Zealotry in America is not a new phenomenon. Primarily a strong faith in Christianity has been dominant in our culture since its inception. And while the founding fathers saw the danger of a theocracy (crafting a constitution to separate church and state), there was one possibility they could not build a firewall against. Political leaders who would use religion, the way a pastor would in trying to convert people to a way of thinking. The current President Donald Trump spoke at Liberty University (a Christian school) this past weekend and said "We don't worship government we worship God". That statement has deep meaning for it gives as he so often does, the false impression that Christianity is a staple of his personal character. When his life lacks the remotest possibility of living within the bounds of holy scripture.
Numerous facts show that as a businessman, he has cheated people by not paying contractors that worked on his building projects, ripping off students in a so called "university, and has used bankruptcies to wiggle him out of bad business decisions and taking any fiscal responsibility. Moreover, he has conducted his personal life with the same disregard for people, especially women as was emphatically proved last year. And yet with all of that, his followers, his 13th disciple cannot be dissuaded that Trump is a capable leader.
Trump is not the only candidate that has run for president invoking religion as a republican candidate but he is the only one now elected president that created in his base a 13th disciple.
One of the largest group identified as the religious right who voted in mass for Trump despite his propensity for obfuscating the truth and making xenophobic comments because they believed he cared about their religion and issues like abortion and gay marriage. Their loyalty to him supersedes the most existential problems America faces in climate change, racism, and income inequality just to raise a few. And Trumps moral turpitude is completely ignored.
Now with his links to a hostile enemy, Russia, his lies that are proven false almost as fast as he tweets them and unabated ineptness both from him and his white house staff, Trumps 13th disciple is still dogmatic followers.
Unlike any other attack perpetrated against the U.S. the Russian cyber-attack (in a blatant attempt to influence last year’s presidential election) is being treated by those who voted for Donald Trump as much ado about nothing. That is not a surprise.
Trump has told his base over and over that the Russian hacking process is fake news. Trump repeats virulent claims that for democrats and the media who expected a Hillary Clinton win its just sour grapes. Perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy in modern times is a hoax according to this president. Now a large group of Trump supporters (many of them heretofore country's security and Constitutionalist first republicans) is far less concerned with a foreign enemy putting our democracy in jeopardy, and far more accepting as normal an authoritarian commander in chief who (with his family) are exploiting the office of president for personal financial gain. This was first made possible 20 years ago.
In February 1996, after former NBC executive and Republican political strategist Roger Ailes left America's Talking (now MSNBC), Murdoch called him to start the Fox News Channel. Ailes worked individuals through five months of 14-hour workdays and several weeks of rehearsal shows before launch, on October 7, 1996
From that point “Middle America was targeted with a massage done with laser precision. No longer should the heartland puts their trust in democrats of liberals. They were part of the elite who didn't understand the plight of working Americans who lived in the middle of the country. Their candidates were "left wingers" who rejected family values by supporting gay rights and pro-choice issues. And most of all, they didn't share the same fervor of patriotism and Christianity that Republicans did. In succeeding in linking these two identities loves of country and love of religion as a prerequisite for being a real American Fox news and the republican party became the only choice for many Americans to trust.
When Donald Trump won enough electoral votes to become president the real story that night was not about him (much as he would like that). Rather, one of the essential components is to understand why he could win notwithstanding his intrinsic character flaws. They weren’t just voting for Donald Trump they were raising their voice as one’s acceptance of a dogmatic message would at a religious revival Fact proved not as important as faith in someone who cared about their faith and their values. This despite Trump’s long history of antithetical behavior to the contrary.
In 2017, the 13th disciple in America now holds a lofty position in choosing our political leaders. This would be to the chagrin of the creators of our constitution who saw secularism as a pillar for a functioning democracy.
Christianity has always had clout in American politics, but today more than ever its ascendancy is producing consequences in the manner of a Trump presidency. This has led the former national director of intelligence James Clapper to say yesterday on CNN’s State of the Union “democratic institutions are under assault by Trump”