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A wolf in sheep's clothing nonetheless...but sometimes
you can't pick your friends when you have a newfound chance
to exert influence in the White House.
These white evangelicals were at time seemingly
breathless about the thought of a Donald Trump presidency
and how they could, with little effort, get the then and now
feckless Congress to pass any legislation to their liking
and their "anointed" candidate would sign anything placed
under his nose and pen.
These white evangelicals had happy dreams and visions
of dancing with joy that there was now a candidate, albeit
void of any moral groundings, who would say what they wanted
to hear and then sign off on whatever legislation their
cronies, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, could get passed through Congress.
For these morally craven people, it did not matter
about the pedigree of the Republican candidate or his lack
of any moral convictions or his past racist statements about
people of color.
No, all they wanted was someone who would wink at them,
shake their hand and promise them that he was giving America
back to them. With those statements, many white evangelicals
put down the cross of Jesus and picked up their blindfolds
and stuffed their ears with warm wax and said, in unison,
"Lead us on... oh great one!"
Regrettably, in a media-driven society, it was the high
profile, white evangelicals who were able to commandeer the
spotlight and spin their yarns of saying that voting for
Trump was nearly akin to knowing Jesus and eating lunch with
his disciples.
These wayward men and women, with compromise in their
hearts and with a jettison of scriptures, fell at the feet
(or hooves?) of their Golden Calf...Donald Trump, and
engaged in scandalous political worship of the worse kind.
These white evangelicals were willing to hold in check
their knowledge of the Word of God and conspire with crass
politicians to engage in religious doublespeak that would
have embarrassed even the most hidebound atheist.
Even their Golden Calf told them that he was a
dissolute man in terms of his multiple marriages, his crass
statements about women and immigrants, racial epithets about
Mexicans and African Americans; but these blind guides
covered their wax-filled ears and scale-covered eyes and
still pulled the voting lever for Trump!
Would they have been willing to forego voting for
either candidate and simply be content to issue moral
proclamations about the moral decay of America?
Would they have been willing to forego any alliances
with Caesar and to walk the straight and narrow way; and
dine on a diet of locust and wild honey and not the rich
delicacies falling from the tables of political expediency
and moral compromise?
Would they have been willing to suffer reproach for the
sake and cause of Christ and not pine for the applause of
man and the ability to be ushered into the halls of
political power in return for their scandalous endorsements
of a moral midget such as Trump?
The answer is a resounding no because that portion of
the white evangelical church went a'whoring after other gods
and the people loved it so!
These white evangelicals made a myriad of conscious
decisions to behave as a nation of stiff-necked people and
to yell out to Caesar that they wanted Barabbas released to
them and not the man named Jesus!
If there ever was a time that the white evangelical
church pulled up their fancy and puffy-starched dresses and
shamefully exposed themselves for all to see, it was their
unfathomable display of worldly wisdom that led them to kiss
and slobber over the ring finger of Herod in exchange for a
few shiny baubles and trinkets of power and access.
And Donald Trump, both then the candidate and now the
President, knew it! He knew that by appealing to their
vanity and their latent racist tendencies, he had them where
he wanted them and that was on his side in getting to the
White House.
The white evangelicals, including the likes of Mitch
McConnell, were livid about the fact that a black man
occupied the White House for eight years without a scandal
and was a charismatic, intelligent, compassionate person who
was "over the moon" about his beautiful and smart wife and
two terrific kids.
White, evangelical America was unable to successfully
suppress its latent racist tendencies; and when Donald Trump
bantered about "Making America Great Again!"
it was these religious charlatans who voted Trump and, at
the same time, mouthed a pious cover story that they were
sanctified members of the Body of Christ.
They saw his political banner as their dog whistle call
to vote all things Trump!
With the tragic incident in Charlottesville, Trump is
still unable or unwilling to separate himself from the
racist ideology of white supremacy and refuses to excoriate
people such as Klansman David Duke by name in public.
And all along, the white, evangelical church has yet to
regain any high moral ground because they are unwilling to
break away from the Trump orbit in any attempt to realign
themselves with their purported first love, Jesus the
Christ.
Too many white evangelicals in supporting and voting
for Trump, decided to dance with the devil and when the
dance is finally over, the evangelicals, who sold their
birth right for a crust of moldy bread, will leave the dance
floor feeling groped and disheveled.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at
tolliver@juno.com |
