Trump is not Nixon. *This* silent coup will not work.
Mueller’s fatal error was to expand his reach into NY and threaten the Trump empire.
Trump will ignore the Mueller obstruction red herring and go on the offensive. He will fire Sessions and recess-appoint DiGenova, who will RICO prosecute the entire Obama-Clinton-Mueller cabal.
Trump will thereby reclaim his presidency, restore equal justice for all, & save the republic.
6
• At a private meeting on Monday, President Trump urged evangelical Christian leaders .... If the Democrats win the midterm elections, the president warned, “they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently, and violently.”
Democrats won't have much in the way of whatever he claims he has 'done' – perhaps more like try to 'reconstruct' and 'repair' all the DAMAGE he has done, which will surely take decades of slow, fastidious work to undo.
“Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer.” ~ MADALYN MURRAY O'HAIR
11
Republican politicians have a history of accusing others of what they themselves have done or intend to do. We have seen how the GOP has made haste to get rid of what remains of the New Deal and Great Society legislation. We have seen them encourage and applaud the most extreme elements in society. When Trump says that the Democrats will "overthrow" with "violence," he is really telling us what HE and his enablers intend to do.
22
The level of hatred that leads to kidnapping under color of law. The level of hatred that leads to illegal revocation of citizenship for natural hispanic citizens.
The level of hatred that elects a traitor to spite the nation.
GOP, you own this.
51
Donald Trump & his "evangelical Christian" brethren at the White House gathering are all Domesday hucksters. They paddle fear. Negativity is Trump's trump-card. Lucky for them, USA has a holy cow called Freedom of Religion in its Constitution Amendment, and a large population of paranoids hungry for their alarmist sales pitch. In USA the Fantasy-land anyone hanging up a shingle with the word religion can paddle their message of pending doom unimpeded. Not the best of time for the Positive Thinking paddlers.
15
The balls in your court, my American neighbors. All you have to do is simply show up and vote against any Republican congressman/congresswoman or Senator. If Trump can't get you motivated to visit your election polls in November and vote, then you have no-one to blame but yourselves. A Republican controlled dictatorship will occur and you'll be asking yourselves "how did this happen"?
51
Goodness, how do these ministers and religious leaders support a man who lies and has cheated on all of his wives?
Sad country we live in today...
39
What if Trump gave a guest sermon?
He can expound on how to grab the opposite sex or why it is good to sexually sample your next wife, whileyou are still marriednto the current wife. Perhaps a parable of the cost of multiple infidelities or why denying people of color an opportunity to rent your apartments. Of course, lying is only venal sin, no matter how many times you lie. A good lesson might be how EPA regulations only restrict how God’s children can hold dominion over the earth, and have theirway with our water, and air.
He can close the sermon by demonstrating the best way to demonstrate how God would want us to respond to handicapped people when they say things we dont like.
What a pile of shameless, wealthy hypocrites these people of God are.
26
It’s so hard for me to believe that he is not as dumb as he seems over and over, but instances like this where he uses charged language to manipulate his followers makes me think he is a one of the most dastardly geniuses ever loosed in politics. The only word for his manipulation and suggestion of violence in this context is one of his favorite words - disgusting.
10
Golly gee, you don't suppose he's planning to hire some brown-shirted thugs carrying antifa signs, with instructions to go start a fight somewhere so he can justify himself, do you? Nah! ...oh, wait....
16
It would be nice to have all those men in the photograph identified. They're the people we should know by name.
25
I am appalled at these evangelicals who adore Trump, the man who called 2nd Corinthians “Two Corinthians”. Trump, on the one hand, has probably never read the Bible. These pastors, on the other hand, have disgraced the message of Christ found within the Good Book by embracing this idiot and his Satanic ways. By genuflecting before him, they debase the very meaning and essence of Christianity - love and compassion for one another. As the Religious Right wring their hands over the steady decline of churchgoers, they should look no further than the end of their nose to the reason why: hypocrisy. They are no different than the two-faced Pharisees who Jesus scorned.
30
What are we people who cherish the rule of law and fairness, supposed to do now? Do we buy guns and exercise the rights to own military-style weapons that Congress has given us? Do we look for another war of hatred, Civil War II?
Frankly, the seeds have been planted. Trump looks for white players to hate black players, for Christians to become soldiers against the Resistance. This isn't smart leadership. And who pays for this guy to run around the country doing these hate shows? Surely the taxpayer. Really hard to buy that!!
12
As a registered Republican I am urging all to vote Democrat in 2018 and 2020 and rid us of this con man and his cowardly allies in Congress. This virus must be eradicated or the US as we know it will be permanently weakened.
368
The Supreme Court has many times ruled this is a question of free exercise of religion, not of establishment of religion.
Chief Justice John Marshall stated back in 1819, "the power to tax involves the power to destroy."
McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
Nothing in this national attitude toward religious tolerance and two centuries of uninterrupted freedom from taxation has given the remotest sign of leading to an established church or religion, and, on the contrary, it has operated affirmatively to help guarantee the free exercise of all forms of religious belief.
Walz v. Tax Comm'n of City of New York, 397 U.S. 664 (1970) (an 8-1 vote)
Churches were tax exempt in the colonies before the Revolution, and in the laws of the new nations as it formed.
A challenge to that tax exemption will get nowhere as a Constitutional challenge, and any legislative effort might well fail on Constitutional grounds, unless one expects a ruling from a Court far more anti-religion than the Burger Court of 1970. That isn't the Court we have or are likely to have for a very long time.
2
Donald Trump, the unstable, amoral, incompetent lying racist and wannabe dictator is the face of the Republican Party. Never before has the Oval Office been filled by a creature as evil as Donald Trump. Never before have so many warned about the collapse of our democracy. Never before have we witnessed a Republican Party so eager to retain power that they violate their oath of office to serve the American people first and foremost.
No true citizen of the United States can continue to support Trump and the cowardly Republican lackeys that greased him into office. These people defile everything this country has fought and died for. We must vote them all out of office. It is a matter of self-respect as a nation.
22
Maybe Trump can appoint an “alternative Attorney General” who will offer alternative enforcement of 1st Amendment and 501C3 tax exempt requirements to allow whatever the hell Trump wants. The Congress better wake up to the fact that Trump is either stupid or delusional imagining himself King. What a shameful group the Republican Congress is.
10
How much “resistance” against Trump do you believe is warranted?
From somewhere in the deepest depths of hell the voices of all of the dictators who have lived throughout the ages must be cheering "Go, Donnie, go!".
Woe to our democracy, woe to our country, woe to us all.
11
If the Democrats cannot rescue at least on house of Congress, by 2020 the U.S. will be police state ruled by white supremacist kleptocrats led by a de facto fuehrer.
For American democracy, it's now
November or Never.
17
The epitome of Cult of Personality. We’ve seen this before with Hitler, Mao, Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un, and Putin...to name a few. Disturbing the evangelical community embraces this rhetoric and rubbish that works against their self-interests...such as abandoning Christian values for starters.
13
As usual trump is setting up a damned it you do, damned if you don’t moment. Covering all his bases and no doubt, snickering behind their backs.
2
That "violently" business -- has Trump denounced the guy in Encino who threatened to kill writers at the Boston Globe?
Maybe I missed it.
10
Remember, too, that not only are the Christian schools getting your tax dollars with it not benefiting you, there are scores of families with their children getting home schooled with Christian doctrine and very secluded from socializing with community norms. These are dangerous, isolating conditions that are going to further contribute to the polarizing extremism that permeates modern Christianity. Very little focus on the actual teaching of love and more on us versus them (i.e. the rest of the world).
10
Why aren't the IRS and the government imposing the law that stops churches from actively interfering in politics? I'm sick of it and we need to get back to that standard and if a church, any church, synagogue or Mosque wants to play politics we should ensure they pay taxes.
The religious so called right have lost any pretense that they are a moral block. They are for the most part about power and subjugation.
14
Trump has done me the favor of reminding me that despite my genteel life in the peace and quiet of academia, I still have the capacity for hatred such that I'm not too far from fantasies of heads on pikes. I'm not quite there yet, but I feel about Trump as fire-hydrants, if they could think, would feel about dogs. I have a sense that that expression is not original. He seems to go out of his way to despoil the things I love, the university community, national parks, my Iranian and Arab Friends, Middle class financial and health-care security, and everything that is graceful, elegant, and satisfying to the human heart.
18
Trump has been trying to incite violence since he started his campaign, continued it with his refusal to say he would accept election results, and still today he is doing everything he can to divide this country and incite his mobs to violence as he enrages the left with his lies, smears, and policies. What if he promised Putin an American civil war win or lose the election?
9
We are basically living in a monarchy. Donald Trump is the
king and the members of the Republic Party are his subjects.
There to do his biding. Since they control Congress, Trump
and his minions control Congress. Only some of the courts can
refute his orders. There are now really two branches of government. The Trump/Congress and the Supreme Court.
He is another King Henry VII. Let's hope he doesn't start beheading his wives.
5
Look at all the money in that room.
They're awash in profit, and standing beside the man who would further enrich them.
There's no electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place, but they can clearly violate separations of church and state.
And it's all on our dime. Let's tax these phonies like the business they are. They're welcome to their opinions, but not my dollars.
14
This has nothing to do with religion, it is all about race. And those concerned with the rising tide of "browns" in the US would vote for Trump come hell and high water. This is their main consideration. Trump is not Hitler. He is not even Mussolini. He does not have an army of brown shirts or black shirts to intimidate. He is a certainly a bully, but his power springs from the office, not from any well-organized paramilitary force. Thus, there is more menace here than actual danger. Trump loves to create conflict, just do not fall for his tricks.
9
Wait a minute - "evangelical Christian leaders"?
Wouldn't "Satanists" be a more accurate description, given their support of a racist misogynist traitor who tries to incite violence?
20
Why would liberals become violent if they WIN the midterms?
24
Trump and others are stimulating and inviting violence. If someone shouted "fire" in a movie house, and there was no fire s/he would be arrested, charged and have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Trump, and his minions are protected by OUR complacency and complicity. HE, and many of THEM, in our WE-THEY daily, violating, culture and country, permit-enable-perhaps even foster, actively or passively, for words and actions which harm individuals, systems, norm, values, ethics to occur. Continuing to focus primarilly on Trump, his tweets, hair, ties, ETC., misuses our own limited time and other resources to effectively see to it that he be personally responsible for harms which his words and actions cause, including deaths and traumas, as well as the words and deeds expected of a President, which have not been voiced, planned, implimented and assessed in order to learn from outcomes. we (small "w" when it could be a WE) are tripping ourselves up by moaning, complaining, documenting, and not doing more and more, above and beyond primaries and elections, to create and sustain a vibrant, equitable democracy, sharing human and nonhuman resources so necessary for menschlich daily living. Mutual trusts. Mutual respecy. Mutual caring. Mutual help,if and when needed. When we respond by words to each of Trumps tweets, and not by effective actions, each of us is acting like one of Pavlov's conditioned dogs; Skinner's condition birds. Our bald eagle has a huge wingspread...
1
The Editorial Board has long been a partisan of government. But, studying government, we find that it has a record of massive violence against humanity, including the use of nuclear bombs on children. Is it possible that the Editorial Board's newfound pacifism is insincere ?
A WaPo headline said, "Middle East civilian deaths have soared under Trump. And the media mostly shrug." Yet, the Editorial Board omits this issue from its editorial on Trump and violence.
Philosophers have varying views on violence, ranging from total pacifism; Gandhian 'pacifism'; violence to prevent harm to others, a view that would endorse violence against Trump, Obama, etc., to prevent the harm discussed in WaPo.
To the Hobbesian view, where the sovereign does not lay down his "right of nature", retaining the "right" to do anything to anybody, "justifying" extreme violence.
I endorse the view that attacking persons who do not deserve it is ethically wrong, and call that, "evilism."
While the Editorial Board suggests a Democratic Congress as a solution, this has already been tried, and hasn't solved the evilism of government in the past.
Perhaps the Editorial Board is looking only at evilism in America, overlooking the pervasive evilism that Black Lives Matter and athletes are protesting.
The ethical question of "When is a person justified in using violence against other people?" deserves more analysis and discussion than we encounter in this editorial.
6
Our system of government is actually quite fragile as it requires us all to have faith that it is just. The public follows the rules and laws that the government lays out because we as a nation believe we had a say in who is creating those laws. We accept that we have to pay for the government through taxes and in exchange they provide security and stability. We expect them to be respectful with our money and in return the government should respect our goals.
Currently we have a president who ignores or vilifies a majority of Americans and caters exclusively to his base. He attacks institutions like the Justice Department, the Media, and independent corporations and says they are liars and cheats. He is destroying the very fabric of the trust we have and could be jeopardizing this country if the public gets to the point where they realize that the system is broken and the laws don't need to be followed.
That the Republican congress doesn't see or do anything about it show they do not respect this country. They fail to say anything that many of us need to hear - that they find this president to be detrimental to what America is. They are too obsessed with creating laws that support their financial backers and finding judges who will make sure their understanding of those laws will be true years after they are gone.
Every Republican who does not speak out against Trump and his abuse of power should be voted out for the good of the country.
Peaceful revolution.
6
@Lucas Lynch, I don't go on faith. I see something like Trump's election and conclude something is rancid in the supposedly free land of purportedly brave people.
1
Never had such a large group of hypocrites been assembled in one room.
15
I believe Trump is a criminal and I believe the the violence he threatens is directed against people like me.
Thank God for the Second Amendment.
8
Those weren’t evangelicals. They were “evangelicals.”
5
We all need to vote. If you do not agree with Trump;then I say vote for those who oppose him.
9
The title of this piece is spot on. Except I think it should read: Trump is the Deluge!. The flood gates have opened fully now and he's turning to anyone everyone who he thinks will save him from himself.
He'll use any device or tactic to accomplish this which should not only worry all of the fine (and in some cases not so fine) citizens of our country and the rest of world. He's truly coming unglued here as he knows the end is near but there's little he do to control the actual outcome of his own demise. Vote BLUE in November. Simple as that!
4
He is probably right about revoking what he has accomplished less than two years, all the while Mueller has done everything he can to find dirt about Trump. But they shouldn't wish for what they can't accept what the results may be. What has Trump accomplished. The NYT acknowledged that Trump is the reason the ISIS Islamic State is defeated. The economy is at 4.2%. Unemployment is the lowest in decades. For African Americans and their youth as well as Hispanics, the lowest ever. Consumer confidence is the highest in eighteen years. Employment for the handicap was falling under Obama Is now up 7% -11&. He has tried to bring peace and denuclearized Korea by sitting down with Kim Jung Un but he hasn't pretending everything is ok when drug his feet. Mexico has agreed to a new trade agreement and the thought is that Canada will as well later this week. The DOW is at the highest ever. How do you think the pensioners feel about that? More important how will they feel if the value drops? How about if unemployment increases and the economy falls again to less than 4%. as t was when Trump took over. We all know that the all these figures are waveform. If that down comes after the Democrats take over, who do you think will be blamed? Trump has gone against all political norms. The most troublesome is Trump is actually trying to accomplish what he promised.
@Ron
My wife and I would see our retirement nest egg cut in half, if that is the cost for ridding our nation of this treasonous, lechorous, lying, wife cheating, narcissistic lout.
8
The whole world is watching.
2
Trump's hyperbole is no different than any other politician's hyperbole. It's a sad state of affairs that the NYT editorial board resorts to this cartoonish nonsense in its apparently never-ending battle against Trump.
1
Pres. Trump's warning about violence if Dems win echoes Osth Krrprrd invitation to train for violent acfions in cities. See full report;
“Oath Keepers Announce National 'Spartan' Training Program Aimed at 'Violent Left'By David Neiwert” on website of Southern Poverty Law Center 25 August 18. From the report;
“A far-right strategy takes shape as militiamen organize to use ‘lethal force’ for violence-prone events in liberal urban centers. Claiming that the “violent left” is preparing an insurrection designed to grab “illegitimate power,” the Oath Keepers’ president and founder Stewart Rhodes this week announced on their website that his group is organizing training sessions around the United States aimed at helping militiamen and “Patriots” prepare for “lethal force” at far-right events in cities targeted for right-wing protests.
“Appearing on Infowars with host Owen Shroyer on Monday, Rhodes explained that Oath Keepers is organizing “Spartan Training Groups” in every state with the aim of bolstering efforts to combat “antifa and the far left.” He spun the effort as part of a larger vision of becoming a national militia that could be called into action by President Trump””...
(Full report on SPLC website)
2
Just made me think - puts a whole new meaning on 'taking the knee'. Seems like our athletes got it right.
5
This latest move by the orange one should the latest alarm bell going off to alert your nation to mount an urgent, national campaign to demand paper ballots for those states that do not already have them. You need to address every issue that could thwart democracy on Nov. 6th.
12
I'll let the shrinks speak that contrary to usual practice, wrote letters to the nation warning us about the mental instability and danger of Trump. Anyone who cares about character would have no compunction in calling other dictators men with deeply sick characters, that I feel able to judge. Trump is not a well man, in the same way that the cruelty of sadistic and narcissistic types is a sickness, that always ends up hurting others. Look at how Trump has treated minorities, intellectuals, contractors, wives, his ill infant nephew, the press, ad infinitum his whole life. He is the epitome of the anti golden rule people, I call them.
Far right Christians are in that camp.It is a total abomination that churches do not pay taxes. What a joke these hypocrites are, an evil joke for the country, for Trump would have lost if these haters practiced the golden rule, as Jesus said to do.
Christians backing a hate filled dictator. And five right wing Catholics on the court. More Christian hypocrisy. Those men get to rule on religious "liberty"?
The modern GOP are the most successful selfish con men ever in the US. They succeed by scaring the weak mined to death. We must turn out and defeat them in the fall. The soul of the nation is at stake.
This is the moment the Germans faced in 1933, and they failed miserably in seeing reality. When a population lives in malicious fantasy, any cruelty is deemed fine. Absolutely revolting this "Trumpism".
6
Who are these preachers that support Trump? Start naming names so that Christians in the country can address the false gods on their own turf. Christians against Trump has plenty supporters I'd suspect.
14
Trump is a reflection on the Always 30%. They see anyone or anything with the aura of liberalism as the enemy who must be destroyed. Because of this. they see Trump as a legitimate excuse for their hatred
6
There are more of "them" than there are of "us"....they proved it in the voting-booth.
Double Cross Don as well outlined here covers the waterfront with erratic and dangerous claims from Armageddon to songs and will eventually self destruct but will it be soon enough?
With Double Cross running loose off leash in the night Congress sleeps, pretending he won't launch the nukes.
3
The metaphor of the headline is interesting and there is another fitting with that quite well.
I like to see Trump as the Drano President. The purpose of the first application is have the crud, gunk, and stink loosened from the surfaces and float into the liquid.
That has certainly been accomplished. Racist, supremacist, misogynist, and other intolerant and resentful sentiments in this country that used to be stuck out of sight in the cracks and crannies have unapologetically floated to the surface in plain view, encouraged, normalized, and drawn out by the Trump application.
The second phase of a Drano application is to flush everything with hot water -- so perhaps the picture of a deluge is not far off. There is no good way for these folks and sentiments to go back into sticky hidden places once the larger society decides it's time to clean up.
7
Trump is setting the stage, as he does so well. In the event of a "blue wave," his followers are pre-emptively called to arms and to violence, and when it happens, they have their script: Blame it on the liberals.
8
I am for social welfare policies of decency and good health insurance coverage for all, if those are under the fair capitalism based on free markets. The problem, however in my view, is that people’s mentality overall might be leaning toward unconditional fake-fairness of the monotonous. Which would dangerously lead everything to be subject to flat distributions, not only in terms of materials but also individuals’ creative works of all kinds as well. *** In America, flat distributions of private assets onto all others will be impossible to be exercised in the future, near or remote, I believe. But, the socialism mentality may prevail. *** Plainly speaking of it, all plagiarism would become openly acceptable under the name of social justice as distributive, aiming to bring fake fairness to many in expediency, merely as feelings. This type of equality is untrue, because the originality must be kept intact in a free society. *** If liberal vices have been there already as the root, the polished cover-up system has been here with sophistication and history.
The best way to avoid violence post election is to elect Democrats to office all all levels.
7
Anyone who relies on fear and hatred built of deception to maintain their place in this world is just sick. Emotionally and psychologically sick, not worthy of a nation that prides itself on its humanity. It is well past time to rid ourselves of this diseased parasite before the hate anger and violence it promotes is no longer avoidable. Vote anyone but Trump supporters in November! Do it for the sake of humanity.
6
Given that Democratic liberalism in all its hubris was deeply complicit in the election of Donald Trump, and given that Democrats and liberals have truly lost their way in what Ken Wilber describes as "aperspectival madness," the deluge is certainly one possibility. Another is that liberals course correct, jettison their disdain for heartland conservatives, take responsibility for driving postmodern liberalism off the rails and adopt a more humble posture that makes room for rapprochement. Read Wilber's "Trump in a Post Truth World" to get a sense of the possibilities.
I believe the human soul begins to form at birth, when the individual begins to assimilate culture from the experience of life. I think it a more scientific perspective on the soul than the belief that God implants it at fertilization. If I can't act on that, I don't have freedom of religion.
It was bad enough to flirt with anoxia to the edge of death with asthma, but at least I could outgrow it. I do not presume that any fetus wants to be born disabled.
1
United States voters need to cast aside party labels and realize this current situation for its true threat to the democratic republic. Trump's "I alone can fix it" delusion is based in a dangerous messianic narcissism that can lead to irreparable damage. He has to go and this country needs to get to a point where your opponents are not your enemies; just fellow citizens with differing opinions.
6
@Frank, Trump is the exact opposite of Obama, who thought he might be able to crowd-source solutions.
Clearly, our democratic experiment is failing. It is not democracy when the minority of voters win and are so diametrically opposed to the majority. This is the Republican's fault, because they have valued their agenda over the values of our country. If the agenda id decided by a minority it will cause conflict and weakness, and it won't persist. That is why consensus is best. Edsall today asked who was afraid of a white minority. But we are not Americans because of our national origin, we are Americans because of our values and laws. We followed the outdated demagogue preventing electoral college because it was the law but we got a demagogue anyway. If we can't get the brains of our citizen out of whatever fear, anger, distortion of reality or reaction to us (liberals?) they are in, we see the failure of our system and the decline of the American empire. No question.
4
I am quite amazed when I think that this little, little man continues to hold his office. He feels free to fling his insults against virtually all people and all countries, and our nation is reaping the results. Way past time for him to go.
11
Mafia Don does not care about the law, he considers himself above the law, and he has lived a life of doing everything imaginable to skirt the law. The fact that he has actually gotten away with so much for so long only reinforces his disdain for the law. The ISIS Republicans, i.e. the Law and Order party, have turned into traitors for the sake of holding onto their base of Deplorables, no matter what the price to democracy. If the voters don’t throw the Republicans out of office, you can kiss every right you have ever assumed would always be there goodbye. Yes, it’s that serious.
6
Trump, reminds me of that often quoted passage in Shakespeare's, tragic play, Macbeth. "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing and is then forgotten."
This egomaniac truly believes that he is the center of the universe.
What has he done that would best remind the nation of him??
Hate, immorality, vindictiveness and divisiveness.
Twisting and blatant denial of what is true.
Complete disrespect and disregard of the law.
Colluding with the enemy.
Our electoral process was attacked and continues to be assaulted by Putin's Russia, yet Trump, is upset at the people fighting these attacks.
Trump, has divided our nation, relishes this division and thrives by it
The midterm elections will be a deluge that will either vindicate Trump's malignancies and madness and this country's decline, or a deluge, a karmic reckoning, that would be the first step in healing and restoring our great Union.
2
The divisive rhetoric of this president makes you wonder where will he possibly draw a line. My greatest fear is that he recognizes none and but he is prepared to torch an entire democracy to bend it to his increasingly delusional will. He’s doing way too much of Putin’s work in destroying our Constitutional democracy.
4
I have identified myself in the past as an evangelical Christian. I no longer. New Testament Christians, following the command of Christ, were known for their love. Today's leaders seem to have forgotten that command. They should be more concerned with the approval of their savior than that of the president.
A parallel they should be familiar with is the alliance between the Pharisees and King Herod. He too warned of the violence that would erupt if they didn't support his regime.
Church leaders must choose who they serve. They can support the president and political candidates from the pulpit, or they can serve Christ. If they do the former, they should prepare themselves to hear "I never knew you" from the later.
14
This is the tactic that he employs. Remember during waning days of the 2016 campaign, when the poll figures were against him- and gearing up for a loss- he took to inciting his base to take "second amendment" measures. He is doing the same now, except the is casting the situation now as the likely outcome of a blue wave. This is the tactic of a deranged mind; but unfortunately there is a contingent in this country that listens to and may act on the spoutings of a deranged mind.
12
@Marisa Leaf, we shall see if the unregulated militia can self-regulate or not. The security of a free state is at stake.
6
I have a great idea. Since reporters are fearing for their safety when covering Trump rallies: just stay home. I can’t imagine anything more satisfying than to know there was a rally and to see no press coverage at all.
24
For decades negotiations on race relations in America have been leveraged in large part on the fear of racial uprisings in minority communities, driven by white fear of the "angry black man."
Now, the president reverses that leverage, inducing fear of the democratic voice of all Americans in free elections, assuming a strange minority position for the allegedly most powerful white man in the world.
It looks like the first is becoming last, and the last, first.
5
This from the guy who implied that he might incite a public conflagration if he lost the 2016 election. Too bad we didn't choose to do the right thing and get it over with then.
13
I have noticed for a very long time, decades, that republicans have a habit they trot out to lend themselves cover for the things they do and would prefer to be secret.
That habit is they will make an accusation or assert intent attributed to Democrats or any opponent where they are actually projecting what they are doing. they do this when they suspect they are about to be outed for whatever it is they are doing as a prophylaxis to inoculate themselves from negative consequences from their own voters.
The way it works is they get ahead of thing pre exposure by saying the other guy is doing it. Then when they are outed they sit back and claim "Oh you are just accusing me because I busted you."
El Trumpo is using a version of that social manipulation tactic to signal his violent supporters to be ready to do violence. Here he has already blamed the democrats in his inimitable passive aggressive and cowardly way of saying something by implication while pretending to not have any skin in the game. And of course without offering proof of any kind other than his apparent certainty which encourages the less astute to infer he has knowledge from the FBI or some other government police org.
4
@magicisnotreal, Yes, the pre-emptive accusation ploy, based on the preposterous notion that one absolves oneself of doing something by accusing someone else of doing it. They can't sin because Jesus pre-emptively atoned for them 2000 years ago.
5
We expend so much effort trying to unravel the why of Trump. I guess we're hoping it's understandable somehow. Here's an article that helped me get a better perspective today:
https://slate.com/technology/2018/08/no-matter-how-bad-it-gets-trump-wil...
3
"Once again, there was text and subtext, and as often with this (not my) president". Text or subtext, they are all lies.
Putin, with a minority of the voters, put this low life in the WH and now the entire country must suffer.
His urging the evangelical "Christian" leaders is nothing new - another confirmation of his contempt for the rule of law, and his shamelessness when he cited "freed speech and the First Amendment". two items that he hated most among his hatred filled life.
Most of all, it shows, yet again, the willingness of these so-called "Christian leaders" to cheaply sell their soul, if they still have any soul left, for a mere penny instead of thirty pieces of silver.
9
Are there (still) no female religious leaders? The picture accompanying this article shows an over abundance of men in suits. Not a woman to be found.
6
Conservatives (men and women) believe a woman’s only place of worth is at home in the kitchen and the bedroom...
2
How dare these so called 'evangelicals' support the concept that voting for Democrats is a 'war' on freedom of religion and free speech. They should move to another country or read the Constitution and US history.
8
As with all playground bullies, Trump blames others for his failings. Evangelical so-called Christians know this and are standing by him sort-of until he finally receives his comeuppance. Then, they'll be preaching some "we told you so" nonsense from their pulpits.
4
@James Murphy They plainly assert that, if Trump isn't the second coming of Jesus, God put him here to smoke out this millennium's Jesus.
Let's not forget that these "Christian" leaders are at the forefront of hate towards the LBGT community in America.
The vitriol they spew is about as far from the message Jesus preached as you can get.
The people I know who are the most religious don't resemble this bunch in the least. Grifters and liars all.
5
I vaguely recall from some long ago religious training I was compelled to attend that we should recognize the "antiChrist" for he would seduce the righteous first.
I wonder if those hypocritical evangelical "christians" have ever once considered that Trump only cares for his own needs and interests. They, like his base, are merely his "narcissistic suppliers".
4
How can the evangelicals stick with Trump?. Why aren't they starting to form their own political party? A liar, a cheat, a crook, a deviant, customer of ladies of the (how many over the last fifty years?) and loudmouth and ignoramus. Likely a TRAITOR too. If this was a Democratic Party President in precisely the same situation as Trump, bibles would be held high in the air against him/her. The verbal attacks would be ruthless and non-stop. FOX would be behaving even more bananas than they really are. The USA is a big mess, but the so-called "Christians" are willing to keep their eyes closed in order to reach their political and biblical goals.
4
"Of course, the only political leader who has been inciting and condoning violence has been Mr. Trump. "
Not that I agree with your premise that Trump has been inciting or condoning violence but I find it curious you narrow the field of comparison to "political leaders."
A lefty shot Republican congressmen last year during baseball practice. CNN's Chris Cuomo said that punching someone in the face for racially insulting him was justified. And their Don Lemon just rationalized Antifa violence as being morally superior to other criminal violence. Lefties chased Charles Murray off the Middlebury campus and injured his debate-to-be antagonist during the pursuit. And I can't remember if it was Ann Coulter or Milo that was shut down by rioting leftists and lefty students at Berkley.
Maxine Waters, certainly a leading voice in the Democratic Party, advocates harassing Republicans in public, at restaurants, at the ball park etc... Apparently this includes throwing water on them as I saw on condemnation from the Democrats on that incident.
The left has violent actors violence supporters within its big tent. It needs to cease excusing them, to disavow them and to expel them - beginning right now.
2
All democratic senators, congress women and men need to release press statements and speak out publicly that they as a group and individually vehemently disagree with these statements spoken by cadet club foot.
Ours is a party that believes in the absolute dedication to the constitution, the bill of rights and the upholding of the rule of law. Ours is a party that does not promote violence and division. These are things that cadet club foot knows nothing about and remind voters on a regular basis if they feel the same way about all of the garbage spewing from cadet club foot they need to not only vote but get all of their family and friends to do the same.
1
Great piece!! Not a shock that Trump continues to diminish our democracy in this way. Unless both houses flip, he will continue to be out of control.
It bears reminding readers that primaries, elections, polling companies, voting machines, and the voting tallies are still being hackef by Russia AND China.
To date, most states do not have paper ballots to support the easily changed votes in voting machine software. The midterms are in danger of being utterly rigged, if more is not done to stop it.
It is ongoing, and a real threat.
I hope the NYT editorial board will use the help of seasoned hackers, to examine the continued hack of America's voting machines, polling companies, and the easily alterable votes and vote tallies.
Thank you.
4
i realize the media is reluctant to conclude that those who continue to actively support this vile, ignorant, indecent man suffer from his "values". but it's time.
the question for us is "why"? are all those people equally vile, ignorant and indecent? one answer we come back to is that what they have in common is frequent exposure to the same sources of "information": fox news, infowars, etc.
if democrats regain control of congress eventually, an important area to address is the effect of cable tv channels (in theory, broadcast channels already are covered by fcc rules) on our collective ignorance and self-hatred.
the first amendment, as the saying goes, is not a suicide pact for our country. our message to fox news should be: reform, don't intentionally broadcast lies, or disappear.
3
Trump is only exploiting what was already there. He gets away with the awful things he says because more Americans then we want to admit believe in the message he's selling. Until we're willing to confront and rebuke those attitudes, Trump isn't going anywhere. Racism, sexism, and classism have always been a big part of our cultural reality.
2
I'm not sure how or why or when the weapon of choice for the Democrats, the ballot box, became synonymous with violent insurrections.
10
Go forth Democratic voters and do your duty. Our duty is to throw this man Trump and his stooges out of office.
" My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing him."
Mahatma Ghandi
4
Trump is skilled at getting out his base. He makes stuff up and tweets it to ensure his base goes to the polls.
What exactly are the Democrats doing to get out their base?
Not much. Trump has taken over the media and seems to be getting out his base and the other sides as well.
Not sure what the Democrats are doing to get out the vote...
7
At least Pence considers himself a Christian...that could still stand for something better that the destructiveness Trump has wrought...but you all do realize, or we should, that the administration are just front men in the first place. It is not difficult to reason through who they front for. All one has to do to understand is to look at your local political picture, with which you have direct observational and participatory experience, the local business community: state, county, city, town, neighborhood, employer, police, lies, hate groups, prejudice, tactics, values...the functions are exactly the same, only the scale of the seven deadly sins and the stakes are larger.
2
The president is right, the election will be a "referendum on free speech." Let's vote against any politician who supports a man who threatens the free press, bullies individual citizens who criticize him, and loves dictators who have crushed the free exchange of views in their countries.
25
So when he advocates that religious leaders encourage their followers to get out and vote in November, does that apply to Muslims and Jews and Quakers and Sikhs and Hindus and Native Americans and so many other faiths, or only evangelical Christians? Never mind. Of course we know the answer.
15
Many compare Trump to Hitler and Mussolini. There are some similarities to those two, but Trump seems to be more like Juan Peron, Napoleon Bonaparte, or even Fidel Castro. (Fidel's cuddly relationship with Russia may make him the winner of this beauty contest.)
However, after reflecting about this column, perhaps Trump is a new breed of anarchist. The worldwide anarchy movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's, prompted by the industrial revolution and other societal changes, directly led to World War I and communism.
It seems that a few other Trump-like figures are on the rise in democracies around the globe. Is another outbreak of international anarchy to follow?
3
I don't suppose that thinking people could simply agree that Trump is an idiot and let it go at that?
Ah, no, we can't. He's in a position to do too much damage to the world, to America, to you. Consequently, the best we can do is to slap down his source of power, the House of Representatives. (The Senate would be nice too, but that's probably too much to hope for.)
I'm through with asking "How did we get here?" The only thing of importance is to get out. Vote. It's not that hard. Think of how pleasant it would be to see a return of the familiarly chaotic Democratic party (which somehow still seemed to get things done) in place of the stone-faced, gimlet-eyed Republicans who will doubtless celebrate their tax "reform" and "business friendly" (environmentally hostile) deregulation into the next century.
Emasculate Trump. Return the house to the Democrats in November.
23
It's funny that 45 Googled himself (an aid likely did that for him), and got upset about what we all know; he was never prepared for and will never rise to the office. All the negative news he apparently saw in this search is the news he's created. He is a vile, despicable person who more than proves this every day. Yes, the November 6th election is a referendum on a man who should never have been president. Voting in Democrats is the only way to contain in this cancer that is the president.
13
Let’s see how courageous these evangelicals really are - please publish the attendees names.
15
Inciting violence is one arrow in his quiver used to divide the country to advance his conspiracy with Russia to make Russia great again. Another act of treason by Trump against these United States.
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
8
Just when I think that trump can't get anymore outrageous and despicable he gets more outrageous and despicable.
17
As a southerner would sooth charitably - bless their hearts.
Not.
If there is a god - and I have had serious doubts for 40 years - he looked down at the spectacle of booty-kissing sycophantic "evangelicasl" bowing to their "warrior."
The supreme being - god, not Trump - probably thought another flood might be in order to clean this mess up.
3
The GOP and Trump have radicalized fully and now only feel violence is the only way to go. Trump talking at rallies and now religious meeting buying votes says the Democrats are violent. We had eight peace full years with President Obama and two violent years with Trump. We hear it every day violent talk on FOX divisive radio and television. Very sad . The evangelicals and Catholics will accept this and they will destroy Democracy by voting for Trump and friends again. Quit breathing to much coal dust it is bad for the brain.
5
NYT Headline--- overturn all he as done if they prevail.
What? All he HAS done.
The deluge is now, as this pathetic imposter is killing people, harming our environment, and making old people look bad. Votes are our life preservers. He scares a lot of people with his violent words. But most of his small percentage of followers are too comfortable to rise from their recliners to riot. People must vote in every election.
9
This President will be the first to be a felon. If he does incite violence and is complicit in deaths, I hope he is indicted and impeached and imprisoned simultaneously.
8
Donald Trump, pointing out yet again the smug self-satisfied hypocrisy of Christians. If you belong to that sect and aren’t actively campaigning against Trump, you might want to revisit your pamphlets.
4
Can we stop calling these hypocritical people Christians? Their moral bankruptcy is on clear display. As an atheist I do not believe in heaven, and it bums me out just a little that these people will never get the chance to be turned away at St. Peter’s Gate.
6
We libs have had election victories stolen from us in 2000, 2004(rigged voting machines) and 2016 (gerrymandering and voter suppression) and did not become violent. But trump suggested violence to a group of snake oil peddlers???
13
Speaking of violence , The Guardian is reporting the FBI arrested a man threatening to kill Boston Globe staff for criticizing Trump.
8
Very disturbing. Just how are these people Christians if they condone this...and what would Jesus say...seriously. Oh yes, he did address that: "Render onto Caesar what is Caesar's"......maybe they all missed that Bible lesson. Very very disturbing. Hello American Talliband and hello Handmaidens. Scary.
3
Donald Trump represents human failure.
11
I remember the bishop in Pittsburgh in 2004 telling us that if we didn't vote for George Bush that we shouldn't consider ourselves good Catholics. He invited us to leave. Only the firm grasp on my girlfriends hand kept me from standing up, telling him to go to hell, and walking out the door.
5
J’accuse, wrote Emile Zola in 1898, defending Alfred Dreyfus. If alive today, he would use the same principles to accuse Trump of: racism, misogyny, promoting discord by attacking the FREE press, raping the environment, undermining our democratic institutions, and the blatant disregard of our Constitution.
We need to “vote the bums out.”
6
In the early 1930s Germany there came a point where the German People could have, should have "manned up" and relieved themselves of their elected narcissistic megalomaniac.
But they did not... not until they could not... even if they had wanted to, which was questionable due to their hope in making "Germany Great Again" (like it never really had been.)
I believe in the late 2010s America we are fast approaching that same point, if we have not already arrived.
We all know what happened to Germany and the World as a result.
Like Trump or not, its time to nip this whole thing in the bud. The risk is just too great regardless of the state of the economy, If you truly believe in the principles of what this country is all about, continuing to put one's trust in Trump as he continues to rant with no ethical compass is the equivalent of the proverbial ostrich putting his head in the sand. With each passing day things are getting worse.
He needs to be removed or at least neutralized by a Congress with a spine.
He is trashing our Republic in the eyes of the world and over half of the American people. That in itself is a High Crime or Misdemeanor in my eyes. He is not worth it or the risk he represents.
There are plenty of other fully qualified men and women in this great United States who can lead our country better and toward becoming more economically prosperous.
For the sake of our future as a United States, a United Country, a United People, he needs to go.
615
@Bruce Olson
I have read and reread the history of last days of the Weimar Republic more often than I can remember and I still cannot keep all the details straight. There is so much lying and intrigue that clouded the politics of those days. Perhaps most illuminating is the role of one of the last chancellors of the Republic, Franz von Papen, and the role his own ambitions had in bringing on Hitler's dictatorship.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_von_Papen
Although not a direct blueprint of what is going on today, the fact that confusion, intrigue, and personal ambition were the driving factors that allow Hitler to maneuver himself into the position of Chancellor and effectively ending parliamentary rule eerily resembles some of the things going on today.
This should be required reading for anyone in Congress. I doubt they have any understanding of what Trump is doing. Like Papen and Schleicher, they still think they can control him.
That could be a dangerous miscalculation.
4
@Bruce Olson
Right and wrong. This is certainly the most critical period in American history (besides world war), but the traitor is not the issue, it's the sick condition of the conservative party and the evil spawn of that organization. They need to go so they don't produce such vile offspring in the future.
4
@Bruce Olson
good post. I will say though that Trump's economic and trade policies will likely have a negative effect on our GDP and prosperity. Trump added $2 Trillion of unnecessary debt in his first year alone. It's been a well over a year now since Trump's removed us from Trade agreements and his tariffs cut across multiple markets. Unlike his predecessor, Trump was fortunate to have inherited a booming market and now he's set to sabotage it. Very sad.
5
Once it became apparent to Hitler that we was going to be swallowed up by the Red Army he ordered a scortched earth policy be inflicted upon Germay for they had proved unworthy of his leadership.
This is the way of the narcisstic psychopath.
I'm not sure that we should expect anything else from the Trump monster.
12
Thankfully, Democrats have not only themselves to count on when we all vote contrary to the votes of trumpites.
There is a great non-profit organization called Americans United for Separation of Church and State. You can be sure that AU will warn those evangelicals that politicizing from the pulpit is unconstitutional and will lead to loss of their church's tax benefits. Let's hope AU can assure that entire congregations comprehend, before they go to the polls, how lawless and unconstitutional Trump is.
And now he is inciting riots. WHEN will he be held accountable by our Justice Department for all the crimes he's already committed in office? Maybe, Justice has decided to bring Trump to justice right after the election, so nobody can claim that Justice tried to affect the election.... although I would surely prefer that they charge him with all his offenses prior to the election.
Who, in his/her right mind, would vote for Hate to win in our free elections?
8
My junior high civics teacher pointed out that that radicalization was complete when the parties in a dispute believed only violence would solve their problems. Winning an election is a solution for an agenda by the ballot box, presuming both sides believe the laws can be upheld. Losing an election is not, and requires the losing party to accept the outcome of the vote. This vote represents decentralized power, allowing all and everybody to whom suffrage has been given to express themselves in that way which proves their individual value. This value exists solely through a bond of empathy explainable by a story that defines agency and boundaries for each individual. The office of the Presidency is not a throne, but a story itself, the binding of all those minute expressive acts into a collective voice, and bound to the narrative arc of Monroe, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. The voice evokes each of them, and all of us. So, once more, let’s let people speak for themselves, and vote where they have given over to common bond in the places where they cannot.
2
I suspect that M. Trump is preparing to say that he alone is to be believed.
1
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters," said the man of violence.
I mean, what more can one say?
5
@Timothy R.
"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and not lose any voters," said the man of violence.
I mean, what more can I say?
1
"We've seen this before..." Well, yes, if you mean "we," the country have seen this before. No one I know personally was alive during the Civil War.
6
Trump has his clerics just like other autocratic forms of government. Instead of having to check in with them, Trump is telling his clerics what to do and they do it.
3
If Trump’s appeal to Christian leaders is accepted, it becomes “an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future.” A conspiracy, is it not?
4
Yes, Donald, it is a referendum on free speech, i.e., our cherished right to a free press that you so adamantly oppose. Good bye Republicans.
3
I believe this rhetoric is a conscious prelude to the 2020 elections (or maybe 2018). When Trump and/or the Republicans lose (hopefully), he wants to be ready to call on his forces to raise up in revolt, violent if necessary. Claims of voter fraud are the obvious start but all other tactics are fair game in his mind in order to hold on to power. Evangelicals are just another tools he is manipulating. Unfortunately, he is well versed at whipping up and inflaming his disciples (a term strikingly appropriate to this article)..
8
Let's face it, religion wants political power just like plants need rain. With political power and the force of the government behind it, religion doesn't have to convince us of the legitimacy of their dogma, they can enforce it by way of coercion. Ever since Constantine embraced Catholicism, and even before that, religion has always sought the power of the state to cement its position. Whether it was the Aztecs sending out their armies to capture other peoples to sacrifice to their gods, or whether it was the Catholic Church using the powers of the Inquisition, with the blessings of the state, or any other myriad of examples, religion loves political power. The First Amendment was put in place to stop religion from being a part of government, and allow government to be government, while religion is allowed to be religion. The two must be separate and remain so.
8
@Kjensen Best analysis and comment I read on this topic. Thank you.
2
Sure sounds to me that The Dolt is condoning violence against those that disagree with him and his "policies". When I first heard this the other day as he spoke to his base of evangelicals, I immediately felt that it was a covert signal to his minions to arm themselves, keep the powder dry, and be ready to head out into the streets to cause destruction and even death! Hey!, another criminal act from which he can be charged for; say inciting a riot?
5
trump's lie to those pastors is an interesting one.
Either trump THOUGHT he was telling the truth, in which case he is utterly ignorant of how laws are passed -
OR he knew it was a lie and THEY knew it was a lie -
OR he knew it was a lie and they did NOT....
which would make this the most ignorant and unprofessional bunch of clergy ever born.
So, who is stupid? Them or trump?
Don't know, but I've finally figured out the dog-whistle that's been puzzling me: "Socialism".
trump and all righties have been pounding at the violent, "socialist" lefties.
Now, that's a real head-scratcher, for, all the lefties I know are real pussycats. Not a one has raised a pitch-fork in decades.
Violence?
That's the right-wingers. Lynching.
Beatings. Run you over with their car.
Burn down your house.
Assassinate the president.
Illegal wars.
Gitmo.
...well, that list could go on forever.
So, that's just another trump lie. Garbage talk.
So much for "lefties".
So much for "violent".
Which brings us to the new dog-whistle: "Socialist".
Odd, I thought. We're no longer "commies" and "reds".
What's with "socialists"?
And then I realized:
Republicans pretend this is a "capitalist" country - but it is not.
We ARE socialist.
Social Security. Medicare. Veteran's care. Food stamps.
WIC. Public schools. Roads. Military.
All branches of all Government.
All regulations. Sewers. CDC. Police.
The new dirtyword isn't "LIBERAL".
It's "SOCIALIST", so when the R's rip it all down, the righties will cheer.
9
Shameful. And amazing that the evangelical leaders he was speaking to had such a hard time with Clinton's sexual misconduct, but turn a blind eye to Trump's.
He, and they, have no shame.
10
I dearly hope this is merely another bizarre, stupid, ugly statement and not an ex-ante justification of mob violence by all the “very fine people” who support him.
2
@Mr. Chuck
Don't count on it. This is how autocrats and psychopaths rile up their fellow dysfunctionals.
3
Really? trump told them that there was no more "Johnson Amendment" - and they BELIEVED him???
Warning to all pastors: The Johnson is intact. trump did nothing. He lied.
Now, just as there was someone there who was recording every word said at your little dinner (FEED THE POOR!) and willing to pass that tape on to the press, then remember that every time you step into the pulpit and start violating the Johnson.
There is someone in your pews who will be recording you, TOO!
This isn't the Dark Ages. Someone will simply flip on their phone and... there you are!
Next stop?
Standing in front of the IRS agent.
Look, boys - you know as well as I do that he lies.
He lies 6 times a day (on average).
Now, maybe you do, too - but do you really want any of that out there?
Before you open your mouth, you must ask yourself one question -.
No, not "Do I feel lucky?" but, Is this state one of those states where only ONE person has to be aware that they are being recorded....?
Go ahead - ignore this.... and make my day!
6
As he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation at the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well Doctor what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?"
"A republic," replied the Doctor, "If you can keep it.” (From the notes of Dr. James McHenry, Maryland delegate to the Convention, first published in "The American Historical Review," vol. 11, 1906.)
"If you can keep it," indeed.
The secular democratic constitutional republic bequeathed to us by the Founders is well on its way to being perverted into a theocratic fascist kleptocracy, and the answer to the question, "What do you think about the United States of America?" will soon be, "It was a nice idea."
Sic transit gloria mundi — or at least that of the United States.
6
I have already commented on another page! However, it is beyond any crediblity that these men of religion, as they fawn over him, can claim with any honesty to guide others if they can't see through his venemous, incendiary, mendacious rhetoric. He would never acknowledge that clear thinking people can see through his bluff and sense his fear of how visceral November 6 is shaping up to be. I have US relatives who WILL keep their blinkers on forgiving all else but what they choose to believe, mind numbing. Quite odd too that he referred to "YOUR" religion, begging the question, what is his? As looking pious!with head bent, eyes closed, smirk on his face, he received their blessing. Please spare me!
2
From facinghistory.org
Did Catholics and Lutherans lend their support?
Nazi leadership urged Protestants to unite all regional churches into a national church under the centralized leadership of Ludwig Müller, a well-known pastor and Nazi Party member, who was appointed as Reich bishop. Many German Protestants embraced these changes. By supporting the German Christian movement and Müller, they could continue to practice their faith and at the same time show support for Hitler. In a national vote by Protestants taken in July 1933, the German Christians were supported by two-thirds of voters, and Müller won the national election to lead them.
Some who opposed the Nazis also urged great caution; they were fearful of attacks on priests and nuns. That concern prompted officials of the Vatican to discuss with Hitler the possibility of an agreement: the Church would pledge to abstain from political activity in Germany in exchange for the Reich’s promise not to persecute the Catholic Church and its members.
2
Another day, another lesson in perversity and debasement courtesy of president Donald Trump.
By the way, has anyone else noticed how ridiculous Mr. Trump appears when he closes his eyes and pretends to pray with the "evangelicals"? He really has played them for fools.
3
A few rhetorical questions to put Trump's campaign slogan -- and his hideous reign* -- in proper perspective:
How does promoting racism, intolerance, and violence Make America Great Again?
How does tweeting childish insults toward almost everyone and everything Make America Great Again?
How does honoring corruption among subordinates Make America Great Again?
How does normalizing immorality Make America Great Again?
How does cozying up to Putin and other autocrats Make America Great Again?
How does trashing relationships with longtime Allies Make America Great Again?
How does undermining our democracy Make America Great Again?
How does violating a presidential oath of office Make America Great Again?
Lock him up!!
*(P.S. I use the word "reign" advisedly, because he is Monarch in his mind and perhaps in the minds of other similarly disturbed individuals.)
7
What we have here is incendiary rhetoric from a cowardly draft dodger who instigates violence so that he can win elections. Winning is the only thing for Trump even if it means riots and racism. It is a neo-fascist tactic and indefensible. And of course if it is done by the alt-right, then that's okay with Trump. It's the left that is only violent according to him. Bring it on because we are not going to allow it. Trump will and does have blood on his hands. We will not forget Charlotesville.
3
He is a thoroughly despicable man. Anybody too stupid to see through his bile deserves him. But the rest of us don't. "Violent liberals" is a contradiction in terms. Laughable if it wasn't invoked to prime his people to commit violence of their own.
We aren't the ones who phone anonymous death threats to people we disagree with.
We aren't the ones whose basements are stacked with automatic weapons and ammunition clips.
We aren't the ones beating up protesters.
We aren't the ones threatening to take up arms against the government.
We aren't the ones slaughtering innocents.
We aren't the ones voting for people based on their gun ownership.
We aren't the ones who promote violence through policing.
We aren't the ones who condone these things while hiding behind a thin veil of "christianity".
We aren't the ones, Mr. trump. You are.
7
Pay attention Christian leaders: There are ten commandments in the Bible. Anyone with a lick of sense can see that Trump has likely violated nine of them. Until he shoots someone on Fifth Avenue he gets a pass on "Thou Shalt not kill".
1
We all know Trump admires the gangster way of doing business, and that Trump used the same style in his little criminal family business; however, let us all make it clear to this criminal he cannot bring his gangster ways into our White House.
1
Christians, do not fall for this. The ends do not justify the means.
Stand up for the truth and live the gospel. This man is not your leader. Follow Christ.
5
Sad to say, but the combination of Trump’s rude, insulting behavior, and public welcoming of it, is most akin to what exists and succeeds in the WWE. It works well for a large number of people. His pushing in the hard conservative direction gets him more support, regardless of his behavior. An anti-majority is winning. We, the majority, must get off our butts. This is a slow-moving, effective, permanent, disaster unless it is stopped in November.
2
Hey Prez,
What's up with those pale bags under your eyes? Are they from the goofy shades you wear in the tanning booth? Or -- more likely -- the result of [speaking of violence] Violent Headaches?
The walls are crashing in, Prez. November is going to be the single worst month in your sorry life (and one of the happiest in ours). It's getting so close, Prez! Oh dear, not much time left!
Of course, for us sane, civil American's, November can't come soon enough. And yet, getting there is half the fun.
3
Trump is a coward in so many ways as he has proven time and again:
• He never fires his staff in person – it’s invariably by tweet or in some public fashion, which is a gutless way of showing the world that he is decisive and in charge.
• He always oversells and under-delivers on various domestic (healthcare, immigration, trade, etc.) and foreign policy (Iran, North Korea, China, etc.) issues – it’s a craven and dishonest way of claiming credit in advance for outcomes that are yet to be decided.
• He avoided serving in Vietnam on some spurious excuse of having bone spurs in his foot but couldn’t remember which one? As commander-in-chief, he has yet to visit with our troops serving overseas in Afghanistan – the only post-9/11 war he claims to support.
• Now, he is blaming his political opponents of possibly resorting to violence, if they win the midterm elections! This just does not make sense – it’s usually the losing side that resorts to violence. But then only a fool would resort to stoking fear of violence to try to win an election, as he has done before in his 2016 presidential campaign.
It’s no wonder that author Bryant McGill lamented, “The world is not fair, and often fools, cowards, liars and the selfish hide in high places.” And, it doesn’t get any higher than the Oval Office and any starker than its current occupant, who fits all of those descriptions.
Every day it becomes more obvious the real “enemy of the people” is sitting in the White House getting his instructions from Putin and Fox “News”. Oh, and VP Hannity too.
2
EB -- thanks for another insight into the loony left of which you are key leaders. Did you ever think that if the lefty media didn't spend all day in full anti-Trump attack mode that maybe, just maybe, things might lighten up on both sides?
Please, NYT Editorial Board, spare us the delicate irony of "We’ve seen this before, just not, for a very long time, in the United States." Call it by its name. A blood-and-soil, paranoid, hateful, divisive, manipulative, irrational, cunning, and power-mad authoritarian with a grotesque charisma hot-wired to "the soul of the people" is seizing the levers of power while those who should be guardians of freedom are still murmuring in decorous dismay. Your "balanced" editorial policy, your false equivalencies between Democratic peccadilloes and Republican depredations, your granting of a powerful platform to tut-tutting long-term rationalizers (cf. the redoubtable Mr. Brooks) has helped enable what is now revealed as multi-decade GOP project of, in effect, creeping fascism. Thanks to Krugman and Blow for forthrightly sounding the alarums! We should be prepared: a man who has been running a criminal enterprise laundering money for the Russian mob, who sees, in gangster-flick language he loves, that "the jig is up" and he faces a probability of impeachment by a Democratic House that could force him from the White House in handcuffs, will think nothing of bringing the world down around our ears to try to save his own hide. Don't rule out the equivalent of a Reichstag Fire as the mid-term edition of the October Surprise. And you should also be calling for universal paper-ballot back-up to all electronic voting machines--they have proven to be hackable.
6
Religion is not the opium of the masses, fear is...
6
Worthy of propaganda in 1930s Berlin...
It IS "happening here"!
5
Why be so faithful to someone so unfaithful?
1
A president who incites violence.
A president who spouts nonsense daily without restraint, meanwhile turning government into a funnel to move wealth offshore, away from taxes, away from the people.
A president who represents money without national affiliation or loyalty; big MAGA man. The Russians found him offshore, in the same laundry they use, a floundering con propelled by the vacuum of an empty mind, low rodent cunning, a foul mouth and a terror of the truth, which chases him like Capn. Hook’s croc.
A ‘base’ of crackpot white evangelical churchgoers; gun worshippers; sovereign citizen guvmint hatin’ libertarians; white supremacists; ill educated/ semi-literate/ ignorant/ angry whites; nativists; ‘conservatives’ who are radically destructive; ‘family values’ proponents whose politics are mainly a way to express their cruelty, especially toward children. Add more casual enablers who hover in the middle class but harbor a resentment or two, or have a notion that voting for a ‘business man’ is good for the economy, even one who is patently fake.
The GOP: America’s main point of vulnerability, has turned into the realization of Joe McCarthy’s paranoid vision, a body infested, a cosmic joke. Hello Maria Butina.
There is a job to be done and it's more than Trump: it’s time to break the Republican Party with the weight of a massive majority. It can be done. The numbers are there. End the tyranny of the minority.
3
Another from "the president of projection"
Our President is a cheap, third rate scoundrel and he behaves like one. Surprised ?
2
A question for NYT: Why do you keep referring to Trump as "Mr." Trump"? It's a small issue, but one that suggests a show of respect to someone who deserves none.
2
Evilangeicals, that's what each of these alleged ministers of hatred and violence is.
2
Would love to have the list of the "evangelical" leaders at this meeting where Trumpy was stroked and coddled as he trampled the precepts of Christ. Do you think any of them had a real New Testament? Christ of course was heavily into violence - he did throw those money-changers out of the Temple. Must have been one of those anarchic Democrats.
1
So it appears trump's plan is not to personally shoot someone in broad daylight but to get his flying monkeys to do it for him.
Dorothy: get that bucket of water!
1
This wasn't a president speaking to religious leaders. It was a wannabe mob boss pandering to fellow racketeers.
8
Let us not forget that a recent addition to the NYT editorial board (Sarah Jeong) tweeted, "“Oh man. It’s sick how much joy I get from being cruel to old white men”
After military service in the segregated south in the late 50s and the early 60s, nothing will convince me that bible thumping eangelicals are true Christians. They are motivated by hate and bigotry.
4
Nothing is more ironic than the least Christian man on this universe calling on evangelicals to save him from a violent overthrow by the Democratic horde. God, how I miss Obama.
1
Trump proves once again that he's nothing but a Fascist in a position where he does not belong.
2
There seems to be no limit to how low the man will go -- every day brings soundings from a new depth. Today's news -- gross bullying of Canada, America's neighbor and ally -- is disgusting. Trump is telling his supporters that there are no holds barred in the face of effective opposition -- from the majority of Americans -- in November. He is begging his evangelical fellow travelers to bring out the votes, and he is frantic to see his NAFTA abortion condoned before election day. His style and his politics are filled with hatred: hateful. And he is bluntly promoting violence. Shame, Shame, Shame!!!!
2
Once again, TrumPutin projects his adolescent feelings of inadequacy by warning his paltry Following of Idiocy of his own brilliant tactics. This fraud has done NOTHING on his own merit.
1
Another day, another utterly disgraceful action by Trump. Threats of violence are nothing but fear-mongering, demagoguery and a call to his deplorable base. Again, Trump shows complete disdain for America and democracy, and abrogates his fundamental duties as President.
He is a pathetic, but still dangerous, disgrace.
1
It is ridiculous that churches are exempt from all taxation. Only their direct, verified charitable activities, like providing food for the poor, should take place behind a no-taxation shield.
Is not the lack of taxation an indirect subsidy by the government and by all of us for religion? Does this not violate the principle of separation of church and state?
Christians generally and evangelicals in particular act like a political party, but one exempt from normal rules, oversight and, yes, taxation. If they are going to bow down to an abundantly unethical, race baiting, immigrant hating, uneducated and unqualified president, it seems apparent they would sell out, or perhaps are selling out, their country for their tribal/cultural identity.
This is not a religious movement at all, but one that places the cultural prejudices of their membership and sucking up to power above all principle. A sad, sad day in our national history.
503
@Doug Terry
Religious organizations should never have been tax exempt.....ever. The tax money they don't pay which they should could be used for education, infrastructure, universal healthcare and the list goes on.
3
@Doug Terry: This is head-on nullification of the constitutional principle protecting the rights and powers of minorities by limiting what the majority can do.
@Doug Terry
the first words of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an (not the) establishment of religion" Giving tax free status to an establishment of religion (that means any church, temple etc) is certainly "respecting it" and is clearly unconstitutional. The founders were far more concerned about freedom from religion than they were of freedom of religion. Actually freedom from religion is a form of freedom of religion.
1
If this coming election is indeed a referendum on the changes Trump has brought and the attempts of evangelical Christianity to push the country back into its image, then we are at war and all is fair. Voter suppression, gerrymandering, hacked electronic voting machines, and intimidating people from voting are all means to win the battle, as legitimate as the people roasts the Brits (with our help) arranged for German cities and we arranged for Tokyo (and Hiroshima). Winning is important enough to justify waterboarding democracy and the Constitution.
Democrats have largely decided to base their appeal on not adopting the tactics of war and instead using the tactics of peacemaking, taking the moral high ground and estimating that they thereby gain a greater advantage than they would get by emulating Trump's politics of polarization and demonization. They should remember that this decision is a tactical rather than a strategic one; taking the moral high ground gives a better chance of winning in the current situation, and if the situation changes we may have to emulate the Egyptian Arab Spring and hope for better results than they got.
2
"None that we know of is calling for postelection violence, win or lose."
That's kind but inaccurate. The Republican Party, in the person of its senior elected official, IS calling for post election violence.
It has stated that it will accept election results only if it wins.
It has both openly and covertly asked hostile foreign powers to influence elections on its behalf, and has directed American foreign and domestic policy according to the desires and interests of those hostile foreign powers.
It is demonstrably receiving money from those powers.
It refuses to take any action to secure future elections against known attempts to hack and manipulate those elections by the hostile foreign powers that support it.
It hosts Nuremburg-style rallies at which its violent supporters are told that their political opponents will be "locked up" and are told to attack their "enemies", with the promise that they will be protected from legal consequences.
The Russian-funded NRA openly threatens violence against critics on Youtube videos.
Republican mouthpieces like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones deliberately spread inflammatory lies, and their listeners dutifully take gun in hand to attack who they're told to attack.
As Tom Paine said, gentlemen may cry "Peace, peace" but their is no peace. Republicans have declared war on democracy, the Constitution, and the rule of law, and openly call for violence to impose their power against the will of the majority. Any other conclusion is naive.
4
I think Trump is projecting exactly what he and the Republicans have been doing--violently overthrowing everything Obama did. Trump is an interesting study. Everything he says about the "other" is what he is himself. Fake news, of course, that's him. Witch hunt, that's what he is doing at the DOJ. He alone can change things means he alone must control things.
And all this is done out of outright racism or self-protection from the feds finding out that he made his money through probable criminal business practices and got elected by using the Kremlin's help in return for giving Putin a free hand.
3
Let's all take a minute to reflect on how the GOP would have reacted if Obama has said in 2010, "if you elect a republican congress my supporters will turn to violence."
Oh, and lets also keep in mind that Trump is explicitly stating that his supporters are prone to violence.
Our president is essentially threatening us. That in itself should be reason to impeach him.
7
We need to stop entertaining intellectual curiosity articles about him and hold him to account for doing everything from obstructing investigations to enriching himself by refusing to divest interests. The GOP dominated congress will obviously not do anything which makes them culpable. The people themselves need to rise up vigorously to oppose this evil clown and the GOP which through blatant gerrymandering and tampering with voting rights and mechanisms to colluding with Russian meddling have become quite adept at stealing elections.
5
Trump is projecting, as usual. He has spent his "presidency" striving to undo the good work of President Obama, so he assumes Democrats will do the same. He may be right, but Trump's irrational policies deserve to be reversed. Trump's prediction of violence if his party loses in the midterms is not a warning, it's an incitement -- he WANTS his cult followers to be literally up in arms if he doesn't get his way. But there are more of us than of them -- VOTE BLUE in November!
2
On the way to a life in the Cold War, I studied under a brilliant scholar of fascism, Freddy Diamant. He escaped the Holocaust to become an American paratrooper captured in Normandy by the Wehrmacht.
Diamant’s list, as I recall: 1) a socially explosive time 2) a charismatic leader who 3)conjures past glories and entwines himself with national destiny. All that was missing from the President’s fascist experiment, a call for political violence. Now, Trump has made that call to adoring evangelicals.
Like Paul Krugman, I do not believe in whistling in the graveyard. The ground is ready for a banana republic style autogolpe (self-coup) in which an elected president cows legislatures and judiciaries into making him permanent. The precedents, unconstrained by ideology, are numerous: Mussolini, Marcos, Maduro, Ortega, etc.
The November Congressional election is likely to be as consequential for American democracy as the Presidential elections of 1860 and 1932. A Democratic victory in the House of Representatives will restore the House’s constitutional duty to check an out of control executive.
I urge Republicans who don't wish to recognize the danger to read Toqueville, now out of fashion among them. The great Frenchman presciently warned against the susceptibility of the American masses to demagogues.
6
Geez!. Maybe those Evangelical preachers will have to hire extra security guards to protect their corporate jets if the Dems win big! I can imagine that level of fear will motivate them to make some powerful appeals to their poor flock.
There is one other fear of future " violence", best defined by the following:
"Whoever,owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer DEATH........
3
Looking at the picture, I see money-not Christianity.
4
Remember:
This is the person who routinely accuses others of his own misdeeds.
This is the person who in the course of the campaign - at a Republican Primary ‘debate’ - said, “There is a lot of anger out there.”
This is the person who in the course of the presidential campaign asked his followers to consider what would happen if he lost the election and subsequently concluded, “Well, you know, second amendment rights…”
Add them all up and you’ve got far more than a dog whistle.
7
This is probably the most frightening tactic from Trump yet. Incite fear, claim only you can fix it, prepare people to accept more authoritarian measures in exchange for "safety", repeal civil rights.
7
The way I read this is that it is a dog whistle to Evangelical leaders that if Democrats win the midterms he will call on THEM (the "Christian soldiers") and others in his "base" to incite violence.
2
The attendees at the dinner have made a deal with the Devil . They are willing to be complicit in the destruction of our republic if the can establish a theocracy in its ruins. Our "Pariah President" could care less about the form of government established as long as he could still be the head of it. Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha wept-as should we all.
3
My hope and prayer is that voters across America will send a clear message that the jig is up on the President's divisive and backwards agenda
4
" ... [Trump] has lied, stoked racial and ethnic fears and, now, raised the specter of violence." "Trump is a sad, embarrassing wreck of a man" (Conservative Columnist George Will)
"Mr. Trump should worry that Americans will stop believing anything he says." (Wall Street Journal, May2018)
This is terrifying. I just finished watching "The Handmaid's Tale." I started off the series thinking of Sinclair Lewis: "It can't happen here." As the weeks have ticked by, though, the premise seems less and less unthinkable. The idea of a nation ruled by jackbooted oligarchs is dreadfully close to the truth. God help us all.
I've been thinking recently that I'm desperately glad I'm not young anymore. But what of my poor, dear grandchildren? What have we done, to let this be our legacy? How have we let this happen?
This terrible man makes George W. Bush seem like Marcus Aurelius.
3
Again. Minimizing Antifa. You will never get it.
trump and his christian evangelical associopaths have embraced the worst humanity has to offer.
Hypocrisy, thy name is religion.
4
We heard this same kind of fear-mongering from the right when Obama was elected. Blacks were going to riot in the streets, just like in the last reel of "Birth of a Nation!" They were going to close white-owned businesses and confiscate white people's property! They were going to confiscate your GUNS!
None of that happened, and the closest thing to a Communist take-over that Fox News could find was a proposal for modest, market-based reforms of health care delivery. But most tea partiers remain convinced that he WANTED to, even if he didn't. They live in absolute dread of getting their karma, and Trump knows what usually happens to dictators in the end.
3
Meanwhile back at the ranch the EPA is being gutted, the CFPB is being dismantled, Dodd–Frank is being compromised, huge chunks of public lands are being sold off, and all while the FBI is being disemboweled.
7
Mr. Trump is one sick, misguided, fear mongering, uncouth plutocrat. America should view this language as perilously close to unbridled hate speech. Trump is no longer pushing the edge, but has jumped off, perhaps assuming the bungee cord is still well anchored to a crumbling castle?
5
Evangelical, maybe. Christian, NO. Christ’s message was simple: love your neighbor (meaning everybody else, not the guy who lives next door and thinks just like you), take care of the weak and poor, and leave the judging to God. This vile circus is the antithesis of anything Christian. Christ would be - must be - appalled.
5
He is actually inciting his supporters to protest with violence should the Democrats retake one or both of the Congressional chambers.
2
Once again using one of his favorite tactics, the content of his speech pointed the finger at the Other, in this case those dreaded liberals and moderates who are against republican guns, wars, and violence. It is to us that he attributes all the violent impulses, while introducing the novel idea that Americans, even so called religious folks should get the idea into their heads that violence is the way they should respond if they lose this next election.
There is no more sociopathic, anti social, violent man to be in the WH. Trump is inciting people to violence with a thin mask of political and legal deniability. He is a very sick man, a pathological liar who is always in need of adult supervision.
But as a truly anti social type would do hi is getting rid of all this adult supervisors so the enfant terrible can act out without restraint to incite violence, and if he's lucky (from his point of view) start a civil war with all the guns his side had made available in civil society.
People need to have the veil drop from their eyes. He might hug flags onstage like the ridiculous buffon he is but he is no patriot. The opposite of John McCain. He hates American for not loving and adoring his false wildly inflated image of himself. And he wants revenge against Americans for not validating his mythology of self as a hero and a genius.
Trump is using the evangelicals. He is leading the lambs to slaughter.
2
Trump repeatedly hits on FBI officials as “disgusting” and “sad”. What is really disgusting and sad is that he is NOT draining the swamp as promised. What is now quite apparent is he’s engendering a veritable cesspool of rampant unbridled corruption! During trump’s first year in office white-collar crime cases filed against individuals is lower than at any time in more than 20 years. DOJ fines against companies fell 90 percent from what they were in Obama’s last year in office.
4
It's interesting how the Times can be angry and divisive while accusing Trump of being angry and divisive.
@Mike Livingston
In other words, so, the division began with Trump?
Trump is the enemy of the people and these so-called "religious leaders" that would follow him and believe him and preach politics from the pulpit are nothing but hypocrites of the worst order. Trump is a loathsome vile human being whose words and actions should have these men and women running from his as fast as possible instead of running to him.
There is only one violence-inciting, hate-mongering, racist, xenophobe threatening this democracy and his name is Trump.
6
How sick is He Who Shall Not Be Named? America nay the world will immediately collapse if He is not in power. His amazing greatness is the only thing that matters in America. If He is gone ALL is lost. No more money or your home or job or freedom or your gun. ALL gone. Only He can protect you. Don't let 'them' take ME away from you.
The squirrels are running around in his head and it's not good.
6
America, take heed. You have met of the enemy of democracy. Your ‘Terrorist in Chief’ is alive, unwell and totally unrestrained... not only on his metaphorical Fifth Avenue murder boast, but from the disgraced pulpit of the Oval Office of the President from which he preaches nothing but fear, loathing and disrespect for the morally lost Republic that gave him the keys to this office. America, it’s time to “Lock him out.”
7
No question about it. Every good student of history knows the fascist playbook and knows what comes next for Trump. Give him eight or ten years. If the voters continue to support him it's time to find a new country.
4
I didn't invent the term Hypo-Christian, but given the outrageous hypocrisy of the would-be Christian Taliban, it seems completely fitting.
That said, what should we expect given that most of the evangelical cultists in the US have their roots in a split from other churches in the mid-1800s because they also believe(d) that God condones slavery and segregation.
2
I truly do not think that this inept, egotistical, corrupt despot can comprehend the fact that people detest him for completely legitimate reasons. I'd be willing to go as far to say that he has become the most hated American in history in 19 months. Way to go, Trump. You're the tops at something.
4
Sadly, for these white evangelicals Trump has become their false idol and false messiah. They think he will deliver them the world when only he will bring them ruin. They give into his fear mongering for they have forsake their faith in their Creator. Elected leaders comes and goes, while Christ is forever eternal. Don't let this Caesar make you be his currency to keep his enthralled flock in bondage.
1
Again, he threatens violence!
4
All we Democrats will be doing after we take back the House and Senate in the streets is dancing, perhaps with a band and floats, the Portland Gay Men's Chorus, the cast of Hamilton, Randy Rainbow, and Darcelle and her dancers, with a hearty feast afterwards!
2
He should be indicted for inciting violence and hate speech. Now. More indicatable offenses.
2
Only a big blue wave can wash out a toxic red tide! Vote! Everybody vote!
6
Whats next if Dems win the senate and Congress, Martial law, curfew. With John Kelly, the military genious as chief of staff nothing is impossible. We are fast becoming a truly exceptional country
1
I no longer call myself a Christian. I just don't have enough hate inside of me.
7
It is past time to delete tax exempt status from all churches, this includes Scientology, the Catholic Church and of course all these so called Evangelical TV 'churches' that are only corrupt mafia like organisations. Then see how many are left standing!
Of course, please take Trump with them. Vote in November.
4
The Times (not only the Times) seems still not able to see how dangerous this president is. This man is really, really dangerous to this country. To its values. To its promise. To its future. We are, in fact, in the middle of a profound battle as to whether we will be the nation of Washington and Lincoln or the nation of George Wallace and David Duke. The Times does chide the thug in the White House, but still couches its language in politesse and civility, as if this were a gentle college debate, not a war of real consequences. I warned more than a year ago that Trump would lead us to a civil war, a real one, and I still believe he will. Fundie Christians, racists, xenophobes and far right zealots have united to crush anyone who is not white, heterosexual and male. The Times knows this, but seems unwilling to say so unequivocally. Why I do not know.
7
Lies and hyperbole...hyperbole and lies...
It's Trump who incites to riot...
6
This is pure fear-monger tactics to scare the base and keep them voting Republican at the mid-term elections.
The 'base' need to remember their health care benefits before they vote. They need to remember the great tax cut and just how great it has been for them and not just the rich billionaires before they vote. They need to remember the neo-Nazi/KKK/racist demonstrations and ask themselves if this is what America is all about and what they individually are about. They need to remember the great Republican plan to take babies from their mothers arms at the border and lock them all up while those mothers and babies were seeking asylum from violence in the countries they fled. Where is the Statue of Liberty again?...in the US or someplace else?
Is America the home of the free and land of the brave or the home of the fearful and the land of the racist.
I know that none of these issues are simple and that people need to look beyond the simplistic slogans that are offered up before elections. People need to think about public policy and educate themselves on what that policy means to their lives.
Figure it out before you vote in November.
3
The only people i fear turning to violence are the extreme right wing conservatives, the neo-Nazi wing, and the white supremacists of the GOP. If the Democratic Party or its members were going to be violent, they would have done so by now. We prefer to work within the system. We're not the ones using dog whistle political hate speech, or parading around with our guns at supposed peaceful rallies. We're not threatening anything other than legitimate, established adherence to established laws to return our country to sanity.
4
@Alice
I think it's important to point out that it is the trump supporters who are well-armed and willing.
2
Another detail of the idiocy of Trump. Dems generally don't tend toward violence, obviously. The ones who do are usually in a setting that involves racists, nazis, and white supremacists. When he is voted out of office, there will only be mass celebration.
3
Every person to whom Trump was speaking has already chosen Trump over Jesus. They have sold their souls to the devil for judges. Trump is a liar, and Jesus taught that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44)
We can only hope that enough so-called Christians wake to the con job, repent, and vote against the GOP in November and vote against Trump in 2020.
1
So, here we have a serial philanderer and adulterer, rightly famous for lying at almost every opportunity, a man who sees taking children from their families as a good idea. Somehow he is looked upon by the moral leaders of the Evangelical Christian Right as their leading light. How do you spell hypocrisy?
5
If you keep confusing Donald Trump for Jesus Christ you have a lot more problems than Hillary Clinton.
2
the con preaching to the pretending to be conned.
a now familiar con-vention, wherein fake conservative fake leaders tell fake christians that their fake christianity is in fake peril, and the fake preachers profess fake horror.
con-temptible, but a con-dition of con-servative politics.
3
Are Trump and the republicans waiting for a Reichstag fire incident to happen, so that they can annul the midterm elections, outlaw political opponents, and purge justice, police and army?
7
By suggesting that the Democrats, with victory in November, will violently overturn all he has done, he is pumping up his base, which in many cases are aggressive blokes to begin with, to in turn take to the streets! That's to put it mildly, with all the divisiveness he's already caused! I can't believe I've been compelled to write this, but it's obvious we have a nut in the White House! Where are America's statesmen and women?!!!
3
Would someone (Mr. Mueller) pleeeaaasssse put this man (DJT) out of our misery?
4
The Fuhrer used the threat of violence to intimidate his opponents at his early beer hall speeches and later during his bid for Reich Chancellor. Is Trump coming out with a revised edition of The Art of the Deal?
2
I'm trying to imagine violent progressives, beating people up with white papers?
1
My punch in the nose is to simply circle the oval next to the name of a Democratic Office seeker. Pow!
1
A lot of evil hides in the church. Beware of pious phonies - they are legion.
4
When are the Trumpster gang members going to throw off their white sheets and march around in their brown shirts?
Please UPS folks, I'm not referring to you...you are wonderful and a terrific service.
By predicting violence, it appears Trumpster is condoning it from his thugs...ah, supporters.
He and his henchmen and minions can be defeated,but we all must VOTE.
2
This whole Trump/ Evangelical union is a witches brew of a man who has violated just about every Christian virtue (short of murder) there is; and a group who seem FAR MORE INTERESTED in WASP power than doing God`s work. That aside (as if that is not bad enough) ; now Trump has the unmitigated gall to play the savior of Christianity in America and is quite willing to push to have Evangelicals to endorse him despite the tax code provision "Forbidding" this unholy alliance. Trump`s threat that there will be blood in the street if he is not protected is really pathetic. The blood being spilled since he usurped the White House was that of a young woman in Charlottesville at the hands of the K.K.K. / NAZI supporters of Trump. So where is the real threat of violence coming from? The demagogue in the White House of course.
3
@Greg Hodges
"......a man who has violated just about every Christian virtue (short of murder)" and he has stated he could get away with murdering someone.
This clear violation between church and state is utterly disgusting but the fact is, the Evangelicals sold themselves out long ago for the cause of White Power; they can’t get away anymore with wearing white pointed hoods but that’s essentially where they’re coming from. As for these unnamed so-called “religious leaders,” they are simply glorifying in seeing a bigger, even uglier version of themselves in the mirror. Trump reflects them: he’s a con man, fraud, liar, cheat, hypocrite, deadbeat, racist and lowlife constantly looking for marks to buy into his scam. He is them, and they are him. All of these hucksters are hideous people, and are beneath contempt.
4
Democrats, just keep on trucking'!
1
I would not worry. These crazies on the left won't win anything. Once their despicable tantrum fits are over they will not do anything.
1
As in all of Herr Trump's statements he projects his behavior on to others. If he is accused of being Putin's puppet by an opponent his response is you're the puppet. He is just a walking inferiority complex who has no shame in blaming others for all his shortcomings. If all the organizations he says are against are truly against him he would not be President he'd be back sitting on his golden commode. As someone who grew up in Queens at the same time as the would-be Fuhrer I can say that racism is a significant component of his views. Most have outgrown the racism as they age but his has fermented into the bitterest of vinegar!
1
It is time to stop worrying about being casually insulted and called alarmists and “lefties” by quislings like Gary Abernathy and Hugh Hewitt and Ed Rogers and Sean Hannity and Fox News. It is time to call Trump what he is. He is a fascist.
3
Religious leaders who tie themselves to Trump now are likely to be discredited soon by this immoral Faker.
Hopefully some of these family value Preachers will urge Trump to reunite Haspanic "babies in cages" he is holding with their immigrant families.
The photograph perfectly captured the truth: it was room full of charlatans. The immoral, pathological liar, illegitimate president Donald Trump, in a room of his supporters, pathological lying, opportunistic charlatans posing as "religious" leaders. Grotesque.
3
More fake news. The Left has led in violence. Remember the President had to cancel a rally in Chicago. Or the violence against Trump supporters in San Jose. Awful. Much safer to walk through any Trump stronghold with a Hillary "Stronger Together" t- shirt than for me to walk ANYWHERE in San Francisco with a MAGA hat on. Progressives here in the echo chamber - I dare you to refute me
2
@Bob
The phrase "fake news" must be the reflexive answer for anything less than laudatory about Mr. Trump. The Times editorial simply shows the president's statements to the evangelical leaders and at other times in quotation marks.
Are you claiming that Mr. Trump did not make those statements? I didn't think so.....
6
@Bob
I think if anyone is guilty here of fake news, it's you. trump canceled the Chicago rally because the hall was filled largely by anti-trump people who were loud but certainly not violent. Like your hero, you distort reality.
2
While I don't know if there is a literal fascist playbook, it seems like this tactic would at minimum get its own chapter.
1
I am a believer, and I find it difficult to accept the so-called "Evangelicals" as anything other than the right wing christian Taliban in this country. The only difference between the right wing christian Taliban and the Afghan variety is the means which each group uses to reach its goals.
7
I wouldn't honor these Evangelicals by call them Christians; they are about as Christian as a doorknob. It's all just a racket to separate the rubes and yahoos and the feeble minded from their money, just a business like any other sucker business, and should be fully taxed and regulated as such.
3
We've seen it before. 1930's Europe. Fascism.
3
Trump’s language is edging perilously close to that used by Adolph Hitler as he gained prominence; testing the tolerance of his country for hatred and division. In his not so subtle way he is the one promoting hatred and inciting violence.
This is a truly frightening statement that should get him kicked out of his job.
642
@Timothy
Yes, he seems to enjoy slinging certain words at his always receptive base/audience such as..."VIOLENTLY, and VIOLENTLY."
1
@Timothy His first wife Ivana said Trump had a copy of Hitler's speeches by his bedside and that he read them often. If that is true, and we have no reason to doubt her word, then he is very familiar with Hitler's words, techniques and general oratory. So, this would appear to be done with purpose.
@Timothy
https://www.theroot.com/trump-kept-a-copy-of-hitlers-speeches-near-hes-b...
Trump has the worst case of Projection Disorder I have ever seen.He has not one personality trait of merit[unless you call being the" salesman of con"} which he mirrors at will onto his supporters, who he couldn't care less about. Do his supporters really not care that these swamp creatures are stealing their tax $$ and paying none of their own??Do they enjoy being riled up by an idiot??Would they stand by this loser if he shot a gaggle of THEM at one of his revolting rallies??Don't kid yourselves, he wouldn't think twice about doing it just to prove he could get away with it.What will it take for his supporters and congress to finally mutiny??In getting out the vote on 11/6,I keep asking this question of trump's supporters and am met with silence.Think about it,I would really appreciate an answer.
This November, let's relegate this man's party to the trash compactor of history.
8
Mr. Trump is a mentally ill(Narcissistic Personality Disorder) illegitimate President who won the electoral college due to underhanded moves to keep his adulterous actions out of the news and accepted nay asked assistance from our greatest enemy Russia. For him to,preach to preachers can only remind me that Lucifer is a trained liar that decides the weak and cowardly. Trump only has one weapon FEAR to motivate his fellow cowardly bigoted and misogynistic hordes. America deserves much better so let’s vote in a BLUE TSUNAMI OF VOTES IN NOVEMBER FOR OUR NATIONS SOUL.
5
The stupidity, hypocrisy, and vacuity of the evangelical Christians who support Trump never cease to give me pause. That every one of these people claim to have a "personal relationship" with Jesus is the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
If these people really believe that Jesus Christ would have supported Donald Trump, then they need to revisit the Scriptures. These people are false Christians.
4
Democrats will bring Venezuela to the United States.
It is very sad to see these Christian leaders sell their faith and their God so cheaply to a charlatan.
4
The Evangelicals and Trump are quite a disgusting sight. These so-called "people of faith" proudly support a lying, racist traitor, whom Jesus, their savior, would despise. The only silver lining is that the abject, craven hypocrisy of these "Christians" is on display forthe world to see.
3
Impeach. Indict. Imprison.
2
Hello Mitch McConnell?
What is it gong to take of you to speak out and censure this guy?
His whites-only hate rallies are solely intended to gin up violence (and feed his bloated ego)
What is your hesitation to say what any sane person would sy MST be to the "leader "of the Senate .
You are complicit !
For shame !
If dereliction of duty were a crime, you would be wearing an orange jumpsuit.
History will not remember you well.
3
What a miserable liar, this despicable Trump is, shamelessly aggressive in promoting violence by prompting his base to be on the alert for the forthcoming deluge...if he and his minions (partners in 'crime') don't win this coming November, in spite of the outstanding incompetence, and superb corruption, that has impregnated this government. When was the last time we had a mafia in control, trampling on us, stealing from the middle class and the poor, lying at will, and placing the world in peril?
4
As Trump keeps telling bigger and more dangerous lies, and foments more and more hatred within his ignorant base, the likelihood of actual physical confrontation becomes more and more likely. In case no one has noticed, this is ALL being orchestrated by Trump. He thrives on the basest traits of humanity and uses his sycophants to do his bidding. So did John Gotti, Al Capone and Adolf Hitler.
A REAL President would NEVER want this, let alone encourage it. Trump, on the other hand, is drawing lines of existential conflict with his KKK-type rallies, specious propaganda, and truly incredible lies. He is committing blatant OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE as he sees the handwriting on the wall and approaching handcuffs. This is so Nixonian (but to the extreme). At least Nixon had a concept of the office of the President - Trump has none and is trashing it like he has trashed his do nothing crooked businesses.
All power to Mueller and SDNY!
WE try to tell you; WE try to warn you; WE protect your right to free speech but we do NOT condone your attempts to overthrow this Democracy. That is OUR red line, and YOU shall not cross it.
4
Trump only survives due to crass hypocrisy of everyone around him. Trump is a rank hypocrite and so will be the churches for enabling him. Even the Irish recently disavowed the catholic church for its hypocrisy. And if the devout Irish can do it, so can the battalions of American churchgoers. How many of the commandments must be removed from the tablets before christians can enable a self-serving, philandering, lying, racist, bigot like Trump?
1
To borrow a line from the good book:
The Evangelicals also quote the Scriptures.
Supporting the pedophile Roy Moore and the racist Donald Trump while praising the name of Jesus during Sunday service is not a problem for these bible-thumping bigots.
3
Donald Trump is saturated with vileness and violence. His heart is unclean and all that he utters is vile.
1
Donald Trump is a dangerous buffoon. Please, can the adults in the Republican Party come to their senses? I fear not.
5
ANTIFA, the Democrat enforcement arm, regularly uses violence directed at anyone they declare a Nazi or fascist - and that is usually any random person they come across not wearing a balaclava.
Trump supporters do not commit violence.
The alter reality of the NYT wants us to ignore what is actually happening in favor of their columnists’ made up hallucinations of what they project may happen.
3
Pay less attention to Trump. Although Mr. Trump holds the power of the Presidency and has, without consequence, turned that into dictatorial, unregulated power, his rantings and actions have successfully camouflaged what his cabinet has been doing the past two years to dismantle the United States we grew up and lived in.
The analogy to the rise of Nazi Germany in the 30s is so literal and so strong that it is very possible the world at large will be remembering America as the Fourth Reich. Look at the U.S. today and then look at Germany around 1933-36, it’s easy to see us as the New Nazis.
Beware America! Bit by bit, faster and faster, we are becoming The Evil Empire... what have you been doing to stop this? What will you be doing between now and November 6th to stop this rotting of our venerable nation?
2
Shame on any so called religious leader who succumbs to trump's claptrap. Any sentient person can see it for what it is, an attempt to foment disruption and discord. If violence were to erupt as the result of trump and the GOP taking the thumping they deserve, it would come from the white supremacists and Neo Nazis who answer the call of trump's dog whistles.
In the 2008 presidential election, a sweet white 75 yr old lady in my office predicted bloody killings of whites if Obama won. She also predicted bloody killings of whites if Obama lost. Go figure. Name of this game...."they" will kill you in your beds if "they" are allowed to rise. Was she disappointed at the lack of bloodshed?
2
Trump is a deranged clown. He is the most disingenuous person imaginable. And yet, he has crazed followers that believed him from the start and seem to worship the ground he walks on no matter how foolish he behaves and how blatantly he lies. And now he is inciting violence. He is preparing his followers to be violent if he doesn’t win. Why? To save his own cowardly criminal hide.
This is very dangerous territory we are in. It’s been brewing for years. And now we have the unhappy result—a country that appears to have about 25% of its population unable to think for themselves and willing to following and adore this preposterous, self-aggrandizing fool who is simply enriching himself and trying to save his own butt at our expense.
There are many that will complain that I don’t understand Trump voters. It just makes things worse to ridicule or insult them. I disagree. We are enabling them by giving them respect for the sheer ignorance and thoughtlessness that they are destroying our country with. So you don’t like your government? Vote for people who will make good changes even if they are small. Afterall, if your bathroom needed remodeling you wouldn’t burn down your house, would you? We have become like the spouse of an alcoholic, constantly making excuses for these people. No more excuses for Trump supporters. People may die because of their lunacy.
1
It might be a good time to uncover the financial shenanigans
of the evangelical mega-churches et al.......
Not a bad idea to focus a very bright light on Pence.....
and in particular, get him under oath about what he knows about Russian interference in our election.....
He's already lied under oath.......C'mon guys
this infection in the ranks of this country could cause it's demise.
Squeaky clean....he a'int
3
Let's give it to Trump: for someone with so little interest in history, he's doing a stellar job in copying the fascist playbook. Then again, maybe one doesn't need to know history, just have the right pathology...
1
Like the summer intern picture that the WH won't release, the crowd is predominantly while, male and "christian" (whatever that means). It appears diversity is overrated in the WH.
It is truly disheartening to observe the selective morality of these evangelical leaders. Trump is using scare tactics right out of the Nazi playbook. How can their congregations fall for such snake oil?
"Sir, I commend you for your courage.” Trump has plenty of supporters and quite frankly, he's pretty popular. It kind of reminds me of Hitler.
2
To DJT and all the fearful evangelicals ho believe him - boo!
That Trump has no loyalty to anyone is reflected by the fact he has no problems embracing a person who says members of Trump's family (the Jewish ones) are bound for hell.
To put it in Freudian terms, this man is all id. He has no conscience and no sense of reality.
2
"with the threat of “antifa” or anti-fascist activists who occasionally disrupt"
occasionally? you really need to read the news before writting these editorials.
2
Onward Christian bigots and fairy tale believers for the Dark Ages are calling you back to the future.
Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.
Now the faithful all hail the coming of the second con.
Gullibility, it truly knoweth no bounds.
Tax church property.
Hopefully.....yes....After Trump a Welcome Fresh Deluge …
Welcome to all the needed cleansing
…..a welcome washing away of all the foulness that Trump has stained our lives with....
Wash away the endless daily deceit
Flush away all the filthy twisted lies
Welcome a cleansing deluge to wash away
all the immoral and unjust ideas of Trump
Hopefully new Congress will get rid of the worst juggernaut in our electoral process
….a juggernaut to fair elections is the undemocratic law passed by The Roberts Supreme Court...Citizens United ..the legal tool of rich billionaires who buy Congressional House and Senate representatives to pass laws which enrich and continue to empower them...
This is why we have this rotten President and his Cabinet
in the White House.
Welcome to a deluge....wash this foul swamp out of D.C..
1
How easily the NYT libs forget about the pre election violence promulgated by Maxine Waters and her ilk. Against families trying to eat peacefully in a public restaurant.
2
@john palmer there have been a few isolated incidents and the people that did those are in the wrong. But they represent a very small minority. Most folks on both sides are more towards the center. It is the extreme left and right who need to tone things down. Trump is not helping things by making things sound worse than they are.
I like the article but I wonder how many readers "get" the allusion to Louis XV in the title... Just sayin' :)
Nothing new there. The world has seen fake Christians in lock step with faschists before in history.
1
Let’s all remember who we are:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity. . . “
Trump and his Republican swamp creatures want to divide the country for power and profit.
If we are truly going to make America great again, it will be when we return to the values and spirit of our founding fathers, in cooperation and solidarity, not divisiveness and competition.
1
How far we've fallen from a president who thoughtfully and compassionately warned about and assuaged fear to unite a nation to one who purposely and publicly stokes fear to divide it. From a president who got us through the worst war ever and set the course for lasting peace and shared prosperity to one who seems to hunger for conflict if only to burnish his "tough guy" image.
Is there no one left of the "Greatest Generation" to remind the foolish just how far we've come and how dangerous this man and his believers are?
3
Time for Trump’s Brown Shirts to occupy stage center?
3
Who are these "Christian Leaders".....who believe in this
liar; deceiver; and blatant iconoclast of all that Christ taught.
who are seen congratulating all that is ant-Christian.
These are are not followers of Christ...….are they ...
3
Your subtitle of this story has a mistake.
You wrote “all he as done” instead of “all he has done”.
Donald Trump sewing seeds of violence will reap social disintegration. Evangelicals are shameless to be rallying behind a violent racist like Trump.
3
At least once per day trump appears to grow a new Gorgon head that keeps his insipid base stoned with fear, contemplating the irrational. At the same time, I believe there are better angels coming to break this spell. History is our guide. This is America. (Comey, Meacham, Albright: please publish your second edition ASAP)
1
……..camp accused President ………. of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."… ……..men called Vice President ……… "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."
Don’t fret, the country has been down this road many times before. Those lines are from Vice President Jefferson’s camp and President Adams camp. Our history is full of these derogatory remarks, particularly during high stakes elections like the upcoming one.
So let’s all get out there and vote this November.
Worst "president" ever.
1
Let's state this plainly, a vote for a Republican is a vote for Fascism. It is as simple as that.
5
Evangelical religions are a joke. No wonder religion is getting less popular all the time. No wonder evangelicals home school their children, otherwise they might wander outside and learn the truth.
Evangelical pastors are in it for the money. Tax free money. What could be better?
They invoke Jesus' name in the same sentence that they honor Trump? What a scam.
How can that many people be that stupid? No wonder they like to defund public education. An educated populace is their worst enemy.
4
Trump is a monster.
Shame on his greedy enablers, who give him their support because they gain money and power.
1
Trump is searching for his "Reichstag Fire". And yes, it can happen here.
1
Are these religious people that want to improve the world and lift people up, or more promoters like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who where happy to mislead their base to create their own power and wealth?
Jesse Jackson Net Worth is $14 Million dollars and earns an annual income of $1 million dollars. Jesse Jackson is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and politician. Jesse Jackson recently bought a brand new Range Rover luxury car for $210,000 USD.
Sharpton was appointed by Jesse Jackson as youth director of Operation Breadbasket in 1969. It is a group that focused on the promotion of new and better jobs for African-Americans.
Net Worth: $5 Million, but may have millions in tax liens
And some how some of their kids became rich
Embarrassing ....
1
Top 7 Po’ TASS character traits: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. Enough is enough.
If we want to see 2 futures here I’d safely say the Evangelicals who support this grifter are writing their own death warrant and that most Americans hear appeals to optimism...ie the Democrats.
This may indeed be the terminus of the long Republican run at stoking fear to get older Christian white makes to vote. This may be the last dying gasp of the soon to be minority.
Go ahead stoke those fears Donald. We’ll just add sedition and incitement to violence to the charges against you when the inevitable turn around happens. In a courtroom, following the rule of law, unlike you and your desperate attempt to hold onto power illegally just like in the Banana republic aka The Trump ( dis) organization.
In fact the more you talk the more you lose, and you just can’t keep your big fat stupid arrogant mouth shut .
This is the government of the people and by the people .
You will lose . Fair and square . Without violence. We use the ballot box instead.
You are running really scared with good reason .No matter what Putin’s trolls respond, you and he are going to lose so big, there will hardly be words to describe it.
Amen
It's nauseating to see evangelical Christians applauding this repulsive man - liar, cheater, swindler, thug - this horrible example for our children. Do evangelical Christians hate abortion that much? Do they fear freethinkers that much? Yes, I suppose they do.
2
Is it mind control or brain control? Or both, these nutty, rube pastors and their brainless followers are playing a game of Russian roulette with six bullets in the chamber. My only hope, they kill each other off at the practice range, using each other for target practice. You can’t make this stuff up. What a weird world.
1
Who's got the guns, who's violent? Let's think a little; Donnie's dad was a member of the KKK; a racist landlord who took New York to court - and lost! Roy Cohn, Trump's dad and Donnie's lawyer taught Donnie to act like, to be a mobster; the mobster charmed his way in the land of fools and got elected.
The mobster usurped the Presidency of America!
All the crimes and ugliness that America was built upon became his Trump card; violence against natives, slavery, military and economic adventurism abroad - to the like minded, MAGA! His supporters needed an outlet to dump their accumulated hatred for the colored people, feeling that the white folk hegemony is coming to an end.
Christian righteousness, xenophobia, racism and jingoism made a pact and shook hand with their elected monster! One with an approval rating of 90% of his party. Only Gaddafi did better!
So, Christian fakery, Republican hypocrisy, the rich men rackets, NRA, KKK, military industrial complex all joined in this ungodly misery that befell on America.Their man is Now speaking of violence if he goes down.
There will be blood! Again, who has the guns? It is obvious; his supporters are armed to the teeth. All they need is "a call to arms". Trump did just that; is doing it and will keep doing it!
Trump is a monster in the truest sense of the word, a present and real danger. Violence will commence; It is not a question of If but When! This is a disaster in the making! We must pay utmost attention, be alert!
3
Trump is the AntiChrist, Satan's emissary come to earth disguised as Christ. The Evangelicals are joyous! The end times are nigh! The final conflict is almost here. Soon they, the chosen few, will be able to throw off their clothes and rise to heaven where they can live in love and luxury without the annoying inconvenience of having brown skin people around. Rapture! WeeHa!
2
evangelicals are worse than roman catholics. A truly terrible bunch that want to impose their ridiculous beliefs on the rest of us.
2
Trump has senile dementia.... He's the only one who believes in what comes out of his dirty mouth... those other are there like dogs waiting for crumbs....
2
Maybe I can pose a stupid quesion to Herr Donald. If the Democrats do take control Congress, why would they need violence when they can simply to replace his despicable agenda?
2
There isn't much venn overlap between Christians and "evangelicals". Probably like the alt-right and the eleven or so remaining "regular" Republicans. These Christian sharia-fundamentalists are just plain nuts. I am a Democrat and "antifa" doesn't represent me, but I'll side with "antifa" against the nazis and the KKK all day long.
6
A rotten human being.
1
Their sycophantic fawning, bowing and scraping is a disgusting spectacle. What would Jesus do? We know what he'd do. He cleared the moneychangers from the temple. This is all about money, and he's surrounded himself with birds of a feather, all flocking together, the classic con-men, the preachers, purveyors of nonsense who steal men's souls in exchange for coin.
If Jesus has a grave, he'd be rolling over in it right now. What a pack of idiots. Can't they see how foolish they are?
2
I don't want to see him impeached. This November vote his blind sheep out, let him serve his term, then march him hogtied out of the White House into the courthouse and let him serve the remainder of his life in his favorite color, orange.
3
Does anyone remember Hitler; or Mussolini …...they like Trump
had the same message......I....alone can save you....and fear
the doomsday disaster if you do not support me.
Who were the gullible fools who believed Hitler...or ...Mussolini
…..(those without power to make any changes in their government)
Who now are the gullible fools who believe Trump..(fascist
propagandist)….those who fear that they are helpless and
need a "strong dictator" to lead them..
Same playbook as Hitler and Mussolini.....this is Herr Trump.
and to fight fascists like Hitler, Mussolini and Trump...is
to …..fight their lies with all the oratory you can muster...
...and vote in November to remove this fascist madman's
followers out of office....As an Independent ...I will vote for
all the best Democrats I can...unless they are as crooked as
Trump ….so Tell us Editors who you think can get ride of this
Fascist Congress ...well...speak up...perhaps on CNN or MSNBC....come out of your Ivory Tower in Manhattan and
speak up...please.
4
The fake president is full of proverbial bull pucky. Violence is always committed, and incited, by right-wing, anarchic, anti-government, anti-American "Republicans," and white nationalists. Charleston? Look it up. We have more to fear from white terrorists, than from any other group, when it comes to violence.
3
The Times needs to broaden its focus to the Republican enablers of Trump. Someone clearly has something damning on Lindsey Graham. He looks haggard and sick to his stomach every time he betrays his dear "friend" Jeff Sessions. What is it? Why in the world does the entire Republican Party avert its eyes as Rep. Nunez performs acts of treason in broad daylight? Keep digging--wider and deeper!
6
Had Trump been a contemporary of Hitler, he would have made a a better propaganda minister than Goebbels, spewing hatred and inciting violence. Trump has no knowledge, talent, or skills as the chief executive of this country but he's unquestionably adept at bringing out the worst in people.
3
@nzierler Ernst Rohm ran Hitler's street thugs until Hitler got paranoid that Rohm would overthrow him.
1
Why doesn't anyone call the man what he really is: a fascist? The fears he and his supporters on hate radio and Fox "News" are stoking are eerily reminiscent of what the German people used to hear in the propaganda machine of the Nazi party circa the early 1930s.
4
The disease running through the American rightwing and its unthinking base of support is its assault on truth. How else could it exist? It cannot.
Right now, it's threatening as hell, since it has all the power positions in the US -- it is that virulent and that effective. It is nothing short of astonishing to people who trade in real truth, honesty, goodness, and respect for others.
Do not foist some false equivalency into this observation; it is readily provable who is lying and cheating. Stop the BS long enough to lay the facts out and anyone can see it. The media is too busy sucking in ad profits to deal with this effectively.
It is a relatively bloodless coup. Without the 4th estate, the other three can and will run the show. And run the table.
And this used to be such a good country.
4
He's confusing the majority of this country with his little band of merry pyschopaths. We don't want violence. We just want him OUT.
4
One problem with people like Trump is they assume the rest of humanity is as vindictive, sadistic, and virulent as they are. This is yet another example of projection by this man, examples of which are in the thousands at this point.
It's an interesting photo that accompanies this article. Rarely do you see an entire room full of hypocrites and charlatans. I hope a "blue wave" will wash away some of the unhinged bigotry that this administration and the Republican party have infected us with these past two years. I will do my part, I look forward to voting.
4
@Dominic, The whole lot of them rationalize that they have to be badder than the bad to triumph for God.
Indeed, the Democratic majority House in 2019 should violently overturn the egregious, racist, fascist rulings that have been enacted during Trump's illegitimate reign; and then violently interrogate the true motives for his un-presidential and treasonous behavior during impeachment hearings. Maybe by then enough Republicans in the Senate will wake up and actually remove this unqualified person from office. Trump has been unprecedented in almost everything he has done. Three previous presidents have been impeached, maybe Trump will be the unprecedented first to actually be convicted and removed by the Senate.
1
The obsequiousness of those in the photo surrounding Trump is simply appalling given all he has done to hurt those people whom "Christian" leaders claim to care about.
4
The first thing I thought was: They don't actually believe in their God. He's not real to them. His beloved son, murdered horribly for their sake, means nothing. There's no power to fear, no awe of the all powerful creator of the universe. Losing the presence of God in your death and wait for resurrection isn't a consideration. Alone in the dark, to the end of all.
Reading what Donald said was nothing more than an infantile attempt to deflect blame. What he always does. Brag about himself and scorn others, yawn. His tirades only work if you let bratty children run your world.
3
This is a New York Times repeat (of a sort) from October 2016. In one of his debates with Hillary Clinton, he was asked whether or not he would accept the results of the upcoming election if he lost. He didn't answer yes or no, but simply said we will see and that he wanted to keep people in suspense. It was obviously a joke, and everybody recognized it as such except a few enemies, one of which was the New York Times. In an editorial only a day or two later, they gave the impression that if Trump lost, we would see thousands or even millions of people marching down Pennsylvania Avenue, maybe with weapons, and that it would be the end of Democracy. Well, Trump won, and before the week was out, we saw HUNREDS of marches against his victory all over the country, sixty or seventy thousand anti-Trump post-its lining the various walk-through corridors of the Union Square subway station, little four and five year old kids (brought there by their anti-Trump mothers) handing out the post-its as it 60 or 70 thousand were not enough, etc., etc. To me, this signified that the Democrats, or at least a very large contingent of them, had not accepted the results of the election (something Trump never said he wouldn't do, remember), and the Times thought this a very wonderful expression of Democracy! And now, the Times Board is back with another obscenely interpreted remark made in passing by Donald Trump. Do you really expect to see violence if Republicans lose a few seats? REALLY???
1
@Joe Pearce Trump lost by almost 3 million votes in an election that screamed for a run-off. The whole exercise was a smash and grab jewelry robbery.
1
This is serious! The President of the United States of America calling for violence if, in the November 2018 midterm elections, the houses of Congress do not remain a majority of Republicans. Wake up, America! "Violence if I (Trump) don't get my way"! This man is completely out of control and the greater concern is states will not have tamper-proof vote -casting in place which invites more Russian tampering. It is imperative that Americans in every state ensure that they are casting a free and fair vote which is a cornerstone of our democracy. Call your elected officials! And we await the findings of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, III.
4
What do Democrats seek? We are looking to restore ethical behavior, integrity and problem-solving policies. And a dollop of generosity of spirit and kindness wouldn’t hurt either.
4
Churches, with all their wealth and political influence, are businesses. The tax code is long overdue to reflect this.
6
@CDuke Nothing is more stupid than subsidizing charlatans whose activities propagate ignorance.
1
The revolution in courage by the democrats won't involve violence of any kind.
The most radical action will be to erect a thing called
a BACKBONE.
Let them stand solid against a lawless president, and let them prevail in returning some dignity to the office of president.
Violence is for frightened haters, the mission right now is to restore decency to democracy, vote, and hold the lawless accountable.
428
@Monkeymatters
It's not that Dems are spineless. They just don't do politics. They are a policy advocacy group, not a political party.
Mr. Trump once again shows his inability to capture and accept reality and his total lack of concern for the truth and the facts supporting it. The post election nation wide street activity he is referring to is more properly called dancing, It's called the "Blue Wave Boogy".
2
Violence after the midterms is not likely, but if Trump is removed or fails at re-election, right wing militia groups will likely go underground and seek to wreck their vengeance on what they see as leftist targets. Commentators on CNN or MSNBC, for example, will require extra security. These groups are well armed, thanks to the 2nd Amendment, and as many members are ex-military or police, they are trained and can make a lot of trouble.
3
@Jay S, if they're a "well regulated militia" Trump is the reincarnation of Einstein.
2
These people should stop worrying about "antifa." They have a bigger problem.
I still remember the "Freedom of Speech Enthusiasts" (what I call the white supremacists) coming to Boston to rally for their right to spout racist rhetoric. Forty thousand of us showed up to protest. Maybe twenty or thirty were "antifa" people.
They'd better start worrying that we rational, thinking people have tired of the evangelical Christian hatred of the rest of us. The rest of us are people who went about their lives getting an education, who payed their taxes to benefit everyone, who raised their children to see all humans as equal in value, and who either come together weekly in prayer or, if agnostic, respect those who do.
I live in Massachusetts, where you'd be hard pressed to spit and not hit a church, synagogue, or mosque of some sort. Yet, somehow, all of us who describe our social attitudes as 'liberal' are heathens who hate Christians.
We never thought the rampant intolerance of right-wing evangelical Christians towards the rest of us would ever take hold. We've been too complacent. We will not sit still for this and we don't need "antifa" to help us.
Our weapon is the voting booth. Your days are numbered.
4
Why do people consider it "violent" to participate in the democratic process? It's not just Trump. I remember when abortion opponents were planning a campaign in the 1980s and a hostile journalist said "they are out for blood", trying to denigrate perfectly legitimate political action.
1
@Charlesbalpha: Your demands concerning the regulation of abortion are faith-based drivel that Congress is denied power to respect in legislation. Your demonstrators at clinics are forcing their religion on people who don't want to participate, which is definitely actionable.
1
@Steve Bolger
I wasn't talking about clinic demonstrations; I was talking about election campaigns. And the notion that opposition to abortion is illegitimate because it is "faith-based" is something abortion lobbyists made up; Roe vs Wade said absolutely nothing about religion.
He is lamenting that if the Democrats win they'll undo everything he did? Well yes, of course. This is what Trump is doing: dismantling everything Obama did, piece by piece. Too bad Trump can't come up with his own ideas, ideas that benefit all, not just the one percent (including himself).
2
This is yet another case of accusing your opponents of what you yourself will do, are doing or have already done.
While stoking fears of violence might be new, the technique is such a boringly regular tactic used by Republicans that I suspect it must be part of their campaign training.
3
Looking at the picture with the op-ed piece, I'm reminded of the fact that Christ dined with prostitutes and tax collectors and those marginalised by society in general.
I don't recall him dining with the Pharisees who exalted themselves in public and who castigated him for undermining their authority and who ultimately sought his execution from the Roman procurator.
Do you think there's any chance any of that assembled throng, differing from the young rich man in the gospels, who was troubled by the answer Christ gave him, when he asked for the message to eternal life? "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."
Nah, me neither.
3
It sure sounds like Trump is inciting violence against his detractors. Obviously to do such a thing is totally illegal under our Democratic system. In fact, coming from the president, it’s difficult to imagine anything more anti-American than inciting violence against citizens.
But our founding fathers imagined such a thing when they provided American citizens with the Second Amendment.
My oh my, how the big wheel has turned!
1
After the traitors are convicted in quick and fair trials then there may be some "violence" if that's how you regard Capital Punishment.
Unlike Ford's mistaken pardon of Nixon we must send a message that going forward this sort of treason will not pass muster and that the part about "all enemies, foreign and domestic" means exactly what it says.
2
The cure for problems in a democracy (or a republic, for that matter) is more democracy, not less.
This simple calculus is entirely beyond Trump and the GOP, who are going all-in against democracy as their winning formula going forward.
For Americans who like democracy, the midterms offer the opportunity for a huge and necessary impact. For Americans who don't like democracy, the midterms are a threat to be circumvented.
The kind of America we have going forward depends on the pro-democracy Americans prevailing at the polls. Unfortunately, the antidemocratic Americans are sore losers, and, should they lose, it'll be they who turn to violence, not the pro-democracy Americans, who still believe in democracy.
You get the America you vote for, so please remember to vote.
1
Sad times for America as everything the Founders worked so hard to prevent from happening are one election away from becoming a reality.
3
If Michele Bachman is attending this conference, it is surely a convention of kooks. These are not true Christians because the real ones wouldn't be in the company of Trump supporters and would have objected to the ultimate bully pulpit forecasting violence if "his" agenda is not upheld. Where is the GOP? Where is God?
2
Once again, the spirit of the accuser lives in what he claims to see in his enemies. This guy is approaching what the Christian Church--before it mired itself in various radical doctrines, left and right--used to call "the sin against the Holy Ghost." The fawning Pharisees of the the Religious Right bow and scrape to him and perhaps this is the real indice of whom they really worship. This is so utterly sick that it seems to me to escape language and thought. We are on an edge of a very, very deep abyss.
1
trump and Giuliani have been telling their base that if a democratically elected House and Senate shift the power to Democrats, he wants them to take to the streets.
The Chicago 7 were accused and convicted (and later overturned) of crossing state lines with the intent to incite violence - trump and Giuliani are using national television, rallies, and FOX news "to get the word out!"
And now the have publicly enlisted church leaders across America to stand in the pulpit and incite their congregations to violence - how strategic of trump to spread the word to literally, millions of people, all while claiming that it's the Democrats that you have to watch out for.
Don't forget, he's attacking social media for silencing white supremacist and racial hatred language. Why? He wants to use social media for "Get out the riot" in 2019.
Remember, whenever trump says "look at them and what they are doing" it's a sure sign that he is doing it. trump cannot help but tell the truth.
3
The sales job coincides perfectly with Fox News “barricade your doors, they are out there and will come for YOU!” Fear sells to the fearful and powerless. Standing up, working for a cause and supporting it with time and money are the ways to feel empowered. Empowered people are not violent.
2
This is my religious anxiety pushed to the right, right to lifers and bible-centric, low information southern true believers…" that a deluge of violence and anarchy would be loosed upon the world if they failed to rally the nation’s Christian soldiers to his side." Living the south for 25 years, as a NYer from birth, I am so over the duplicity and religious cover many here use to excuse policies, the vast number of Americans have rejected. Add to this, violent language that incites and targets this religious base assures another 5% points in the ballots. This president wont stop until there is a replay of the 60's. Most know what I mean.
3
In his typical, boorishly subtle way, the man is inciting his followers to be ready for physical street fights in the event Dems win the House and start real investigations into his behavior. He also just made his benefactor Putin happy. What could suit our foes better than a divided America riven with infighting?
Atta Boy, Trump.
1
Everything, every single thing Donald Trump says about his "enemies" or anyone resisting his administration and its awful policies is true about Trump.
HE is the danger.
4
Trump's threatening violence against his critics should not be a surprise to anyone. Petulant anger seems to be his predominant emotion. Unleashing those same stored up demons in his tumultuous crowds comes naturally to him. He's sensed it in those crowds as he rode it first to his contrived "reality" TV program and seized on the same opportunity when the Democrats' opened it up to him with their widely disliked presidential candidate.
So, expecting anything different than livid, riot-inciting defenses of his exposed fraud and illegality would be naive. His stirring up his supporters into angry and sometimes violent mobs should be prepared for. As the often quoted Bette Davis offered in her role as aging stage actress Margo Channing, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”
179
@Max from Mass....Clinton was "disliked" by the GOP for daring to step out of the kitchen....Trump simply used it as one more arrow in his quiver (the thing that holds arrows)
1
For the most part Democrats speak for the people, the institutions and the policies that are most helpful, safe and reasonable for the whole of the country. Republicans on the other hand have under intense pressure from this megalomaniac worked to dismantle our protections, one by one--health, safety, environmental, financial, civil rights, and even national security.
For the sake of our country going forward, the only reasonable choice we have is to elect Democrats. Trump is pushing us toward physical war among ourselves, and members of evangelical churches whose leaders support Trump would be wise to abandon their memberships.
2
I cannot for the life of me understand these "evangelical" pastors who act like Trump is here to save Christianity. It feels like they are selling their souls to get something they want when their job is to tell the story of Jesus, who would never have acted like Trump and would have called him out and confronted him on his behavior. That these pastors are backing his behavior is appalling to me.
When God calls Christians to spread the good news, He wants us to follow the example of Christ. As a pastor, these people are doing way more harm than good by following a man as deceitful as this
and I fear they will turn off multitudes. I just don't get it.
542
@Ginner I can't help but think that The Great Deceiver has deceived the religious right. While I'm no theist, this is the very type of behavior one would expect from the mythical fallen angel. The fact that Christians believe in Satan, know he purpose is to deceive, and then convince themselves that a morally bankrupt conman is God's choice to save the US from its "fallen" status is rather ironic.
3
Ginner--THEY are not Christians. They just use Christianity for their own financial, and political, purposes. Detestable charlatans, all of them. I wish their followers would wise up. They are pitiful suckers.
4
@Ginner They fell on their knees to worship President G.W. Bush as well. The hero of the Texas National Air Guard was their mighty warrior king, anointed by God to lead us in a time of crisis. All you have to do is say you're against abortion and they'll give you a pass on everything else.
3
" the only political leader who has been inciting and condoning violence has been Mr. Trump."
everyday : Black is white, white is black.
what a nightmare.
4
“Evil does not exist
in isolation. It is a
product of amorality
by consensus”.
Peter Malkin
Eichmann In My Hands, pg. 264
4
This is the prelude for Trump to call to arms his more rabid, heavily armed supporters. His pardoning of the armed Oregon insurrectionists, his support for violent Nazi sympathizers in Virginia and his blind eye towards physical threats towards the press at his rallies all point to one thing: he will not leave office whether through impeachment or an electoral loss without resorting to violence. The rational he uses to call his supporters into the streets to do battle is immaterial. It could be any number of conspiracy theories ranging from Chinese interference to millions of illegal voters to something he heard on Lou Dobbs last night. It seems the press ( and the NY Times in particular ), is starting to wake up to the depths of depravity Trump represents. If Trump, Hannity, Dobbs, Limbaugh and others of their ilk proffer armed insurrection as a last resort, it will happen. And if you think this is far-fetched, think again. There is no bottom to the Trump abyss. Yesterday's comments by Trump are just the beginning.
7
So he wants to get out the evangelical Christian vote in November. Shocking.
It seems to me that if the left were really so inclined to violence, the threat would be greater if they lose in November. Trump's attempt to scare the American people in voting Republican is very distasteful.
1
Trump has invoked the fear of violence like a demagog on
testosterone. It's almost as if he is hoping for violence just to make a political point. His remarks border on sedition. And Trump's lapdogs and hypocrites who call themselves evangelical Christians are not smart enough to know they are being used. No wonder real Christians are leaving the church in droves. If violence does come, it will be the result of Trump's behavior as
a divider and provocateur.
5
How outrageous a person Donald Trump is.
How he projects his own violent urges onto others; and how he is actually encouraging his violence-prone supporters by accusing others.
Donald Trump is the person who has colluded with White Nationalists.
May we be able to martial our own sanity and strength to protect ourselves from Donald Trump who is a dangerous, self-centered man who is addicted to money and wealth, and all that money and wealth can buy.
Donald Trump is dangerous to the well-being of the United States of America.
2
No one should be surprised that people who cling to superstitions over two-thousand years old would flock to a corrupt, immoral and patently transparent charlatan promising them their fondest dreams.
6
To all those who try to dismiss this man's egregious shortcomings by telling us that he is merely keeping promises and speaking plainly and maintaining a booming economy et cetera: Mussolini boasted that the trains now were running on time. That was good enough for his fascist base. It was a lie that they believed. Italy and Europe suffered and millions died as a result of that "faith" in him. The evangelicals who believe that this man is their prophet may well take us down those same train tracks unless we stop him this and next and the following November.
Please, America, vote.
5
Parasite and host. Which is which ??? It varies, but definitely a very bad thing for sane, normal people. Seriously.
1
“This Nov. 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it’s a referendum on your religion . . . "
So to support Christianity, one must vote for Trump?
Who believes this stuff? Evidently, 40% of Americans.
There has been a severe dumbing down of America exacerbated by cynical leaders in politics and the clergy whose success was based on their insight that many of their countrymen are more stupid and venal than the rest of us believed. The majority of us did not believe so many of our fellows would buy snake oil from such an obvious con man interested in nothing beyond himself.
Vote!
5
Volunteer, donate, register, resist.
Above all else: UNITE.
Get these hideous monsters out of office.
When we vote, we win.
6
And there he goes again, inciting violence. This "man's" tactics are so obvious. Time to truly call him out on who he is boldly and clearly, afterall he and his devoted followers offer no nuance, a fascist dictator in the making.
2
So dark the ginger con of man.
1
Trump is the greatest danger to our national security and our health and welfare.
I say put the question of his impeachment on the ballot in November as 60-62% of Americans want this corrupt, crazy, inept, unfit, clear and present danger removed from office. We need a leader not a hate-filled divider. One who sees every Democrat, person of color, or woman as his enemy. He is becoming more unhinged and I think dementia is taking over his 73 year old mind as well as other psychological disorders he has exhibited over the course of his lifetime.
Narcissists have no feelings except for themselves, witness separating babies and children from parents at our Southern Border, an inhumane act that should be tried in front of NATO's court of international justice or world court for crimes against humanity.
Then there is an entire laundry list of his hate-filled tweets numbering in the thousands. He is dangerous and these hypocrites just gave him a 'bully pulpit'.
2
The Christ-yelpers want a theocracy...it is the only way they can perpetuate their self-serving magical "thinking" and control of the masses. It's all about power and money...tRump and these self-righteous fools were made for each other...they "live" in their own self-constructed universe.
2
Man, after the events of last week (Super Tuesday; Cohen’s confession) I’m having a very difficult time reconciling these “men and women of God” expressing their unbridled adulation for this religious effigy of a man.
And then there’s this:
If the Democrats win the midterm elections, the president warned, “they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently, and violently.”
And violently. And more violently. Bigly violent. Say it a few more times at his angry-mob campaign rallies (that’s all they are) and whatever behavioral inhibitors they once had will be completely erased. I hope I’m nowhere near them when that happens.
3
Trump and his cohorts want civil war and they are doing everything they can to incite violence.
I.e. Charlottesville.
Everyday I pray for a return to sanity.
3
The idea that progressives will be violent if they win they win the mid terms is unequivocally one pf Trumps biggest absurdities to date. Compared to gun toting white supremacist racist conservatives liberals look like buddhist monks.
As for evangelicals, like Trump nothing would surprise me. Their support of the heathen proves the hypocrisy they live by. They are no better than the leadership they follow. They are willing to accept sin and deciet in order to claim a holier than thou position meant to impose their cult beliefs on all.
Should their politically and white biased world of sin collapse around them in November they will be unequivically deserving.
4
Where does one hear a leader threaten catastrophe to gullible religious fanatics? Some theocratic countries (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Iran) and the USA are prime examples.
1
Trump is unfit for office considering all criteria. The most disturbing is the existence of evil which permeates his being.
1
Because Trump is a narcissist, he projects his own emotions onto others and accuses them of what he himself is doing. When he says there will be violence on the part of his perceived enemies, what he means is that he wants violence by his supporters.
2
Trump expanding on the right-wing, religious-right conspiracy theory that other Americans actually care enough about Evangelical religious endeavors to actively oppose them.
They don’t, viewing one’s religious activities as private and beyond the purview of partisan interference.
Rather our self-serving, demagogic, sociopathic commander in chief is embellishing a patently false narrative to compel and cajole the already-compromised leadership of the religious right to continue to march in lockstep in his bigoted, racist footsteps.
The likelihood of their compliance speaks volumes about their hypocritical, anti-Christian tendencies.
Trump continues to borrow his talking points from the Klan. The Klan printed “America First” on their coins and banners. “Make America Great again”is reminiscent of the Klan’s extreme patriotism and anti-immigration. Now Trump is warning of violence should democrats prevail in November just like the Klan warned of violence from non-whites and non-Protestants should the Klan fail to maintain control. I hope the majority of Americans who vote in November recognize that Trump is a truly racist man who is endangering our democracy.
2
That's cute. He sees nonviolent protest from football players and screams bloody murder. When fascists commit bloody murder there were fine people on both sides.
6
How does anyone stand the projections of the most worthless and poisonous political party in the ostensibly democratic world? I hope Trump is the bottom of the barrel, but there is probably even worse waiting in the wings.
3
Evangelical Christians are nothing more than a mirror image of white supremacists.
Both groups want to jam their views down EVERYONES throat using whatever tactics that work.
There is no middle ground with these extremists and they will rip apart the fabric America get their way because they think they are right.
Trump manipulates these naive groups to get what he wants and doesn't care a whit about their causes
6
The Evangelical's bible has built a wall that allows for Trump to sin at will while pretending to be president and sees in him greatness. They have defined hypocrisy!
2
Nonsense! The politics of resistance that the Democratic Party and the NYTimes endorse is violent. Its basis is demonization, not rational analysis. And violence is violence regardless of whether it is verbal or physical. Antifa is violent. Black Lives Matter also commits acts of violence. And you cannot justify engaging in violence by pointing to someone else engaging in violence.
1
Democrats must get both houses of Congress so the business of governing can return to the Capitol.
Trump is right. Things will change quickly and violently for him. He will no longer have GOP stooges protecting him. The investigations will pile up quickly.
Trump is and isn’t stupid. On the one hand he’s the most incompetent President in US history. On the other Trump knows self-preservation depends on outrageous lies and multiple distractions.
Go Dems! We need you back in power...yesterday.
1
Don't you get it -- the Profits over People and Planet oligarchs and corporations are consolidating their takeover. The propaganda is working -- the consolidated Press is keeping real solutions off the table....while covering the drama.
Corruption all over the world and gross economic inequality are cancers nearly everywhere -- thanks to crony capitalism and tribalism that keeps 'strong men' in power. The Kochs want to hold a Constitutional Convention and make all official while the feckless of both parties - the fascist/racist/sexist, xenophobic GOP and the neo-liberals of the Democratic Party who wants to go on believing that we trim here and there but fundamentally go on exploiting the Earth in this age of exploding population and social media distractions and propaganda. Then there are the ridiculous libertarians who immaturely and absurdly think 'markets fix everything' as if by magic.
Well, reality bites! Trump is the problems du jour, but he's a harbinger whose only real contribution is to wake people up. Americans are about to have their health care much further eroded or eliminated, forget about it if there is a hurricane in your area, and infrastructure and livable wages crumble before our eyes.
In plain sight, Trump is a useful idiot to people who don't care about the American Public. Has the citizenry been so dumbed down or rendered so unwilling to boycott, strike, and protest, that this 'apres' Trump will indeed be a deluge? Tipping points abound.
Vote!
1
It's disheartening that Christian clergymen are supporting a dishonest, greedy, bullying thug. One wonders what happened to WWJD (what would Jesus do?) of past political campaigns. For sure, Jesus would not be voting for the likes of Donald Trump, nor would he be spending everyday and night watching Fox News, then inciting fear and division, here and abroad. What are these preachers thinking, how can they abide the hate that Donald Trump foments? At the end of the day, how will they explain it to God?
1
Here's the deal.
The mythology of unarmed liberal snow flakes colliding with armed Ayn Randians falls apart when you realize that Crips and Bloods, plus others, have been engaged in real fire fights both in the US, and as part of the US military, for decades.
Decades.
But it's not the guns, but the votes, that truly frighten Southern Conservative nitwits.
So - violence? Ain't happenin'.
Noise? Yes, in spades, from the whining conservatives who can't believe they have to step up and actually be more than just WHITE to be successful in the 21st century.
2
he has it backwards...if the GOP wins big, there will likely be violence in the streets.
2
HATE & FEAR - That is all trump knows, and he is not capable of much else.
HATE the Media, Hillary Clinton, Obama, Social Media, Democrats, CNN, The Justice Department, LGBT people, Science, Mueller, Football Players, etc. etc
FEAR the Mexicans, Immigrants, Muslims, Elections, Democrats, etc. etc.
People are sick of the hate and fear mongering - Let's put some positive people in charge !
2
Yes, of course, Trump has terrible nightmares of all his fine handiwork being overturned - violently! - once democrats return to power. Terrible nightmares! Just terrible, I tell you. And I bet they even have a John Lennon soundtrack!
1
Could the USofA - renamed Trumerica by executive decree - be steaming into Louis XV territory -'... the nation would be thrown into chaos'? Or maybe Karl Marx; or possibly even "The Brothers Karamazov" deterioration of national values. After all, it is said history repeats itself. Deja vu anyone?
1
Of course he's projecting violence. He's projecting his own personality onto his foes
1
So your say little donnie man child. I am voting a straight blue ticket on Nov 6th and I am looking forward to a Democratic takeover of Congress.
You will get your well deserved end from voters and the Honorable Robert Mueller as we all work together to repair the damage you have done to our global reputation, our govt. and to the common people of our country.
We will not slip into Fascism under your rule but will fight you every step of the way until you are gone from office.
4
Seems the cultural Marxists working the Editorial Board haven't noticed the masked Berkeley "free-speech" street-thugs--fires and violence, including chains and batons. Watch the news much?
2
@Alice's Restaurant
Getting pretty dangerous with all the fire fights there on pacific beach?
What is a precious snowflake to do? Whine?
@In deed
As John Cleese once said: "Hoot, man, what makes you think I'm French?"
2
Trump's presidency is overloaded with hypocrisy. This sham of rubbing shoulders with these evangelicals, having the nerve to request they speak of him kindly from their pulpits is breathtaking.
Trump is a faithless man. He is not and has never been spiritual. Surely, these preachers know that. Hypocrisy's overload is their failing, as well.
2
To accuse the majority of the country (and the majority are Democrats) of being violent is so offensive and truly rich coming from a criminal and sex offender like Trump.
3
Trump-the-Liar is laying the ground work for imposition of martial law.
1
What would Jesus do? "My house shall be a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers." --Jesus
1
A gathering of fakes, frauds, charlatans, hypocrites and snake oil salesmen being addressed by the biggest liar in public office who is doing his best to stir up violence in our political system with his totally false and groundless accusations. And they think he is just grand. That tells me a lot about these bottom feeders that make their living by threatening people with everlasting damnation if hey don't regularly pony up and believe a lot of money making mythology.
Trump is already laying the groundwork for his 2020 election run by sowing the seeds of violence when he looses.
2
Can somebody please explain to me how Evangelical Christian Leaders can in all good conscience support Trump who is amoral, a racist, has no moral compass, crude, selfish, a liar and a cheater, he does NOT respect anybody, can not stand to be criticized and does NOT discourage violent behaviour againt people he dislikes or critizise him. He truly is a "wanna dictator/autocrat. It seems to me these supposedly religious men have sold their soul to the devil and now want to convince their christian flock to do the same. Where is the seperation of State/politics and religion? I guess this separation is now a thing of the past.
2
Trump can not seem to say anything without telling half-truths or outright lying, fear mongering, casting accusations against perceived foes without evidence, and raising the threat of violence where none exists.
This private meeting with "religious leaders" is just one more trump con-job to a flock of sheep who are only interested in their own narrow view of scripture and what they can gain from this sinful (but in their view forgiven) man. This, America, is too pathetic.
1
And not one of those hypocrites in there spoke out on what the chief instigator said. And they call themselves Christians.
1
Preacher thinks Trump has "courage," which is all you need to know about preachers
1
Isn't Trump's incitement of VIOLENCE an impeachable offense?
1
"Most Americans appear not to have bought his line. "
Including normal religious believers such as Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, etc. Why does the Times keep writing as if fundamentalists represent Chrisitianity? They aren't normative Christianity; they are the lunatic fringe.
Trump is truly in the tradition of Fascist demagogues.
He incites violence in his followers by appealing to their tribalism and to their anger and hatred. He is the most divisive and dishonest American President in recent history. He is despicable and a true enemy of democracy and the reasonable dialogue necessary for rational policy and national unity.
378
@IN
I would go as far as to say Trump is the most divisive and dishonest American president not just in recent history but in all U.S. history. And I'm including Andrew Jackson, Warren Harding, and Richard Nixon in that equation. The machinations of Trump and his minions will make the Teapot Dome scandal and Watergate look like child's play by comparison.
@IN Not 'recent history', all American history. There has never been a president as bad as trump.
Look at all those in the picture... Those who speak with spiritual eloquence, pray in public and maintain a holy appearance...
Those pretending to have virtues, beliefs, who conveniently forget their faults to point someone else's... Evangelicals are an organized hypocricy....
They never have practiced what they've preached. Why is it that they haven't changed their speech????
4
He is afraid, as he should be.
4
Any evangelical Christians who supports trump and also believes that that at some point in their lives they received Christ in their hearts, surprise, fake news. You had better take some time to contemplate who exactly you let in there.
3
O.K. I agree with all the opposition to Trump and the Evangelicals in politics. I want to draw a parallel with the moderate Muslim leaders who have failed to condemn Muslim terrorism. What is the analogy?
All we enraged over Trump progressives have to condemn the violent antifa thugs. Start now and do not stop. In November VOTE, no violence.
3
@Larry Oswald
I have nothing to do with antifa.
If you are so cowardly you will let fascists force you to take responsibility for Antifa in a fool’s bothsididm false equivalency well there you are.
1
This is the psychological defense mechanism of projection: accusing others of what you yourself are/feel/think.
Donald Trump is the Master Projectionist.
3
If the republicans maintain their majority in the Congress, enjoy this upcoming election (2018) because it could very well be the last election held in this country for quite sometime.
Donald Trump, his ignorance driven deplorable base, a corrupt congress and Vladimir Putin are going to ride roughshod over this country and its people.
5
the worst part is that none of the attendees objected to what he said or publicly rebuked the president for his fear mongering lies.
3
I think someone has been showing Trump the “fly on the wall” documentary called “The Good Fight” (CBS All Access).
Chilling stuff, full of angry Trump haters! ;)
But seriously, the amount of projection coming from this guy is monumental! How are people not laughing in his face?
3
Isn't Trump's incitement of violence here akin to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater?
4
How do they, evangelicals, look past his mean-spiritedness, vindictiveness, lies ( Thou shalt not bear false witness) and narcissism with a clear conscience?
2
I expect that there will be violence after the midterms, if not after the next presidential election, as Trump incites his red hatted minions into the streets in protest of a "rigged" election. The problem is that the NRA has ensured that many of those red hatted minions are armed and dangerous.
2
Trump's insightful words: “This Nov. 6 election is very much a referendum not only me, it’s a referendum on your religion, it’s a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment,” he told the preachers.
I thought this paragraph was rather appropriate to copy here, his "your" religion comment striking a note, as with head bowed trying to look devout during their prayer he's having a quite smirk! All present so acquiescent. My question is: what is HIS religion, feigning faith/religiosity/christianity? Will they propound his hate?
3
In addition to all things that show Trump to be unhinged, is his tradition to spread fear and hate among the citizens.
The 'evangelical leaders' keep claiming that God put Trump at the White House...what an oxymoron statement. It was the VOTE of the evangelicals that help put him there, not God!
Democrats will have to try to reach this large voting block to help turn the tide away from this destructive narcissist..
1
Vote for sanity in November.
The ability of the Times to miss the point and empower the Trump fascists with mealymouth blather is enough to trigger an incurable lifelong depression
Trump is setting up a civil war if he doesn’t get his way and his die hard supporters have been hankering for it for years. THIS IS NO SECRET. IF HE IS DEFEATED THIS WILL GET FAR WORSE.
The threat of war is inexcusable. IT MUST BE CONFRONTED DIRECTLY NOW WITH NO EXCUSES FOR THE FASCISTS.
This is as evil as his threat to not live by election results if he didn’t like them.
But the Times isn't interested in the Republic. Identity politics comes first.
With allies like this the Republic may not make it.
This is going to get worse before it gets better. The white evangelicals and white racists are eager to use violence if that is what it takes for them to rule over their countrymen. The Republic is at stake.
2
“The level of hatred, the level of anger is unbelievable"
Yes, Donald, it is and its all directed at YOU. The hatred and anger has nothing to do with evangelicals.
While I believe many people in this country have a distaste in their mouth for the hypocrisy of the evangelical leaders who surround you, I see no indication that there is "hatred" toward them. Some "anger" yes, but no "hatred." No Donald, that "hatred" is rightfully reserved for you and you alone.
Trump whispers lies to pastors to tell them there will be violence if he loses and to "get your people to vote".
Giuliani says Trump folks will "riot" if Trump loses.
We'll take our chances on Democracy and the American people saying NO to Trump's lies.
1
Where have all the pocket Constitutions gone?
3
this country either turns a corner back to sanity or it is finished
2
So, McGahn is out, he's turned his own Attorney General into a full-on political enemy, his Marine general Chief of Staff just seems awfully quiet these days, flippers flip and the legal tsunami grows.
What could go wrong for the wannabe Gotti?
Trump clearly believes mayhem would help him politically, and it seems to resonate with some dark endgame sloshing around that stewy brain of his. Ultimate narcissist move, pulling all down with him. The Republicans may yet have a chance to redeem themselves.
Those clergymen in the photo with Donald Trump need to answer a question that some of the "unsaved" they are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to might ask: "Do I have to support Donald Trump and vote for Republicans to be a Christian?"
1
If Democrats win in November, there will be celebration and cheers-why violence. If they lose French Revolution is feared. Mr. Trump is manufacturing fake news that "violence" is coming.
Mr. Trump staged the same court with Mr.Putin to win 2016 election. His court with the church leaders is a repeat.
Mr. Trump is dishonest to the core. President Carter said of his dishonesty. Like a kid Mr.Trump lowers and raises our countries flag -he must grow-up soon or face the voters ire.
1
if the blue wave happens I fear there will indeed be violence. but it will be from trump supporters that will be unleashed by his shouts of a rigged, fake, election results.
2
I agree with a reader today who says Trump is a bottomless pit. I don't know if people are paying attention to or seeing the way he holds both his arms in front of his body with an miserable, disgusted look on his face. I think that 'demeanor' or 'attitude' or whatever it is says a whole lot about him. Closed off, shut down, I'm really not listening to what you say. An extremely strange man.
I will just say as a longterm follower of East Texas "christian" churches and pastors: these folks are really not Christians so to speak.
Actually they are emissaries of the old time Southern culture i.e. racists and holier-than-thou judges of all behavior that might be called sin.
Because they overlook the inherent fallacy of a hierarchical church that looks more like a military organization than a Pentacostal revaltion where everyone had a voice and talked in different languages ergo: "tongues" and all were heard and understood.
Instead anyone different is suspect and likely to be refused spiritual recognition and often accused outright as evil imposters simply because they don't walk the red-neck walk of self-righteous ignorance and arrogant anti-intellegence even anti-science deniers.
Sound-bites that pull their strings resonante with Trump's hateful. be-afraid-rhetorical dithering.
To think that they will get beyond their self-interests and pie-in-the-sky profiteering for being good and doing good would be antithetical to Christ's admonishments.
Getting these folk through the eye of a needle with their trappings just ain't gonna happen in this age before the second coming as they say.
After all is said and done we will not know how it turned out until we're on the other side.
A contrite,repentive heart is always there to be found.
1
A law is only as effective in relation to the length it will be enforced. It appears the Johnson amendment is not exactly enforced in that I did not find when searching returned any articles related to a conviction. It's same as the as the law requiring a person to register when lobbying on behalf of a foreign agent/government. It is only applied when included in the breaking of other laws...maybe.
I may be wrong, but if anyone can point to a case where the Johnson amendment was used to strip away the tax-free status of a church it would be appreciate.
And considering the DOJ is creating a 'religious liberty task force' to allow for more freedom of religious expression (not just limiting your cake customers to the non-gay) there is little doubt not a single pastor/reverend/priest would ever be convicted regardless of how much public support they provide the president.
And dogmatically speaking, it's also sad to see so many followers of the bronze age 'prince of peace' state in such brazen militaristic terms about the 'braveness' of their new warrior king. Well, I guess it does take some kind of bravery to copulate unprotected with a porn star. Maybe the evangelicals can tell us where this lies in the bravery spectrum. Is there an ewwwww on the spectrum? That's probably where it would fit.
2
An evangelical Christian writing here.
But not--repeat loudly, NOT--a Trump supporter. Oh no!
The words of Christ in the New Testament are peculiarly applicable here. DREADFULLY applicable, one might say.
"The children of darkness are wiser in their generation than the children of light."
And again:
"Be ye wise as serpents--and harmless as doves."
We Christians (to say nothing of everyone else)--we Christians do NOT have a free pass. . . .
. . . .oh dear! how to say this?. . . ..
. . .do NOT have a free pass. . .
. .to be dumb.
Nothing of what I am about to say is new. But it bears repeating.
The gnawing sense so many evangelicals have: the sense of being out of step--out of sync--out of touch with this present age, this present culture.
The feeling of PANIC that sense engenders.
And they CLUTCH at Mr. Donald J. Trump--a man who has NEVER (to my knowledge) made ANY KIND of Christian profession. His life past and present is an open book.
(Well. It WILL be an open book--when he releases his tax returns!)
But hey! If he is virtually the only friend we've got. . . .
. . then by gum! we gonna CLING to that man. Good 'n' TIGHT.
I'm sorry. But you, gentlemen, have been hoodwinked. Snookered. Taken in.
The Christian religion has only ONE Messiah.
And his name is assuredly NOT--Mr. Donald J. Trump.
I think the light may dawn. Eventually.
But it'll take time. And it may hurt.
A lot.
I'm sorry.
But there it is.
3
Editorials like this one just feed Trump and his supporters. Part of the reason he got elected is that the media, the Times included, devoted so much more time to his rantings and ravings than they did to Clinton's moderate message. Why not? Trump's lies and anti-democratic message made great copy. Let him spew He's going to do it anyway. Who cares? Report the news, stop the fortune telling.
1
It's easy for me to understand why these Evangelicals go along with Trump. They have a lot in common with this administration. I always believed that most - if not all - organized Judeo-Christian religions are nothing more than white male dominated power structures.
1
@L. Amenope
Many evangelical leaders are paid huge salaries, travel about in private jets, live in mansions, and wield power at the top of large, corporations-type organizations. It's no wonder they feel they have something to lose.
1
Why does the president not have access to an analyst, 24/7 ?
I am inclined to stop reading all political news and analysis. It's wearing me out.
The Evangelicals: those devoid of morals, integrity or ethics.
Trump mis-Tweeted again. He meant to say: "he condoned violet flowers at his rallies --not roses, and the Democrats will overturn his beautiful violet flower garden if they prevail in the midterms.
Trump has skated through troubles his entire life and if November sees a Democratic House he'll skate out of the White House and into his own TV network where he'll be what he's always wanted to be... the Prima Donna star who stirs up masses against the government.
Father Coughlin and Joe McCarthy were pikers compared to Donald Trump expelled or resigned from Office
"Violence" is just dog-whistle talk for "abortion". It's all the Evangelicals care about. If you're not an Evangelical, you might have missed it, but rest assured, they didn't.
1
Isn't inciting to riot a crime? Another one?
1
This is exactly why Trump says the press is so dishonest. Violence at Trump rallies? They were all started by the DNC. Robert Creamer, a DNC operative who is on record for visiting the Obama White House over 300 times, was caught on tape admitting he paid homeless people to incite violence at Trump rallies. It was the perfect setup. They incite violence, attendees at those rallies fight back, and the DNC's cohorts in the media gleefully report "violence at Trump rallies". Creamer, by the way, had to step down after that tape surfaced. Why would he do that if it all wasnt true? The media buried at, and still to this day, we get articles like this, blaming Trump for violence at his rallies. Then they further that narrative by shaming Christian leaders for supporting Trump. I guess you cant blame them. Judging by the response in this comment section, there's still plenty of low info voters who believe them.
Donald Trump knows what he has done, and how he did it. That's why he says Democrats will react violently if they regain control. He knows they should. Based on his words and tactics, he knows that he would react violently if the table were turned and he wasn't a coward. Obviously, the Democrats won't react violently, but not because they are cowards. They're simply more mature and civil than that, but DJT wouldn't understand. He thinks everyone is as small minded as himself. See RevolutionOfReason.com
Often Republicans telegraph how they will act by accusing Democrats of doing the very things they intend to do. I am worried that a President who is exhibiting increasingly authoritarian behavior intends to foment violence if Democrats win in November. I hope I am wrong about this. He seems to have followers who are close to the edge and could easily be tipped over it into violent behavior. Democrats seem to be acting more on defense than offense. It could just be that we need a new quarterback but this one has an ironclad contract.
1
i dont advocate violence aganst Trumpers but if they mess with me they will be very very sorry...
1
The President says the 2018 midterm Congressional elections are referendum on "your religion", presumably speaking to the Christian evangelical pastors present.
Truly sad. Corrupting both religion and government...the devil does so tempt the righteous!
2
One can only hope.
Seismologists determined that the recent activity near Charlotte, NC, was not an earthquake. It was Billy Graham turning over in his grave when he realized how far the "evangelical" church has drifted from the Bible.
4
He is essentially calling for violence if the Dems win as in a kind of 'stand your ground' construct.
After all, if we libs, progressives and Ds are going to be violent it makes sense to preemptively attack us before we attack anyone.
3
Why do we call them "evangelical christian leaders"? Why do they get to keep that unassuming title?
If an evangelical is a person dedicated to promoting the good news about Jesus Christ then how do these people represent that?
The name implies that they are standing for something pure and sacred in our communities. All I see evangelicals standing for anymore is Trump and hypocrisy.
3
Next thing you know your political party affiliation will be required on the paperwork to purchase firearms.
2
"We’ve seen this before, just not, for a very long time, in the United States." Say what? Willie Horton? Shooting of Kathryn Steinle in San Francisco? Mollie Tibbetts? The Christian Right needs no logic to stoke fear. It's par for the course since the lions in the Coliseum. And those Evangelical Leaders are, if anything, greedier and more hypocritical than the Catholic bishops.
1
Pay attention to this lie, as when he accuses Democrats of violence, it is a signal to his second amendment deplorables, to form secret militia and fight against “takeover “ by the government. After all, when martial law is declared, investigation is overtaken by civil strife. And that would be the end for all of us. Then, God help the USA, indeed.
6
The real abomination is that any percentage of Americans supports this "president".
(He puts them around "justice", I say we put them around "president.")
4
For Trump's dictator role models in Turkey, Russia, the Philippines, and North Korea - lying about predictions of violence from rivals is par for the course. And speaking of courses, Trump has spent 77 million taxpayer dollars on 141 days at golf courses during his "presidency" to-date.
www.trumpgolfcount.com
6
Aaaaahhhhh. Kinda think Maxine Waters could also be accused of inciting and condoning violence.
Trump is the exact juvenile inverse of the old playground taunt, "I'm rubber and you're glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you."
He hopes whatever ugliness he and his zombie followers do and say will somehow bounce off of them and stick to his opponents, or even to just regular people exercising their rights as American citizens--let's say for example African American NFL players kneeling in protest during the National Anthem.
Which is pretty absurd when you think about it.
2
Trump by example has lowered the level of public discourse to new levels of crudity,vulgarity,lying and racist insults. Crude racist comments seem acceptable. How dare Republican candidate for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis use the monkey reference about his African-American opponent? And then deny and lie about the reference. Just like his role model Trump. Following the example of Trump supporter Roseanne Barr. Hopefully his career follows hers. Over and out.
3
It won't be too long before Trump turns against his sycophantic evangelicals for some real or imagined slight. Then he'll inevitably be coming after them. And it will serve them right. The only one he won't turn against is his puppet master, Putin.
1
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." -- Matthew 7:15
5
I think that Democrats should start listening to Trump, and doing what he says:
- "Overturn everything" that he's done.
- Actually display a “level of hatred, level of anger [that] is unbelievable.”
- And most of all, “do it quickly and violently, and violently” just like he predicts.
That's what he wants us to do, right? HJe hates being wrong; and he's the only person who doesn't spread lies and fake news, so he must be right.
Let's take him at his word! Let's do it!
Does Donald Trump and his coterie of fundamentalist evangelical preachers believe they have a monopoly on Christianity? If anything, the democratic ideals held by the Democratic Party are much more christian oriented than anything Trump the savior and his self serving republican acolytes can offer. Televangelists and fundamentalist preachers want to keep their luxurious lifestyles afloat at the expense of the needy and disadvantaged they continually "prey" upon. This is another swamp needing draining but with Trump in charge it will turn into a cesspool, just like his Washington swamp!
4
Gosh, wouldn't it be fun to 'violently overturn' everything Trump has done over the last two years??? Kinda like what he did with so much of Obama's reforms. All we gotta do is flip the House and Senate.
Sounds good to me. Let's do it. Vote.
#NovemberIsComing
4
A slogan for a laugh in this weird juncture in American history.
DON'T IMPEACH..........ADMIT HIM...........(or COMMIT HIM.)
No more absurd or out of line than 100 things Trump has said.
3
For me it comes to this. I think we should all take a page from the play-book of the CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos when it comes to dealing with Trump. Ignore the guy. He is irrelevant. Can't you see this? He is ineffectual. It's why he rages on in such cartoonish fashion. Ignore him folks; and come mid-November be sure to issue a job performance opinion on him and all of his minions who are soliciting for your approval. VOTE!
John~
American Net'Zen
5
Trump mines the depths of the paranoid style with delusions of righteousness against the evil liberal state; evil for its insistence on arming itself with the truth.
4
I and my family are Jewish. I learned from birth (and in college as a poli sci major) about how the Third Reich came about. Given my background, I was surprised and very wary in the 1980s, when someone I met explained to me how special 'my people' were because Christ was Jewish. I heard this again and again in the last thirty years, and this is my reply to each person who's said it - we're special until the day we're not any more.
We are fast approaching that day in the Trump White House. I have friends of every religion. But I don't expect anyone to put my family over theirs, and that is what this White House is trying to do. To instill a fear so deep, his followers feel they have no choice. It is the same feeling used in Florida's stand your ground law.
So let me say to anyone bothering to read this far I will not commit an act of violent against anyone - right or left leaning, even if such violence is perpetrated against me.
I doubt this will matter to the most indoctrinated of Trump's cult, but it bears saying just to highlight how much lying our current White House occupant actually does.
3
I’ll occasionally browse through foxnews.com, just to see what’s been said in Propaganda Land. While some certainly are foreign trolls, what I find most alarming are the number of popular comments (and therefore corresponding “likes”) by people gleefully predicting a coming civil war (as in, physical violence).
I continue to feel incredulous, particularly towards those “persons of faith” who embrace this sociopathic monster.
These hypocrites have hijacked true religion (which I do have distanced respect for), when, in fact, they only actually worship a me$$iah. True, there are biblical stories and parables about similar “persons of faith” in the Bible, however they are the bad apples. My sweet, churchgoing mother, who actually walked her talk, used to worry about evangelical “cults” and I thought it was just a traditional vs modern debate. Now I think she was right...
2
Does anyone track money flow from the Russian Orthodox Church to US Evangelistic organizations?
2
Orwell's Napoleon comes to mind when I think of Trump's conduct , " boarish" to the core.
4
If the Democrats win the midterm elections, the president warned, “they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently, and violently.”
This is rich coming from the inciter-in-chief.
The man who called out to his base during the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton; “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks,” Mr. Trump said, as the crowd began to boo. He quickly added: “Although the Second Amendment people — maybe there is, I don’t know.” and "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose voters," Trump said at a campaign rally. And "Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down," Trump told Alex Jones during a Wednesday afternoon appearance on the Infowars.com proprietor's show.
Trump is a republican and the republicans are Trump.
3
Violent? With his back to the wall, would this volatile “warrior” president reach for the nuclear football in a desperate Hail Mary bid to rescue the remnants of his failing administration? Perish the thought.
2
Trump is warped by fear, hate, rage, and corruption. He has never been able to tell the truth in his life or separate facts from delusions. As he retreats more into fantasies and paranoid visions, neither the GOP nor Christian Evangelists do him or the country any favor by encouraging the madness of King Donald. Perhaps never in American history has the nation had such a travesty of government, so uniformly malevolent and vicious in its large-scale looting, subversion of democratic decency and norms while truckling to Russia.
368
This is even debatable.
Whenever Republicans get together, Democrats show up to create trouble.
They show up at Trump Rallies to disrupt.
They put chains on roads to stop cars.
As usual, Trump twists words accusing his adversaries of his misdeeds. First, Democrats aren't violent...they often have ceded or lost ground by being too polite. Secondly, there is nothing for Democrats to tear down...Trump has not built anything. Rather he has undone years of progress that truly was on the road to make America Great. Democrats will have the ability to repair and heal, and maybe even help the Republican Party return to some level of dignity and true patriotism instead of being patsies to corporate and and party ideologies and profit mongering, and truly return us to a two-party system of checks and balances.
6
I lived here in OKC when the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building by anti-government, extreme right, Timothy McVeigh occurred. It's an established fact hate groups exist in our country, some in my state, willing, ready and able to stoke the flames of violence. The vast majority of those identify with the extreme radical right where Trump likes to flirt, dance, entice and incite. Most progressives, liberals, independents and moderates I know are weary of the mobster administration, the corruption and backstabbing of "we the people." We want good, smart government, a better future for our children and grandchildren, a great education system that treats everyone fairly and equally, action on climate change, breathable air, drinkable water, public places to work, eat, play and live that are clean, affordable, accessible to everyone, art and beauty, wild spaces that are our heritage set aside, maintained and treasured, and reasonable, compassionate politicians who will focus on "we the people," all the people, versus maintaining the power of one group over another. We are fed up with Trump, the hate and division he sows, his billionaire whining, entitled mentality, his disrespect for the law, and how he enriches himself and lines the pockets of the wealthiest at our expense. Out goal is to remove him, his cronies and those in the GOP who identify with him from power, the peaceful way, via our democratic right to vote. So yes, peace scares the hell out of him.
14
"Truth, fantasy and deceit slosh together with Mr. Trump."
And excellent summation of Mr. Trump's world view. His perception of reality is, at best, questionable and where it won't get him what he wants he has no trouble lying. After awhile, as he repeats the lie, it becomes incorporated into his fantasy.
3
The way I read it, Trump is not predicting violence, he is threatening with it if he does not get his way. This coming election will be a test for he people to decide which kind of a country they would like to live in. It is said that "the people get the government they deserve" . I hope we deserve better.
9
If one were really pessimistic, the President's remarks to his evangelical faithful could sound ominously like he is laying the groundwork for declaring martial law if the Democrats achieve control of the House and Senate in the mid-term elections this fall. How else could he protect his faithful base from the "violence" that otherwise would ensue?
10
Trump is running scared. He knows that he is in trouble, and only by maintaining a compliant House and Senate under control of the Republicans will he skate past his problems.
If either the House or the Senate (or both) have Democratic majorities in the next Congress, Trump will be in deep trouble, and all of his misdeeds will be investigated in public hearings, broadcast on C-SPAN. All the dirty, stinky laundry will come out for a washing. It will not be pretty.
7
Trump is the worst president ever by a long shot. He is also profoundly ignorant.
But like most totalitarians, he is adept at media manipulation.
His threats toward technology companies are a great example.
Now rational people know that social media has given the right-wing fringe a voice they would not otherwise have. As a matter of fact, aided by the Russians, these same companies helped Trump get elected.
Facing pressure, these companies have rightly (albeit too little and too late) removing the worst of the worst.
And thus Trump steps in. He lobs another threat wrapped in a lie suggesting that it is the right that has been victimized. Obviously this is an attempt by Trump to slow reform so that his advantage remains in tact.
Classic Trump: dishonest, manipulative, baseless, fear-inducing, without precedent and plowing through important historical norms.
This is the GOP.
6
Don't let the audeence off the hook.
Trump was following the first law of entertainment — give 'em what they want.
The Evangelicals called into this little afternoon cabal want to believe that the Left is violent and immoral. Trump lies (it's his one trick) and tells them 'Yes, yes they are horrible people waiting to do horrible things to you."
These preachers will then turn on a dime and repeat these lies from their pulpits — BUT THEY ALREADY WERE!
And yet american journalism continues to treat them as men of God and followers of Christ. THEY ARE NEITHER. They are preachers of hate sowing discord with lies for which they are handsomely paid with state subsidies to private religion through Republican legislation. They are all eager little Trumps in waiting. Call them out for their bad deeds. There was no innocence in that room.
9
If these pastors buy into Trumps nonsense and preach this hateful message to their flocks, conservative Christianity is a far larger plague to our nation then I had thought. Trump offers no redemption and no solutions to the many problems Americans are facing. These attendees had best go back to their hometowns and do some serious soul searching in an effort to relocate their Christian senses.
9
The hypocrisy of this regime is biblical:
1 John 4:20
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; ...
And saddest of all, as all semblance of morality, decency and justice evaporates with every passing day, we have a complicit group of buyers and sellers disgracing the temples as we the people weep for our democracy lost.
13
In 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was first running for President, many southern states threatened to secede from the Union if Lincoln was elected. In November of that year, Lincoln WAS elected the 16th President of the United States of America. Five months later (April 1861) the Civil War began when South Carolina (the first of the Confederate traitors) attacked Fort Sumter.
What we see now with Trump and his followers is the old treasonous Confederacy raising its ugly head and demanding its own way on everything and threatening all kinds of things if it doesn't get it.
7
Stoking the fears of the "economicall anxious", giving them a minority to scapegoat and target with their hatred, and filling their empty heads with lies and propaganda.
Yeah, it's not new. Too bad so few are left alive who remember where it leads.
1
One wonders where the bottom truly lies. This is how a species self-destructs.
9
““The level of hatred, the level of anger is unbelievable,”
Indeed, it is. It gets drummed up at every rally
“A referendum on our religion”
Or, do you mean “cult”? But yes, it is a referendum.
8
“The English language, they used to tell me at school, is the richest in the world, crammed full from end to end with about a million red-hot adjectives. Yet the only one you can find to describe this ghastly business is the adjective ‘disturbing’. It is not ‘disturbing’ Jeeves. It is … what’s the word I want?”
“Cataclysmal, sir”.
(P.G. Wodehouse)
11
It's ironic that Trump seeks and gets support from Christians, when his policies and behavior are closer to an antichrist.
11
I'm trying to imagine the reaction of these "Christian" leaders, Donald Trump and his supporters if the leaders of the Mormon, Jewish and Muslim faithful in America start using their respective pulpits to get out the anti-Trump vote in November.
4
Mr. Trump is repulsive in his lying and fear-mongering, accusing others of the very malevolent intrigues he is so well known for. From the very beginning, this bully (a coward in disguise) has ruled with the triad of 'fear, hate and division'; in this, at least, he has remained consistent. This self-serving demagogue has no business being in government, as his trampling of this democracy is reaching a crisis in values incompatible with a free society and social justice. The phrase "I alone can fix it" is classic of arrogant tyrants, convinced of their irreplaceability and uniqueness, a sad caricature of a leader. That religious thugs are willing to toe his line is disgraceful, especially by supporting violence and intolerance for any dissonant voice, however constructive. Sowing fear about democrats' legitimacy in putting a stop to his misrule is one more blow to the truth, based on facts, instead of Trump's expertise in bombast and insults galore.
2
Projection: classic Trump.
4
Have those evangelical Christian leaders no shame for sitting to dine with a man who boosts about grabbing women by the ... ?
There is a passage in the Bible that is specifically addressed to such so-called religious leaders. It is found in Isaiah 12:14 "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!"
Such "religious leaders" are the fallen stars. They are in it not for the sake of their congregations, but for their own gratification.
2
In predicting violence, isn’t this yet again Mr. Trump projecting his own inclinations - what he would do in an opponent's position - giving us another look into his sick and ugly soul ? After all, it is evident that he has no imagination outside himself.
2
The only violence will be if he resists arrest.
3
Like he overturned all the good that Obama did.
4
As the Monty Python boys say: No one expects the Spanish Inquisition.
3
Democrats such as myself will settle our differences with the Trump administration at the ballot box. If any side is going to get violent it will be his followers after he loses the midterms.
6
The President claims violence will follow his electoral defeat or his forced leave of office, whichever comes first. He may be right, but it will be his own slavering, racist, conspiracy-believing, weaponry fetishists who are most likely to start shooting.
5
Yes. It CAN happen here!!!
3
A room full of Elmer Gantrys.
Trump telling evangelicals to support him from the pulpit is proof that all churhes need to be taxed as they are not religions, they are PACs. The problem us not that they are telling their "flocks" how to vote, whether from the pulpit or at coffee hour, it's that they claim tax exemption because they are a "religion".
Pastors invent answers that their parishioners want to hear in order to garner support for the political system that keeps them in power, i.e., paid.
Any evangelical leader that says to Trump, "Sir, I commend you for your courage", is a hypocrit of the highest order.
Courage to throw more poor people off of health care? Hypocrits!
Courage to throw more children off of health care? Hypocrits!
Courage to sell more guns and arm teachers? Hypocrits!
Courage to be a compulsive liar and adulterer? Hypocrits!
Courage to incarcerate more poor people? Hypocrits!
Courage to break up brown families at the border and force 3 year olds to defend themselves in court? Hypocrits!
Courage to destroy the environment in exchange for fossil fuel sector profits? Hypocrits!
Courage to redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich? Hypocrits!
The courage to hate and willfully hurt human beings because of the color of their skin or who they choose to love? Hypocrits!
Evangelicals are a business and they need to be taxed as such. Their spiritual connections to a god or gods is a work of fiction. It's time to end this farcical charade.
6
"Christian Evangelicals" are neither, to borrow an apt phrase from the past. They have lined up unquestioningly behind an amoral creature who is light years removed from the tenets of any religion.
The powers of self-delusion and hypocrisy needed to explain their faith in this charlatan is incomprehensible.
6
The President's remarks are irresponsible and highly troubling, for there is no factual basis for his pernicious and blatant suggestion that a Democratic sweep of Congress in the 2018 mid-term elections would be followed by violence. It is well known that it is common for mid-term elections to trend away from the party in power. However, it is virtually unheard of in America where such a mid-term move away from the dominant party sparks violence. The essence of the American democracy is the peaceful transition of power. The President appears to be attempting to instill such fear of dire consequences on his supporters’ part that they will redouble efforts to garner support for Republican candidates. This tactic smacks of those used by autocratic leaders to promote support among their subjects by asserting that society will crumble if they do not retain power.
5
@Larry K: The evangelicals are unpatriotic grifters playing this guy for their own purposes. The bottom line here, I believe, is that trump is scared to death that all of his terrible actions are going to defeat his spineless supportive republicans in the midterms. Fear, fear, fear. Some hero!
3
I cannot remember any American president urging a violent reaction to an election result in my lifetime.
Barry Goldwater’s famous “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice” comes the closest to an Armageddon—apocalyptic prophecy of the Scandinavian version of Ragnarok. But the Arizona Republican was fronting the John Birch Society, not warning of end times.
Donald Trump’s wild fancies of “violence” and “quickly” dovetails nicely with his appeals to racial antagonisms. He, and his sidekicks at Fox (Sean Hannity) and Clear Channel (Rush Limbaugh) have been—and will continue to—push the “race war” spectre front and center this fall. Indeed, his disciple, Ron DeSantis, jumped the gun with “monkey,” a code loaded with red meat.
This president is giving the lie to “peaceful transition of power,” which is not surprising, given his magnificent ignorance of history and government. What he has done in a most irresponsible manner is to provoke his disappointed voters in November to ignore the will of the majority and make their displeasure known by the fist and the boot and the club and the knife and the gun. He is saying that “if things don’t go your way, you know what to do—whatever you want.”
Of course, no comment from Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan or even his scorned AG, Jefferson Davis Beauregard Sessions III, whose Justice Department exists to protect citizens and enforce the law.
There’s a great disconnect here and it begins with the president. Have we law or not?
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@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
It has been almost exclusively the Left that has carried out violence at political rallies and events; conservative speakers at college campuses, religious rallies, conservative rallies.........
You do not speak the truth.
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@Soxared, '04, '07, '13, Goldwater equated extremism with liberty in this cognitively-dissonant utterance.
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
Bravo!
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I imagine it was the 1920s when the Klu Klux Klan was powerful across the country and in Spokane, Washington, where my Dad and Grandfather lived. My Dad once told me that there were several weeks where Grandad went to bed with a pistol under his pillow due to threats from the KKK. Our name was German and Grandpa and Grandma spoke English but probably with an accent and though they did not practice any religion, the great grandparents had first names that may have been Jewish. When I looked up the KKK, I found that in the 1920s they were a big deal. I find some hope in the knowledge that things have been worse than they are now. The monument in the south to lynchings is another sign that we move forward not backward. It's amazing that we have a President whose father used a code to make sure no blacks rented his apartments in New York. Still, we will survive and even improve in response to wannabe King Donald.
7
Evangelicals need to look only so far as across the aisle to the Catholic church. The leaders of the dioceses in America and the Vatican all seemed to think all they had to do was hunker down, hide the sinners in their ranks and the flock would forget all about the sexual abuse happening in their midst. Well, sorry, the Catholic flock has been peeling off. The same fate awaits evangelicals and Trump. You can only rationalize the behavior for so long. Then, when people are watching the evening news, they begin to wonder :"Why are we supporting this guy?". "Why are we hiding him in our midst?" You can only use the "Fake News" card a few times before you have to decide for yourself that what you are seeing and hearing each and every day may have some truth to it and that truth doesn't fit in with the morals you have embraced your entire life. Then you start to wonder whose idea it was to turn a blind eye to him in the first place. And when that person tells you he needs millions to get a plane to spread the word, you start to say "Wait a minute". It all starts with one teeny weeny doubt.
9
He is right about one thing...The level of hatred and anger are unbelievable. But it is the anger and hatred of what he is doing to our beloved country.
15
Trump's predictive powers are feeble. He sees sunshine and unicorns after Singapore and rampaging Democrats should the GOP lose total control of Congress. Would anyone trust this man to predict anything other than what feeds his ego?
5
The apprentice spouts criminal behavior.
4
It's as if America's evangelicals are perched on a mountain and Trump is waving his arm across the landscape below and exhorting them with the words, "Everything that you see below can be yours. It is within your reach, and all you need to do is reach out and take it. Believe in me and you shall own the world."
Pleased to meet you. I hope you guessed his name.
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There may indeed be violence if the Democrats take control in the mid-terms -- but from his rabid Republican followers, not from Democrats. I can all to easily see Trump admonishing his followers to "do whatever is necessary" to prevent the Democrats from tearing down the falsehoods and hatred that this "president" has built up over the last 3 years (1 year of campaigning, 2 in possession of the White House), and as we've seen before, injuries and death are fine with the fanatics who believe him to be a god. That group unfortunately contains many "christians" who go to church every single Sunday, and even other days, who are delusional enough to believe that Christ's mission and Trump's mission are one and the same (I apologize for putting Christ's name in the same sentence with Trump, even to show polar opposites. Of course, Christ would say it's OK, and Trump will be furious that I put Christ's name first). I am praying that the Democrats win big in the mid-terms, but am very wary of what I sincerely believe will follow our wins.
3
@Susan Vincent, I just call him Jesus, because our souls are inseparable from our brains, and perish with them.
As the editorial notes, the most prominent politician fomenting violence in the U.S. is Donald Trump.
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The Republican controlled congress, a co-equal branch of government has surrendered its authority.
The President is packing the federal bench with ultra right wing idealogues in record numbers. Presumably, he continues to hold sway over about 80% of registered Republicans.
Should he succeed in replacing AG Sessions with someone who will answer to the President and not to the rule of law, should that person fire Mr. Rosenstein and then terminate the investigation by the Special counsel, should Mr. Trump escape responsibility for the crimes he’s alleged to have committed,
should he be elected for a second term in office, we as a free, democratic nation, as the leader of the western alliance, we are doomed.
3
Any reasonable person who doubts Trump's real intent should read (or re-read) "It Can't Happen Here"...the Sinclair Lewis novel from the 30's that describes how a cabal of authoritarian would-be dictators gain control of the US Government first by threatening "enemies", and then inciting and directing violent actions by a core group of narrow-minded supporters. It is chilling how that novel seems to foretell, step-by-step, what we are seeing now from this racist, bigoted president and his fanatically loyal core of minions consisting of evangelical Christians, white supremacists, gay bashers, and female rights restricters. We should not forget, ever, that 60+ million Americans voted for this slug to be their president...and would again. They love Trump because he is doing exactly what they would do if they were POTUS. Those 60+ million are the real threat to the foundation stones of freedom, liberty and human rights that America was built on.
7
This Editorial Board's opinion of the damage that Emperor Trump has done and can do much more, comports with David Leonhardt's fine piece on what positive and progressive potential exists if the entrenched DNC allows the Democratic party to become the real progressive continuation (and completion) of our American "Revolution Against Empire" [Justin du Rivage's deeply researched and definitive history of our original one against the highly visible, 'Red Coated', and earlier 'external' British Empire 242 years ago].
Whether either one of the current political parties --- or a new form of united people's party --- has the insight, effective strategy, strategic narrative, coherent theme across all the subordinate 'issues', and the courage to become America's needed 'Anti-Empire' Party, in the obvious face of Emperor Trump's Deluge, is, IMHO, the single big question mark for our country's and the world's future.
As Pat would have shouted-out if Tom had taken the Paine to edit his rallying cry:
"Give us Liberty from Empire, or Give us Death".
And as I demonstrate, march, and protest with the more important side of my only sign --- which I didn't realize was more important and uniting until John McCain's passing:
"We can't be an Empire"
3
"We’ve seen this before, just not, for a very long time, in the United States."
When before Trump have we ever had a president give full voice and the power of his office to fascism?
This could never happen in the America handed down to us by the Founding Fathers and millions of patriots who fought for our freedom, way of life and Constitution. In that America, Congress would stand up with a backbone and reign in a despotic man in the White House. The courts would hold him accountable for constitutional abuses. But that America is dead. The Republicans killed it. It was premeditated murder.
Republicans must go. All Republicans must go. There is not a single Republican who is a patriot. Like other so-called moderate Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins is fake. She poses and spouts "alternate facts" to explain why she sides with what Trump does/wants. She does the residents of Maine no service with her deception.
Republican Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland must go. He cuts taxes to toss crumbs to the people, but the lost tax revenue dooms Maryland to a falling standard of living. Maryland residents must look to future needs and goals, not be appeased with a dollar toll reduction.
The only Republican to stand up to Trump died last Saturday. His Republican "friends" continue to mouth tributes to him but they rally around the tyrant that Sen. John McCain stood up to. Their behavior spits on the patriotism of Sen. McCain as it spits on the memory of an America that is no more.
7
For Trump I feel only the most disdainful disgust. I would that I could with certainty say the only violence has been, and would be from the right - but Antifa (even though such a small minority) has unfortunately proven to the contrary. Nonetheless, I am fearful - that it is through Trump's urging that violence may yet be unleashed. Then - may he reap what he has sowed.
1
@KEF Ernst Rohm managed a cadre of fake communists for Hitler. This kind of thing is old hat.
Trump appears to be operating in desperation mode. In addition to raising the spectre of violence, he has claimed that economic ruin in the form of a plummeting stock market would follow if he were removed from office. He is again resorting to the politics of fear to maintain his presidency just as he did to win it in 2016. His lawyer/public relations guru Rudy Giuliani contributed to the theme with the statement quoted in the Times, “You’d only impeach him for political reasons, and the American people would revolt against that.”
No one can afford to take these statements lightly. Trump frequently uses the defense mechanism of projection (the attribution to others of one's own unacceptable thoughts and impulses). In claiming that Democrats will behave violently to undo his agenda, he is is actively exhorting his core to violence. This will not end well.
2
The President's prediction (I'll call it that, not, "encouragement"), if it implies violent resistence to a Democratic-controlled House,can be viewed as inciting insurrection that would violate Art III, Sec 4 (1) of the Constitution. Rather that such incendiary comments, I think the president should be using the bully pulpit to oppose violence from either the left or the right in response to election results.
2
The violence that Trump “fears” will come from his supporters. Just as he would not accept an electoral defeat from Hillary in the presidential election, he will not accept a loss in the midterm elections. Trump has no respect for the rule of law or for democratic processes. It is time that we all understand this!
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@Harvey, Trump will blame it all on Crooked Hillary.
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Those evangelicals who are cheering Trump should consider the word Christian and use it more as an adjective than a noun. If they demonstrate their Christian principles, then there is no need for their sanctimonious rhetoric. Otherwise, they are only just a political wing of the Republican Party.
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@Wayne Logsdon: One would not even recognize Jesus as a Christian if he followed his own advice to keep whatever communion one has with God private.
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Of course, Don Trump didn't need to threaten any violence. These evangelical leaders knew when they signed on the line a couple years ago that someday, and that the day may never come, the Don will call upon them to do a service for him.
5
Huh? "violently, violently"? More like "happily, gleefully". But it will take more than the 2018 election to overturn stuff. 2020 will be a big year, too.
5
The republican party has been quietly, maybe not always quietly, transforming itself into a form of theocracy. Trump is its current ayatollah.
Like other demagogues, Trump invokes baseless threats of violence against his supporters should the other side prevail.
Congress, so long as it remains under republican theocracy will do nothing to confront Trump.
Our recourse is to vote republicans out of office.
To vote republicans out of office, democrats must abandon their vacuous pontifications for diversity for the sake of diversity. The strategy alienates centrists and has proven to be ineffective. Pursuing it as a national cause will only work to the goals of the republicans.
Since the goal of republicans is orthodoxy and Trump is their ayatollah, the consequences are quite material to the well being of the nation.
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@TDurk: Just spike them all with "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion". Just asking them what an "establishment of religion" is drives them nuts.
if Trump is impeached, or otherwise leaves office, you will see the real zealot Ayatollah slip into the oval office and hang a big cross over the resolute desk.
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