Donald Trump starts out 2018 with the lowest approval rating of any newly-elected president at this early stage of his presidency. According to FiveThirtyEight, his average approval rating stands at 37.9 percent–some 12 points lower than any other newly-elected president at this point.
But Trump is lucky that his numbers are even that high. One of the biggest reasons that he’s not at the depths occupied by George W. Bush in 2008 is because the religious right has spent the better part of the last year-plus warning the nation against daring to oppose Trump. Their explanation? They would have us believe that those who oppose Trump are being driven by witchcraft, demons and the devil himself to oppose God’s plan for America. For good measure, they would have us believe that opposing Trump amounts to sedition, and may put you and your family at risk for being cursed or “smacked” by God himself.
We got a lovely example of this bullying last week. One of the religious right’s loudest cheerleaders for Trump issued a not-so-subtle warning to Trump’s foes–God himself will bring you to “justice.”
Even among the so-called moral guardians who are still bowing down to the Orange Calf, Lance Wallnau is in a class by himself. To hear him talk, the “progressive spirit” is identical to the spirit of witchcraft. After all, they supposedly have the same goal–“to control and intimidate, manipulate.” Supposedly, that same spirit is being used by the media to stir up opposition to Trump.
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Wallnau told his followers on Periscope that God is poised to do something about it. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
After peddling what has become the standard far-right line about how the “golden showers” dossier is fake and the “deep state” is out to get Hillary, Wallnau claimed the dossier formed the basis for the FBI wiretapping Trump Tower. He claimed it was part of a massive effort by Democrats and establishment Republicans to “cover up Hillary’s trail.”
That prompted Wallnau to pray for Trump to get “the gift,” and that God would blow the lid on the devil’s plan to derail his agenda.
“Let there be a pulling back of the veil on the corruption of Republicans and Democrats and the embedded bureaucrats in the intelligence community, wherever they have colluded together in order to set a snare for the man, Father, that you put into the Oval Office, right now. Let the anointing be Donald Trump’s defense, and let the boomerang of heaven take place, that the curse that they curse against him actually returns to them. Expose their hiding places. And Lord, I pray the angel of the Lord will persecute and prosecute and pursue every powerful person who has colluded for the purpose of destroying the legitimacy and the success of the man who you anointed and sent into office. May their fight be with you, Lord, and not with man. And I pray that you will uproot them from their positions and give their place to people that are more righteous.”
Well, well. So if we stand against a man who–at the very least–fostered an environment in which members of his campaign team were willing to accept help from a hostile foreign power, and whose relationship with truth and sanity appears tenuous at best, we risk being brought up on charges by God himself. And apparently being “righteous” means supporting a man who openly admits he just signed a massive giveaway to the rich into law, and who has a bad habit of retweeting hateful and violent GIFs attacking his foes.
Wallnau’s followers were in an equally bloodthirsty mood. Here’s a sample of the comments.
“whoot whoot! God’s exposing all the corruption. No place to run,no place to hide.❤?”
“Glory!! Jesus Expose!!!”
“Not one thing will be left uncovered!”
“Do it Lord … do it! Let your light shine!”
“Yes let God’s complete work be accomplished in Jesus name amen”
“yes expose the evil”
“God is flipping the script”
“Donald Trump has been anointed for such a time as this! Thank you Jesus!”
“I have wondered how long the liberal evil corruption could go on..God is finally dealing with it
“amen, let Haman hang on his own gallows”
This is sobering. They’ve been whipped up into a wild frenzy by a man who is under the delusion that God uses men who revel in degrading women and who regularly gaslight their foes. Oh, that’s right–all that matters to Wallnau and his ilk are that Trump makes the right clucking noises on social issues.
Here’s a news flash, Lance. If you believe that God is going to “persecute and prosecute” those who oppose Trump, then you’re effectively disenfranchised the 58 percent of Americans–as measured by FiveThirtyEight–who disapprove of Trump’s performance. After all, you just suggested that those who oppose Trump belong in the dock.
(featured image courtesy Wallnau’s Facebook)
