As we all know, Donald Trump’s upset victory wouldn’t have happened without him going into a massive political debt to the religious right. Most of what passes for leadership among social conservatives stood by the Donald even when it became clear beyond any doubt that he was a boor and serial misogynist–most notably, after the Access Hollywood tapes came out. They made it clear that the prospect of having a president who reveled in grabbing women whenever he wanted was worth it if it meant rolling back abortion and marriage equality.
Unlike most of his other debts, Trump is repaying this debt in full. Not only has he given them unprecedented influence over national policy, but he also tapped stalwart conservative Neil Gorsuch for Antonin Scalia’s old Supreme Court seat. Needless to say, the fundies are overjoyed. And few of them are more overjoyed than Jim Bakker.
On Monday’s show, Bakker revealed that he was one of several prominent evangelicals who traveled to the White House for “listening sessions” with members of the Trump administration. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
About three-and-a-half minutes into the show, Bakker said that he and his wife, Lori, were at the White House in the midst of “a big shakeup.” As it turned out, it was the very day that Anthony Scaramucci was pushed out as White House communications chief. Bakker believes that it wasn’t a coincidence that at the same time Assemblies of God general superintendent George Wood spoke about “unnecessary swearing,” Scaramucci was being told that his services were no longer needed.
Hmmm–where was this concern about salty language when Trump boasted he could “grab ’em by the p*ssy”? Apparently this sort of talk is “necessary swearing” to this crowd.
Bakker was thrilled that Trump was willing to invite “the pastors, the leaders of Christianity, to come and advise him.” Lori added that Trump extended the invite so he could “share the truth of what’s really going on that you don’t get to hear in the media.” After the meeting, the Bakkers and the other ministers on hand wrote a letter to Trump that was hand-delivered to him by his principal spiritual adviser, Paula White–like the Bakkers, a hypercharismatic.
It says a lot about Trump that he appears to actually want to take counsel from Bakker. For those who don’t recall, during the 1980s, Bakker was the very definition of televangelist excess. It all came crashing down in 1987, when he was forced to stand down as head of PTL amid revelations that he’d had a sexual encounter with then-church secretary Jessica Hahn. Later, it emerged that he had sold thousands of “lifetime partnerships” at his Heritage USA retreat in Fort Mill, South Carolina–more than could possibly be accommodated. While he raised more than double the money he needed to build a luxury hotel, most of it went into Heritage USA’s bank account, with some of it ending up in Bakker’s own pocket.
Under the circumstances, he more than deserved to get the 45-year sentence he originally received after being convicted on 24 counts of fraud. If not for federal judge Robert Potter getting a severe case of diarrhea of the mouth, Bakker would still be in prison today. However, an appeals court found that Potter had improperly injected his own religious beliefs into considering his sentence when he accused Bakker of making people of faith look like “saps for money-grubbing preachers or priests.” His sentence was reduced to eight years, and he was paroled after five.
Since going back on the air in 2003, he’s been pushing a steady diet of hard-right commentary. For instance, he was one of the first to declare that the Women’s March was influenced by the forces of evil. Before then, he warned that any county that voted for Hillary Clinton could face God’s wrath. For good measure, he thinks that those of us who oppose Trump have demons that need to be cast out. He’s also been breathlessly selling survival food that is not only severely overpriced, but tastes awful to boot.
Then again, Bakker and Trump are more alike than it may seem. Remember, Trump is on his third wife, and cheated on two of them. He has a bad habit of stiffing people who work for him. He brands himself as a man of the people who is determined to drain the swamp, but has made no effort to separate himself from his businesses–even though he is flagrantly violating the Constitution by not doing so. He also pushed a health care package that would see over 20 million people lose their coverage–including some of the poorest Americans. And on, and on, and on.
At first glance, it may seem odd that any real Christian leader would chomp at the bit to advise Trump. But knowing what we know about Bakker and Trump, they deserve each other.
(featured image courtesy Bakker’s Facebook)
