Really? You came back? For the second Trump post of the day?
Should I be grateful for the attention or worried you might need some kind of medical intervention?
Anyway...
While Donad Trump was in China being cock blocked by Chinese president Xi Jinping and being insulted online by inexplicably unrestricted Chinese citizens, back in the United States, a golden edifice glistened in the bright Florida sun.
The Don Colussus, 22 feet of gilded fealty to the man, the myth, the legend, the maker of America's new golden age, a harbinger of greatness blessed by almighty God himself!
Gee, that kind of rhetoric should get me a free MAGA hat!
This gold statue was installed at Trump National Doral golf resort in Miami last month.
C'mon! Every good cult should have a golden tribute to it's dear leader!
But seriously, doesn't this seem like a bit much?
A gold statue in tribute to someone who is still living like their a god or something? That's like something out of a comic book. Or a TV show.
Or a TV show about a comic book.
Just as Trump's golden statue was unveiled, an episode of The Boys dropped which revealed a golden statue of Homelander as part of his roll out as America's new God.
Executive Producer Eric Kripke was bugged that Trump had once again upstaged his comic book satire about fascism. As Kripke said, "Seriously, what the fuck?!"
This is the 2nd time Trump has upstaged the fictional absurdity of The Boys.
Erecting statues for a living person is something done for dictators. Surely we're not comparing Li'l Donnie to a dictator are we?
Yes, we are and don't call me Shirley.
(Yeah, that joke doesn't work as well as in print as it does verbally.)
So there was an event a few weeks ago to unveil and dedicate the statue.
Somebody call a preacher!
South Carolina based MAGA minister Mark Burns led the dedication event and called it “a moment of gratitude, honor, and remembrance.”
Burns was also emphatic the statue is NOT a golden calf .
It's Preacher Mark for the defense: “What amazes me is how quickly some people have compared this beautiful statue, created and made possible by more than 6,000 patriots, to a golden calf or idol worship. Let me be very clear. We worship the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. “
That is quite clear. Worship only Jesus!
Worship only this guy!
My bad!
As a person whose Christian membership card is frayed around the edges, far be it from me to debate an alleged Christian preacher person about religious stuff.
While the comparison of a GOLDEN CALF to a GOLDEN TRUMP is fairly obvious, I think the Bible story that is of more striking relevance here is from the book of Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, was having a recurring dream. A giant metal statue was being erected in his honor.
Well, ain't that great! The people must really love him to put up this big honking statue to remember him forever and ever.
BUT Nebuchadnezzar's dreams take a dark turn when a giant stone crushes the statue and the stone becomes a mountain that fills the whole world.
Well, that's not very nice! What about the legacy of Nebuchadnezzar lasting forever and ever?
Daniel is summoned to interpret the king's dream. (Well, it is HIS book of the Bible after all.)
Basically, the stone and the mountain represent God and his kingdom on Earth which is forever and ever. Nebuchadnezzar is just some dude who is not meant to be forever and ever. He can be destroyed. God cannot.
Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of God and gives Daniel a cushy government job in Babylon.
Basically as I understand this, aggrandizement of a living person in the form an everlasting legacy pisses God off.
But Mark Burns continues to defend Don Colossus.
“This statue is not about worship. It is about honor. It is a celebration of life and a powerful symbol of resilience, freedom, patriotism, courage, and the will to keep fighting for America. It also reminds us of the hand of God over President Trump’s life. We thank God for preserving him and not allowing his life to be taken, not once, but multiple times.”
Let's take a look some key points about the life God reportedly has his hand over.
- Trump was found liable for sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll (although the $83 million he was ordered to pay her is on hold for the time being.)
- He has been accused of predatory behavior by dozens of women.
- And he infamously bragged that he was free to grab women “by the pussy.”
In an interview with The New Yorker, Burns went from defending the Trump statue to defending Trump himself.
Get a load of the moral and ethical pretzel Burns twists himself into in that endeavor.
“But in the eyes of God, who is our ultimate judge, God is a God of forgiveness. God is a God of love. So, having said that, it doesn’t matter what President Trump has done in his past.”
I've heard this line from preachers before. Since God loves and God forgives, Trump's sins don't matter.
OK, my Christian membership card is virutally illegible. (Wait! It say "Blockbuster Video". Ooops! Wrong card.) BUT I don't think forgiveness is a simple as Mark Burns puts it.
God offers forgiveness but the person who commits the sin has to accept the forgiveness and that involves the person admitting they fucked up and are genuinely sorry about it.
To counter Burns' statement a bit, it does matter what we've done in the past if we haven't learned from it, changed for the better because of it or asked for or accepted forgiveness for it.
In the past, Donald Trump was a selfish greedy immoral bastard.
As far as I can tell just from the evidence of what I can see and hear....
In the present, Donald Trump is still a selfish greedy immoral bastard.
Burn addresses present Trump: “What does matter is this: We’re talking about the fact that it doesn’t matter what President Trump has done in his past, as long as he’s repented and asked for forgiveness. The president is not grabbing anybody or talking about grabbing anybody from their private parts today.”
Well, that's kind what I said but I would counter Burn's "as long as he’s repented and asked for forgiveness" is that he has not. That would involve admitting error and Trump is deathly afraid of saying he did anything wrong ever.
Remember the Hollywood Access tape. Trump was proud that women would let him grab them between their legs.
I wrote a post about forgiveness back in 2014.
Burns had more to say: “It doesn’t matter in the eyes of the Lord, and apparently, it doesn’t really matter to the eyes of the American voters because they voted for him and made him president twice. Many would argue three times.”
Oh goody! Burns is on the Trump 2020 Election Was Stolen bandwagon.
I would also say that Americans who voted for Trump did so less FOR the man and more AGAINST the women who ran against him in the two elections he won. The women who were more than capable to be President but a lot of Americans will be damned if they'll let a female woman of the opposite sex be President.
And I will add they voted for him because of his simple solutions to complex problems. Ignorance and greed are hard to beat.
And NO, you feckless piece of shit, "many" do NOT argue he won three times. And your kind of devotion to Li'l Donnie's petulant refusal to accept the reality of his 2020 loss to Joe Biden kind of underscores the cult like hold Trump has on you and others in MAGA.
So this post has gone on too long but since we are at the intersection of Trump idolatry and religion, I need to mention the event from yesterday called “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving".
This was supposed to part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,an allegedly apolitical event open to Americans of all faiths.
79% of the scheduled speakers are evangelical protestants.
Evangelical protestants make up 25% of the U.S. population.
I'm actually writing this post on Saturday but since this a Trump centric event, I'm expecting the worst.
I guess we'll know if the bottom has been reached if an actual golden calf shows up.
And I may have to just give up and throw out my Christian membership card.
And I was so close to getting a free sub.
Addendum: No, there was no golden calf but click here for a write up on the prayer event and it's blatant connections to Christian Nationalism.
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Tomorrow: the Tuesday TV Touchbase.
Outlander ends.
I will not be OK.
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