For some time, the religious right has been mounting a ham-handed bullying campaign to warn white evangelicals against joining the resistance to Donald Trump. Their explanation? Those who oppose Trump are supposedly being driven by witchcraft, demons, and the devil himself to oppose God’s plan for America. Therefore, opposing Trump not only risks your salvation, but may also amount to sedition.
Well, that campaign officially ramped up into Defcon 1 on Monday, when Trump’s principal spiritual adviser, Paula White, became the latest so-called moral guardian to declare that opposing the Donald was tantamount to opposing the Almighty. It’s one thing to hear this sort of claptrap from the likes of Lance Wallnau, Rick Joyner, Rick Wiles, and Pat Robertson. But neither of these supposed guardians of our souls have Trump’s ear on a more-or-less weekly basis. White does.
White doubled down on Tuesday. While telling Jim Bakker some “behind the scenes truth” about Trump, White told the audience that Trump was under full-scale demonic attack because of his potential Supreme Court appointments. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Bakker told White that he had never seen “so much hatred” directed at a president before–conveniently forgetting the almost-daily hate and bigotry Barack Obama faced. White said that the hate Trump faces is almost entirely demonic. As she sees it, “the principalities are going crazy” since they know they can’t get near Trump because “he surrounds himself with Christians” and “loves prayer.”
White said that Trump’s supporters shouldn’t just be praying for him, but push for Trump to be able to make two more Supreme Court appointments so “we will be able to overturn demonic laws and decrees that have held this nation in captivity.” The reference was obvious–Roe v. Wade, Obergefell v. Hodges, and a host of other decisions related to abortion, marriage equality, and other issues near and dear to the religious right.
When Roland Martin saw this, he blew a gasket. On Wednesday morning’s show, he let White have it. Watch here.
Martin took White back to 1 Samuel 10:17-19, when God finally gave in to the Israelites’ request to give them a king–particularly verse 19, in which God admonished the Israelites for having “rejected your God, who saves you out of all your disasters and calamities.” As Martin saw it, Trump’s election amounted to the rejection of “a godly man” in Obama.
He then loudly wondered how White and Baker would have the “audacity” to wring their hands at the hate Trump faces when she almost certainly knows about what Obama had to endure. Much of that hate, Martin pointed out, came from Trump. Martin slammed Trump for questioning Obama’s Christianity, and for being one of the loudest voices in the “outright lie” that was the birther movement.
That was just a start. Martin unloaded on White for standing with Trump even in the face of his degrading of women, his sliming of John McCain, and his bigotry toward immigrants. As far as Martin was concerned, Trump has “not shown at all how to act like, sound like, or be a Christian” and has publicly stated that he has no need to ask for forgiveness.
As Martin sees it, we do need to pray for Trump–“because we have evil in the White House.” From where Martin is sitting, anyone who wants to attack minorities, Muslims, and the poor, and wants to break up immigrant families is evil. For good measure, he wondered why White and other fundies have been willing to excuse his remarks about the carnage in Charlottesville, Virginia even though he was willing to “essentially align himself with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.”
Martin wondered if White had the guts to tell the church she pastors, New Destiny Christian Center in Apopka, Florida, that they should support a man who was trying to take away their right to vote. That church, for those who don’t know, has a very large black membership for a church led by a white pastor. He also wondered where White’s Bible said it was “Christian” to kick over 20 million people off their health care plans.
As Martin sees it, White doesn’t understand her role.
“I dare say this, Pastor Paula White. You are supposed to be a prophet. P-R-O-P-H-E-T, not P-R-O-F-I-T. God called for the prophetic to stand up, to question people in power, to challenge them.”
Martin thinks White shouldn’t be pushing for Neil Gorsuch clones, but tell him to “stop acting like a grown child” and respect his office. He believes that White needs to be “a prophetic voice,” not “a profitable voice.”
This is what a lot of my left-leaning Christian friends have been saying for some time. The religious right has wanted a king for some time–and they got one in Trump. And their desire for a king is so great that they’re willing to overlook the nearly daily outrages from this White House–especially in the aftermath of Charlottesville. Rather than bow down to Trump and bully others into doing so, White should be calling him out–and if necessary, walk out on him if he isn’t willing to see reason.
(featured image courtesy Martin’s Facebook)
