No matter how this thing with Trump ends (and I am hoping for a loud, highly destructive crescendo for our Orange menace), I sincerely hope that no one forgets how the evangelical right bent over backwards to ignore or defend his many, many excesses. In fact, when the loud, highly destructive crescendo for Trump happens, I hope they are caught up in the middle of it.
The tweet Franklin Graham sent out Monday underscore my hopes:
So Graham is pushing this idea that Trump is being unfairly targeted. Well let's look at the claims he pushed aside in his tweet.
1. The accusations from 17 women accusing Trump of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment and assault did not just come out of the woodwork. Trump has been accused of this long before he ran for president. And there is the infamous Hollywood Access tape - i.e. the "grab them by the pu##y" tape.
2. Then there was the Mueller report which found 10 possible incidents of obstruction in the Russia investigation perpetrated by Trump. The idea of "no collusion" is a straw man argument created by Trump and his supporters, such as Graham. Mueller himself said he didn't "evaluate collusion."
3. So now we come to the latest. A whistleblower complaint about Trump's promise to the leader of a foreign country as well as "multiple acts" is turning out to look like Trump was exploiting the power of the White House. Why? To get the Ukraine to investigate alleged wrong doing by Joe Biden in preparation for the 2020 election. While Trump and his allies are spinning, his Administration has refused to release the original complaint.
Via his tweet, Graham is implying that there is a conspiracy against Trump. This is yet another example of Graham exploiting his status as prominent minister and twisting the Christian faith to make more excuses for Trump. He seems to have gotten enthralled with how Trump has been giving evangelicals "access" as well as other material advantages in his Administration.
In turn, Graham has no problem in making a spectacle out of himself by raising up Trump to the level of a "chosen one." The more Trump wallows in manure and mud, the more creative Graham gets in making the manure and mud seem like frankincense and myrrh.
The sad reason for this is that Graham doesn't care. He's not naive or is he senile. Graham knows exactly what's he's doing in protecting Trump. And as long as Trump delivers the goodies for the right-wing evangelical community, Graham will continue to portray as the Second Coming of Jesus.
If Graham has integrity, he would be embarrassed.
Remember that Graham is the same guy who never misses a chance to rail against the LGBTQ community because of "his Christian faith" He's the guy who has no problem attacking our kids or vocally supporting Putin's crackdown on the LGBTQ Russian community. He loves to claim that we are attacking "his Christian faith."
But he also makes excuses for Trump by saying "he's not president perfect" or demanding a special day of prayer specifically for Trump. It was bad enough when confronted earlier this year with the myriad of lies Trump has told while in office, Graham claimed that Trump "merely misspeaks." This wholesale defense of Trump in light of all of the evidence pointing otherwise brings things to a new and very low level.
Franklin Graham reminds me of a priest in a Clive Barker horror short story who abandoned his Christian faith and began worshipping an ancient monster which rose from its tomb. As a demonstration of his new faith, the priest allowed the monster to urinate all over him while he accepted it like some obscene baptism. At least that character had the good taste to privately debase himself in front of his new god. Graham seems determined to do his own debasement to Donald Trump in front of us all.
This is fine with me and a lot of other people.
We're taking notes and saving tweets. The stench of Trump which Graham obviously loves to adorn himself with won't be going away even after Trump leaves office. Some of us will make sure of it.
The tweet Franklin Graham sent out Monday underscore my hopes:
I wish President @realDonaldTrump’s enemies would give it a rest. For 2 years all the American people heard was collusion. Not true. Then accusations seemed to come out of the woodwork by various women. Then all we heard was impeachment. Now it’s a whistleblower claim.— Franklin Graham (@Franklin_Graham) September 23, 2019
So Graham is pushing this idea that Trump is being unfairly targeted. Well let's look at the claims he pushed aside in his tweet.
1. The accusations from 17 women accusing Trump of inappropriate behavior, including sexual harassment and assault did not just come out of the woodwork. Trump has been accused of this long before he ran for president. And there is the infamous Hollywood Access tape - i.e. the "grab them by the pu##y" tape.
2. Then there was the Mueller report which found 10 possible incidents of obstruction in the Russia investigation perpetrated by Trump. The idea of "no collusion" is a straw man argument created by Trump and his supporters, such as Graham. Mueller himself said he didn't "evaluate collusion."
3. So now we come to the latest. A whistleblower complaint about Trump's promise to the leader of a foreign country as well as "multiple acts" is turning out to look like Trump was exploiting the power of the White House. Why? To get the Ukraine to investigate alleged wrong doing by Joe Biden in preparation for the 2020 election. While Trump and his allies are spinning, his Administration has refused to release the original complaint.
Via his tweet, Graham is implying that there is a conspiracy against Trump. This is yet another example of Graham exploiting his status as prominent minister and twisting the Christian faith to make more excuses for Trump. He seems to have gotten enthralled with how Trump has been giving evangelicals "access" as well as other material advantages in his Administration.
In turn, Graham has no problem in making a spectacle out of himself by raising up Trump to the level of a "chosen one." The more Trump wallows in manure and mud, the more creative Graham gets in making the manure and mud seem like frankincense and myrrh.
The sad reason for this is that Graham doesn't care. He's not naive or is he senile. Graham knows exactly what's he's doing in protecting Trump. And as long as Trump delivers the goodies for the right-wing evangelical community, Graham will continue to portray as the Second Coming of Jesus.
If Graham has integrity, he would be embarrassed.
Remember that Graham is the same guy who never misses a chance to rail against the LGBTQ community because of "his Christian faith" He's the guy who has no problem attacking our kids or vocally supporting Putin's crackdown on the LGBTQ Russian community. He loves to claim that we are attacking "his Christian faith."
But he also makes excuses for Trump by saying "he's not president perfect" or demanding a special day of prayer specifically for Trump. It was bad enough when confronted earlier this year with the myriad of lies Trump has told while in office, Graham claimed that Trump "merely misspeaks." This wholesale defense of Trump in light of all of the evidence pointing otherwise brings things to a new and very low level.
Franklin Graham reminds me of a priest in a Clive Barker horror short story who abandoned his Christian faith and began worshipping an ancient monster which rose from its tomb. As a demonstration of his new faith, the priest allowed the monster to urinate all over him while he accepted it like some obscene baptism. At least that character had the good taste to privately debase himself in front of his new god. Graham seems determined to do his own debasement to Donald Trump in front of us all.
This is fine with me and a lot of other people.
We're taking notes and saving tweets. The stench of Trump which Graham obviously loves to adorn himself with won't be going away even after Trump leaves office. Some of us will make sure of it.
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