Training True Believers

Once again, I am going to try to excavate from the piles of horseshit that have been accumulating since Donald Trump took over the presidency some rational way of understanding what keeps his fans adoring (or at least approving of) him. Because it is simply astonishing to any reasonable person how, after all the blunders and cruelties and death-dealing gaffes he’s made about the corona virus that is decimating both the nation’s healthcare facilities and its economy, Trump’s approval ratings have actually soared to their highest levels. Are these people blind? Have they no critical faculties at all? Are they so determined to frustrate the coastal elites that they will swallow every lie from the Liar-in-Chief solely in order to maintain their gloating and to facilitate the deaths of as many in New York and/or California as possible? Do they not see that they are next? Do they not see that rural hospitals, especially, are going to be overwhelmed (where they still exist) once the rising numbers of infections gets to them? Do they really agree with the Governor of Texas that they, especially those elders among them, should be quite willing to die to save the economy and Trumpism for their presumptive heirs?

            Apparently so. They seem to think that being in the heartland of the nation, they are invulnerable to what assaults and decimates the elites, the big cities, the centers of government and corruption. But whether or not they do feel this, they seem more and more to me to be reflecting the training they have had for generations. That is, they, the fundamentalists among them especially, have been trained by their ignorant preacher-conmen, to not only believe the most arrant nonsense, but to thrive on it; to expect it; to want it. And then to contribute their life savings to the cause of allowing these mountebanks and their nonsense to thrive and grow. 

            Consider just a few statements from some of these creatures recently. From the New Life Christian Center in Indiana, March 12:

On March 12 on their Facebook page, the New Life Christian Center declared, “Due to the recent outbreak of fear — and the resulting raw, unmitigated stupidity — regarding the perceived threat of the ‘corona virus,’ etc., tomorrow night, Friday, March 13th, 2020, we WILL be having a church service here at New Life Christian Center in Austin, Indiana. Anyone who is sick, you are welcome to come to church. We will lay hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover.” (Alternet, Mar. 16.) 

Then from Christian Pastor Rick Wiles came this:

An evangelical pastor is claiming the coronavirus is God’s “death angel” seeking justice for those “transgendering little children” and putting “filth” on TVs and movies…He then suggested the virus started in China because of the “godless communist government that persecutes Christians” and “forced abortions” — and said the “death angel” could have eyes on the US. (New York Post, Jan. 29, 2020)

Then there’s ‘theologian’ John Piper, who cites four ways Christians can understand the coronavirus outbreak. Among them are that “sometimes sickness is God’s mercy,” i.e. that God lets Christians die of illnesses “so that we may not be condemned along with the world.” Another is that, of course, “sickness could come as judgment”, i.e.  that “God sometimes uses disease to bring particular judgments upon those who reject him and give themselves over to sin.” Presumably, that will prominently include many of us wicked coastal elites. (all quotes from The Christian Post, Mar. 2, 2020).

            The assault on LGBTs as the source of the virus continued when Rev. Steven Andrew designated the month of March “Repent of LGBT Sin Month.”  He added, in a press release, 

"God's love shows it is urgent to repent, because the Bible teaches [that] homosexuals lose their souls and God destroys LGBT societies. Obeying God protects the USA from diseases, such as the Coronavirus.” (New York Daily News, March 7, 2020)

            And then there are lots of Christian pastors and writers (like blogger Lori Alexander) who believe that the coronavirus may actually have a silver lining. She wrote recently not only that “abortions are more damaging than a global pandemic,” but also that 

"With the Corona virus [sic] pushing a lot of women back into their homes with their children (which is a good thing, in my opinion), here are some ideas to help you not be bored at home while being productive too." (from her Facebook post, cited in The Sun (UK) Mar. 16 2020).

           And finally, right in the White House sits Ralph Drollinger, a fundamentalist preacher who leads a weekly Bible study group for several members of Trump’s cabinet. As noted by Chris Walker in a March 25 Hill Reporter column, Drolliinger believes, among other things, that “men should be heads of their households and women should be subservient to them, that homosexuality is an ‘abomination’ (and) that climate change is a "secular fad movement.” As to the corona virus pandemic, Drollinger believes that “China is to blame for the current state of things, and that God is punishing the rest of the world for that nation’s mistake.” God is also pissed off because “the LGBTQ community have infiltrated all levels of government” and just as mad at those who engage in “lesbianism and homosexuality,” and at environmentalists too. The people who listen to this drivel are not just a bunch of farmers, either. They are members of Trump’s cabinet, and include some who are on his pandemic Task Force. Among the weekly attendees are Ben Carson (Secretary of Housing and Urban Development), Mike Pompeo (Secretary of State), Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education), and Alex Azar (Secretary of Health and Human Services). 

          Enough said. Given how millions of Trump supporters have been brainwashed by this kind of horseshit for years, even for generations, is it any wonder that they could sit rapt when a conman of Biblical proportions stands before them and assures them that the crisis is not a crisis, that it is a hoax, that it will soon be over, that we’ve got plenty of medical supplies and test kits (which we don’t), and that the functioning of Wall Street and his billionaire cronies (not his feckless supporters) is far more important than the lives of a few old people? And that he is backed up by the very preacher-liars that have been conning them for years? And that, in any case, they are protected by God; or at least dying according to his divinely-ordained and merciful plan?  

It is not. And we should not be surprised at the stunning stupidity and gullibility of a population that has been trained to believe such bullshit for most of their lives—even as this report of the death of one of those very bullshitters makes today’s news:

One of the first deaths in Virginia from coronavirus was a 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist” who fell ill while on a trip to New Orleans with his wife. As the Friendly Atheist’s Hemant Mehta points out, Landon Spradlin had previously shared opinions that the pandemic was the result of “mass hysteria” from the media…One of his posts read, “As long as I walk in the light of that law [of the Spirit of life], no germ will attach itself to me.” (RawStory.com, March 26, 2020). (See also ABC news, March 26.)

Lawrence DiStasi