Loving God, Guns, and Trump, All On the Same Hat.

IN THE DOLLAR GENERAL STORE, I was leaving when I saw the man with a red ball cap on which was emblazed, in big, bold letters, the words "God, Guns, and Trump"..But, no commas, and no and. Just: God Guns Trump. Maybe I should have left sooner, or later. I looked at him a bit longer than perhaps I should have, wanting to make sure I read it right, not wanting to get shot for being suspected of being a liberal. I read it right. In my small town in the American red state south, I should hardly have been surprised. And yet, somehow, I was. I suppose I've been surprised ever since the Access Hollywood tape came out, and nothing happened. What I was thinking, what I am still thinking, is: precisely how are those three things God...guns...and Trump... related to each other? Gore Vidal used to call them: the "Jesus, guns, and money" crowd. That particular trio seems even less compatible. The Prince of Peace, weapons of violence and war, and avarice. And no, guns to not keep the peace and prevent violence, people keep the peace and prevent violence. Shouldn't a Christian give unto the poor, unto personal poverty, the personal poverty of Jesus himself? The incredible combining of those three words, both sets, the blatant internal contradictions, can and is understood by everyone, except the minds of those who wear the red ball caps. If you are a conservative evangelical Trump loving Christian, they make perfect sense, all on the same ball cap. Jesus Christ was a proud American, with American values. Guns go together perfectly with the macho American Jesus, and, Trump? Well, he is the very embodiment of both, of guns and Jesus Christ, he, Trump, having been sent here, criminal convictions and all, to save America from those socialist render unto Caesar tax happy give unto the poor bleeding heart liberals. God,in mysteries ways, raises reprobates to positions of great imprtance. He did it in the bible, why not do it here and here? Trump certainly qualifies for the job, and so we the American people, doing God's will, elected the reprobate to high office. There's no use arguing about it. Really, there ever has been. Religion and gun ownership are two bedrock tradtions in the United States, and conservatism is, above all else, the embrace of tradition and resistance to change. A deliberate, modern misintrpretation of the second amendment, and the capitalism loving gospel of wealth, in which the righteous are rewarded financially for their righteousess. The second amendment was meant by the founders to ensure that a citizen militia was well enough armed to be abe to rapidly assemble and deploy and defend the new republic against foreign enemies,not to ensure that every American has the right to bear arms in public all the time. The second amendment was intended to prevent the formation by a potentially tyranical government of a permanently standing professional army. Jesue Christ did not tell people to get rich, he told them to make themselves poor by giving unto the poor. None of that matters. If you want to validate your personal beliefs badly enough, facts are easy to twist and misconstrue. Anything is better than changing one's beliefs to fit the facts. The esssential contradiction of christianity is that the biblical God is alternately a psychopathic genocidal maniac, and a tantrum throwing tempestuous toddler, demanding love, demanding blood scarifices. When "he" turns himself into his only begotten son, to sacrifice himself to himsllf to atone for the sins of creatures of his own creation, he becomes, in the pseudo half god half person person of Jesus christ, a pacifist, who cares about what people do with their money, but not whether they suffer on Earth, as long as they buy their entry into heaven by worshippping HIM. Christ, the American capitalist. Have faith that Almighty God knows all and controls all events, and will protect you, as long as you worhip him, but it doesn't hurt to bear an arm, as..an instrument of God's will?