Donald Trump is easily the most unfit and unqualified person to occupy the White House in recent history, if not in all of American history–both in terms of qualifications and character. But a significant segment of his backers actually think he’s a role model. And at least one of them thinks God is using Trump to show the nation how all men should act.
Pastor and radio host Jesse Lee Peterson is a member of one of the most exclusive clubs in the nation–blacks who backed Trump. One of the members of this club is Mark Burns, the South Carolina pastor who declared Democrats were the enemy during his benediction at the Republican National Convention, and also blasted out a since-deleted tweet of Hillary in blackface. Another member is reality TV star-turned-White House adviser Omarosa, who warned that Trump critics would all have to bow down to him if he won, and warned a reporter that the White House had dossiers on its press critics.
In other words–the standards to get into this club aren’t that high. Peterson has already proven that he fits right in with the likes of Burns and Omarosa. This is, after all, a guy who thinks blacks were better off before the Civil Rights Movement, claims that private businesses should be able to discriminate, and believes women should have never been allowed to vote, among other things.
But Peterson proved beyond any doubt on the Friday edition of his radio show that he fits right in. He actually said–with a straight face–that Trump is a throwback to the days when men knew how they were supposed to act. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
While most of us thought Trump’s Thursday press conference was a train wreck, Peterson said it was “mighty, mighty, mighty good.” That wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise came next, when Peterson offered some advice to the men in within the sound of his voice. He suggested that they “pay attention to the president” because he was a throwback to the days “when boys were boys and men were men.” To any man who had a father who wasn’t “a real man,” Peterson said that “God has given you another example” in the president.
Peterson then said that women can easily spot “a girly man, a weak man” from a mile away–and many women already know Trump is “a real man.” He believes that ideally, a man who wants an example of how a real man should act should “return to the Kingdom of Heaven within.” But since most of us need a physical example, they should look at Trump.
I had to listen to this twice in order to believe what I was hearing. Here was an ordained so-called minister upholding Trump as a role model for how men should act. I say “so-called” because for any real man of God–and for that matter, any man of any sort with even an iota of decency–Trump would be the last person to be held up as a role model.
Riddle me this, Jesse Lee. You mean to tell me that a man who finds it acceptable to mock the disabled is an example of how men acted in the days “when boys were boys and men were men”? You mean to tell me that a man who reveled in how he can grab and grope women any time he pleased is a real man? You mean to tell me that a man who fobbed off that behavior as just “entertainment” and “locker room talk” is a real man? You mean to tell me that a man who can’t be bothered to make sure his wife can get out of the car okay is a real man? And you mean to tell me that a man who willfully uses an outdated and easily hackable cell phone despite having a wife and an underage son is a real man?
I could go on, but it has been amply demonstrated that Trump is not just a so-called president, but a so-called man. And if Peterson considers that behavior to be acceptable and considers Trump to be a role model, to my mind that makes him a so-called man as well. Speaking as a black man who believes respecting women is not optional, I have a name for people like Peterson who fob off Trump’s behavior–“disgrace to the race.”
Peterson claims that he wants to help “rebuild men” through his organization, the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny. Well, if Trump is his idea of how a rebuilt man looks, it may be time to take a wrecking ball to BOND. Any organization that wants to turn men into little Trumps is an organization that must be driven out of business posthaste.
But in lieu of that, maybe we should let Peterson know what we think of his suggestion that Trump is even an approximation of a role model–politely, of course. Give him an earful on Facebook and on Twitter.
(featured image courtesy BOND’s Facebook)
