How the evangelicals justify supporting Trump despite his multiple violations of the 10 Commandments (hint: they created and embrace a lie)

I mean, it seems obvious that Trump just isn’t a very good person. He lies. He cheats. He steals. He is a serial adulterer. He worships mammon. He doesn’t keep the sabbath, preferring to play golf instead. Not much Christian in all that, right? So how can someone who claims to be a Christian support that, rather than for a lifelong Catholic who goes to church every Sunday and prays every day?

Well, it’s simple. They say he’s “Born Again”.

At which point I’m like, say whuh?

First thing I do is check out whether Trump himself has ever claimed to be a Christian, born-again or not. So I go to Google and look at his official campaign site to see if I can find any statement by him or his campaign staff claiming that he is a Christian, born-again or not. Okay, so I see he’s got an Evangelicals For Trump sub-site, and a Catholics For Trump sub-site, and he has a lot of stuff calling Joe Biden (a church-going Catholic) un-Christian, but nowhere on any link in this page does he or his campaign staff state that he’s Christian, born-again or no.

Okay, so next thing I look at is his campaign speech transcripts. Has he ever stated he’s a Christian there? So I found a site that appears to have transcripts for all of his campaign speeches at all of his rallies, and searched it for the word “Christian” and got this result:

Your search – christian site:https://www.rev.com/…/donald-trump-rally-transcripts – did not match any documents.

So he’s never said he’s a Christian in any of his campaign speeches either. Huh.

So who *has* said that Donald Trump is Christian? Not Donald Trump. He has never claimed that he is Christian at all, nevermind born-again. There are various TV pastors who have said Trump is Christian, but Trump himself has never made that claim about himself.

It is well known by this time that Trump rarely attends church services, instead choosing to golf on Sundays (as can be seen by looking at his calendar of golf outings, most of which are on Sundays: https://trumpgolfcount.com/displayoutings ). He has hosted events for evangelical pastors at the White House and apparently has joined them in prayer from time to time. But Trump himself has never claimed publically to be Christian, born-again or not.

Not that it matters. Because, see, here’s the thing: Born-again isn’t something you say. It’s something you do

So, let’s say that Donald Trump actually *did* claim to be a Born Again Christian: What does that mean, actually?

Basically, what this means, in evangelical Christian faiths, is that you’ve accepted Jesus Christ into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior. From this moment on, you will try to let the Lord guide your life.

According to evangelicals, what this means is that your prior slate of sins is wiped off the slate. You can be a murderer and go to Heaven, according to evangelicals, if you but bend the knee and accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Your sins are then washed away in the Blood of the Lamb. So according to evangelicals, if Donald Trump did this, all of his prior sins — like serial adultery, bearing false witness against others, etc. — are gone.

But here’s the thing: Merely *saying* you are Saved doesn’t make you Saved. You have to actually accept Jesus in your heart and let Him guide you. You may still sin. Most probably you will. But you will try your best not to sin, and try your best to live a better life, a more generous life.

I remember reading about a murderer who was Saved in prison. He went from being an angry vengeful man to being a model prisoner, a gentle mentor for younger prisoners, a calming influence to others. He spent hours each day reading his Bible to become a better Christian. He expressed sorrow regularly for the evils he had committed as a young man and said he belongs in prison for what he did. He clearly had accepted Jesus into his heart as his guide. Is there any evidence — *ANY* evidence — that Donald Trump has done so? Has Donald Trump’s behavior changed in any way since he paid off multiple mistresses in 2016 to keep quiet about his affairs?

Has Donald Trump released the caged kids? Has Donald Trump quit violating the Ten Commandments by telling lies about his political opponents? Has Donald Trump embraced the Christian humility of turning the other cheek and saying only good things about people, not bad things? Has Donald Trump engaged in acts of Christian charity helping the least amongst us? Has Donald Trump quit mocking the disabled? Has Donald Trump quit embracing greed and venality? Has Donald Trump started respecting the Sabbath rather than playing golf most Sundays?

And the answer is: No. Since he was inaugurated, the president has borne false witness or made misleading statements at least 19,127 times, continuing to violate the 10 Commandments. And he continues to do so, the most recent one being his assertion that Joe Biden was not a Christian. (Joe Biden is an observant Catholic who attends church every Sunday and has never been accused of adultery). This is not a man who has changed his behavior to a more Christ-like behavior. This is not a man who is letting Jesus into his heart to guide his life.

The murderer who became a gentle mentor and guide for younger prisoners clearly accepted Jesus into his heart. There is no — ZERO — evidence that Donald J. Trump has done so. He continues to violate the 10 Commandments on a near-daily basis, and has never repented of his prior sins. That murderer in prison for life is literally a better Christian than Donald J. Trump. At least he has repented of his sins. Trump never has, and never will.

– Badtux the Religion Whisperer Penguin

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A journal of the plague times, March 18, 2020

So, looks like Chewy.com is crumbling under the weight of people ordering large quantities of pet supplies from them. Since the pet store where I buy cat litter is closed, I decided to order my second-choice cat litter from them. Nope. Sold out. So found a second choice they still had in stock, and put two 40 pound bags into my cart, then went to add some cat food to meet the “free shipping” criteria. First choice: Sold out. Second choice: Sold out. Third choice — yep, my cats will eat that one, so added it to the cart. If this goes on, things are going to get grim for cat owners, maybe to the point where they have to make their cats into indoor-outdoor cats. At least I can still get cat food in large 40 pound bags locally, at least until Costco runs out.

One of the interesting things locally has been what has happened to our local Nextdoor group. This is generally a bunch of angry white people who post messages about suspicious people walking down the street (suspicious people who seem to always be brown), suspicious cars (driven by brown people, duh), omg I saw a snake in my backyard is it poisonous (answer: no, we don’t have any poisonous snakes in our city, rattlesnakes don’t like swamps), and so forth. But now there is a lot of people who are offering to help the older members with shopping and who are filling us in on what stores are open and what items they have so that people don’t need to drive all over to find what they need, as well as restaurants we should be supporting by ordering take-out, and so forth. It’s more like what was always envisioned for Nextdoor, neighbors helping neighbors.

The Giant Orange Underwear Shitstain hit the markets hard today with yet another incoherent babbling speech that did more harm than good but that his moron supporters undoubtedly ate up like chocolate ice cream despite the fact that, except for color, his bullshit shares nothing in common with chocolate ice cream. Meanwhile, the most honest man in the NIH, Anthony S. Fauci, M.D, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which is already testing a vaccine and a treatment, has been sidelined for, well, being honest. Despite the fact that his organization is the only one in the whole shitstain that is the Trump Administration that has actually responded quickly and competently to the crisis. Because competence is not rewarded in the Trump Administration. Loyalty is. Thus my new bumper sticker that came in yesterday:

Any Functioning Adult 2020

Mostly people seem to be complying with the shelter in place quarantine orders. The exception is Elon Musk’s Tesla, because building electric luxury cars for rich people is apparently an essential business in his eyes. Gotta meet those quarterly production numbers, y’know. Elon Musk now becomes a trope, the corrupt evil corporate executive. I bet those of you who were worshipping Musk a few years ago feel silly now, eh?

Food-wise, I finished up the hot dogs for lunch. With pickle relish, mustard, and ‘kraut, of course. I ate fish and baked potatoes for supper. I haven’t even touched the canned food in my pantry yet.

I haven’t ventured out of the house today other than to fetch the newspaper and feed the ferals that appear to be living on my back patio now, they’re sleeping in the cat beds and hanging around most of the day. It’s all been virtual interactions. We are well on the way to the world of the Newsflesh Trilogy, where people don’t interact with each other in person because anybody could be carrying the virus and turn into a ravenous zombie at any moment, everything’s done via the Internet or remote delivery into sterilization chambers. The governor has stated that school is probably cancelled for the rest of this school year, and has cancelled standardized testing since you can’t really test what hasn’t been taught because the schools are cancelled. People are setting up study groups and virtual schools on the Internet but that isn’t really a substitute for school, regardless of what the “unschooling” advocates believe.

Talk now is that the way things are is going to continue until at least mid-summer, which is going to take a horrific toll on the economy because most stores are closed and unemployment is going to go sky-high. And Republicans are talking about sending every American a check for $2,000. Republicans. Wow. We are in bizarro world.

I don’t know what the world is going to look like after all of this is done, but I have a suspicion it’s going to look somewhat different from what it looks like today. Meanwhile, I have food and drink, I’m healthy, I still have a job (for the moment), so we’re going to have to see what happens, I guess.

– Badtux the “Interesting Times” Penguin

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America — land of the baby kidnappers and home of the cowards

Over 8 months after being ordered to do so by a Federal judge, the Trump Administration says they have no plan to reunite children with their parents because it’d be “a burden”.

A burden. Reuniting children with their parents would be a burden.

This is sick, sick stuff. But this is what America is today. What was once The Land of the Free and Home of the Brave is today the Land of the Baby Kidnappers and the Land of Cowards Scared Of Brown People From Central America.

For the inevitable who say “if you don’t like it, leave!” — nope. I can’t change the fact that there are a significant number of Americans who are, well, evil (and I use the word because there is no other word that can apply to a people who support things like this), but at least I can hang around and document the atrocities until it comes time for my ashes to be buried in the landfill. Perhaps the generation coming of age today will be braver and less venal. They could hardly be more cowardly and more venal.

— Badtux the Sickened Penguin

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Stormy weather

Apparently the Fake News Awards were cancelled due to Stormy weather.

I’ve been just shaking my head and laughing over the revelations about Donald Trump’s year-long tryst with porn star Stormy Daniels. Not only was this a year after the birth of his youngest child — yes, a father was cheating on his wife and kids to sleep with a porn star! — but the various kinks just keep coming out. The latest: Trump demanded that she spank him with a rolled up copy of Forbes Magazine. Presumably because he’d been a very bad boy.

Stormy apparently mentioned stuff like this to multiple people over the years. And then she clammed up. She was paid off with $130K to keep her quiet. And this money was laundered through a shell company to allow plausible deniability. Donald Trump can honestly state that he didn’t pay off Stormy Daniels to stay quiet. Because he didn’t. Essential Consultants LLC did. And “Peggy Peterson”, who apparently is Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s oh so pretty alter ego.

Now, if Obama had been alleged to have an affair with a porn star immediately after his wife had given birth to his youngest child, Republicans everywhere would be outraged. And that shell company? They would have immediately started impeachment proceedings alleging money laundering. So where’s their outrage today?

[Crickets]

IOKIYR, I guess.

— Badtux the IOKIYR Penguin

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Payola to not talk about sex with Trump? Yeesh!

Apparently two different porn stars were paid by Trump or Trump surrogates to not talk about how they’d had sex with Donald Trump. While he was married. To people not them.

Here’s my take on that: What self-respecting porn star would even admit to having sex with Donald Trump?! Talk about free money!

Meanwhile, Trump’s deranged interview with the Wall Street Journal is getting no traction. Because dumpster fire. Who pays attention to stuff like that, when there’s a dumpster fire to watch?!

– Badtux the Head-shakin’ Penguin

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Donald Trump said something stupid and racist today.

Yeah, the sun rose in the east, like usual, and Donald Trump said something stupid and racist today, as usual. And water is wet, too.

I swear, all I have to do is copy and paste this post, with a different link, and I have half of everything I’m going to post for the next three years. The other half, of course, will be cat pictures.

– Badtux the Head-shakin’ Penguin

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I’m back, and the world still sucks

So:

Donald Trump insults Navajo Nation by holding a ceremony underneath the portrait of Indian-killer Andrew Jackson and referring to Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas”. As others have pointed out, Pocahontas was a young Native American girl who was kidnapped, held hostage in order to blackmail her father, and sexually assaulted and forced into marriage with an older man. Yeah, that’s the kind of thing you really want to bring up in a gathering of Navajo elders — a young girl who was raped by an older white man who basically used her as his property? Really?

So yeah, Donald Trump fucking sucks. And water is wet. What next?

Well: Alex Jones and his ilk of conspiracy theorists continue their reign of terror against survivors of mass shootings by siccing their hoards of brainwashed sycophants upon any who dare speak out rather than cower in terror. The relatives of those killed in mass shootings, and survivors of mass shootings, are systematically hunted and terrorized by these right wing terrorist bastards. These are some fucking sick despicable deplorable scumbags who in a better world would be buried under so many lawsuits for defamation and terrorist threats that they would be reduced to ranting to an audience of three hobos under a bridge somewhere, one of whom is busy talking to his imaginary friend, the other who is more interested in petting his dog than in listening to the scumbag, and the third of whom is busy cooking a pigeon on a stick over a coffee can stove and has no time for Alex Jone’s insane rants. Sadly, that world is not our world, where people like Alex Jones become rich and famous by terrorizing people who have already been terrorized by jerkwads bearing guns.

And finally: Volunteer physician assistants hiking the woods and creek beds are the only health care that homeless people get in much of the country. The greatest nation on Earth. SNRK!

– Badtux the Disgusted Penguin

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So, good news and bad news on the elections front

For the good news, Democrats did really darn well in Democratic states and in Democratic towns within Republican states. Won two governorships — New Jersey and Virginia — and a bunch of legislative and mayoral seats.

But: All this was in states or districts that Hillary won in 2016. Meaning… not a whole lot.

Meanwhile, the fans of the Orange Racist Pussy Grabber don’t seem to care that Donald Trump isn’t keeping any of his promises. His supporters here, it turns out, are energized by his bombast and his animus more than any actual accomplishments. Gosh, they voted for a dude who made explicitly racist statements during his electoral campaign, of course people who say that “NFL” stands for “Nigger Football League” would have no problem with the fact that Trump kept none of his promises to them. Nevermind that, Trump is the racist’s wet dream, doing even worse to black and brown people than they ever dreamed, whether it is punishing a brown girl for getting pregnant or pardoning racists for their crimes. You can’t underestimate the power of racism amongst Trump deplorables. Especially the ones who start sentences with “I’m not a racist, but ….”.

The end result? Trump hasn’t lost any of his supporters. If the Presidential race were held yesterday rather than a year ago, Trump would still have won.

In short, Trump is well on his way to winning re-election in 2020. If it’s yet another minority win where Trump wins with a minority of the popular vote, things may start getting… interesting. Because once is a coincidence, it doesn’t mean that democracy is over in the USA. Twice… well.

– Badtux the Elections Penguin

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Kneeling for peace, justice, and equality

Kneeling for peace, justice, and equality. For a certain white population, this made them dangerous radicals who needed to be rounded up and caged like animals.

The more things change, the more they don’t….

The white people totally losing their mind over black men in the NFL not acting like step’n’fetchit house niggers need to step back, get some perspective, and check their hoods at the door. Black people haven’t had equal rights with white people in this country since day one, when they were brought over in chains from Africa. Even today, they get discriminated against in employment, in law enforcement contacts (black people get stopped more often for “driving while black”, but are less likely to be carrying contraband than white people in those stops), and, of course, in the fact that unarmed black men are way more likely to be gunned down by cops than unarmed white men.

The fact that this annoys black people and they have a desire to express that annoyance in a way that has been traditional for decades doesn’t make these ball players liberals or anti-American or anything like that. It just makes them human.

Of course, the day that “President” Donald J. Trump checks his hood at the door rather than calling protesting blacks “son of a bitch” is likely the day after he dies….

– Badtux the Racism-smellin’ Penguin

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U.S. Supreme Court votes to re-impose Plessy v. Ferguson state-sanctioned segregation

At least, for the purposes of voting. Apparently the U.S. Supreme Court is going back to the future again, voting for state-mandated racial segregation (at least for the purposes of voting), 61 years after it overturned that decision. Except without even the fig leaf of “separate but equal” to cover for their blatantly racist decision.

For those of you who voted for Jill Stein, thus putting the Orange Racist Pussy Grabber into office… are you satisfied?

Oh wait, you’re all lily white anyhow, so why would you care about minority rights, hmm?

– Badtux the Law Penguin

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