You shall not worship them or serve them;
for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Exodus 20:5 (NASB)
I sit here pondering why millions of Americans would vote for Mr. Trump. I've seen interviews where the person interviewed acknowledged that Trump is bad. They don't like Trump, but they like his policies. His policies around the economy, including tariffs and immigration, regardless of the dehumanization, his anti-LGBTQIA stance, and, yes, his policies are an appeal to reactionary toxic masculinity. What has been received, from this writers perspective, has been uncaring, seemingly rooted in nihilism, which has meant unnecessary suffering for a plurality of Americans. There is a great tragedy in America that I suspect will leave the country and its people devastated.
Many people who desired to tear the system down, who considered Democrats out of touch, and who believed what Trump said he would do around the cost of groceries are now getting policies they didn't bargain for. Yes, they wanted to own the libs but didn't thoughtfully consider the cost and what that would mean. I've seen videos of people shedding tears as they regret their vote. Sadly, these folks were scammed. I imagine if I were not transgender and black and mindful of the history represented by Trump and his rhetoric, I might have fallen for his scam. I suppose it depends on one's consciousness around historical matters. History is a profound and unyielding threat to Trump and MAGA. Elon Musk made this clear as he spoke to the Alternative for Germany party about forgetting the Nazi Era and the Holocaust. There is this strange, incessant need for people like Trump, Musk, and Florida Governor Desantis, who traffic in Christian nationalists, to break from Exodus 20:5.
Their goal of reshaping not just systems and their processes but the American mind, which I suggest is one of the goals of Mothers for Liberty and book banning, cannot be successful unless they somehow divorce the sacred biblical truth of Exodus 6:25 from the human experience they are seeking to inflict. Hence, the importance of their version of an American Reich Church. They say, "We have no responsibility or accountability to the trauma of history." History is irrelevant for the nihilist. The collective voice of the American people went for people who are nihilist and predatory, and this group is putting predatory nihilist policies in place. Russell Vought, Trump's new OMB Director and the author of Project 2025, believes that the federal government should be dismantled and its services given over to the private sector. This is wrong and dangerous, yet for the reactionary nihilist dismantling a massive federal government charged with serving over 300 million people, regardless of the suffering that will ensue, it is irrelevant. The American people have no value in their eyes.
One of the great tragedies is how many people were scammed by Trump using transgender people, non-European immigrants, racial minorities, and the economy. His campaign spent more than 200 million alone demonizing the transgender community. This is what authoritarians do. They find one demographic they can bully and put all their baggage on this group. This demographic becomes the ultimate other. Incredibly, people fall for othering even after being othered themselves. I visited the National Monument for Peace and Justice in Memphis, Tennessee, some years ago. It is a place of sacred memory. It is a reminder of the trauma, evil, and injustice that has characterized much of American history. It is an example of violence and the othering of human beings.
Many of the systems that Musk and DOGE are trying to tear down were created in response to the terror and trauma inflicted on black, brown, LGBTQIA2S, the differently abled, the poor, the elderly, and working-class unions. These systems are in place for a better, more humane society. The New Deal, Civil Rights, laws against hatred and discrimination, and even soft power, for all their complications, are meant to improve things, to make power, in one sense, more humane. They respond to misbehaving men like Trump and Musk. These personalities have always attempted to inhibit the freedom, liberation, diversity, and inclusive nature of humanity. Through AI they are employing a particular irrational desire antithetical to the radically inclusive love of God. The sad thing is that they represent a large minority of Americans. The more I hear these folks talk in interviews, the more irrational they sound.
It's like those demographics who have been historically victimized are rational, and those who have traditionally benefitted from that victimization are irrational. I get it, there is great fear in those who are scared of loosing their societal position. To maintain this position, they are willing to have Trump. They feel that their position is secure, and they will avoid the fullness of the Exodus passage. For some Americans, this is the point of their vote. Tear the government up, dismantle it, and disable it so their status can be maintained. Fear is the ground of the irrational. Christian nationalism is appealing because of fear. Exodus 20:5 will take complete account.
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