What happens to the partnership between the Evangelical Church and the Republican party when compassionate conservatism gets replaced with MAGA mania?
How do Evangelical ministers square the teachings of Christ with their MAGA-infected flock?
What happens when ultra-MAGA Evangelicals sit fidgety in church pews and listen to sermons contradictory to the messages spewed by their political Messiah on the campaign trail?
It won’t be long before we see a sectarian split within the Evangelical church and radical versions of Evangelicalism start popping up across the country, like crack houses in the 80s.
These radical Evangelical churches will teach a MAGA-tinged Christianity, where Christ, a muscular blue-eyed-blond-messiah, wields his razor-edged cross to slice and dice woke liberals, immigrants, homosexuals, and atheists, to reestablish truth, order, and the American way.
Break-away Evangelical churches are how MAGA survives and (thrives). These churches will become radicalization factories in America like Wahhabi mosques in Saudi Arabia.
MAGA politicians are no different than any other. They understand religion is a tool for controlling and mobilizing masses – Churches plant seeds dipped in fear and bigotry to grow compliant human saplings so that future outcomes that align with religious ideology can take hold in society.
“The meek shall inherit the earth” will be replaced by a mite-is-right mentality—where the rationalization and justification of cruelty to achieve a particular end is the norm.
The transformation of the Evangelical church will correlate and coincide with criminal charges against former president Trump and his impending legal jeopardy.
Let’s keep our eyes peeled for an upstart-fire-brand Evangelical minister looking to make a name for himself by taking advantage of political chaos.
Donald Trump will be the new radical Evangelical church’s prophet of revenge and retribution.
I hope none of this comes to fruition, but I would not be surprised if it did.
When I worked for IBM, all employees were required to review and sign IBM’s Business Conduct Guidelines (BCGs) annually. IBM’s BCGs are the behavioral business principles and standards they expect from their employees.
Many companies send their version of BCGs annually to employees through training materials and reference documents. The employees complete the training, read the documents, and sign indicating compliance.
If an employee violates their company’s BCGs, the employer can terminate them.
Violating the guidelines can also lead to criminal or civil prosecution.
When the Government discovered that former President Trump had taken hundreds of their classified documents, they repeatedly asked (with deference) for him to return them. If former President Trump had done the right thing and returned the documents that were not “declassified,” not “Presidential records,” and that DID NOT BELONG TO HIM, he’d have one less scandal to worry about.
But, of course, Donald Trump didn’t do the right thing. Instead, he lied, deflected, and obstructed his way to a 37-count indictment.
If you or I purposely violated our employer’s Business Conduct Guidelines by stealing proprietary or classified information and then lying about it, we’d be in legal trouble—and rightfully so.
Concerning his conduct in general, former President Trump has a long record of dubious businesses and business deals, for which he’s paid millions of dollars in legal settlements – not to mention his abhorrent personal behavior.
And yet, this crooked, twice-impeached, ethically vacuous convicted felon is the Presidential candidate for the Republican party.
Intelligent and decent-minded people not tainted by political tribalism are appalled at the mere thought of Trump once again sitting at the helm of American democracy.
I usually refrain from making political posts on LinkedIn. But I’m at a point where I have zero fucks to give, so I’ll speak my mind regarding America and American values (regardless of the venue), especially when both are in jeopardy of being trampled.
Additionally, I firmly believe a second Trump presidency will damage the collective psyche of Americans, especially those who genuinely care about conduct, ethics, and integrity.
Our political parties, institutions, and businesses coexist in the same ecosystem. The rot from today’s GOP will seep into other areas of society unless we stop it at the ballot box.
The ballot box is America’s last line of defense against the rot of political grift, intolerance, and authoritarianism, which will erode the fabric of our country, including corporate America.
With that said, here we go.
After the 2020 election and the events of January 6th, most Americans just wanted to put our abusive relationship with Trump in the rearview mirror and return to normalcy.
Unfortunately, Trump lingers like a fart in a closet.
After eight years of Trump polluting our politics with dishonesty and unethical behavior, we continue to wallow in a palpable and inescapable MAGA malaise – because Trump is all around, all the time. He’s on the news, in the newspapers, on social media.
Most Americans are exhausted (not to mention ashamed and embarrassed) by Trump.
When hard-working Americans pull their noses away from the grindstone and look up to see the former highest official in the land lying and disregarding the rule of law, with an entire political party backing that behavior and an onslaught of propaganda aimed at deconstructing our democratic institutions, they begin to question the stability of the country in which they live and work.
And quite honestly, I think that’s the intent of the Trump-led GOP. To weaken Americans’ confidence in democratic institutions and systems so they can dismantle and replace them with authoritarian-based systems.
Americans generally refrain from discussing politics at work (historically, we know nothing good comes from it). We willingly accept our political differences because we know (or at least we thought we knew) that values like honesty and integrity transcend politics – that if a President were demonstrably dishonest and unethical, we’d put aside politics and condemn him uniformly.
Unfortunately, we discovered that with the Trump presidency, the reverse is true – politics transcends values. As former President Trump once said, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any of his supporters.
The assault on truth and our democracy did not end when Trump-inspired rioters left the capital late in the afternoon on January 6th. The assault is ongoing. Today’s perpetrators are not violent insurrectionists beating police officers with American flags but elected and appointed officials with blind and cult-like allegiance to a corrupt demagogue. The assault and threat are equally, if not more dangerous, as it has the illusion of legitimacy.
Several months ago, Republicans voted unanimously to censure a member of the opposition party for his role in the impeachment trial of former President Trump. Republicans have floated a proposition to “expunge” the impeachments of President Trump, who knowingly tried to extort the leader of a foreign country and overturn a free and fair election.
The GOP crossed the Rubicon by embracing Trump and Trumpism – dragging millions of brainwashed Americans with them.
American corporations who spoke out against the events of January 6th and pulled support from candidates who knowingly lied about that day need to tap back into the sense of urgency and condemn what is happening currently with the Republican Party. So, when former President Trump gets on his social media platform, and spouts lie after lie about the 2020 election, companies need to return to form and explicitly and publicly denounce him and any member of Congress who regurgitates the lies. Silence provides a haven and fertile environment for unethical conduct to grow and spread.
The corporations we work for can help Make Americans Proud Again by speaking out against dishonest and unethical behavior and the assault on truth from Trump and Trump sycophants in the GOP. Otherwise, confidence in American institutions will wane, cynicism will take root, and morale will drop – which isn’t good for business.
But Donald Trump is a creeping fracture on the hip of America’s democracy.
Biden is a danger to himself.
Trump is a danger to the republic and the freedom for which it stands.
Do I think Joe Biden is too old for the presidency? Yes, I do. But that problem will eventually take care of itself, as it does for all of us.
We must stop thinking about 2024 as a contest between two men, one who has clearly lost a step, the other hell-bent on lying his way back to the presidency.
The 2024 election is not about Biden or Trump; it’s about good versus bad ideas.
It’s about whether we move the country forward or backward. It’s about whether we expand rights or restrict them. It’s about whether we try to bridge our gaps and differences or widen them. In 2024, either we embrace and promote the ideas of western Democracy, or we don’t.
Trumpism – the metastasizing malignancy of malevolence and malfeasance has taken root in the Republican party. Trumpism is less of a political platform and more of a manifesto of intolerance, anger, fear-baiting, and grievance. And that’s today’s GOP.
To move the country forward and to trigger a “re-set” for the Republican party, we need to bury it under an avalanche of votes that screams DEMOCRACY MATTERS!
Today, banning books, demonizing “the other,” promoting one religion over others, and protecting unfettered access to weapons, even in the face of mass shooting after mass shootings, are Republican ideals, but they’re not American ideals.
While Republicans bitch and moan about pronouns, wokeness, and drag show readings, broken parents relive the scene of janitors mopping up the blood of their children from the hallways and classrooms in schools.
Most Americans are tired of nonsense in the face of real-life challenges and hardship.
The 2024 election, more than any other past election, is about ideas. Foundational ideas. The ideas upon which America will stand or crumble.
‘Let he who tied the bell on the tiger take it off’
So said China’s President Xi Jinping, alluding to who is responsible for reigning in Vladimir Putin from his vicious and unlawful military assault on Ukraine.
So, who tied the bell on the Russian Tiger?
I would suggest:
The first bell was tied on the Tiger when Trump sought Russia’s cooperation in a US election.
The next bell on the tiger was Trump’s un-ending praise of Putin and other autocrats.
More bells were attached with 4 years of Trump trashing NATO alliances.
And then there was that big bell when Trump sided with Putin over US intelligence agencies, for everyone to see, in Helsinki.
Another bell on the Tiger was the Trump administration turning its back on the Kurds and letting Russia have its way in Syria.
So, President Xi is correct; America did indeed put the bell on the Tiger. A fuck-load of bells. Christ, with so many bells, we could name that Tiger Jingles.
Biden is dealing with a Russian Tiger, belled by 4 years of praise and appeasement from a thug-loving autocratic-wanna-be President who hated our NATO allies.
And now Putin, the belled Russian Tiger, is terrorizing Ukraine, murdering innocent men, women, and children.
I have my own proverb:
The belled tiger is less restrained and more dangerous after 4-years of an orange bull in Western Democracy’s China Closet.
Like a bull in a China Closet, former President Trump obliterated the norms of liberal western democracy in favor of autocratic principals, opening the door to a terroristic Tiger.
On Daddy’s dime, he ran business after business into the ground.
He shorted his contractors, defrauded, and extorted his way to the top of the New York real estate market.
He cheated on his taxes almost as much as he cheated on his wives.
He sexually assaulted women and bragged about it.
He publicly mocked a disabled reporter.
When a woman reporter held his feet to the fire with tough questions, he insinuated that her tough questions were related to her menstrual cycle.
He endlessly equated a woman’s worth with her appearance.
He sexualized his own daughter publicly.
He denied housing to people based solely on the color of their skin.
He used a charity as a front for illegal activities and was forced to shut it down.
He created a fake university to take money from suckers, truckers, and dumb motherfuckers all across America.
He pandered to Americans’ fears, employing a nationalistic propaganda campaign emblematic of the Nazis in Pre-World War II Europe. And as a result of that campaign, he ascended to the highest office in the land.
For four years, we bore witness to a fundamental truth: like sewage in a leeching field, a man’s lack of character seeps into every decision he makes.
At the pinnacle of power and public service, Trump put all his energy into pitting Americans against one another instead of leading and uniting a nation. He understood that a divided America was his only chance at hanging on to power.
He promoted and pushed tax policies that helped the rich and powerful as president.
He implemented a punitive immigration policy that separated children from their parents and caged them, all while using nationalistic propaganda and xenophobic tropes to justify his cruelty.
He tried to shake down a foreign leader by holding up military funding for dirt on his political opponent.
He minimized the danger of the COVID-19 pandemic and pushed false cures and the notion that COVID-19 would not last, despite knowing his words were lies.
He cheered the efforts of nationalist militias to overthrow state governments.
He regularly praised and flirted with authoritarians while simultaneously trashing alliances.
And when the American people finally said enough is enough, he used lies and misinformation about a stolen election to whip his supporters into a frenzy. Then, he gathered his supporters in Washington for the express purpose of subverting American Democracy, urging them to storm the capital to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
Blood was spilled, and people died, but Democracy prevailed.
Since then, members of his administration have said that Trump was, and is, unfit to lead. Yet members of the Republican party serving in Congress refuse to refute the fat orange brute.
A few weeks ago, Russia invaded the free and sovereign nation of Ukraine, and Trump refused to refute the brute who initiated the attack. In fact, he praised Putin’s tactics as “Genius” and “Savvy.”
When asked by a reporter, “What message would you like to give Vladimir Putin today?” Trump did not denounce Putin’s aggression. Instead, the former leader of the free world said, “I have no message.”
And yet Trump – this menace to American Democracy and democracies around the world – this selfish, shallow, vile human being devoid of character and morality is still the most powerful man in the Republican party.
Republicans in Congress grub for his support., similar to the scared immigrant families of generations ago who cowered to the local mafia thug strutting in their streets.
Unfortunately for America, Trump is that Mafia thug. Instead of threatening physical violence, he threatens the congressional community to withhold his support. And to the dismay of many, Republican members of Congress bend a knee and kiss the ring of this despicable human being.
The lack of courage in the face of Trump’s moral and ethical turpitude stunned and deflated Americans and weakened our global standing. Our allies wondered aloud if America could still be trusted. How can we expect America to stand up for Democracy when their own president does not?
Trump spent four years weakening alliances with Western democracies across Europe. He joyfully cozied up to authoritarian leaders and countries around the globe. He softened the ground for autocratic regimes in their march against Western democratic ideals, which lead inevitably to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Like Trump, Putin is a bully and a thug.
Like Trump, Putin understands Democracy is the iron in the blood of free men and women.
And when Democracy takes hold in a country previously constricted by authoritarianism, it unlocks the desire for freedom that exists naturally in all human beings. Our natural human desire for freedom is contagious and spreads quickly, especially in countries where freedom has been denied.
Freedom and the courage to fight for it are the kryptonite of autocrats, dictators, and bullies.
Freedom was flourishing in Ukraine. And though Ukraine was no threat militarily to Russia, the freedom of its people was a threat to Putin himself.
What happens if Russians get infected with freedom? How long would Putin last?
And so, we have bombs raining down on cities across Ukraine. We have a free and sovereign nation under attack by a menacing bully.
Like Putin, Trump understood that his rule was also threatened by freedom.
The freedom for people to march in protest.
The freedom of the press to report truthfully.
The freedom of citizens to question and challenge authority.
All of these freedoms ended Trump’s presidency and saved (for now anyway) our Democracy.
We must do all that we can to help Ukraine fight for freedom. As free people, it’s our responsibility to help Ukrainians in their fight to remain free. They’re standing up to the bully, putting their lives on the line to remain a sovereign nation of free people. If they lose their fight, it’s a victory for the enemies of freedom everywhere. A victory for Putin opens the door to further aggression and the spread of autocracy’s dark shadow around the globe.
In a recent interview, a reporter asked Ukraine President Zelenskyy if he understood America’s view that imposing a no-fly zone over Ukraine would worsen the situation. Worsen it for who? was his reply.
By refusing to close the sky over Ukraine, we’re permitting the slaughter of Ukrainians.
When you’re an ocean away from bombs raining down from the skies, you can afford to be pragmatic; when bombs are raining down on you, pragmatism goes out the window.
Ukrainians don’t have the luxury of being pragmatic or assessing their situation from a geopolitical perspective. Instead, they’re asking America and the world to give them a chance at survival. Refusing to close the sky over Ukraine diminishes their chances significantly.
Either we stand up to the bully and close the skies and risk escalating the war to other countries, or we permit the slaughter of innocent civilians.
Put more simply, either we do what is right or what is safe. We stand up to the menacing bully with all of our strength and courage, or we do not.
Stoyan Nenov/Reuters A woman cries as she walks with her children after fleeing from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the border crossing in Siret, Romania, Feb. 28, 2022.
I’ve been watching gut-wrenching footage of the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
Images of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing their homes. Pictures of desperate and panicked mobs on train station platforms looking for safe passage to Poland or Hungary. The same pained expression on every face. An expression that comes from leaving all you’ve ever known behind with the devastating understanding you’ll likely never return.
I think the world is still reeling from how quickly events leading to the crisis unfolded. The transformation from Ukrainian citizen to Ukrainian refugee seemed instantaneous.
Ukrainians went from sipping coffee at sidewalk cafés to walking for miles with everything they own stuffed in a duffle bag. We watch them stagger down the middle of streets, surrounded by block after city block of blackened and bombed-out buildings. We wince in discomfort at the hundreds of children in winter coats clinging to stuffed animals while holding on to their stunned parent’s hands. We imagine the feeling of having our own security ripped away and our lives forever changed because of one man’s delusions of grandeur and unbridled lust for power.
What’s happening in Ukraine is so unsettling because we see with our own eyes the fragility of life and how tenuous the connection between safety and total chaos is.
As I watch the crisis unfold from the comfort of my surroundings, a sense of hopelessness settles in. The hopelessness is chased by an anxiety-fueled realization that everything which anchors me to my own sense of belonging might disappear in a wisp and whim.
Simple things, like walking through the front door into the arms of a loved one, relaxing in a favorite chair, falling asleep to the warm and familiar nuances of home. The almost unconscious absorption of sights and sounds that comprise life; the sound of my dog walking across the kitchen floor, a ticking clock in the den, the electric hum of a refrigerator at night, or the relaxed, carefree expression of my children sitting around the kitchen table.
It’s unbearable knowing that everything that grounds us and keeps us whole can disappear when one man decides to go to war.
But that’s what happens in an autocracy.
Most importantly, we shouldn’t get lulled into thinking this can’t happen in America. We have a vicious and ugly streak of “might-is-right” believers in our country and government.
And let’s keep in our collective consciousness that Donald Trump is one of Vladimir Putin’s biggest admirers, and that Donald Trump still controls the Republican Party.
Redirecting our democracy to an autocracy might be one election cycle away.
When Donald Trump was President, he openly mused about shooting protesters in the legs. Donald Trump ordered military police to use tear gas to disperse peaceful protestors. Donald Trump despises a free press and openly talks about “investigating” and targeting journalists. And like every true authoritarian, Donald Trump understands the biggest threat to autocratic rule is truth and freedom. After all, it was truth and freedom that ended his presidency, despite all his attempts to suppress both.
I’ve no doubt that Trump is fine with Putin clamping down on protestors. And I’m sure that Trump sees nothing wrong with Putin keeping the truth from Russian citizens by cracking down on journalists. Trump himself longed for that type of power and control.
Imagine if Trump were President today. Do you honestly think he would condemn Putin and work with our NATO alliance? How much worse would the Ukrainian people be under a Trump Presidency?
We are all Ukrainians today – their fight is our fight, because they fight for freedom and democracy.
One of the easiest things we can do as Americans to help the Ukraine is to stand up to the autocratic forces in our own country. Call out Trump and his sycophants at every turn and be sure to vote for candidates that support democracy and freedom.
Ukrainians are fighting for their lives and their freedom.
Their country is under attack, and their sovereignty is threatened by a thuggish dictator, drunk on nostalgia and looking to impose authoritarianism on a country that poses no threat to him or his country.
And rather than condemn the actions and motives of the Russian President, Mike Pompeo and Former President Trump praise him for his tactics, lending aid and comfort to a true enemy of democracy.
This is utterly unsurprising, as Trump’s 4-year presidency is littered with examples of praise for authoritarian rulers and governments. And don’t hold your breath for Republican leadership to condemn Trump or Pompeo, as today’s Republican party is infested with anti-democratic seditionists who are beholden to Trump and foreign influencers.
The threat to western democracy in Europe is genuine. Another Trump presidency would act as a linchpin and accelerant for anti-democratic forces abroad and in America.
We should all keep that in mind when we head to the ballot box in 2022 and 2024.
bendingtheneedle 