”.
They finally realized that Jesus wasn’t going to show back up.
What they didn’t realize was that it’s because of their behavior.
among the white religious right
The weligious white?
The whole ad seems to be a ripoff of a Paul Harvey speech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/So_God_Made_a_Farmer
Harvey’s wikipedia page describes him as a close friend of Joseph McCarthy, Billy Graham, and J. Edgar Hoover.
Trump is a self-absorbed megalomaniacal bigot with a fixation on wealth… which is pretty much on brand for the god of Abraham and his churches.
Both scientifically and religiously, the only solution is to execute him in some vile manner. If he comes back, we’re stuck with him.
Ya know, the more I see of his bs the more I believe that the writers of the original Omen movies back in the 70’s were predicting this. In the movies Damien was the anti-Christ, I’m not religious btw, who ascended to power by private business and became a world leader.
Hey jesus man. You really let yourself go!
Couldn’t think of anything or anyone less Christian.
Doesn’t help that churches are pushing political ideologies onto their flocks. Granted, those churchgoers probably already held Trump in high regard thanks to years of brainwashing from Fox. Trump meets all the decriptions of the antichrist and they follow him without a question asked. Religious nutjobs are frightening.
So heres the experts explanation
“My question is why so many people love him and turn him into their Pied Piper.”
