The Gospel of Donald Trump Jr.

[homersapien 11,440]

For all you self-identifying Christian MAGAs out there.

The former president’s son told a crowd that the teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.”

Donald Trump Jr. is both intensely unappealing and uninteresting. He combines in his person corruption, ineptitude, and banality. He is perpetually aggrieved; obsessed with trolling the left; a crude, one-dimensional figure who has done a remarkably good job of keeping from public view any redeeming qualities he might have.

There’s a case to be made that he’s worth ignoring, except for this: Don Jr. has been his father’s chief emissary to MAGA world; he’s one of the most popular figures in the Republican Party; and he’s influential with Republicans in positions of power. He’s also attuned to what appeals to the base of the GOP. So, from time to time, it is worth paying attention to what he has to say.

Trump spoke at a Turning Point USA gathering on December 19. He displayed seething, nearly pathological resentments; playground insults (he led the crowd in “Let’s Go, Brandon” chants); tough guy/average Joe shtick; and a pulsating sense of aggrieved victimhood and persecution, all of it coming from the elitist, extravagantly rich son of a former president.

But there was one short section of Trump’s speech that I thought was particularly revealing. Relatively early in the speech, he said, “If we get together, they cannot cancel us all. Okay? They won’t. And this will be contrary to a lot of our beliefs because—I’d love not to have to participate in cancel culture. I’d love that it didn’t exist. But as long as it does, folks, we better be playing the same game. Okay? We’ve been playing T-ball for half a century while they’re playing hardball and cheating. Right? We’ve turned the other cheek, and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference—I understand the mentality—but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.”

Throughout his speech, Don Jr. painted a scenario in which Trump supporters—Americans living in red America—are under relentless attack from a wicked and brutal enemy. He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed. This in turn justifies any necessary means to win. And the former president’s son has a message for the tens of millions of evangelicals who form the energized base of the GOP: the scriptures are essentially a manual for suckers. The teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.” It’s worse than that, really; the ethic of Jesus has gotten in the way of successfully prosecuting the culture wars against the left. If the ethic of Jesus encourages sensibilities that might cause people in politics to act a little less brutally, a bit more civilly, with a touch more grace? Then it needs to go.

Decency is for suckers.

Translating the teachings of Jesus into public life, and figuring out how they ought to influence the duties of the state, is a complicated matter. A decade ago, I wrote a book with Michael Gerson, City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, in which we dealt with that issue, among others. But what we heard from Donald Trump Jr. was something very different. He believes, as his father does, that politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest. That is the Trumpian ethic.

The problem is that the Trumpian ethic hasn’t been confined to the Trump family. We saw that not just in the enthusiastic and at times impassioned response of the Turning Point USA crowd to Don Jr.’s speech but nearly every day in the words and actions of Republicans in positions of power. Donald Trump and his oldest son have become evangelists of a different kind.

Their approach hasn’t been embraced by all Republicans, of course. There are GOP governors and others in the Republican Party who embody a very different ethic, and for the sake of their party and their country, I hope they gain influence. But it would be naive and irresponsible to pretend that what we have seen since Donald Trump left office is the revivification of ethical standards and demands for moral excellence within the Republican Party.

Liz Cheney voted with President Trump more than 90 percent of the time but is now persona non grata in the GOP because she is willing to defend the Constitution and the rule of law and stand against a violent assault on the Capitol and an effort to overturn a free and fair election. When Liz Cheney is more despised in the party than the crazed Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Madison Cawthorn, or Donald Trump Jr., you know that the GOP has lost its moral bearings.

I understand that many Americans, including some number of Republicans I know, would rather we move on from the Trump family. But the Trump family and MAGA world won’t let us. And they’re playing for keeps.

 

 

Peter Wehner

 

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/gospel-donald-trump-jr/621122/

[jj3jordan 2,060]

Don Jr living rent free in homers brain. This entire article is laughable. Typical opinion piece written to trash a Trump. The funny part is that the author accuses us of doing exactly what the Democrats do all the time.

“…politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest.”

This is literally the Democrat playbook. 
 

Don Jr’s malaprop reference to cheek turning isn’t expected to get anybody anything. It is a description along with other verses of an attitude we should have. But it is very hard to do. Seems a little small to be described as “ the teachings of Jesus “.  He is not wrong. We have been passive and it has hurt us in the arena of politics. Trump fought back and the Democrats did not approve. I hope we keep showing some backbone. Democrats can’t win on the merits of their platform. They have to destroy their opponent to win. There is a cheek.
 

 

[CoffeeTiger 5,169]

[TitanTiger 20,510]

13 hours ago, jj3jordan said:

Don Jr living rent free in homers brain. This entire article is laughable. Typical opinion piece written to trash a Trump. The funny part is that the author accuses us of doing exactly what the Democrats do all the time.

 

“…politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest.”

This is literally the Democrat playbook. 
 

Don Jr’s malaprop reference to cheek turning isn’t expected to get anybody anything. It is a description along with other verses of an attitude we should have. But it is very hard to do. Seems a little small to be described as “ the teachings of Jesus “.  He is not wrong. We have been passive and it has hurt us in the arena of politics. Trump fought back and the Democrats did not approve. I hope we keep showing some backbone. Democrats can’t win on the merits of their platform. They have to destroy their opponent to win. There is a cheek.
 

 

It's not a malaprop.  It wasn't him misspeaking.  It's his moral philosophy and it's poison.

The logical end of Christians imbibing of it is people storming the Capitol a year ago wearing Christian t-shirts and carrying Bibles.  It's a veneer of Christianity mixed with fear, whose real god is American political tribalism

[TitanTiger 20,510]

This sort of attitude, where the teachings of Jesus are fine and all until real work needs to be done, and then they can be set aside to get "wins," isn't a new phenomenon.  It's just a modern replay of Israel's pattern throughout the Old Testament.  They were called to follow the one true God and for a time they'd be faithful.  But time and again they would waver.  God didn't seem to be coming through for them the way they expected, and they were surrounded on all sides by bigger, stronger enemies.  

So syncretism would begin to take root.  They'd worship God in the synagogues or Temple, but they'd also have their Asherah poles, their Ba'al statues and other such shrines.  Maybe it was because they thought the gods of their neighbors could be real and wanted to hedge their bets.  Or maybe other times they saw it as a way to ingratiate themselves to foreigners they could trade with.  Either way, they didn't trust God to protect and defend them.  They didn't trust Him to provide for them.   The great I AM was not enough and His ways weren't "winning" fast enough.

Now it's that the narrow road Jesus calls us to "gets us nothing."  We have to play by the world's rules and we need hard, nasty, dirty-fighting people to fight our battles.  Or we need to become such people ourselves if we're going to survive.

The parallels are striking.

[Grumps 3,704]

3 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

It's not a malaprop.  It wasn't him misspeaking.  It's his moral philosophy and it's poison.

The logical end of Christians imbibing of it is people storming the Capitol a year ago wearing Christian t-shirts and carrying Bibles.  It's a veneer of Christianity mixed with fear, whose real god is American political tribalism

Trump Jr. said that turning the other cheek has gotten them nothing. He didn't reference Jesus at all. Sure he thinks politics should be merciless. That's who he is. The author is making things about Jesus to be a drama queen and for click bait.

[CoffeeTiger 5,169]

All available evidence says that The Trump family in general isn't very religious, has probably never been very religious, and doesn't know hardly anything about Christianity or the Bible. 

They DO know that a large portion of their base likes to identify as Christian and that their supporters like for their politicians to claim to be Christians too and to mention God and Jesus or the Bible every now and then. 

 

They know they aren't religious, the Republican and Church leaders that support them know they aren't religious, but it's all a game. Like every major Republican politician before them playing lip service to Christians and at least pretending you care about religion is almost mandatory to be where they are in the Republican party. Trump Jr is just playing the game. He's not intentionally insulting Christians or Jesus...he probably knows next to nothing about Jesus, he's just playing the game. 

 

 

[TitanTiger 20,510]

31 minutes ago, Grumps said:

Trump Jr. said that turning the other cheek has gotten them nothing. He didn't reference Jesus at all.

You are a smart man. Please don’t treat me like I’m dumb. He even said he understood the biblical reference. Stop trying to split hairs to redeem the quote or the sentiment behind it. 

31 minutes ago, Grumps said:

Sure he thinks politics should be merciless. That's who he is. The author is making things about Jesus to be a drama queen and for click bait.

No they aren’t. Jr. knew exactly what he was saying and who he was saying it to. It wasn’t a reference lost on his audience. This wasn’t a crowd of secular agnostics in Portland. 

[TitanTiger 20,510]

31 minutes ago, CoffeeTiger said:

All available evidence says that The Trump family in general isn't very religious, has probably never been very religious, and doesn't know hardly anything about Christianity or the Bible. 

They DO know that a large portion of their base likes to identify as Christian and that their supporters like for their politicians to claim to be Christians too and to mention God and Jesus or the Bible every now and then. 

 

They know they aren't religious, the Republican and Church leaders that support them know they aren't religious, but it's all a game. Like every major Republican politician before them playing lip service to Christians and at least pretending you care about religion is almost mandatory to be where they are in the Republican party. Trump Jr is just playing the game. He's not intentionally insulting Christians or Jesus...he probably knows next to nothing about Jesus, he's just playing the game. 

Exactly. He’s playing the game but he’s also subtly undermining one of Christ’s core teachings. He’s trying to create some sort of acceptable division in the minds of Christian Trump supporters/ Republicans where we all nod and smile at His commands but put them aside for the rough and tumble of real life politics. That’s an unacceptable compromise for anyone serious about following Jesus. 

[Grumps 3,704]

5 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

You are a smart man. Please don’t treat me like I’m dumb. He even said he understood the biblical reference. Stop trying to split hairs to redeem the quote or the sentiment behind it. 

No they aren’t. Jr. knew exactly what he was saying and who he was saying it to. It wasn’t a reference lost on his audience. This wasn’t a crowd of secular agnostics in Portland. 

If I understand what you are saying, then you are suggesting that Trump Jr. was intentionally disparaging the notion of turning the other cheek to make his base happy. That makes no sense at all to me.

Are you saying that Trump Jr. meant" "Don't do what Jesus did by turning the other cheek. It doesn't work. Beat the crap out of them instead!"

I am saying that Trump Jr. meant. "Don't turn the other cheek. It doesn't work. Beat the crap out of them instead!"

The difference between the two statements is that in the first one Trump Jr. is disagreeing with what Jesus says and in the second he makes no mention to what Jesus says. The first statement could easily offend some Christians and the second would be thought far less offensive to Christians.

I don't assume that Trump Jr. understood anything about the quote other than that turning the other cheek is supposed to be a good thing. I may underestimate him more than you do. I have no desire to redeem the quote or the sentiment behind it. My sole point was that the person who wrote the article intentionally injected Jesus into the quote to make it seem more offensive.

I did not intend to treat you like you are dumb.

[TitanTiger 20,510]

8 hours ago, Grumps said:

If I understand what you are saying, then you are suggesting that Trump Jr. was intentionally disparaging the notion of turning the other cheek to make his base happy. That makes no sense at all to me.

Are you saying that Trump Jr. meant" "Don't do what Jesus did by turning the other cheek. It doesn't work. Beat the crap out of them instead!"

I am saying that Trump Jr. meant. "Don't turn the other cheek. It doesn't work. Beat the crap out of them instead!"

He's not going to flatly say "Disobey Jesus.  Turning the other cheek doesn't work in politics so ignore that and take the fight to your enemies."  

Not even Satan himself is dumb enough to be that blatant.  In the garden, the serpent didn't tell Eve, "God's an idiot.  His ideas are stupid.  Do this instead."  That's too obvious.  Instead it's done with questioning and subtlety:  "Did God really say you can't eat from any tree of the garden?"  And then he sows doubt:  "You will not certainly die...God just knows your eyes will be opened so you can be like him and decide right and wrong for yourself."

Jr. is taking a similar tack whether he realizes it or not.  He's using the same pattern.  He soft pedals it and says something more like, "Look, turning the other cheek is fine as an ideal or aspiration, but in the political realm we have to get things done and turning the other cheek isn't working.  We have to fight to win here."

It's the same message.  It's the same call to shove the commands of Jesus to the side because they don't work in the real world or in his exact words "they've gotten us nothing."

 

8 hours ago, Grumps said:

The difference between the two statements is that in the first one Trump Jr. is disagreeing with what Jesus says and in the second he makes no mention to what Jesus says. The first statement could easily offend some Christians and the second would be thought far less offensive to Christians.

The only difference is tone and how direct he's willing to be.  You're splitting hairs for no evident reason.  He himself said right after "I understand the biblical reference."  He knew he was referencing the words of Jesus and was offering a counterargument.  That some Christians are too wedded to their political commitments to pick up on that is a problem with them, not how one reads Trump Jr.'s words here.

 

8 hours ago, Grumps said:

I don't assume that Trump Jr. understood anything about the quote other than that turning the other cheek is supposed to be a good thing. I may underestimate him more than you do. I have no desire to redeem the quote or the sentiment behind it. My sole point was that the person who wrote the article intentionally injected Jesus into the quote to make it seem more offensive.

I did not intend to treat you like you are dumb.

They didn't "inject" Jesus into it.  Trump Jr. did.  He knows the reference.  He acknowledges it.  You're asking for a level of spelling it out here that no reasonable person should need to connect the dots.  He's a highly educated man.  To act like he just said it unaware of the implication or who said it beggars belief.

[TexasTiger 13,006]

2 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

He's not going to flatly say "Disobey Jesus.  Turning the other cheek doesn't work in politics so ignore that and take the fight to your enemies."  

Not even Satan himself is dumb enough to be that blatant.  In the garden, the serpent didn't tell Eve, "God's an idiot.  His ideas are stupid.  Do this instead."  That's too obvious.  Instead it's done with questioning and subtlety:  "Did God really say you can't eat from any tree of the garden?"  And then he sows doubt:  "You will not certainly die...God just knows your eyes will be opened so you can be like him and decide right and wrong for yourself."

Jr. is taking a similar tack whether he realizes it or not.  He's using the same pattern.  He soft pedals it and says something more like, "Look, turning the other cheek is fine as an ideal or aspiration, but in the political realm we have to get things done and turning the other cheek isn't working.  We have to fight to win here."

It's the same message.  It's the same call to shove the commands of Jesus to the side because they don't work in the real world or in his exact words "they've gotten us nothing."

 

The only difference is tone and how direct he's willing to be.  You're splitting hairs for no evident reason.  He himself said right after "I understand the biblical reference."  He knew he was referencing the words of Jesus and was offering a counterargument.  That some Christians are too wedded to their political commitments to pick up on that is a problem with them, not how one reads Trump Jr.'s words here.

 

They didn't "inject" Jesus into it.  Trump Jr. did.  He knows the reference.  He acknowledges it.  You're asking for a level of spelling it out here that no reasonable person should need to connect the dots.  He's a highly educated man.  To act like he just said it unaware of the implication or who said it beggars belief.

When American democracy effectively ends in 2024, the same folks minimizing every word and deed of these folks now will still pretend nothing’s changed and those decrying the loss of it are overreacting. Are they that dumb? Partners in the crime? Deeply delusional? A mix of all the above? 

[homersapien 11,440]

3 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

When American democracy effectively ends in 2024, the same folks minimizing every word and deed of these folks now will still pretend nothing’s changed and those decrying the loss of it are overreacting. Are they that dumb? Partners in the crime? Deeply delusional? A mix of all the above? 

Yes

Fortunately, there are still more of us than them. 

Unfortunately, our system of government allows them inordinate power.

 

 

[homersapien 11,440]

Fortunately, there is resistance from the (real) Christian community:

(emphasis mine)

 

Despite white Christianity’s role in Capitol assault, some signs of hope and change

(RNS) — White Christians have only begun the work of reckoning with white supremacy.

July 16, 2021

By Robert P. Jones

 

(RNS) — On Jan. 20, 2021, President Joe Biden became the first commander in chief to use the words “white supremacy” in an inaugural address.

Naming “the cry of racial justice four hundred years in the making” and its corollary, “a rise in political extremism,” he called out white supremacy as a “domestic terrorism that we must confront, and we will defeat.”  

The backdrop of the U.S. Capitol Building on that sunny, crisp winter day was as poignant as it has been since Abraham Lincoln gave his first inaugural address in front of its unfinished dome in 1861. Devoid of the usual inaugural crowds due to the pandemic, the Capitol’s windows and doors had also been hastily repaired following the damage done by Trump supporters who, encouraged by the outgoing president, staged a violent insurrection on Jan. 6 attempting to prevent the certification of the electoral college vote.

The building’s gleaming white exterior, neatly trimmed with American flags and red, white and blue bunting, and the symmetry of the sparse, socially distanced chairs, presented a surreal contrast to the chaos just two weeks prior.

---

RELATED: Taking the white Christian nationalist symbols at the Capitol riot seriously

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On Jan. 6, an undulating sea of rioters revealed, with their flags and signs and totems, that this attack on our democracy was animated not just by fealty to a single leader but also by deeper allegiances to both white supremacy and Christianity. Antisemitic tropes and groups were prevalent, including at least one protester who sported a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie. Wide camera shots of the mob showed large Confederate battle flags.

Shamefully, these 21st-century insurrectionists managed to do something the Confederate Army was never able to accomplish during the Civil War: fly the Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol. One widely shared image showed a rioter with the flag strolling by a portrait of William H. Seward, an anti-slavery advocate and Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, who was seriously wounded in the assassination plot that killed Lincoln in 1865.

Comfortably intermingled with these tributes to white supremacy were Christian symbols and rhetoric. There were numerous Bibles, crosses, “Jesus Saves” signs and “Jesus 2020” flags that mirrored the design of the Trump campaign flag.

Some Christian participants had organized as part of a “Jericho March” in the days before the attack, blowing shofars as they encircled the Capitol, imitating the siege of the city of Jericho by the Israelites described in the book of Joshua in the Old Testament. One video depicted the Christian flag — white with a red Latin cross inside a blue canton, officially adopted by the Federal Council of Churches in 1942 — being paraded into the congressional chamber through breached doors just minutes after members of Congress had been evacuated through underground tunnels.

That flag was familiar to me, as it would have been to many from my church, where it flanked the pulpit along with the American flag, and where, as a child in vacation Bible school, I remember being led in a pledge of allegiance to both flags.

The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who interviewed rioters on the Capitol grounds, wrote that “the conflation of Trump and Jesus was a common theme at the rally,” citing statements such as these: “It’s all in the Bible. Everything is predicted. Donald Trump is in the Bible. Get yourself ready.” “Give it up if you believe in Jesus!” And then: “Give it up if you believe in Donald Trump!”—which elicited loud cheers from nearby rioters.

The US Capitol riot was a stain on U.S. history, ending more than two centuries of pride in an American democracy that had provided 44 consecutive peaceful transitions of power. But these awful events had one value: They put on plain display the unholy amalgamation of white supremacy and American Christianity that lives among us today.

These unsettling connections among white supremacy, white Christianity and support for the former president are not confined to the extremists who attacked the Capitol. There is a strong correlation between voting for Trump in the 2020 election and median scores on the Racism Index — a composite measure of attitudes about systemic racism I developed in my recent book, “White Too Long” — among white Christian subgroups.

According to the 2020 Associated Press VoteCast Exit Polls, 81% of white evangelicals once again cast their votes in support of Trump. Their median score on the Racism Index: 78 out of 100. Similarly, 58% of white mainline Protestants voted for Trump, while their median Racism Index score is 69 out of 100. And Trump received the vote of 57% of white Catholics, a group with a median Racism Index score of 72 out of 100.

By contrast, only 26% of white religiously unaffiliated Americans voted for Trump, a level roughly in line with their much lower median Racism Index score of 29.

Clearly, we white Christians have barely begun the work of reckoning with white supremacy, much less the effort to bind the wounds we have inflicted on our Black and brown citizens or to recover our own ability to live more faithfully in the world. But there are signs of hope and change.

There have been significant symbolic transformations in our cultural landscape, catalyzed by the massive marches in support of the Black Lives Matter movement that erupted throughout the summer of 2020 in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer.

In my home state, the Mississippi Baptist Convention, the local arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, came out strongly in support of legislation to remove the Confederate battle flag from our state banner, the last state flag in the country that continued to incorporate it. Dr. Sean Parker, the executive director of the MBC, called removing the emblem a “moral obligation” and “a matter of discipleship for every follower of Jesus Christ.” That legislation passed quickly and was signed into law on June 30, 2020. On Jan. 11, 2021, just five days after the Capitol riots, a newly designed “magnolia flag” rose over the Mississippi State Capitol, marking the first time since 1894 that the Confederate battle flag had not been visible in that place.

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RELATED: For white Christians, racial justice starts with telling the truth

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The civic landscape of the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia, has also been transformed. During the weeks I spent there conducting research in the summer of 2019, I took regular walks down Monument Avenue, the verdant, linear park built to host five massive monuments to the Confederacy. But across the few summer months of 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters toppled the statue of Jefferson Davis, and Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the removal of three more.

As city workers took away the monument to General Stonewall Jackson, staff members at the prominent First Baptist Church, which directly faces the monument, took turns ringing the church bell. This seemingly simple event marked a significant inflection point in the arc of the bell’s, and the church’s, history. 

As an expression of the church’s loyalty to the Confederacy during the Civil War, the congregation voted in 1861 to donate the bell to the Confederate Army to be “melted for cannon.” But the church ultimately kept the bell, which traveled with the congregation as First Baptist relocated from downtown to its current location on Monument Avenue in the 1920s.

While today’s parishioners were not of one mind about the removal of the Jackson monument, Pastor Jim Somerville believed the sounding of the bell to be the fitting response, declaring, “It’s time for us to come down on the right side of history again by working for justice and by celebrating people who are so glad to see the symbols of oppression being removed from Monument Avenue.”

Harkening back to Lincoln, Biden noted in his inaugural address that at great moments of national crisis, Americans’ “better angels” have prevailed; that at these turning points, “enough of us came together to carry all of us forward.” The tumultuous events of 2020 have called the question about where we white Christians stand on white supremacy. History is recording a roll call vote that requires us to declare our position.

At this time of reckoning, we can remain loyal to our heritage and ancestors through defensiveness and inaction. Or we can rededicate ourselves to the work of handing down a healthier faith and country to our children and our children’s children. But we can’t do both.

My hope is that enough of us will awaken from the fevered nightmare of white supremacy and finally choose a future in which we work shoulder to shoulder with our Black and brown brothers and sisters to achieve the promise of a multiracial, multireligious America.

(This post was adapted from the afterword in the new paperback edition of Jones’s recent book, “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.” Copyright © 2021 by Robert P. Jones. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

 

https://religionnews.com/2021/07/16/despite-white-christianitys-disturbing-role-in-the-us-capitol-assault-there-are-signs-of-change/

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Edited January 6, 2022 by homersapien

[aubiefifty 16,903]

On 1/4/2022 at 11:22 PM, jj3jordan said:

Don Jr living rent free in homers brain. This entire article is laughable. Typical opinion piece written to trash a Trump. The funny part is that the author accuses us of doing exactly what the Democrats do all the time.

 

“…politics should be practiced ruthlessly, mercilessly, and vengefully. The ends justify the means. Norms and guardrails need to be smashed. Morality and lawfulness must always be subordinated to the pursuit of power and self-interest.”

This is literally the Democrat playbook. 
 

Don Jr’s malaprop reference to cheek turning isn’t expected to get anybody anything. It is a description along with other verses of an attitude we should have. But it is very hard to do. Seems a little small to be described as “ the teachings of Jesus “.  He is not wrong. We have been passive and it has hurt us in the arena of politics. Trump fought back and the Democrats did not approve. I hope we keep showing some backbone. Democrats can’t win on the merits of their platform. They have to destroy their opponent to win. There is a cheek.
 

 

i need a link with that because it seems you are trying to convince folks your opinion is gospel as usual.

[homersapien 11,440]

3 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

i need a link with that because it seems you are trying to convince folks your opinion is gospel as usual.

Fifty, I know you are old enough to realize it's futile to argue with a crazy person.   

[Grumps 3,704]

On 1/5/2022 at 4:23 PM, CoffeeTiger said:

All available evidence says that The Trump family in general isn't very religious, has probably never been very religious, and doesn't know hardly anything about Christianity or the Bible. 

They DO know that a large portion of their base likes to identify as Christian and that their supporters like for their politicians to claim to be Christians too and to mention God and Jesus or the Bible every now and then. 

 

They know they aren't religious, the Republican and Church leaders that support them know they aren't religious, but it's all a game. Like every major Republican politician before them playing lip service to Christians and at least pretending you care about religion is almost mandatory to be where they are in the Republican party. Trump Jr is just playing the game. He's not intentionally insulting Christians or Jesus...he probably knows next to nothing about Jesus, he's just playing the game. 

 

 

I completely agree with this.