Civil Commotion

Donald Trump urged evangelical pastors to encourage their congregations to vote Republican in the upcoming midterm elections, suggesting they will be the targets of violence if Democrats carry the House.

US President Donald Trump, facing scrutiny for hush money payments to a porn star and a former Playboy model, pleaded with evangelical leaders for political help during closed-door remarks on Monday, warning of dire consequences to their congregations should Republicans lose in November’s midterm elections.

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“It’s not a question of like or dislike, it’s a question that they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa — these are violent people,” Trump said, describing what would happen should his voters fail to cast ballots. “You have tremendous power. You were saying, in this room, you have people who preach to almost 200 million people. Depending on which Sunday we’re talking about.”

It’s hard to overstate the cynicism of this.

• There is no reason on earth to think that Antifa will erupt in celebratory violence against churches if Democrats carry the House in November. None. Antifa makes an appearance only when white nationalists and neo-Nazis make an appearance. And, of course, Antifa isn’t linked to anything near the violence of those nutjobs.

• The Johnson Amendment has not been repealed — so Trump is urging the pastors to break the law.

It’s a good pointer into how much contempt Trump, and a lot of pastors, actually have for the people in the pews. They don’t view them as thinking adults capable of exercising independent, informed moral judgment, but a bloc of votes to be purchased with favors.

The pastors are not spiritual leaders; they are brokers.

Unfortunately, Trump and the pastors are more right than wrong. After all, we’re talking about people who have been told all their lives that they’re no damn good, that their minds are untrustworthy, that pastors are an elevated class of men — more trustworthy, more honest, more honorable. If those pastors stand in their pews and (unlawfully) howl and bellow that Jesus needs for them to vote and wants this man or that to win an election, most of their congregants will mindlessly do as they’re told.

Christianity, with its relentless messages that you’re no damn good, that belief without evidence is the greatest virtue of all, is a force for infantilizing and then exploiting people. Most of the pastors in that room know that and know how cynical Trump and themselves actually are. And there is no doubt in my mind whatever that, at least here and across the south, the pastors will do as Trump asks — and their congregants will do as they’re told.

The thunder-boomers from the Pennsylvania grand jury report continue echoing. Bill Donohue, whose organization stands to lose a lot of money as Catholics face the reality that the church is irremediably corrupt and withdraw their support, is especially worried.

The twin scandals of the summer of 2018 have taken a toll on Catholics. First we learned of the alleged acts of sexual abuse by (former cardinal) Theodore McCarrick, and then we learned of old cases of alleged clergy abuse found in the Pennsylvania grand jury report (most of which were never substantiated). Catholics are understandably livid, but the white-heat reaction that is evident in some quarters has only added to the problem.

Conservative Catholics have been especially strident in their comments. Unfortunately, they are being played. To be specific, their call for grand jury investigations in every state, and the wholesale release of priest personnel files, is playing into the hands of the enemies of the Catholic Church. So are their appeals to parishioners asking them to withhold contributions. Even worse are their demands for a mass purge of bishops.

Those who despise the Church are loving it: these Catholics are unwittingly carrying their water for them.

Yeah, well …ho-hum. There is some projection going on here, methinks. The humdrum truth is that the trusting simpletons that such as Donohue et. al. feed upon aren’t going to be played any longer.

You can always count on Donald Trump to do something trashy, and he never disappoints. We learn today that he spiked a White House statement acknowledging John McCain as a hero, and the White House flag is at full-staff not even 48-hours after McCain’s death.

You know Trump is seething. He can’t turn on the television without hearing accolades to McCain, and he is banned from this weekend’s funeral services for McCain. Ex-presidents will be there and two will deliver eulogies, and diplomats, and dignataries from throughout the world. But not Donald. No. Donald has been told he isn’t welcome. He sits in the Oval Office, and he still … doesn’t belong.

The absolutism and radicalism of today’s Republican Party is the biggest threat to the country that McCain served and loved.

David Leonhardt

Leonhardt is right: the Republican Party has become no more than a pack of nihilist vandals in thrall to a corrupt bully — and it is the gravest threat the country faces.

Though I am saddened by the failure of the Republican Party to step up and show a scintilla of backbone, I am optimistic overall. As I predicted after the election, the courts have held fast and, excepting FOX News, the media have been no less than heroic. I believe the American people are sound, and that we’re going to see a historic bloodletting in November.