The former president is still feeding the Christian right’s persecution complex

In recent campaign stops and on social media, Donald Trump has reprised lies aimed at inciting his Christian-right base against Joe Biden. These tirades, centered on the false charge that the Biden administration is persecuting Christians, aren’t just Trump’s typically dubious claims. Much like Trump’s lies about a stolen election, they are designed to immerse his loyalists in a grievance-laden alternative reality in which Trump alone can rescue them from an evil government threatening their freedom.

In a Dec. 19 speech in Iowa, for example, Trump pledged, “As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I’ll also immediately end the war on Christians. I don’t know if you feel it. You have a war. There’s a war.” Speaking just after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified him from appearing on the state’s GOP primary ballot, Trump tied this “war” to his own legal woes. “Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted and government has been weaponized against religion like never before. And also presidents like never before,” he added. “I always say Al Capone was treated better than I was treated.”

Trump has promoted the theme of Christian persecution in the past, but is elevating it again as these legal issues mount. His clear purpose is to deflect attention from his own criminal liabilities by insinuating that the same Biden administration he falsely claims is unfairly targeting him for prosecution is similarly persecuting religious Americans.

  • catch22@startrek.website
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    56
    ·
    6 months ago

    “I always say Al Capone was treated better than I was treated.”

    Sounds fair to me, Al Capone was just a gangster, this fuckhead is trying to start the fourth reich

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      fuckhead is trying to start the fourth reich

      Adolf Shitler is trying to start the Turd Reich.

  • BeautifulMind ♾️@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    54
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    So basically his campaign promise is to violate the constitution, his strategy to get into office is to tell lies designed to divide Americans and it looks like the MAGAs are thirsty AF for it

    • Tyfud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      38
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Don’t forget that he’s on record as saying he would be a dictator for a day the first day of his presidency, then things would go back to a democracy the following day…

      He was not joking. And even if he was, that is not a thing a president of the US, former, sitting, or potential, should ever, ever, joke about.

      But he wasn’t joking. Anyone saying that is gaslighting you.

  • Андрей Быдло@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    6 months ago

    I always say Al Capone was treated better than I was treated.

    How can anyone take him seriously. He’s talking like he got crucified or something. Let’s all cry for a baby Trump who lost an election, then a coup attempt, and is still in the top 1% with all his loyal sponsors he syphons money from. How many lawyers he changed over just the last year? How an average american can even find this spoiled kid relateable?

    • Princeali311@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Not to mention the audacity to claim to be a Christian compared to Catholic ass Joe Biden and his dumbass followers believe him.

    • Xanis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      How can what now? I think we all collectively really need to stop questioning how anyone follows this man. Instead, we need to begin accepting reality completely and work towards making sure that whatever following he has, they do not gain more authority.

  • billwashere@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    29
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Oh FFS … when will this chuckle fuck just fade into infamy?

    He’s probably less religious than I am and I’m an atheist.

    Maybe if we’re lucky he’ll get syphilis and die in prison like Capone did.

  • limelight79@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    6 months ago

    It is incredibly frustrating that Christians see this man as a good person, basically the antithesis of everything they supposedly believe. Three wives? Cheating on your pregnant wife with a prostitute? Doesn’t go to church.

    I hope the Lincoln Project or whatever it was saved some good stuff for this election.

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 months ago

      “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities” seems to be a piece of timeless historical wisdom by Voltaire that unfortunately just never seems to fall out of relevancy when it comes to pointed criticism of the Christian church specifically, and religion more broadly.

    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      Don’t forget that he publicly told an interviewer that he had never sinned, nor asked for forgiveness because he “didn’t need it”,

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    6 months ago

    In a Dec. 19 speech in Iowa, for example, Trump pledged, “As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I’ll also immediately end the war on Christians. I don’t know if you feel it. You have a war. There’s a war.”

    LMAO imagine saying this shit.

  • BiggestBulb@kbin.run
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    20
    ·
    6 months ago

    Ramping up his authoritarian rhetoric, Trump pledged in the lowa speech to institutionalize an authoritarian crackdown of the same sort he falsely accuses the Biden administration of implementing. “Upon taking office, I will create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice that’s fair and equitable," he promised. «Its mission will be to investigate all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment and persecution against Christians in America."

    This is the quote from the article about the task force.

    • prole@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      31
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I don’t think people understand what’s going to happen if he gets elected again. He’s talking about re-purposing the Department of Justice into some McCarthy-esque nightmare that will be targeting schools (including universities). If it is not clear what the GOP’s intention is here, you have not been paying attention. Read about Project 2025. This shit is terrifying.

      I hope everyone likes what’s going on with public education in Florida, because it’s going to become a nationwide thing.

      Everybody needs to vote. We know it’s not your first choice, but this election is about keeping our Republic from falling apart. Vote for Biden, and then we can focus on finding a young progressive candidate for next time.

      • agent_flounder@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        6 months ago

        Yeah it’s going to get worse for a lot of people quickly if Trump gets in office. It was bad enough the first time. That should be painfully obvious to anyone who wasn’t living under a rock during the last Trump presidency. He will make life worse for many groups. Non-Christians, LGBTQ+, POC, those with health issues, etc.

    • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I’m currently reading ‘The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism’ and it’s about exactly this.

      The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism https://a.co/d/bBZ3hkA

  • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    6 months ago

    So basically he wants an American version of the Iranian “Morality Police” torturing and killing people for not adhering to their archaic dogma.

    And they thought “Y’all Quaeda” was a joke…

      • VikingHippie@lemmy.wtf
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        6 months ago

        Well given that two of those judges are men who feel they have the right to sexually abuse women, one is provably as corrupt as can be and one’s a fucking HANDMAID, that’s hardly a shock… 😮‍💨

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        6 months ago

        It’s kinda interesting in a morbid sorta way for me. In a Christian theocracy the prots win. They outnumber the Catholics. Historically the groups that most suffer under theocracy are the ones that are most similar. You are better off being a Hindu in a Christian country vs the wrong kind of Christian.

        So what happens the day after the Jerry Falwell types take over and their temporary anti-abortion alliance crumbles?

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    This coming from the guy who a) never goes to church; b) publicly held a Bible upside down for a PR image; c) only believes in himself.

    • Ranvier@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      Nononono, he said two Corinthians is his favorite book. He knows all about Bible and such. And then he liberated that episcopal church by tear gassing a bunch of people who were viciously standing near the lawn, just like Jesus would do.

  • Suavevillain@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    6 months ago

    The stuff this man gets away with is really unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I remember he said something about he could shoot someone in board daylight and people would cheer. I originally thought he was joking, but boy if I only knew back then.

  • ghostdoggtv@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    6 months ago

    The Christian religion is garbage and we never should have let those fucking people on our shores.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      6 months ago

      If we ever have a mars colony we should have a hallway where you have to step on the religious symbols of all known faiths before getting on the ship. The Japanese had it right. Oh you want to come to our Islands? Walk on a crucifix. They managed to escape being controlled by a European power while nearly every other country around them fell.

  • DessertStorms@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    6 months ago

    So a morality police? Like they have in say, Iran…? I can’t wait to see the mental gymnastics the Christofascist fundamentalists do to diferenciate themsleves from the Islamofascist fundamentalists… 🙄🤦‍♀️

    • CalicoJack@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      6 months ago

      It’ll be exactly the same as when they were convinced that “Sharia Law” was coming to destroy the country, while also fighting to impose Christian Law and destroy the country themselves. It’s always ok when they’re doing it, because they’re “right”.

      • nomous@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Them talking about Muslims wanting to institute Sharia law in the U.S. was just projection like it always is.

        They (the GOP) want to institute biblical law so of course they think everyone else has the same motivation.

  • 22decembre@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    6 months ago

    No one misses when McCain was saying of Obama “He is a good guy.” ? Couldn’t it be good today ?