As Donald Trump increasingly infuses his campaign with Christian trappings while coasting to a third Republican presidential nomination, his support is as strong as ever among evangelicals and other conservative Christians.

“Trump supports Jesus, and without Jesus, America will fall,” said Kimberly Vaughn of Florence, Kentucky, as she joined other supporters of the former president entering a campaign rally near Dayton, Ohio.

Many of the T-shirts and hats that were worn and sold at the rally in March proclaimed religious slogans such as “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president” and “God, Guns & Trump.” One man’s shirt declared, “Make America Godly Again,” with the image of a luminous Jesus putting his supportive hands on Trump’s shoulders.

Many attendees said in interviews they believed Trump shared their Christian faith and values. Several cited their opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, particularly to transgender expressions.

Nobody voiced concern about Trump’s past conduct or his present indictments on criminal charges, including allegations that he tried to hide hush money payments to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign. Supporters saw Trump as representing a religion of second chances.

    • @credo
      link
      931 month ago

      My life is needlessly difficult because I try to understand stupid people. It wears me out.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
        link
        fedilink
        511 month ago

        It’s like somewhere in the ancient past someone wished that stupidity was painful, but forgot to specify who it should be painful for.

      • @Carrolade
        link
        English
        311 month ago

        A historical context helps out with this. They’re just us from 500 years ago. Even this divinely ordained stuff is straight out of history textbooks, the divine right to rule that medieval kings claimed.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          191 month ago

          yea, sometimes these guys sound like the christian mobs from the early “dark ages”, the ones who destroyed pagan symbols e.g. Hypatia.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        71 month ago

        Same here. The other night I had to ask myself repeatedly “if I was awful at my job, where would I have put…” and it hurts. Being competent comes naturally to me so, to me, it seems that it takes way more effort to be that dumb.

    • @aeronmelon
      link
      271 month ago

      The irony being that the only way to understand it is to be that dumb. But if you were that dumb, you wouldn’t understand it nor would you try to because you’d think you are smart.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      14
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Some people are completely lost in the modern world. They shut down completely whenever anyone aims any critic at them and congregate to unquestioningly hold on to what they recognize. It is basic human instinct and being smart sometimes just pushes some of these people into taking advantage of the system and leading this herd mentality, instead of taking a risk trying to wake them up.

    • Franklin
      link
      5
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Unfortunately, it’s well understood that political engagement especially when in a debate is an emotional undertaking.

      Complicated further by the fact that we tend not to change our assumptions even when presented with data that proves otherwise.

      We are a tribal species whose emotions are not geared towards understanding the far reaching and nuanced decisions we are faced with.

  • @disguy_ovahea
    link
    93
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Jesus was an anti-war, anti-capitalist, inclusivity-preaching socialist who gave free healthcare to the sick and free food to the hungry. Maybe they should crack open that book they always talk about.

    • @Plum
      link
      301 month ago

      If “anyone can talk to god, you don’t need all the ceremony” can turn into the Catholic Church et al for 1,900+ years, I don’t think they’re gonna read for comprehension on inclusion.

      • Nougat
        link
        fedilink
        171 month ago

        “anyone can talk to god, you don’t need all the ceremony”

        That’s really close to why the Protestant Reformation happened, out of which all sorts of other lunacy has sprung. I’m not defending the Catholic Church by any means, but this particular criticism might not hit as hard as you intended it to.

    • Nougat
      link
      fedilink
      171 month ago

      You left out the apocalyptic zombie cannibal cult part.

        • @AngryCommieKender
          link
          91 month ago

          John the Baptist was an apocalyptic Jew. I think it was there from the beginning. The apocalyptic Jewish sects make sense when you consider that they started their religion during the tail end of The Bronze Age collapse. They had just watched all the major powers implode, and tons of knowledge went with them. Makes sense that they would think the world was about to end.

    • @kromem
      link
      English
      -21 month ago

      The problem is it’s got a lot of convenient contradictory statements in it.

      For example:

      He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.

      • Luke 22:36

      This part isn’t in Marcion’s version of Luke, which is probably the earliest extant version. But it is in the canonical version.

      Something very convenient given it reversed the ban found across the Synoptics on carrying a purse when ministering, which necessarily prevented taking people’s money.

      Just a bonus that it also allowed for the church to take up swords too right around before the time they start executing people for ‘heresy.’

      There’s plenty of problematic passages added in over the years:

      Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

      • Matthew 15:22-26

      So inclusive.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        5
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Why did you stop at verse 26?

        27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

        28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

        • @kromem
          link
          English
          -11 month ago

          Because the woman calling him master and him then giving in is irrelevant to her being called a dog compared to children beforehand.

          The author of Matthew has a clear agenda, and the passage excerpt stands on its own.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            330 days ago

            You really don’t think the context of the woman correcting him, Jesus accepting the response of a canaanite woman, admitting fault, thanking her for her faith, and then rewarding her doesn’t change the context of “Jesus compared a woman to a dog” just a little bit?

            • @kromem
              link
              English
              129 days ago

              He didn’t admit fault. He said she had enough faith to justify his taking action. But nothing about his own initial answer being unjustified. You are reading that into the text when it isn’t there.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            129 days ago

            Yes… I wonder what that agenda might be, when a few chapters later, Jesus/revelation-by-spirit suddenly says that his disciples should go to the gentiles and minister to them rather than the jews, because the jews rejected him.

            …Almost like there was a specific arc being set up to contrast one position with the next in a dramatic fashion.

            • @kromem
              link
              English
              029 days ago

              What is up with people reading things into the text that aren’t there?

              Where in Matthew does Jesus have a revelation-by-spirit where he says not to minister to the Jews because they rejected him?

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                English
                1
                edit-2
                28 days ago

                [28:18] Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

                I don’t know where he got that RATHER than the Jews from the book of Matthew, since I read that as more of an AND, but the rest is from the end of the book of Matthew.

                Now please go be a teenage atheist edgelord somewhere else. We’ll be here when you want to have a discussion in good faith, but for now, go sea-lion somewhere else.

                • @kromem
                  link
                  English
                  128 days ago

                  Yes, at the end of Matthew is a declaration to go out to the world, but absolutely jack shit about a refusal towards the Jews, undermining the point the commentator was making about the very strong pro-Jewish attitudes in Matthew being part of a reversal arc.

                  As I said, they were reading things into the text that weren’t there.

                  Now please go be a teenage atheist edgelord somewhere else. We’ll be here when you want to have a discussion in good faith, but for now, go sea-lion somewhere else.

                  Lol. Last I checked this was /c/news, not /c/Christianity.

                  And being specific around the texts in question and the contexts they arise in isn’t sealioning dude. I spent several years participating every day in /r/AcademicBiblical and just very much give a crap about accurate vs inaccurate representations of the material.

                  You can think you are circling the wagons to defend the scriptures, but I’m not the one in this thread misrepresenting them and the intentions of the respective authors. And while you can be free to do you, there is a certain wisdom regarding not blindly following the blind that extends to blind faith (and before you counter with doubting Thomas and the benefits of faith unseen, just know that the entire history of Thomasine Christianity and its relationship to early canonical Christianity is the topic I’ve spent six years studying in depth, so you will definitely get a mouthful back on that invocation and its post-30s CE historical context).

  • SatansMaggotyCumFart
    link
    721 month ago

    If Trump hasn’t paid for a dozen abortions I’d be surprised.

    How do people look and listen to the guy and project all these values that they think are good on him?

    • originalucifer
      link
      fedilink
      57
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      i see it as validation that religion itself is a grift… an exploitation of a crack in the human psyche.

      the same mechanism that helps people ignore the ridiculousness of %religion% lets them ignore the terrible behaviors of its participants.

      maybe add a dash of mass-psychosis… throw in a huge, daily serving of faux news propaganda and here we are

    • Flying Squid
      link
      191 month ago

      I have never heard an interviewer ask if he has ever paid for an abortion. I mean I know he wouldn’t answer honestly, but they never even ask.

    • @gAlienLifeform
      link
      81 month ago

      They think he’ll be good for them, so they lie and say he’ll be good for us

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    571 month ago

    How the hell am I living in the same reality as these people? Where do they get their info from?

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      241 month ago

      His actual actions aren’t important, because his results are “holy.”

      If you asked them about a “demon rat” that had doen exactly what their “holy” man had done, they would rant endlessly about his vile acts and his damnation.

      Their zealotry is transactional, that’s all. Give them what they want, and you can be their savior too.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        171 month ago

        Obama wore a suit, and he got shit because they didn’t like the color.

        Trump on the other hand, wears diapers and has inspired his moronic base to wear them publicly as well. Not just, under their clothing like a normal person, they think its better than pants.

        -Written from a republican hell hole.

        • @xanu
          link
          171 month ago

          well, their problem wasn’t exactly because of the color of the suit

  • Flying Squid
    link
    431 month ago

    Trump supports Jesus

    Trump supports putting Jesus, the immigrant, into a deportation camp.

    • @NOT_RICK
      link
      English
      191 month ago

      His base doesn’t even realize Jesus was an immigrant

      • Flying Squid
        link
        251 month ago

        His base thinks that Jesus was a white, English-speaking American who hated poor people and taxes.

  • DrSleepless
    link
    English
    391 month ago

    TIL fucking a porn star while your wife is pregnant is within christian values.

  • ElcaineVolta
    link
    fedilink
    321 month ago

    it feels like we’re on the highway and 60% of drivers are blindfolded and smiling

      • @kromem
        link
        English
        81 month ago

        Unfortunately for them, Jesus never got his driver’s license.

  • @teamevil
    link
    261 month ago

    It’s amazing… stupid people who think invisible sky wizard is guiding their life and stupid enough to think that Trump ever thinks about them. God it’s like half this country gets off on being a cuckold without knowing it.

    • @rayyy
      link
      81 month ago

      Stupid people are actually controlled by rich oligarchs through news and right wing propaganda but they think they are independent rebels.

      • @whereisk
        link
        71 month ago

        If Apple can become a $2t company by convincing people that buying the same product as all your friends is “thinking different” anything is possible.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      121 month ago

      He’s a child of God and therefore worthy of love. Trump obviously sucks, but Jesus said “love your neighbour” and that includes Trump. Of course, God would send Trump to hell when he dies so bit of a mixed message there. Religion is weird sometimes…

    • @ours
      link
      111 month ago

      “Jesus loves sinners” but that’s about it and a bit of a Catch-22 at it.

    • @samus12345
      link
      English
      6
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      He hates the same people that Supply Side Jesus, the version they worship, hates.

    • @Sconrad122
      link
      51 month ago

      Easy. His, erm, broad stature makes him an easy whipping target when it comes time to drive the capitalist pigs and their market stands out of the temple

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      129 days ago

      I think he would love trump because trump loves children, and jesus was all about loving children.

      spoiler

      I feel sick even typing that

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    2130 days ago

    Every comment I have seen so far, has the wrong take on this. Christians aligning with Trump is basically the same thing as when the Christians aligned with the Nazis. They are both selling the same shit, a return to a time where the father was dictator of his own home and ruled with an iron fist. All you have to do is embrace the dictator of the country, and you can have that.

    That’s half the reason Christians are Christians in the first place. Fascism just makes those ideas more mainstream and allows for the laws to embrace the concept.

  • @Etterra
    link
    1629 days ago

    The doublethink these “Christians” maintain to avoid cognitive dissonance and critical self reflection are staggering

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      51 month ago

      You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… Morons

  • Cyborganism
    link
    fedilink
    121 month ago

    How fucking gullible can you get? Either that or they’re being major hypocrites.

    • ares35
      link
      fedilink
      161 month ago

      it just boils down to him hating and hurting the ‘right’ people.

    • Nougat
      link
      fedilink
      4
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      People will believe anything to avoid feeling chronically anxious and afraid, even things which are demonstrably untrue.

      People believe things when that belief is useful to them. There is a large overlap with “usefulness” and “accuracy,” but usefulness always wins.