Forgiving, and Supporting Trump

THE SOCIAL MEDIA post left no room for doubt. It brought to mind a quote from H.L Mencken: "The idiots would be humorous, were they not in such deadly earnest". Like the fixed fortifications in real space and time derided by General George Patton, it stands, and shall forever remain in the digital universe as a monument to the stupidity of humankind. A politically far right wing evangelical Christian and avid Trump supporter was asked, in the event that Donald Trump had raped his daughter, whether he would remain a Trump supporter. This, bearing in mind that the families of no fewer than five children actually did, in years past, file civil lawsuits against the Republican representation of Christ on Earth for allegedly raping and sexually abusing their children. In every case, Trump chose to settle out of court, and paid an estimated eighteen million dollars to the plaintiffs. Need one wonder whether Trump would have so settled had he in fact been guiltless, spotless in his white robe, as the gospel hymns like to say? Then too, there is the actual conviction for rape for which Trump was court ordered to pay millions. Well, responded the respondent, "if that happened to my daughter, if Mr. Trump raped her, I would be devastated and angry beyond anything I have ever imagined. But my religious faith and Christian values would kick in, and I would be fully aware of the admonition of Christ to forgive all sinners, just as HE has forgiven mine. Forgiving such a heinous act would take every ounce of my faith and moral strength, and it would be a burden I would carry with me the rest of my life. But yes, politically, I would still support him". Need he have said more? Amid indications that this sentiment prevails among the eighty two percent of white evangelical Christians who fill the pews of the first church of MAGA mania, we are left to ask: exactly what would it take, what horrible act of depravity, what unspeakable behavior could Don the Con engage in that could or would possibly dislodge Trump cultists from their hypnotic, zombie blind allegiance to the great prevaricator? Forgivenees, according to doctrine, comes after confession and atonement by the sinner, but from this Trump gets an exemption. The white Christian Trump cult remains intact, oblivious to outside influences. It is an unshakable bond, rooted in political and religious fanaticism, exuding raw perfidy and naked infamy. The "forgiveness" would of course be a sham, a facade to conceal the true wellspring of Trumpism: abject hatred. Hatred of an American culture which is fundamentally inimical to but tolerant of all things Trump represents; racism, misogyny, contempt for all minorities, the concentration of power in the hand of an authoritarian fascist, a never ending litany of imaginary enemmies - the whole ball of wax of the full to overflowing swamp of Trump and his sycophantic, blindly obedient MAGA minions. As akways, it is the tens of millions of cult of Trump members who evoke the most unmitigated amazement, amazement at their moral and intellectual bankruptcy, their willingness to figuratively sell their souls to the devil in a twisted Faustian bargain, all in the name of their Hitlerian fuhrer, their representative of Christ on earth. The Christian faith is a harsh, unrelenting dictatorship, so perhaps it is in keeping with their political proclivities. Those who still support Trump remind me of Trump. When I tell them this, they don't seem to feel flattered. They shouldn't. But they are much too deeply embedded within their fascist fantasy to give a tinker's damn.