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Demonization of his political opponents is nothing new to evangelist Pat Robertson. And by "demonization," I don't mean the usual garden variety insistence that said opponent is entirely malevolent and devoid of any positive traits. I mean that he literally thinks they are demons, or the actual devil, or sometimes both. Pat's latest whopper from his 700 Club program is the claim that anyone who doesn't support Donald Trump is doing the bidding of Satan.
So Trump's administration is "pro-freedom?" While I do think that folks out there accusing his administration of flat-out Nazi-level fascism are exaggerating things, I find it pretty confusing to frame banning travel, increasing deportations, ramping up the "war on drugs," walling off the border, opposing abortion rights, opposing net neutrality, discriminating against Muslims and other minority religions, opposing LGBT rights, and so forth as "pro-freedom." You know, because as I see it, none of those things are "pro-freedom" at all.
And Obama is no socialist, despite all the hyperbole from Fox News during his administration. He's a centrist Democrat, just like Bill and Hillary Clinton. As any Scandinavian will tell you, centrist Democrats are pretty far right of even democratic socialists, let alone the totalitarian variety. Don't get me wrong, the Democrats have their problems too, but my point is that portraying either major party as the "party of freedom" is not at all cut and dried, and can be argued from both sides.
More to the point, the idea that anyone would go through all the rigamarole of a political campaign because they want to "destroy America" is just plain silly. Nobody would ever bother with that. The fact is that politicians on both sides run because they think their ideas will make the country better. Of course, I disagree with many of them, and you probably do too, but that's the whole point of political debate - to try and work out policies that will "Make America Great" for everyone.
So as usual, I think Pat is being ridiculous. Trump isn't even that religious, which I find rather ironic given his level of support from Evangelicals. But of course, I suspect that's not even what it's about, and for all their crowing about "character," all they really want is a candidate who kowtows to them and is willing to treat them like the "special snowflakes" they know themselves to be.
Today, a “700 Club” viewer asked him “why so many people do not support” Trump and his drive to “Make America Great Again,” and Robertson again claimed that resistance to Trump is motivated by Satan.According to Robertson, while Trump’s election represented God giving America a “reprieve” from judgment, Trump’s opponents are doing the bidding of Satan, who wants to destroy America:
"There’s a desire on the part of some, and I think it’s satanic, it really is spiritual, to destroy America. America is the great hope of the world. If America goes down, the lamp of freedom goes out. There’s no other champion of freedom anywhere in the world and we would be engulfed in chaos.
"We were heading that way. Obama was bringing it on. Another four or eight years of Obama-style government and we would have been consumed with a socialist mentality and the freedom that we’ve enjoyed would be blotted out so God gave us a reprieve and this thing is spiritual. It really is spiritual. We need this land, it’s so important. I counsel you: Pray for this nation, pray for the president, pray for this nation, what’s being done against him surpasses—it’s not human, it’s a spiritual thing."
So Trump's administration is "pro-freedom?" While I do think that folks out there accusing his administration of flat-out Nazi-level fascism are exaggerating things, I find it pretty confusing to frame banning travel, increasing deportations, ramping up the "war on drugs," walling off the border, opposing abortion rights, opposing net neutrality, discriminating against Muslims and other minority religions, opposing LGBT rights, and so forth as "pro-freedom." You know, because as I see it, none of those things are "pro-freedom" at all.
And Obama is no socialist, despite all the hyperbole from Fox News during his administration. He's a centrist Democrat, just like Bill and Hillary Clinton. As any Scandinavian will tell you, centrist Democrats are pretty far right of even democratic socialists, let alone the totalitarian variety. Don't get me wrong, the Democrats have their problems too, but my point is that portraying either major party as the "party of freedom" is not at all cut and dried, and can be argued from both sides.
More to the point, the idea that anyone would go through all the rigamarole of a political campaign because they want to "destroy America" is just plain silly. Nobody would ever bother with that. The fact is that politicians on both sides run because they think their ideas will make the country better. Of course, I disagree with many of them, and you probably do too, but that's the whole point of political debate - to try and work out policies that will "Make America Great" for everyone.
So as usual, I think Pat is being ridiculous. Trump isn't even that religious, which I find rather ironic given his level of support from Evangelicals. But of course, I suspect that's not even what it's about, and for all their crowing about "character," all they really want is a candidate who kowtows to them and is willing to treat them like the "special snowflakes" they know themselves to be.
1 comment:
I think "freedom" is a code word for "friendly to rabid fundamentalism"!
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