Populism in America is cyclical. President Andrew Jackson fought banks; politician William Jennings Bryan fought barons; Louisiana Gov. and then Sen. Huey Long fought inequality; Trump fights systems of every stripe. His crusade is part grievance and part gospel, speaking to a republic that distrusts its own elite institutions and their caretakers. Trump excels at stretching politics into follow-through performance. After all, who else would dare prepend his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace in real time.
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Trump’s evangelical supporters remind us that the great men of old were seldom polished and never perfect. Moses killed, yet led his people to freedom. David sinned, yet ruled with vision. Paul persecuted, yet became the greatest apostle. Scripture teaches that imperfection often precedes purpose, and greatness is rarely graceful. The Christian faithful rely on these proverbial lessons when explaining their loyal and unapologetic allegiance to such a coarse Christian. Unlike Elijah, it will be impossible to take up his mantle.
Yeah… Adonis… Buddy… You should actually read those Bible stories you’re citing.
Moses: Banned from entering the “promised land” as punishment for demonstrating a lack of faith in God.
David: Has an affair with Bathsheba. She gets pregnant. He has her husband assassinated in an attempt to cover it up. God sends the prophet Nathan to tell David that life from then on will be a Game of Thrones level clusterfuck and boy was it ever.
Paul: Religious nut. God appears to him in a very “shit your pants” kind of scene to ask Paul, “Why are you persecuting me?” After getting a change of underwear, he gets told to go spread the news of Jesus to a [probably] very skeptical audience, considering his reputation for torturing and murdering Christians. Gets shipwrecked, imprisoned, and eventually [presumably] executed by the Roman Empire.
You know what those three guys have in common? They all fucked up. Some worse than others. And they all faced harsh consequences for their moral failings. So, if you’re looking for corelaries between Trump and those guys, maybe the most glaring one is that we haven’t even gotten to the good part yet. The part where he is held accountable for his misdeeds.