Hoodwinked

Since when were traits like pathological lying, egomania, megalomania, haughtiness, vulgarity, name-calling, and the love of money and palatial living considered Christian characteristics?

We have a man in the role of President whose norm is to make up whatever he wants to say and play it off as truth. His story changes from one day to the next. He doesn’t do it slyly; it’s always been unbelievably blatant. It’s obvious. Nothing he says matches what’s going on; it’s all to sway the masses to side with whatever he’s trying to accomplish at any given moment. He’s always done it and he continues to do it – nothing’s changed. He’s believed by millions of people. Still.

Trump goes so far as to align himself with Christians, not because he is one but because he wants their following. And somehow, he is trusted. Mightily. Scarily, in the eyes of many, he can do no wrong. His lies and schemes are at the same time overlooked and bolstered by millions of Christians’ undying support.

We have a leader who is happy to lie and blame others, wrecking reputations while claiming his own heroism. This adult man’s habit is to call innocent people and processes faulty because he wants them to be, not because they are. Because he wants what he can get from it and it doesn’t matter to him what the truth is. Because he hopes to take the wrong he’s doing and make it right by casting blame on someone else.

How can an amoral, self-obsessed man align himself with a belief system that centers on the concepts of love, humility, generosity, kindness, patience, and self-control? Trump embodies none of these.

The guy can’t even seem to do his job right now in these last days; all he can think about is trying to overturn what was a fair election because he can’t accept that he didn’t win. He’s spewing lies – his default – knowing from experience that he’ll be believed – by masses. Would he fight this hard if the election was rigged in favor of him? Of course not. He’s trying to post-rig it right now! Would he have objected four years ago if he found out there was a miscount that enabled his win? Gosh no. He’d have done everything to talk it down or obscure it.

It requires no honed skill of discernment to figure the guy out. All of it is right there. Out in the open. As glaring, undisguised, and unmistakable as can be. He is one thing and says he’s another. He wrongly blames others for the very things he does. Happily. Unremorsefully. Completely conscience-less. Being who he is, there’s no doubt he laughs behind closed doors at the people who defend him – people he’d normally spit on and insult, but people he can use right now as personal pawns.

Many of his followers have gone so far as to mimic what he does, copying him and each other on social media by resending out each other’s posts. He says something untrue, they repeat it. He accuses others of offense when he’s the offender, so do they. He calls people ugly, they follow, implying they are the shiny pennies.

I watch some of you on social media saying how crude, undisciplined, and chaotic non-Trumpers are. How the world would burn itself down if not for the order and beauty that Trump’s leadership affords. Everything Trump does is “beautiful.” He tells us that all the time. Even when most everything he does is a complete disaster. And then when someone stands and holds a mirror up, that person is villified for the very things Trump does when they are merely showing them coming out of him. And somehow Trump goes Scot-free. Every. Time.

He lives life spewing ugliness all around him, calling it good, while sickeningly slick propaganda like the Republican National Convention paint him as a patriotic man for all people. Come on, the guy isn’t a Republican, a Democrat, or anything for that matter. He is Donald Trump. His own party of one, plus some children who can’t yet fathom choosing integrity over inheritance obscured as love. Sadly.

He’s always been all about him. You say he’s changed? He’s a man on a Christian path now, leading away from the womanizing, insulting, demeaning person he used to be? This man tries to play off being a Christian yet can’t even come up with one tiny verse he supposedly likes out of the whole bible when asked, yet somehow he is elevated as a man that God is using to heal the world? A man who says that communicating his favorite part of the bible is too personal? How hard is it to see through that lie? And how many times did Jesus tell his followers to remain quiet about their faith? How much more obvious can a person’s true nature be? When finally pressed to say something he’s gleaned from the bible, all he could come up with was resonating with “an eye for an eye.” Wow. Hmm…that wasn’t the part of the book we were supposed to align with.

Let’s look at some of Trump’s blatant, even touted traits for a minute: caddy, unkind, mean, insulting, racist (except when a Black man’s opinion of him helps his own reputation), sexist (except when a woman’s opinion of him helps his own reputation), sexually demeaning, indecent, immature, maritally unfaithful, impulsive, rash, hypocritical, dishonest, unpredictable, vain, arrogant, ego-driven, greedy, environmentally unconcerned, and power-hungry. Just to name a few.

Now let’s look at what he tells us he is: good, smart, a master at making things “beautiful,” patriotic, and a follower of Jesus.

And that’s precisely how millions of his followers see him. And for these character traits he is somehow not only believed by other Christians when he says he’s a Christian, but also deemed honorable, trustworthy, and capable of leading this free country? Wait, no, these very blatant traits are actually somehow completely overlooked? Dismissed? Even nonexistent? You mean to tell me that Trump can tell you everything he does is great and it flies? That he is a genius and because he says it, it’s true? That he respects women and he all of a sudden he does? (Let’s not forget he married an underwear model and spoke about enjoying “inspecting” naked Miss Universe pageant contestants backstage as they were changing.) That he’s an honest Christian man now and he suddenly is, even as he conspires to overturn election results not with facts but with propaganda of “stolen” talk?

It’s absolutely stunning; shocking; sickening. It has made me question Christianity itself over the past year. If Christians believe someone who is an obvious fake – who calls others fake to remove the focus from himself – what does that say about Jesus? They believe him too. What does that say about Jesus’s teachings when the people who know about “the fruit of the spirit” the most deny all of the sour lemons hanging on Trump’s “tree” because he tells them they’re sweet oranges? They don’t even see them. They back a man downright religiously as though he and only he is capable of taking our country down the path God intends.

The ugliest lesson I’ve learned from all of this is that scores of people will believe whatever you tell them as long as you repeat it enough, even if everything else about you refutes what you say. Tell them you are great, and people buy it. Tell people the pandemic isn’t a big deal, and science becomes astrology. Publicly gather and refuse to wear masks as an example to your constituents, and mask-refusers gather and suffer. Tell people the news is fake to counteract your lies, and voila!, it becomes an adopted chant – “Fake News.” Tell people repeatedly that an election is rigged – despite the thousands of Republican and Democrat officials who painstakingly made sure it was fair and square – and people will storm the Capitol at your command. Try to destroy democracy itself and millions gladly walk right off the dishonesty cliff, proclaiming they are the ultimate patriots without comprehending that who they defend is the ultimate phoney.

Hoodwinking is a thing now. Trump does it, watches it work, and his supporters follow suit – whether they realize it or are in complete denial. It doesn’t matter if something’s not real or true. Say it is, and people latch on if it suits their purposes. To hoodwink is sadly the new normal; it has caught on like wildfire through our nation.

We haven’t seen the end of Trump. Destruction doesn’t matter to him, whether physical or social. His ego won’t relent. He doesn’t care what he ruins to try to get what he wants for himself. To save face. Or to continue building the masses to maintain his hungry ego. Chaos is fine with him as long as he comes out on top. Whatever happens to you? That’s not why he’s President.

Don’t be surprised when Trump’s kids come looking for world domination in a few years. It runs in the family.

I was writing this as the count of electoral college votes was happening inside the Capitol. I had finally had enough. I had tried to be as quiet as possible for the sake of harmony for the last several years, but I couldn’t sit by and watch anymore. To not speak out becomes cowardice, I was feeling, if a bad man continues to get away with selfish, harmful endeavors. I normally would never write something like this about another person, nor would I sit down and list their character traits. No one is flawlessly honorable. But when Trump tries to maintain his position as President with lies, especially claiming Christianity, I have to stand up and say, “No!” Trump is not patriotic, he’s not looking out for people’s best interests, and his behavior is anything but Christian. It’s always been all about him and the lies he can get away with to be perceived as a hero. When I was a few lines from finishing this, Trump’s extremist supporters broke through the windows and stormed through the doors of the Capitol to try to stop the fair, democratic process that they knew would declare Biden as the election’s victor.

I respect the people out there who have not spoken their opinion for or against Trump because their role or their conscience demands that they not opine. My conscience, on the other hand, screams out that I must speak – not only for myself, but for those who cannot, whose livelihoods would be wrecked if they did, and whose temperaments struggle with controversy.

‘But isn’t it unChristian to write such a post?’ you might be thinking. That’s an inner struggle I’ve had for years. But this is not a neighbor or a relative I’m talking about. This is a person whose actions significantly affect our country, our security, and our future. A person who, in the spotlight of one of the most powerful leadership positions in the world, has chosen to consistently dishonestly lead my neighbors and relatives astray. For that, I cannot remain silent. As always, everyone is capable of change. If Trump were to actually show a real genuineness in wanting to follow Jesus (not just resonate with retribution and quote an Old Testament phrase), it would be visibly and audibly apparent and I would not be compelled to write posts such as this.

Trump’s response when asked his favorite verse in the bible is here.

Trump’s response about “an eye for an eye” is here.

Interestingly, I happened upon this “eye for an eye” clip; he hasn’t changed one bit.

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