We all know — as evidenced by this cover of Time Magazine from June 18, 2018 (just about halfway through Donald Trump’s term as President) — that this is a man who has always wanted to be King of the World, at the very least. He is not happy unless he is throwing his considerable weight around, telling everyone else what they may or may not do, firing them if they dare to disobey his orders. We’re used to his egomaniacal, narcissistic, dictatorial, vengeful nature.

But are we prepared for this?

Last Friday, January 5th, a video was shared on Donald Trump’s “Truth” social media account. It was titled, “God Made Trump.” In it, a narrator paraphrases the Bible, describing Trump as “a man who cares for the flock,” and “a shepherd to mankind who won’t ever leave nor [sic] forsake them.”

As reported by Samuel Benson of Deseret News, Jan. 8, 2024:

“The video begins as a parody of Paul Harvey’s famous ‘So God Made a Farmer’ speech, opening with a shot of the earth. A narrator says, ‘And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker,” so God gave us Trump.’”

What do I think of this so far? I think I’m going to be sick . . . that’s what I think. But I’ll try to choke back the bile and carry on.

“The Trump video includes repeated religious references and quotations from the Bible. A narrator describes Trump as one who ‘follow(s) the path and remain(s) strong in faith.’ He paraphrases Psalm 140 to describe the ‘fake news media’ — with ‘their tongues as sharp as a serpents’ [sic] and ‘the poison of vipers … on their lips’ — and credits Trump with ‘finish(ing) a hard week’s work by attending church on Sunday.’” [Samuel Benson, Deseret News, Jan. 8, 2024.]

Okay, now it’s time to barf . . .

. . . or maybe laugh first, then barf!

The video is credited to a group known as Dilley Meme Team: “online content creators independent from the Trump campaign, though they work in close contact with it. The group — which calls itself Trump’s Online War Machine — has faced controversy for its vulgar and sexist content.” [Samuel Benson, Deseret News, Jan. 8, 2024.]

Yeah . . . I can see that: the Trump Campaign hooked up with something called the Dilley Meme Team. Definitely a match made in . . . well, not in Heaven, certainly, but in Trump’s parallel universe? Sure. Why not?

Reaction to the video has, not surprisingly, been varied and interesting. While many evangelical Christians are among Trump’s backers, Terry Amann, pastor of the Church of the Way in Des Moines, Iowa, found it distasteful, though he seems to lay the blame on the Dilley Meme Team, not directly on Trump himself. He said that the video “demeans Christianity, Trump and the people who made it. It says a lot about the people around Trump and their ‘wordly’ understanding of Christianity.”

It is not clear from the Deseret News article whether Trump had a hand in the making of the video, or ever approved it before its release. But he has since shared it with the world, and embraced its message that “God made him to lead the country.” [Business Insider, Jan. 6, 2024.]

Several of his former aides have said that Trump is not a person of faith, and that he privately mocks evangelical Christians and Latter-Day Saints. But to me, that is not the issue. What most definitely is clear is the hypocrisy of a person who has lied, cheated and bullied his way through life to reach his own self-serving goals, and then presents himself as the ultimate do-gooder, the savior of the American people, the one man who can “make America great again” . . . when in reality, he is nothing more than the 21st Century’s Elmer Gantry, hiding his true, hedonistic nature in order to sell himself as a pious preacher.

I thought snake-oil salesmen were extinct. I guess I was wrong. As long as you spray enough perfume on a pile of sheep dung, someone will be stupid enough to buy it.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
1/12/24