For his support for, and by, Evangelical neanderthals, Trump would attack the writer of the opinion below as a disloyal ingrate Christian. He'd tell him, "Haven't I done many things for you, haven't I accelerated the return of Jesus to Jerusalem? Haven't I brought the world closer to the Aramgeddon you so diligently pray for?"
I imagine Trump calling Tim Bascom, "Ba-scum". The poor sap says he's a son of missionaries who grew up trying to convert Ethiopian Christians into Evangelical Christians. It's not enough for him that Ethiopian Christian churces are literally the oldest in the world, and that Ethiopia is the oldest Christian country on earth, barbarians like his Evangelical missionaries try to convert these oldest most authentic Christians into the shiny soulless racist American white supremacist Christian cult with its televangelist megachurch corporations. America has this knack for taking natural, original, authentic stuff (food, music, literature, language, etc...) and "processing" it through its mercantile industrial machine to make more of it, only disgustingly worse.
What prompts these missionaires to go around the world fucking up people's cultures and enslaving them to their version of barbaric racist exclusivist American Christianity? I didn't know there were still missionaries in our world today who are still not satisfied with diverse cultures, religions, and traditions, and who decide to go and subvert cultures and nations that preceded them by thousands of years? Who the hell do they think they are to believe theirs is a better version of bullshit religion?
Missionaries, Catholic, Evangelical or whatever sewer religion they hail from, are an uncontested form of colonialism and white supremacy. By converting people away from their ancestral religions, they disrupt their lives, degrade their cultures, lay the ground for their insidious westernization and submission to the giant US government-backed corporations that follow the missionaries to exploit people, pilfer resources and rape nature? All under the lie that they are bringing civilization and democracy to "under-developed" people? They thus turn otherwise autonomous, independent and proud people into culturally enslaved populations that depend on the west and become "consumers" of western trash rather than communities in balance with their environment.
Tim Bascom: Despite your good words about Trump's danger to America, Fuck you.
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My fellow Christians: What about Trump’s behavior follows the example of Jesus? | Opinion
I am the son of missionaries, raised in the evangelical church, and I understand that many evangelicals believe Donald Trump will establish policies in keeping with their Christian values. But what will be expected in exchange? This is a bullying man who will continue to demand loyalty to his own agendas, not just the agendas of the church.
If you give close attention to the former president, you will see that his values are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. I could point to his enormous pride or greed or lust. But I am most alarmed by the tyrannical intimidation so fundamental to his leadership.
In a 2018 interview with Fox News, Trump spoke enthusiastically about his friendship with Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator who maintains power through repeated acts of violence, such as ordering the execution of his own deputy premier for education. Here’s what Trump had to say: “Hey, he’s the head of a country, and I mean, he’s the strong head, don’t let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.”
Note especially the “sit up” comment. Ironically, Kim Jong Un executed the head of education in North Korea simply because he had shown “disrespectful posture” at a meeting. Note also that Trump uses the possessive pronoun “my” for American people, which is a sign of how he sees all voters — owned by him and in submission. Any wavering, and they will be punished.
Jesus resisted bullying pharisees who wanted to pass a death sentence on an adulterous woman: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone,” he said in John 8:7. But look at what Trump has said, by comparison, at a recent rally: “Is there anybody here that’s going to vote for lying Kamala? Please raise your hand. Please raise your hand. Actually, I should say, don’t raise your hand. It would be very dangerous. We don’t want to see anybody get hurt. Please don’t raise your hand.” Implicit in his mocking attitude toward voters who don’t endorse him is the threat of being physically assaulted — stoned, in essence.
And look at how Trump’s spite feeds the bullying instinct in crowds, encouraging hateful outbursts. The Washington Post reported this from a rally just a few days ago:
He referred to Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom as Gavin “New-scum.” He jabbed at former GOP primary rival Chris Christie’s weight. And he called Adam Schiff, the Democratic nominee for an open Senate seat in California, unattractive and repeated his frequent criticisms of the size of Schiff’s neck.
“Pencil neck!” A woman in the crowd yelled as others cackled.
“Tampon Tim!” a man shouted as Trump spoke, referring to the nickname MAGA supporters have given to Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
“She’s a ho!” others yelled as Trump moved on to Harris, using a vulgar slang term for a sexually promiscuous woman.
My question for Christians who plan to vote for Trump is simple: Does that voting bloc sound like it will maintain the respectful, love-your-enemies attitude demonstrated by Jesus? And what kind of America can you expect from a leader who boasts about potential violence the way he did while campaigning at a Christian college in southeast Iowa: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?”
Tim Bascom is author of “The Comfort Trap: Spiritual Dangers of the Convenience Culture,” a study of Christianity in America, plus two prize-winning memoirs about coming of age in Ethiopia, where his parents served as missionaries. He lives in Topeka, Kansas.
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