Among the religious right leaders who are still bowing to Donald Trump, Rick Joyner is in a class by himself. He was one of the first prominent fundies to warn against opposing Trump. Initially, he tried to explain that those raising their voices against the Donald were driven by witchcraft and the devil himself. He has since warned us that God still has favor on Trump, and for that reason we risk getting “smacked” by God himself if we oppose him.
How loyal is Joyner to Trump? He actually claimed that Trump was within his rights to fire James Comey. Apparently, he believes that trying to get to the bottom of a foreign government interfering in our election is “majoring on minors.”
Even in the face of this, he still believes God has his hand on Trump–and is about to prove it by opening the trap door under his foes. Well, on Friday, Joyner delivered another warning to Trump’s foes–if they try to impeach Trump, they risk triggering a domino effect that will ultimately lead to martial law.
Joyner took to Facebook while en route to a vacation on the Gulf Coast, and peddled more alternative facts about Trump’s cratering popularity. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Joyner repeated his delusion from a few days earlier–the Comey furor is actually going to help Trump because “it’s illuminating where people are.” For instance, it’s making liberals and the media look crazy and lose credibility. Supposedly, every time Trump is attacked, “he ends up winning every time.” If he’s still winning, Rick, then why are his approval ratings averaging at 38.8 percent?
But Joyner claims that Trump has the only vote that counts. After all, “there’s a favor on him,” and he’s been “ordained with a purpose” and has “divine protection.” He then repeated a prediction he made in 2013–there is going to be martial law in this country. However, he believes that it may take martial law to get this country “back on the rails.”
He then suggested one thing that could potentially trigger martial law–if Trump is impeached and removed.
“If the left, let’s just say, they were able to overthrow a legally elected president, it would be unbelievable, I think, what would happen in America. I think martial law would have to step in. Like him or not … and Trump is never going to win a popularity contest, he’s not that kind of leader. But like him or not, like it or not, he was constitutionally elected. And and those who are trying to overthrow his presidency by all of these devices and lies that they’re putting out—the media and everyone—this is sedition!”
I had to listen to this twice to believe it. So in Joyner’s eyes, even if there is uncontestable evidence that Trump obstructed justice by attempting to throw the Russia investigation sideways, impeachment and removal would be a sign that the country has completely lost its bearings–and the only way to regain them would be a military coup.
Once again, Joyner betrays a dangerous misunderstanding of how our government works. When a president engages in gross abuse of power or criminal conduct, the strongest check on that president is impeachment. When used properly, impeachment does not circumvent democracy. Far from it–it’s actually democracy in action.
By Joyner’s logic, we should have let Nixon’s abuses slide. He covered up the Watergate burglary, and used the power of his office to trample on free speech. But none of that should have mattered. After all, he won 49 states. Attempting to remove him from office would have amounted to overthrowing a legally elected president. See where this is going?
But then again, Joyner really doesn’t believe in democracy. He is one of the leading voices of the New Apostolic Reformation, an overtly fascist offshoot of the religious right that believes it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. In a 2007 post at Elijah List, an NAR-aligned ministry site, Joyner openly admitted that the kind of government he wants to set up would look a little–okay, a lot–like a dictatorship.
Joyner tipped his hand when he declared that Trump was well within his rights to tell Comey to shut down the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn–and thus disregard longstanding safeguards against White House interference in active investigations. Now he’s openly calling for a military coup if Trump is impeached, since getting rid of Trump would betray democracy.
No, Rick. If Trump indeed broke the law, allowing him to stay in would be a betrayal of democracy. But then again, you don’t really believe in democracy anyway.
(featured image courtesy Joyner’s Facebook)
