#christian nationalist false american history

[contemplatingoutlander]

David Barton has built an entire career out of misusing, misrepresenting, and outright falsifying history, the Bible, and current events and doing so to promote his Christian nationalist political agenda. He has been highly influential not only within Republican politics, where he has many fans among current and former GOP legislators, but also internationally. On top of that, Barton’s Christian nationalist pseudo-history is shaping both Christian and secular educational institutions across the country. Barton, who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and personal history, had his book on Thomas Jefferson pulled by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.” Undaunted, Barton has soldiered on, repeatedly declaring that Christians who share his far-right worldview are supposed to be choosing our elected leaders and ruling the world because everything must operate according to biblical principles. Barton falsely insists that our Constitution and entire system of government are based on the Bible and thus asserts that everything from the minimum wage to the income tax to the teaching of evolution are unconstitutional because they supposedly violate Biblical teachings. Barton also believes that there should be literally no limits on the Second Amendment, meaning that average citizens are entitled to own tanks, fighter jets, and even nuclear weapons. Predictably, Barton takes a far-right position on issues like abortion—going so far as to proclaim that life actually begins 'before' conception—and on LGBTQ issues, asserting repeatedly that AIDS is God’s punishment for sin and therefore a cure will never be found. [color emphasis added]

David Barton is a dangerous man. See the video below about the instructional tools he has packaged to help indoctrinate American children into false beliefs about what our founders intended regarding the role of religion (especially Christianity) in American government.

Having a Speaker of the House who believes David Barton's "Christian" nationalist lies about American history is frightening.

The Democrats should make a motion to vacate Speaker Mike Johnson as soon as possible.

When Rep. Mike Johnson was elected Speaker of the House earlier this week, Christian nationalist religious-right activist Rick Green was “literally in tears” because, he said, Johnson “is one of our guys.”

Johnson himself confirmed as much back in 2021 when he spoke at a WallBuilders Pro-Family Legislators conference where he heaped praise on Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, saying that Barton’s work “has had such a profound influence on me and my work and my life.”

Green and Barton produce a daily “WallBuilders Live” radio program together, and on Thursday, they were downright giddy about Johnson’s elevation to the speakership, declaring that Johnson “sounds like a WallBuilders speaker” and proclaiming that “this is literally the kind of guy that we have been praying for.”

Johnson certainly does “sound like a WallBuilders speaker” and given that Right Wing Watch has covered Barton and WallBuilders for decades, it is worth taking a look at just what that means.

[buttacake80]

I hope this isn’t offensive but as someone who is trying to learn about American politics and English being my fourth language some terms can get a bit confusing to me and everyone around me struggles with the same way.

what does being a liberal mean? As in are you a trump or harris supporter? Or more neutral?

Not an offensive question. Actually quite complex.

Here in the US, we have two primary parties. The Republicans and the Democrats.

At one time in our history, there were other parties. We have smaller parties, but none of them have held a majority or even a significant minority. And, to further complicate things, these two primary parties flipped ideologies. It's confusing and would need its own post.

So, I will start this from 1980 forward.

The Republicans existed as the conservative party that represented small government, low taxes, and a strong defense.

However, the Republican Party was taken over by the "Make America Great Again" movement, pushing the party to an extreme right since 2012 (prior to MAGA, it was the Tea Party movement).

The Democratic Party exists as the liberal party that advocates for more social spending, more corporate taxation, climate change advocacy, and a smaller defense budget.

Donald Trump identifies as Republican, but he does not represent traditional Republican values.

Kamala Harris was the Democratic Party candidate.

I am a proud Harris supporter.

Both parties support capitalism.

I would fall more to the left than most liberals, but I would not identify as a leftist. Leftists are anti-capitalists.

Capitalism ran rampant, leading to this oligarchy that includes Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk. The billionaires do not want to be taxed. They do not support the unionization of workers, and they would like more deregulation in order to further enrich themselves.

They bought a candidate: Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump's MAGA base is racist and xenophobic.

75% of our population identifies as white. This number actually includes Hispanics. If we remove non-Hispanic whites, the number drops to 60%.

13% identify as Black

7% identify as Asian

3% mixed race

1% Native American

And the remaining 1% is several small ethnic identities such as Pacific Islanders.

The white American population remains the overwhelming majority, but since the 80s, the far right has been pushing a narrative that white folk were going to become the minority and treated as horribly as the white folk have treated minorities.

Furthermore, a large segment of our population identifies as Christian. They have pushed a false narrative that this is a Christian nation when it has never been such. So, for the last 25 years, an ultra conservative Christian Nationalist movement has also taken hold of the Republican Party.

Trump used white folk's fears of being replaced to secure another term in office. In addition, here in the US, Black women have been vilified because we are the most loyal supporters of the Democratic Party. We hold most of the graduate degrees here in the US. We are the most educated demographic.

We are not a monolith, but they view us as one. A lot of white folks resent Black women, so they could not stomach having a Black woman as the Nation's "boss".

So, they voted to maintain white supremacy.

I hope that's easy to understand.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jason Wilson at The Guardian:

A vigilante militia notorious for its patrols on America’s border with Mexico has threatened to take on the US military in recent weeks, with its founder baselessly claiming that Hurricane Helene was deliberately caused by a government energy weapon that needs to be destroyed, according to private and public Telegram chats.

Veterans on Patrol’s (VOP’s) conversations reveal that members believe the outlandish conspiracy theory that the US government caused the hurricane with weather manipulation technology, that the US military is spraying the American people with poisons, and that members should be willing to destroy government facilities in order to stop these activities. The chats, provided to the Guardian by the Global Project on Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), raise the prospect of the conspiracy-fueled militia group engaging in renewed violence under the incoming Trump administration. GPAHE co-founder Heidi Beirich told the Guardian: “VOP is one of the most dangerous militia groups out there now … with their recent targeting of military efforts to help with hurricane relief efforts in North Carolina, and their insane conspiracy theories, this is a recipe for disaster.” The Guardian requested comment from VOP via an email to an address posted in their Telegram chats.

In early October, the main account on VOP’s public Telegram – probably run by the group’s founder, Michael “Lewis Arthur” Meyer – has been depicting Helene as an “act of war perpetuated by the United States military”, with the goal of ensuring that “the lithium mines are secured and the planned Ashville Smart City comes to fruition”. The false claim that the federal government was seizing land from property owners in North Carolina in order to establish lithium mines circulated widely among the far right in the wake of Helene. The idea that smart cities are being created as a means of social control has a longer history among rightwing conspiracy theorists, and has even been linked to previous natural disasters. In 2023, following wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and the Canary Islands, conspiracy theorists on social media went viral after linking the disasters to an international conference on smart cities. Those claims were further amplified by the likes of the far-right broadcaster Alex Jones and Trump ally Charlie Kirk.

[...]

VOP was formed in Pima county, Arizona, around 2015 as a self-described veterans’ advocacy group, though founder Meyer has acknowledged he is not a veteran. While the group initially assisted homeless veterans in the Tucson area, setting up temporary shelters and distributing supplies to those in need, from 2018 it refocused on vigilante patrols at the southern border, with Meyer spinning conspiracy narratives fueled by his apocalyptic Christian nationalist beliefs. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), VOP’s activities are founded on “anti-government and anti-immigrant ideas”, and the group has pushed “anti-Indigenous, antisemitic, anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon falsehoods” under Meyer, who is a self-proclaimed pastor.

From 2018, Meyer drew attention on social media and recruits to the organization by claiming Mexican cartels were orchestrating human trafficking operations at the southern border, a narrative that meshed with “QAnon” and “Pizzagate” conspiracy theories, which were then gaining currency on the far right. The organization conducted unofficial desert patrols, and Meyer claimed to be in a “chess match” with the cartels. They have frequently falsely claimed to have found evidence of such trafficking: in one case in 2018, they claimed to have found a human trafficking site which authorities determined was simply an abandoned homeless encampment. Their activities drew criticism from law-enforcement agencies, who stated that the group’s actions were interfering with legitimate investigations and potentially compromising real criminal cases. The organization has since been known for using social media to promote various unsubstantiated claims about activities along the border. Their beliefs have led them into confrontations with property owners and law enforcement agencies.

Far-right extremist militia group Veterans On Patrol has targeted the US military in recent weeks due to baseless Hurricane Helene-related conspiracy theories, such as it being the fault of “weather manipulation.”

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[BANKSY]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 27, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

OCT 28, 2023

An article this morning jumped out at me. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post noted that the U.S. economy “looks remarkably good.” A recent stunning jobs report, showing that the economy continues to add jobs at record rates—more than 13.9 million since President Joe Biden took office—along with yesterday’s stunning report that U.S. economic growth grew at an annual pace of 4.9% in the third quarter of this year, puts the U.S. economy at the forefront of most of the world. And inflation is back in the range that the Federal Reserve prefers—it’s at 2.4%, close to the Fed’s target of 2%.

The U.S. is outperforming forecasts made even before the pandemic began for where the economy would be now, even as other countries are worse off. 

And yet, Rampell notes, Americans are about as negative about the economy today as they were during the Great Recession after 2008, when mortgage foreclosures were forcing people out of their homes and unemployment rested at about 9%, more than twice what it is today. In contrast, consumers give high marks to the Trump years, when average growth before the pandemic was 2.5% and the U.S. added only about 6.4 million jobs.

There is a crucial divorce here between image and reality. Americans think our economy, currently the strongest in the world, is in poor shape. They mistakenly believe it was better under Trump.

That profound and measurable disjunction ought to make us sit up and take notice, especially as the Biden administration continues to try to make the economy responsive to ordinary Americans and the country continues to pay little attention. Today, for example, the White House announced an effort to turn the dual problems of empty office buildings and a shortage of affordable housing into a win-win. It announced a series of actions to convert vacant commercial properties to residential buildings. Their efforts are designed to create affordable, energy-efficient housing near public transportation and jobs.  

The importance of identifying the contrast between image and reality in today’s politics showed recently as the meticulous work of Nashville investigative reporter Phil Williams of Tennessee’s NewsChannel 5 appears to have had an important effect on the mayoral election in Franklin, Tennessee. 

While far-right Christian nationalist mayoral candidate Alderman Gabrielle Hanson promised she was “committed to restoring and upholding the wholesome values that have long been the foundation of our city’s identity,” Williams exposed to voters Hanson’s shady history. He showed that Hanson had lied about having multiracial supporters and her ties to white supremacists, highlighted her bizarre behavior, and noted her embrace of Christian nationalism. 

On Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly rejected Hanson and other far-right candidates. Hanson won just 20.6% of the vote to 79.4% for the incumbent mayor. Then, after losing, Hanson apparently had her husband drop off her computer and ID badge at City Hall, abandoning her term as alderman before its November 14th end. 

Such deep investigation stands out in an increasingly turbulent sea of disinformation. Shayan Sardarizadeh of the BBC explained to Hanaa’ Tameez of Neiman Journalism Lab that social media posters on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, or Twitter can make significant sums of money from “engagement farming.” Posting outrageous material that engages viewers pumps up a user’s brand, making them able to command high prices from marketers.  

Sardarizadeh notes that the Israel-Hamas war is a particularly attractive situation for engagement farmers, and rumors and fake videos are flying. 

But there are plenty of opportunities for disinformation at home, too, for political purposes. In Ohio, the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate is using its official government website to push what Associate Press legal and medical experts say is “false or misleading” information against the proposed constitutional amendment the state’s voters will consider in the November 7 election. Their inflammatory language warns, for example, that the measure will “legalize abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy” and permit “the dismemberment of fully conscious children,” the rhetoric of anti-abortion activists.

Julie Carr Smyth and Christine Fernando of the Associated Press report that Republicans began their “On the Record” blog on the state Senate website after Ohio voters rejected their attempts to make it much harder to pass constitutional amendments. The Republicans bill the blog as an “online newsroom” where voters can find “the views the news excludes.” Republican Senate president Matt Huffman denied that the blog was a news service, but it sits under the “News” tab on the Senate’s website. 

“My [Republican] colleagues say that this is done because the mainstream media won’t print their stuff,” Democratic state senator Bill DeMora told the reporters. “But of course, the mainstream media won’t pick this up because it’s factually incorrect and basically lies.” 

But because the blog appears on an official government website, internet searches turn it up as a reliable source. Laura Manley, executive director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, told Smyth and Fernando: “It’s a really strategic way to make something appear to be neutral information and fact when that’s not the reality…. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Finally, after a two-day manhunt, law enforcement officers found Maine mass murder suspect Robert Card dead tonight from a self-inflicted gunshot. Reports suggest that Card had at least a recent history of mental illness and note that his social media accounts show a history of engagement with right-wing and Republican political content.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[princessmeepa]

This is Jing and she is my first Class of 09 OC and She is a real psychopath sadistic and racist towards white people or Americans

She is the opposite of Miko, unlike Miko who is somewhat likable and you can fix her,Jing is you can’t fix her (because of her past trauma as an forced child prostitute from her abuive drunk aunt who kills her parents and blames that the white people and Japanese killed them and sell her off to America to make more money and she is raise in an racist, white people, Christian and Japanese hatred, all Asian nationalist? (Don’t know if that is an real thing so let me know) sadistic cannibal Asian maifa cult

If you did something that pisses her off or if you did something that she doesn’t like, she’ll tell the members to rape you and eat your dead body or kill or she is doing this out of boredom. This is what happens with the two problematic teachers like the pedo PE teacher Coach Colby and the White nationalist photographer teacher Mr. Whites (because those two piss her off for the right reasons) she tells the members to send them to P Diddy to ass rape them as an sick joke. She also did the same thing with teachers who didn’t do nothing wrong to her, like she tells the members to gang rape Ms. Ames (because she tells Jing stop making an hate speech about killing and raping White people, Japanese and Mix people don’t deserve to exist and she thought it was funny to watch her get raped “fucking sick messed up bitch”), She tells the members to gang rape the History teacher Mr. Katz (because she doesn’t like the way he was teaching such as the American presidents and white people), so everyone at school is afraid of her and especially Principal Lynn (because they also gang rape her, because Jing finds it funny and that is why she is never been expelled or being suspended from school). She did the same with the older students that she hates, Jeffery has an creep crush on her (somehow or the fact that she is Asian, because of Anime), but he is sixteen and he didn’t know that she is two years younger than him, she is bored as fuck so she falsely accused him of trying to rape her, so he got rape by an gay member as an warning not to be near her and Kylar being an stupid jock bully tries s to hit on her. And not knowing that she is younger then him and did the same thing with Jeffery and she thought it was funny to see an jock getting raped. Crispin was minding is own business and she is feeling bored as hell so she tells the members to gang rape him as an sick joke. Her and Megan don’t even get along fine (well who could blame her), Jing would sometimes keeps sending her some racist death threats of wanting to skin her alive and she even kills her baby puppies one she video cords of one baby puppy getting eaten alive by dogs and the others she kills them and sends it to Megan, Jing finds it funny to see an virgin Christen girl getting rape and then killing herself, well she sends the members to go to her house (somehow) to gang rape and Megan kills herself out of guilt for losing her virginity. She enjoys telling homophobic jokes to Ari and Ari does her best to avoid her as much as she could. Emily, Jecka and Nicole are trying their best to avoid her as much as possible or just try to be on her good side (to avoid having the same fate just like the others). There are possible endings, if Nicole pisses her off on purpose like telling an racist joke to her back then the bad ending of her sending the members to rape, kill and eat everybody at school. If Nicole accidentally pisses her off like telling her to stop being the way she is and she needs to go and get help (which is out of character for Nicole) then another bad ending is where Jing sends the all the members to find Nicole’s house to gang rape her bitchly mother and her creepy loser brother and the eat their dead bodies and gang rape Emily, Jecka, Air and Nicole to death and eat their dead bodies. The only good ending is where Nicole out of character saves Megan from being rape and the others and Nicole kills Jing by stabbing one of her eye and her heart with the knife and killing the members with an bomb then the whole school would be safe. There is an somewhat an good ending of Nicole out of character killing Jing’s bitchy aunt and she show the pictures of her dead parents and Jing knowing what she did is wrong and trying to help her to move on.

Trivia

Her favorite drugs to be fuck up are Molly and Angel dust.

She is born in 2000 and she is the only Gen Z character.

She is the youngest character so far.

Being at such an young age, she is considered to be the most beautiful girl at school.

She is the only Asian character to be born in China (not America), who makes her Chinese American.

She at such an young age she is the most intelligent character, but ironically she hates math (mostly algebra).

She is an 14-15 who bullies 16 and 17 year olds (which is ironic).

She drinks a lot.

She dress like an older woman (or 16 and 17), is to trick creeps or 16,17 and 18 year old boys who didn’t know she is younger than them, so she can falsely accuse them of trying to rape her.

She is an big fan of Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, because that is the only Japanese anime that doesn’t have an traditional anime like style.

It is unclear of why she hates mix people so bad or having an stronger hatred towards them.

She is based on Miss America from Coonskin and Nicole, but the raises are swapped.

Coach Colby and Counselor, even know they are Pedophiles, they are scared of her (because they will be send to P Diddy as his gift for his white party to play with if they mess with her), Coach Colby got raped by P Diddy before, so he doesn’t want to be near her.

She has an thick and cute Chinese accent

[spurgie-cousin]

I am a former Abeka student here, and currently have an education degree and just wanted to weigh in. Their grammar and math curriculum for elementary school students is actually fairly comprehensive and rigorous- provided you have someone guiding you through the work and aren't just popped in front of the video curriculum. I would say the rest of their curriculum is disappointing to downright infactual. There were several times as an adult or even an older student using a different curriculum that I had to relearn various historical facts or scientific principles. Their history curriculum really emphasizes a white Christian nationalist view of American history (and world history- which only covered "Western" civilization no Asian or African history) and their science textbooks hammered home that God created the world and some of the information in them was straight up false.

So yeah, I'm not mad at Carlin for using Abeka if she wants to introduce basic grammar and math concepts because it actually does that very well! I wouldn't touch the rest of the curriculum with a 10 foot pole.

Yea I guess my point moreso was that I assume any involved homeschool moms are going to care enough about the curriculum they choose to properly vet the organization it comes from. Obv someone like Carlin is already familiar with Abeka, I'd assume.

So regardless of which ages she's using it for, I don't know why she'd pick that particular evangelical organization to support if she didn't agree with their core values. My point is more about that choice being indicative to me of where she stands ideologically, which I know a lot of people speculate about since outwardly she appears pretty progressive.

I mean even if she's only using it for pre-k that's still her making an active choice to support that organization when she has a lot of other options, you know? My point wasn't that it's impossible to learn anything from Abeka and I appreciate you sharing your personal experience, it was more about gauging where she stands in the fundie/fundie lite universe since she doesn't really talk about her beliefs in depth.

[womenfrommars]

i remember you made a post like how “white nationalists are different than christian nationalists” or something like that, can you talk about that again? it was really eye opening!

Ah, so I think I remember the post you're referring to -- to summarise briefly, I made some comments on the idea of white nationalists and supremacists supporting Christianity. To be frank, I have no clue where this idea comes from but if I had to guess, my guess would be that it's coming from the perception that the American KKK is a supposedly Christian organisation. I'm sure ''Christian'' white nationalists are bound to exist somewhere, but the general picture looks quite different.

Most white nationalists reject Christianity because they see it as an extension of Judaism (which is actually is). White supremacists believe Jews to be racially inferior to them since Jews are a Middle-Eastern people (this includes Ashkenazi Jews, who tend to have relatively little European DNA). Given this context, why would white supremacists believe in Christianity, a religion that states a Jewish man to be God in the flesh? Christians worship a Jew as their God and white supremacists despise Jews.

I think Americans tend to see Christianity as a European religion because of European colonial history, but this is not the full picture. Christianity started as a Middle-Eastern religion and grew out to become a world religion. It was spread to Africa before it reached Europe and Europe initially rejected Christianity, with Christians being persecuted in the early days of the Roman Empire. In the current day, Christianity is losing popularity in Europe whilst gaining popularity in parts of Africa and Asia.

White supremacists (at least the European ones) tend to perceive Christianity as a foreign religion forcefully imposed on Europe by Jews. It is seen as a religion that replaced the ''truly'' European religions (various different pagan religions). It is for this reason white supremacists can be found in pagan communities like Odinism and the like. White supremacists have little respect for Christians and refer to them as ''Christcucks'' since many European Christians support Middle-Eastern migration to Europe for humanitarian reasons. They find Christianity to be too passive and have greater respect for a more violent religion like Islam. (They might refer to Islam as ''based'' for persecuting homosexuals and tend to say things like ''Islam is right about women''.)

Another interesting factoid: European white supremacists tend to think only 2% of the global population is white since they don't count white Americans in that figure. Most white Americans have low percentages of American Indian and/or African DNA and are therefore considered ''racially mixed'' or ''mutts'' (insult for people of mixed racial background).

Christianity is regarded as a foreign and false religion made up by Jews to divide European peoples, or to cause the downfall of European societies. It is an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, essentially. Below I'll post some pictures to demonstrate this principle. (Please don't take this as my support for this racist theory -- I reject all forms of racism and anti-Semitism and this is purely to demonstrate how white supremacists think.)

Note: In the last image, D and C stands for Divide and Conquer. The word ''Christianity'' is spelled with those brackets because this is a popular anti-Semitic dogwhistle.

[realityhop]

"Christian nationalists rationalize their will to dominance on false claims that they are the "true" Americans and the rest of us — liberal Christians, non-believers, non-Christians — are interlopers."

— Amanda Marcotte, Why Mike Johnson's fake "Jefferson prayer" matters: Replacing facts with phony history is a linchpin of the Christian nationalist movement (January 7 2025)

[skarletkardinal]

My Perspective on Today’s Culture Wars in America

In recent years, there have been numerous culture war efforts from the right in the United States. Some examples include the following:

Attacks on LGBT-inclusive curricula in education, falsely smearing them as “grooming” or “indoctrination”…

Attacks on sexual expression and speech on the internet, i.e. FOSTA-SESTA back in 2018 and the more recent trend of age verification laws…

Attacks on online sex workers from payment processors…

Efforts to legislate Christianity into law, such as mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms as is the case in Louisiana…

The whole great replacement conspiracy theory and the recent lies about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets…

Attacks on transgender health care such as wrongly calling it "mutilation" and banning or restricting it among other attacks on LGBT rights...

…and lastly, the abortion bans that have passed since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

From my perspective, these efforts are all connected to one source: this is the long and extremely painful last gasps of a cultural movement that no longer has the social clout it once did. They’re aware that they’re living on borrowed time politically. Newer generations are shifting to the left and saying "no" to conservatism (at least this specific, toxic brand of it, that is). Church attendance and religiosity is going down every year because MAGA Christian nationalists have embraced religious extremism. These extremists have disgraced Jesus Christ and God's name, turning people away who would’ve otherwise been open to joining the faith.

For the right, this is their last chance to impose their ideas on us before they lose everything. They feel their power slipping away from them as more and more of us reject their ideas. The American culture they remember is disappearing and never coming back, and they are beyond furious about it. Why else would they be waging these culture wars? Why else would they be lying so much about LGBT people being groomers? Why else would they boycott “woke” businesses that show support for the LGBT community?

The reason: anger and fear. They are both angry and terrified because Americans are moving away from their bigoted authoritarian worldview in favor of a liberal and progressive society. Oh well. It’s time for them to accept that the majority of Americans don't agree with their way of thinking or their idea of what the United States should be. Gen Z, especially, is strongly rejecting them. I look forward to the day Donald Trump, along with the entire toxic MAGA movement, disappears and is relegated to the trash bin of history. I look forward to never hearing his name or hearing about him ever again.

[autisticexpression2]

I genuinely don't think these people know the first thing about the religion they pay lip service to. To them, Christianity is just one facet of their American white nationalist identity. They've probably never opened a Bible or sat through a church service. If they did, they would know that sermon was nothing out of the ordinary.

There is a genuine disconnect between what actual American churches preach and what culture war weirdos who share chad Jesus wojak memes appear to believe. I remember multiple EVANGELICAL pastors condemning Trump during his first term. Pastors have also been critical of Qanon as a false religion, as far as I know. There was even a whole thing where pastors were sharing stories about being accused of "wokeness" for preaching from the Bible.

These people are a bizarre fringe of American politics and religion. They aren't any kind of majority. They're just loud. Like a howler monkey with tiny balls. Less than 50% of Americans voted for Trump. He gained no followers in the intervening four years after Biden was elected. The only reason he won is because the other side was too disilusioned to bother voting for an opposition that promised no change from the status quo.

This, too, shall pass, and it will be remembered as one of the most embarrassingly stupid moments in history. May we all survive to laugh at these days.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Peter Montgomery at RWW:

Christian nationalist leaders want to force Americans to live in accordance with their religious and political beliefs, and they have a plan to make it happen. They are demanding that future Republican presidents and senators consider only potential Supreme Court justices who meet the American Family Association’s “biblical worldview” standard. Yes, it is that brazen. Religious-right leaders who have endorsed the project want to impose a de facto religious test on the Supreme Court, a violation of constitutional principles and the American values of religious freedom and pluralism.   Right Wing Watch broke the story about this Supreme Court scheme last year after Phillip Jauregui presented it during a breakout session at the Family Research Council’s 2023 Pray Vote Stand conference.  Jauregui, a longtime activist in support of right-wing judges, now runs the Center for Judicial Renewal as a project of AFA Action, the American Family Association’s political advocacy arm. 

At this year’s Pray Vote Stand conference on Saturday, Jauregui presented the Supreme Court plan from the main stage, with a giant screen showing the name of other religious-right leaders that have endorsed it, including FRC President Tony Perkins, former Rep. Michele Bachmann, First Liberty’s Kelly Shackelford, and relentless purveyor of false Christian nationalist history David Barton.  When it comes to the Supreme Court, it’s not good enough to get conservative justices, said Jauregui, they have to be “great.” So the Center for Judicial Renewal has spent “thousands of hours” evaluating people whose names have been floated as possible future justices.  The first criteria Jauregui uses to evaluate a possible nominee’s potential for greatness as a “constitutionalist” justice is their “biblical worldview.” 

Otherwise conservative judges who don’t meet AFA’s “worldview” are put on Jauregui’s “red list” of unacceptables. Jauregui suggested that he is publicizing AFA’s “red list” to try to keep Donald Trump from including any of the four judges on the list of potential Supreme Court nominees Trump has said he will release before the election.  Among the things that have landed conservative judges on that list are using a transgender person’s preferred pronouns. The dossier on Judge Neomi Rao characterizes her “faith and worldview” as problematic, noting that she was “raised in an immigrant family of Zoroastrian tradition and converted to Judaism when she got married.”

[...] To be clear, this is not just a demand for only conservative Christian justices. It goes even further. “Worldview” is a hot topic on the religious right, and was the focus of its own breakout at Pray Vote Stand. The Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, which employs evangelical pollster George Barna, makes it clear that a tiny fraction of Christians—even a small minority of church-going evangelicals—meet their exacting standards for having a “biblical worldview.”

[...] In June, AFA Action asked supporters for money to expand the project to include lower federal court judges, but at Pray Vote Stand, Jauregui kept the focus on the Supreme Court. Jauregui noted that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito are the oldest sitting justices, which he said makes his team’s work even more important. “God’s done work at the court, and it’s not time to lose that ground.”  AFA’s list of acceptable potential justices includes three right-wing appeals court judges, along with Kristen Waggoner, president of the religious-right legal giant Alliance Defending Freedom, and Mark Martin, former dean of the law school at Pat Robertson’s Regent University and now dean of the law school at High Point University. Right Wing Watch has previously noted that one of those AFA-approved Judges, Fifth Circuit MAGA Judge James Ho, “has become notorious as a virtual parody of a right-wing activist, whose extreme opinions read like far-right ideological diatribes.”

Christian Nationalists seek to impose a biblical worldview test on future judicial nominees for the highest court in the land by imposing a very narrow definition for acceptable court nominees by their standards.

[themerrycourtier]

I am writing this post from my home, which the law claims I own, but which has been from time immemorial the land of the Tohono Oʼodham Nation and Pascua Yaqui peoples before it was appropriated by the Spanish Crown, passed to the Empire of Mexico, and finally sold to the United States. 

It’s not easy for me to work through my feelings and fears about the state of my country. I’m much better at perceiving the emotions of others than talking about my own thoughts and feelings. 

But I am feeling deeply frightened. Some five years ago when he began his campaign, I was immediately struck by the implications of a president with no experience, no diplomatic skills, poor education, a narcissist, and the recipient of an enormous amount of privilege--white and economic. 

My worst fears then have been exceeded by what is happening now. 

his foment of racism, white supremacy, and nationalist rhetoric has created a USA I struggle to recognize. My Boomer Generation mother raised me with ideals centered around racial and gender equality, feminism, labor union-organizing, and the belief that the government existed to serve the people, not the rich. 

However, I was raised in a bubble of whiteness. My public school education will show you some of the roots of our current crisis. In 9th Grade American History class, my teacher presented us with a 100% whitewashed and white-supremacist version of the story of our nation. He spent a HUGE amount of time  indoctrinating us into a version of history where the Civil War was not about slavery--he repeatedly said that in front of the class like some kind of refrain--but was about states rights. That tells you so much about the false version of history so many white people still believe.

It’s a narrative supported by so many parts of American culture, like the movie Gone With the Wind which so many whites take as historically accurate when it is really a reflection of 20th century revisionist history and the rise of ‘memorializing’ enslavers through things like the Daughters of the Confederacy, the plantation as a place where enslaved people were happy, etc. 

Let’s be honest. The United States of America is a nation founded on a principle it has never completely followed: Liberty and Justice for all. In each generation, we get better at it. We expand the circle of who is has certain privileges and who is disenfranchised. But we have never actually attained that principle. Why? Because although we are founded on that beautiful principle, our wealth and power as a nation was built on stolen land, on the backs of enslaved people who were kidnapped, trafficked, and subjected to so many forms of torture and abuse it boggles the mind. And most horrifical, forced into a system of generational enslavement based on the false and evil theory of white supremacy. 

Dr. Joy DeGruy, the author of Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome, narrates how the traumas and social realities of slavery are extended in each generation and how they impact People of Color today. (This is a grossly oversimplified statement, but hopefully it summarizes the principle of Dr. DeGruy’s work.) 

The traumas of slavery impact white people too. As the ancestors of people who committed such atrocities (whether or not our direct ancestors were enslavers or not), and as the recipients of a system that values whiteness and devalues People of Color, we have always tried to escape from the cognitive dissonance of thinking of ourselves as good, moral [and often, Christian] people while participating in and perpetuating, evil. Or, post-Civil War, of continuing the systems of oppression--the Jim Crow laws, end of Reconstruction which was a white abandonment of People of Color in the south, the KKK, voter suppression, the ‘war on drugs’ from which whites were exempt, and so many others. 

Every white person in the USA, from the poorest to Elon Musk, is a recipient of white privilege. 

I saw so many white supremacist symbols tattooed onto those domestic terrorists. On their clothes, hats, flags. But it’s also subtle. It’s the far more evil reality behind the flags that bear his name and “Don’t Tread On Me.” These symbols were visible on many members of this almost overwhelmingly white mob. If you say this isn’t about race, you are just wrong. 

Statistically, if you add the collective memberships of white supremacist organizations, there are three Neo-nazis in the USA for every Jewish person. That makes me sick every time I think about it.

White America suffers from Post Traumatic Enslaver Syndrome. It’s a mental illness characterized by the belief in white supremacy, eugenics, inherited practices of violence toward People of Color, inherited cognitive dissonance between self-image and reality, inherited practices of segregation, narcissism, and supporting systems of oppression under the guise of reasonable language and law and order rhetoric. 

We live in a nation where police can kill People of Color on the streets in public view, where Breonna Taylor can be executed in her own home for no reason at all, where peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters are arrested in their thousands, tear gassed, shot with rubber bullets, and beaten. And, where a mob of white people can storm the Capitol and be escorted out after they destroy it. 

The domestic terrorists say they are patriots and stand for freedom. They don’t even know what that means. But their rhetoric is the cloak passed down by generations to hide the racism of white people--the language of reason used to support oppression. 

I love my country and I am also angry with my country. As a white male, I disavow any solidarity with whiteness and white privilege. I stand as an ally to People of Color. I offer my small political power to stand against fascism and to stand for democracy. 

God, help us. 

[quakerjoe]

"Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

H.) He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.

I.) He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?

J.) He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

L.) He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him

M.) His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right? *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who’s appointment is probably unconstitutional.

N.) He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

Q.) He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds and left it alone.

R.) He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

S.) He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military, yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)

T.) He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.

U.) Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.

W.) He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Y.) He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "

[aphmexphil]

Musings on historical sources

I was recently skimming through, Bonds of Blood by Caroline Dodds Pennock, and I came across a section that brought up a very good point. In that, while viewing historical sources, especially those by non-natives and/or colonial authorities should be viewed with a critical eye, it is equally as unwise and reckless to discard or dismiss them because of their colonial origin.

She reasons that although the sources are imperfect due to a multitude of factors, and thus rightfully should be viewed with caution...The context of why they were written should be taken into account as well.

For example, most Mesoamerican codices were written by missionaries as guides to help their fellow brethren in understanding the local culture in an effort to help proselytize the native peoples, both in trying to understand their worldview to make Christianity more palatable to them, learn their language(s) to help better communicate their message, and also look out for 'pagan' traditions that they wished to eradicate.

Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, behind the existence of the Florentine codex. In response to criticisms levied against him for researching and documenting pre-colonial Nahua society and religion responded:

While his personal motives for recording native history and culture could be considered reprehensible, it doesn't change the fact that he still viewed documenting Nahua culture as accurately as possible to be very important to him.

In that context, why would they (purposefully) write false or misleading texts that would only hinder their fellow missionaries in the evangelization efforts?

In the same section, Pennock also warned of the dangers of casting aside historical sources in leu of conflating other cultures with each other to reconstruct a complete picture. Such methodology is problematic as it tends to generalize varied and diverse peoples and treat their cultures as synonymous with each other, often trying to force connections where there is none. In my opinion it also comes off as troubling in that I tend to see this tactic used (by nationalists) to build an idealized and/or romanticized view of the pre-colonial past, often reaching into unrelated cultures to force that view.

Her example in the book includes a passage of a work by Richard Trexler, who discarding colonial sources regarding the condemnation of homosexuality (by the Nahua) as fabrications or distortions by colonial authors, Trexler instead opted to use information on the culture of the Zuni people, particularly on the Lhamana, as a source and evidence as to the views and practices of Mesoamerican priests (regarding same-sex relations).

As Pennock notes:

"Here, Trexler attempts to synthesize the practices of early sixteenth-century Central American priests with the findings of a study of berdaches among the North American Indian Zuni in the early twentieth century...What possible justification is there for Trexler’s assumptions? Why should we assume that the practices of all ‘American Indian’ peoples were, and have remained, similar? Such analysis is fundamentally undermined by its lack of specificity."

I'll stop here before I go on, but I just found this really interesting, and it gave me something new to think about in regards to sources. Also on one last note, I kept the original words used by the author such as Berdache, and Indian. Please note the the usage of the word Berdache is an outdated label that is considered derogatory and offensive by many indigenous people. However, the term was fairly common in anthropological circles up to the 1990s but nowadays is not as common as it once was, being replaced by the pan-indigenous label of Two-spirit, largely in use by the indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada. The word Indian is...it's own post I feel, especially its use in the English speaking world vs in Latin America. That being said, it's not a term you'll find me using often, if ever, outside of historical contexts.

[reading-writing-revolution]

A person asked the question, "Why are people so hostile towards President Donald Trump?"

Chris O'Leary:

Before you pass my answer off as “Another Liberal Snowflake” consider that 1.) I'm an independent centrist who has voted Republican way more often in my life than Democrat, and 2.) If you want to call someone who spent the entire decade of his 20’s serving in the Marine Corps a snowflake, I’d be ready to answer the question what did you do with your 20’s?

Why Liberals (And not-so liberals) are against President Trump.

A.) He lies. A LOT. Politifact rates 69% of the words he speaks as “Mostly False or worse” Only 17% of the things he says get a “Mostly True” or better rating. That is an absolutely unbelievable number. How he doesn’t speak more truth by mistake is beyond me. To put it in context, Obama’s rating was 26% mostly false or worse, and I had a problem with that. Many of Trump’s former business associates report that he has always been a compulsive liar, but now he’s the President of the United States, and that’s a problem. And this is a man who expects you to believe him when he points at other people and says “They’re lying”

B.) He’s an authoritarian populist, not a conservative. He advances regressive social policy while proposing to expand federal spending and federalist authority over states, both of which conservatives are supposed to hate.

C.) He pretends at Christianity to court the Religious Right but fails to live anything resembling a Christ-Like Life.

D.) His nationalist “America First” message effectively alienates us and removes us from our place as leaders in the international community.

E.) His ideas on “Keeping us safe” are all thinly veiled ideas to remove our freedoms, he is, after all, an authoritarian first. They also are simply bad ideas.

F.) He couldn’t pass a 3rd-grade civics exam. He doesn't’ know what he’s doing. He doesn't understand how international relations work, he doesn’t understand how federal state or local governments work, and every time someone tries to “Run it like a business” it’s a spectacular failure. See Colorado Springs’ recent history as an example. The Short, Unhappy Life of a Libertarian Paradise And that was a businessman with a MUCH better business track record than Trump. We are talking about a man who lost money owning a freaking gambling casino.

G.) He behaves unethicaly and always has. As a businessman, he constantly left in his wake unpaid contractors and invoices, litigation, broken promises, whatever he could get away with.

H.) He is damaging our relationships with our best international friends while kissing up to nations that do not have our best interests in mind. To his question “Wouldn't’ it be great to have better relations with Russia?” The answer is Yes. But it is RUSSIA who needs to earn that, who must stop doing the things that are damaging to that relationship, or we are simply weaker for it.

I.) He has never seen a shortcut he didn't like, and you can’t take shortcuts in government. “Nuclear Option, Remove the Filibuster, I’ll change the Constitution by Executive Order…Don…what happens when you remove the filibuster and the other side retakes the majority in the Senate? Suddenly want that filibuster back? What happens if you manage to change the Constitution by Executive Order and an Anti-2A President wins the next election?

J.) He behaves and has always behaved as an unabashed racist. Yes, I’ve seen your favorite meme that claims he was never accused of racism before the Democrats…Absolutely false. Donald Trump’s long history of racism, from the 1970s to 2019 See the Central Park 5, the lawsuits and fines resulting from his refusal to lease to black tenants, the 1992 lost appeal trying to overturn penalties for removing black dealers from tables, his remarks to the house native American affairs subcommittee in 1993. The man sees and treats racial groups of people as monoliths.

K.) He is systematically steamrolling regulations specifically designed to keep a disaster like the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis from happening again.

L.) He speaks and acts like a demagogue. He sees the Legislative and Judicial branches of government as inconveniences, blows up at criticism no matter how deserved and actively tries to countermand constitutional processes, not to mention attempts to blackmail and coerce people who are saying negative things about him

M.) His choices for top positions, with the exception of Gen. Mattis, who is a gem, have been horrendous. A secretary of Education without a resume that would get her hired as a small town grammar school principal, A secretary of Energy who didn't know the Department of Energy was responsible for nuclear reserves, an EPA head whose biggest accomplishments to date had been suing the EPA on multiple occasions, an FCC head who while working for Verizon actively lobbied to kill net neutrality, and an Attorney General who thinks pot is “nearly as bad as heroin” and asked Congress for permission to go after legal pot businesses in states where it is legal. (There goes that great Republican States rights rally cry again, right? *Crickets*) An Interim AG after Firing his First AG who’s appointment is probably unconstitutional.

N.) He denies scientific fact. Ever notice that the only people you hear denying climate change are politicians and lobbyists? 99% of actual scientists studying the issue agree that it’s real, man-made and caused by greenhouse gasses. Ever notice that every big disaster movie starts with a bunch of politicians in a room ignoring a scientist's warning?

0.) He does not have the temperament to lead this nation. He is Thin Skinned, childish, and a bully, never mind misogynistic, boorish, rude, and incapable of civil discourse.

P.) He still does not understand that the words he speaks, or tweets, are the official position of 1/3 of the US government, and so does not govern his words. He still thinks when he speaks it’s good ol’ Donald Trump. It’s not. It’s the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You have probably spread a meme or two around talking about how no president’s every word has ever been dissected before…YES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE. It’s just that every other president in our lifetime has understood the importance of his words and took great care to govern his speech. Trump blurts out whatever comes to his mind then complains when people talk about what a dumb thing that was to say.

Q.) He’s unqualified. If you owned a small business and were looking for someone to manage it, and an unnamed resume came across your desk and you saw 6 bankruptcies, showing a man who had failed to make money running CASINOS, would you hire him? He is a very poor businessman. This is a man it has been estimated would have been worth $10 BILLION more if he’d just taken what his father had given him, invested it in Index Funds and left it alone.

R.) He is President. But he refuses to take a leadership position and understand that he is everyone’s President. Conservatives complain about liberals chanting “Not my President” while Trump himself behaves as if no one but his supporters matter.

S.) He’s a blatant hypocrite. He spent 8 years bitching Obama out for his family trips, or golfing, or any time he took for himself, and what does he do? He was already on his 20th golf outing in APRIL of his 1st year in office. He constantly rants about respect for the military, yet can’t be bothered to attend the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day because of a little rain. (And that excuse about Marine One not being able to fly in the rain is HILARIOUS.)

T.) He’s a misogynist. It's not really ok in this day and age to be a misogynist, but it’s not a huge deal if you’re a private citizen. It’s a pretty big deal if you hate half the people you’re elected to lead. The disdain for women seeps out of his …whatever…. and he just can’t hide it.

U.) Face it. In any other election “Grab Em’ By the Pussy” would have been the end of that candidate’s chances. Back in the 90’s I used to marvel about how Teflon Bill Clinton was. I no longer do. The fact that he managed to slip by on that is as much a statement about how much people hate Hillary Clinton as it is about what is wrong with politics in this country right now.

V.) He has one response to a differing opinion. Attack. A good leader listens to criticism, to different points of view, is capable of self-reflection, tries to guide people to his point of view, and when necessary stands his ground and defends his convictions. Any of that sound like Trump? His default is not to Lead, its’ to attack. Scorched Earth. The Jim Acosta reaction is a good example. There was no defense of his convictions when Acosta was asking him repeated questions about his rhetoric on the caravan. His response was to attack Acosta.

W.) He takes credit for everything positive while deflecting blame for everything negative. Look at him with the Stock Market. He’s been bragging about it since day one, and to give credit where credit is due, speculation on coming deregulation early in his presidency did fuel some rapid growth, but to pretend that it’s all him, that we’re not in the 9th year of the longest bull market in history and THEN, when the standard market volatility that deregulation inevitably brings about starts to show up? Yeah. Look at yesterday. Hey! Stock Markets losing because the Democrats won! Do I need to bring out the Stock market chart for the last 10 Years again?

X.) He emboldens the worst among us. Counter-protesters are slammed into by a car while countering actual Nazi rally, and the response is there’s fault on “Both Sides” The media is at fault for a nut job sending them and Donald’s favorite targets pipe bombs. The truth is not all Republicans, not all Trump Supporters are racist, fascist lunatics. Many are just taken in by the bombastic personality and are living in an information bubble made worse by the fact that they unfollow anyone and ignore any source of information that makes them feel uncomfortable. People on the left do that too. The Biggest problem the right has right now is that the worst of the Right is the loudest and the most in your face, and the actual right, especially the Freaking PRESIDENT needs to be standing up and saying No. Those are not our values.

Y.) He seems to think the Constitution of The United States, the document that IS who we are, the document he took an oath to support and defend is some sort of inconvenience. He demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of Constitution, from believing he can alter the 14th through executive order, to thinking The free exercise clause in the first amendment somehow supersedes the establishment clause (not that he really understands either) or that the free exercise clause only applies to Christians. Or his attacks on freedom of expression and the press. He repeatedly makes it clear that if he’s read them, he does not understand Articles 1–3, and that’s something he really should have before he took the job, because they’re not going away.

Z.) I’ll use Z for something I do blame him for, but the rest of us have to carry the blame too. Polarization. This country is more politically polarized than I can remember in my lifetime. Some of you who are a few years older than I may remember how it was in the late 60’s when construction workers in New York were being applauded for beating up hippies, I think it’s pretty close to that right now, but that was before my time. And he is the cause of much of the current level polarization, but also the result. It didn't’ start with Trump. We’ve been going down this road I think since the eruption of the Tea Party in the early years of the Obama Administration. I do hope the tide turns before it gets much worse because the thing that scares me more than anything is what if that keeps going the way it has been? "

//Meanwhile, I’m not a Liberal either, and I’m a veteran of 20 years with 13 deployments to combat zones.//

[contemplatingoutlander]

Johnson has said that [David] Barton’s ideas and teachings have been extremely influential on him, and that is essentially rooting him in this longer tradition of Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism essentially posits the idea that America is founded on God’s laws, and that the Constitution is a reflection of God’s laws. Therefore, any interpretation of the Constitution must align with Christian nationalists’ understanding of God’s laws. Freedom for them means freedom to obey God’s law, not freedom to do what you want. So really, Christian supremacy and a particular type of conservative Christianity is at the heart of Johnson’s understanding of the Constitution and an understanding of our government. You’ll see this in some of his speeches. In his speech on Wednesday, he incorporated a G.K. Chesterton quote about the U.S. being based on a creed. And he said the American creed is “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” But he goes much deeper than that, and really roots that in what he would call a biblical worldview: The core principles of our nation reflect these biblical truths and biblical principles. He has gone on record saying things like, for him, this biblical worldview means that all authority comes from God and that there are distinct realms of God-ordained authority, and that is the family, the church and the government. Now, all this authority, of course, is under this broader understanding of God-given authority. So it’s not the right of any parents to decide what’s best for their kids; it’s the right of parents to decide what’s best for their kids in alignment with his understanding of biblical law. Same thing with the church’s role: It is to spread Christianity but also to care for the poor. That’s not the government’s job. And then the government’s job is to support this understanding of authority and to align the country with God’s laws.

What Mike Johnson and other right-wing "Christian" nationalists believe about our founders and Christianity is beyond wrong because it is based on David Barton's false American history writings and videos. Founders such as Thomas Jefferson, must be turning in their graves.

On Wednesday, when newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson gave his first speech in that role, he quoted British statesman and philosopher GK Chesterton, who once said, “America is the only nation in the world that is founded upon a creed,” and that it is “listed with almost theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence.”

“That is the creed that has animated our nation since its founding and has made us the great nation that we are,” Johnson said.