The Progressive Populist Today Blog: Editorial: Preachers Join the Goats

Saturday, April 17, 2021

Editorial: Preachers Join the Goats

If one were casting the role of Anti-Christ it would be hard to beat the Comb-Over Caligula. Donald Trump is a sociopath who has displayed the least moral standards of any president. He has cheated on all three of his wives. He boasted about grabbing women by the genitals. Former Miss Teen USA contestants accused Trump of walking into the dressing room when girls were changing during the 1997 pageant he owned. He instructed his personal attorney to pay two women before the election to keep them quiet about sexual affairs while his current wife, Melania, was at home with then-infant son, Barron. (Trump later let his lawyer, Michael Cohen, go to federal prison for that violation of federal election law.)

Trump has cheated banks and business associates. Trump cheated small businesses and contractors. He refused to rent apartments to Latino or Black applicants. He cheated donors to his charitable foundation, misusing charity funds to settle legal problems involving his for-profit businesses. He had numerous contacts with organized crime figures. Trump cheated students at Trump University. And he refused to release his tax returns, even when they were subpoenaed by prosecutors investigating possible tax fraud.

His faults were notorious before he was elected president in November 2016, but he continued his grift as president. Among other things, he reported making more than $1.6 billion while in the White House as lobbyists, political supporters and foreign officials pumped money into his properties, in apparent violation of the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses of the Constitution. It’s no wonder he tried to foment an insurrection Jan. 6 to keep him in power.

Still, evangelical leaders said Trump was chosen to lead and compared him to Cyrus, a Persian king who, in the sixth century before Christ, conquered Babylon and ended the captivity of Israelites in exile. Jews were allowed to return to Israel and build a temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus appears in the Old Testament book of Isaiah as a figure of deliverance. In August 2019, Trump agreed, “I am the chosen one.”

Trump’s supporters included Catholic prelates, notably Cardinals Timothy Dolan of New York and Sean O’Malley of Boston, as well as Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Catholic leaders were manipulated by Trump, who in an April 25, 2020, conference call with them said he would continue to support Catholic efforts to outlaw abortion and provide government funds for parochial schools. The liberal National Catholic Reporter noted that support was “purchased at the expense of a whole range of other life and justice issues.”

Luckily, 52% of American Catholics sided with fellow Catholic Joe Biden instead of the right-wing bishops’ choice, and that margin was enough to deny Trump majorities in the Rust Belt states that had tipped the Electoral College to Trump in 2016. Nationally, Trump carried White Catholics by 12 points, according to exit polls, down from his 24-point margin over Hillary Clinton four years ago. Latino Catholics voted for Biden by a 2 to 1 margin.

After last November’s election, Pope Francis congratulated new President Biden with “cordial good wishes,” urging him to help foster reconciliation as the Vatican welcomed a new administration more in line with the pontiff’s priorities on the environment and social justice issues.

Francis’ congenial message contrasted with Archbishop Gomez’s warning that Biden’s support for abortion rights would “advance moral evils and threaten human life.” But Chicago’s Cardinal Blaise Cupich, a key US ally of the Pope, called Gomez’s statement “ill-considered,” and other Catholic leaders adopted more diplomatic tones.

White evangelical Protestants voted 76% for Trump, down from the 81% who voted for him in 2016, but they anchored key battleground states, such as Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Texas against the tides of demographic and cultural change.

Christian leaders who embrace the Republican Party apparently have forgotten the Gospels, where Jesus never mentioned abortion or the sanctity of tax cuts, but he had plenty to say about helping the poor, the sick, the imprisoned and foreigners. In fact, Jesus went “on the record” about who will be rewarded and who will be discarded in the final judgment. In Matthew 25: 31-46, the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus said people will be separated into sheep on “The King’s” right and goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

If Christian faithful are to vote for Republicans, is it too much to expect them to demand Republican candidates who support things Jesus actually called for, starting with assistance for the poor and working families? Pro-lifers must take responsibility for the children who are born as well as the parents who must raise them.

Instead, when Republicans were the majority in Congress during the first two years of Trump’s regime, their main priorities were to pass a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, and they tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which failed by one vote in the Senate. Trump also tried to cut food assistance for the poor.

Under Biden, the Republican minority in Congress has voted unanimously against COVID relief in the American Rescue Plan, which included tax credits to reduce child poverty and help for people who are struggling to pay their rent.

The GQP not only is unanimously opposed to Biden’s infrastructure jobs proposal; it is determined to pass restrictive election laws at the state level to prevent the poor and working class from voting in future elections. Not much Christianity is evident in those Republican priorities. By their fruits you shall know them.

Truly, when the judgment finally comes, the Republican Mammonites will end up as cabrito (roast goat). At their side shall be rice and beans. Don’t let friends end up on the spit. — JMC