I was hungry, you told me to find work harder. I was thirsty, you told me to find water. I was a stranger and you closed the borders, called me a rapist, a murderer, vilified me, and told me to go home. — Trump Christianity
In 2016, America elected evil. Cue the Trump supporters and various other Republicans with their stakes and pitchforks. Today, a conservative agenda is underway to undermine the progress of the last 60 plus years.
I can’t help but think of HBO’s “The Newsroom” when talking about the GOP. It’s frighteningly true. You can’t mention someone who’s Republican and hope that they agree with you on any progressive or liberal issue.
From Trump rallies to GOP campaign speeches, we’ve been told that America was founded as a Christian nation and that if the Founding Fathers were here today, they’d tell us so.
Here’s John Adams in the Treaty of Tripoli, “As the government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.”
And here’s Thomas Jefferson, “That our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions.”
And here’s the First Amendment to the US Constitution, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
What’s more frightening than the perversion of our great history is that sensible, smart, strong Republicans, the very men and women who should be standing up to radical fundamentalism, are so frightened of losing primary battles to religious zealots that they’ve thrown in the towel on sanity.
It’s ironic because the biggest enemy of the phony Republican isn’t Nancy Pelosi, or Joe Biden, or Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, it’s Jesus.
He said, “Heal the sick, feed the hungry, care for the weakest among us, and always pray in private.”
Ideological purity, compromise as weakness, a fundamentalist belief in scriptural literalism, denying science, unmoved by facts, undeterred by new information, a hostile fear of progress, a demonization of education, a need to control women’s bodies, severe xenophobia, tribal mentality, intolerance of dissent, and a pathological hatred of the US government.
They can call themselves the GOP. They can call themselves conservatives. And they can even call themselves Republicans, though Republicans certainly shouldn’t.
But we should call them what they are. The American Taliban.
And the American Taliban cannot survive if people continue to vote for them.
This article was adapted from a script, as seen in Season 1, Episode 10 of HBO’s “The Newsroom.” Portions of the work have been modified to fit current events. Not for duplication or re-publishing.
