I\u2019m honestly not too terribly bothered by the whole Greenland thing. We elected a narcissistic real estate mogul to the presidency. I mean really, what did we expect? It\u2019s the whole Donald Trump basically declaring himself the King of Israel<\/em> thing that\u2019s really taking me aback. I don\u2019t know, maybe it\u2019s because I grew up evangelical. Where I come from, they called that kind of thing blasphemy. Or at least, they\u00a0used<\/em> to.<\/p>\n Yesterday morning, Donald Trump tweeted the following<\/a> thank-you to Wayne Allyn Root<\/a>, a conservative radio host best known for constantly peddling conspiracy theories:<\/p>\n Here are the tweets in text form:<\/p>\n Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words. \u201cPresident Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world\u2026and the Jewish people in Israel love him\u2026.<\/p>\n \u2026.like he\u2019s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God\u2026But American Jews don\u2019t know him or like him. They don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense! But that\u2019s OK, if he keeps doing what he\u2019s doing, he\u2019s good for\u2026..<\/p>\n \u2026..all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he\u2019s good for everyone in America who wants a job.\u201d Wow! <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n We\u2019ve talked a lot about evangelicals\u2019 willingness to elect a thrice-married playboy president, but I\u2019ve seen a lot less ink spilled over their willingness to elect a man who shows not a single ounce of humility, ever. The New Testament, after all, says far more about the importance of humility<\/a> than it does about sexual immorality.<\/p>\n Trump boasts. He boasts a lot. He does it almost unceasingly. He has the BEST rallies, the BEST crowd attendance, he has the BEST economy, and he is the BEST president, ever. Here, though, you would think he\u2019s finally gone too far. At least, you would think so if evangelicals hadn\u2019t already proven themselves more than willing<\/em> to support Trump as he did three million other things<\/em> they absolutely should have objected to.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny. I didn\u2019t realize how much faith I somehow still had in evangelicals, despite leaving evangelicalism over a decade ago, until Donald Trump was elected. My friends say I have some Hufflepuff in me, and maybe I do. I want to think the best of people. That\u2019d be easier to do if people would stop proving me wrong.<\/p>\n With that out of the way, let\u2019s go over Root\u2019s central statements line by line. Remember, Trump quoted Root\u2019s words and thanked him for his praise, effectively affirming Root\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s certainly true that Trump thinks Netanyahu is the best thing since sliced bread. What\u2019s less clear is whether Trump\u2019s playing the sycophant to Netanyahu is actually the best thing for Israel. I don\u2019t know all that much about Israeli electoral politics, but I do know that Netanyahu is not without strong domestic political opposition<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2026and the Jewish people in Israel love him\u2026.like he\u2019s the King of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Look, random radio hosts can say whatever nonsense they want. The problem here is with Trump is gleefully quoting Root\u2019s words. The Jewish people love Trump like he is the \u201cKing of Israel\u201d? Really? Even if most Israeli Jews support Trump\u2014and my googling suggests this may be the case<\/a>\u00a0(although \u2014this is a bit much. And unless I\u2019m very much mistaken, Jews don\u2019t believe there will be a \u201csecond coming of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the problem, for evangelicals: Trump just gloated and crowed over about a claim that millions of people love him like he\u2019s the second coming of God.<\/em>\u00a0Maybe this isn\u2019t blasphemy, strictly speaking\u2014Trump didn\u2019t say he is<\/em> the second coming of God\u2014but it\u2019s something just as insidious. Trump didn\u2019t even balk at the idea of people showing him a level of love that ought to be (in the evangelical understanding) reserved for God alone.<\/p>\n Growing up, I heard a lot about the importance of not having idols. We were taught to examine ourselves to ensure that we didn\u2019t love anything in our lives\u2014our spouse, our musical ability, our home or physical possessions\u2014more than we loved God. A mere suggestion<\/em> that our love for something other than God might be approaching our love for God was a huge red warning sign. We must never set an idol before God, we were taught. Trump, in direct contrast to everything I was taught was right, is glorying<\/em> in being an idol.<\/p>\n I mean, good god, we grew up reading about girls who had to dump their boyfriends because they realized their boyfriends were putting them before God. And here Trump is, glorying in the idea that someone might put their love for him on the same level with God. From an evangelical perspective, this should be utterly horrifying.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s return to Root\u2019s words for a moment, because his last comments\u2014about American Jews\u2014bring up another thing we need to discuss:<\/p>\n But American Jews don\u2019t know him or like him. They don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re doing or saying anymore. It makes no sense!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n We have to go back slightly to get the full context here. A few weeks ago, Donald Trump publicly urged Israel to bar Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and\u00a0Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from entering its borders<\/a>. Think about it. An American president urged another country to deny American elected officials entrance. I realize that the technical definition of treason is pretty narrow, but this is definitely undermining America interests abroad.<\/p>\n Trump did this because he disagrees with Tlaib and Omar\u2019s position vis a vis Israel, because it does not align with his own position. Never mind that both Tlaib and Omar were lawfully elected, and as such represent the will of the people of their districts.<\/p>\n Things sort of snowballed from here. First, many American Jews expressed outrage over Trump\u2019s actions, and argued that Tlaib and Omar should not have been banned from entering Israel. This made Trump angry. In response, Trump made this comment<\/a>:\u00a0\u201cI think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat\u2014it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.\u201d This touched off another firestorm, as commentators pointed out that Trump was repeating the anti-semitic trope that Jews living outside of Israel will always have a divided loyalty.<\/p>\n American Jews overwhelmingly vote Democrat<\/a>. Trump clearly knows this, as it is the root of his frustration\u2014he can\u2019t understand why they would vote Democrat when he\u2019s clearly so good for Israel. And so I\u2019m wondering\u2014couldn\u2019t he just ask?<\/em>\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t understand why most American Jews vote for Democrats, it sounds like he has some asking and listening to do. But no! He would rather declare them ignorant or disloyal. Game over!<\/p>\n It was in the context of to this story that Root, the conservative commenter and consummate conspiracy theorist, said what he did on his radio show, declaring Trump the best president\u00a0ever\u00a0<\/em>for Israel and\u00a0the second\u00a0coming of God\u00a0<\/i>in the eyes of the Israelis, words Trump gloatingly quoted on twitter. Oh, and you know what else? During a news conference, Trump turned to reporters, gestured to the sky, and said \u201cI am the Chosen One<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But you just watch. It won\u2019t matter. Evangelicals will go right on supporting Trump, blasphemy or no blasphemy, and utter glee over taking the place of God in people\u2019s hearts notwithstanding. These things ought to matter, but they won\u2019t. We passed that point long ago. Perhaps that last little bit of Hufflepuff in me is finally dying.*<\/p>\n * I wouldn\u2019t count on it. My inner Hufflepuff can be weirdly hearty.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2019\/08\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-21-at-8.20.50-PM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2019\/08\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-21-at-8.21.28-PM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/166\/2019\/08\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-21-at-8.22.01-PM.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n