The fact Trump’s base is largely comprised of racists and the poorly educated is no surprise. The fact that many are Evangelicals is shocking. With all of his flaws, it’s amazing that any of these so-called Christians not only support him, but truly believe he was sent by God to rescue them from some vague, perceived calamity.
If you look at the tenets of their beliefs, and the Seven Deadly Sins that form the basis of their religious mania, their logic is even harder to comprehend. If anyone embodies these vices, it’s Donald J. Trump.
Lust
The sin of lust is described as a strong passion for desires, especially sexual desires.
From suggesting he’d date his own daughter to the infamous Access Hollywood video, Trump has shown that lust is a driving force in his larger-than-life persona. No less than 19 women have accused him of sexual assault.
While married to his third wife, he had a 10-month affair with Playboy model Karen McDougal, and even tried to pay her after they had sex for the first time. Trump later had his fixer, Michael Cohen, pay her hush money at the height of the 2016 campaign to ensure her silence.
Another hush money arrangement was made with porn star Stormy Daniels, who had a one-night-stand with Trump as his wife stayed home with their newborn.
And yet, Evangelicals are willing to give this a pass. They dismiss these actions as “locker room talk”, and therefore without merit. Instead, they see it as an attempt to discredit Trump by those who dislike him. And until there is a Harvey Weinstein type of pushback, this will continue to be the case.
Gluttony
The sin of gluttony is defined as an excessive and ongoing eating of food or drink.
You just have to look at Trump to see he’s never met junk food he didn’t like. Former campaign aide Corey Lewandowski described, in his tell-all book Let Trump Be Trump, the menu on Air Force One as being “four major food groups: KFC, McDonald’s, pizza and Diet Coke.
A typical Trump meal is either a bucket of chicken, a pizza or, one particular food order that consisted of “two Big Macs, two Filet-o-Fish and a chocolate malted”. Multiple snacks also were scattered about including potato chips, pretzels, Vienna fingers and multiple packs of Oreos, which Trump refused to eat from if the package was previously opened.
So, when Trump offered a spread of his favorite fast foods to college championship teams, it was just Trump being Trump.
This was the junk food that fueled the mania that kept him so vociferous on the campaign trail during his recent election rallies.
Greed
Greed is an excessive pursuit of material goods.
The theme song to Donald Trump’s reality TV show, “The Apprentice”, epitomizes the essence of all that is Trump. Like so many things in his life, Trump incorrectly interprets the meaning of the song. “For the Love of Money” is meant to describe the evils of greed, but Trump sees it as a call to grab as much as he can.
Like the James Bond movie, “The World is Not Enough”, Trump is always pursuing the next big deal. Despite lacking knowledge of the businesses he invests in, Trump has tried to launch business after business.
As a result, Trump has left behind multiple failed businesses and several bankruptcies.
There is also the question as to how rich he actually is. While he has refused to release his tax returns, a recent investigation revealed that Trump is in a great deal of debt, and therefore not as wealthy as he likes to outwardly portray.
Despite this, his followers still see him as a success.
Sloth
Sloth is defined as excessive laziness or failure to act and utilize one’s talents.
By Thanksgiving, there will be over a quarter million deaths from coronavirus. Meanwhile, the lame duck resident of the Oval Office has taken zero action since Election Day. During the campaign, he repeatedly called it a hoax while refusing to have a coordinated Federal response. Instead he insisted we were “rounding the corner” even as deaths and the number of cases accelerated, just as the experts had predicted.
Doing nothing has been Trump’s modus operandi during his entire tenure in the White House. How else could he have time for his prolonged rants on “Fox and Friends” or his Tweetstorms?
A leaked copy of his daily schedule shows that, although he wakes up at 5:30 AM, his workday doesn’t begin until 11 AM. And much of his schedule is filled with “Executive Time”, when he has no official duties and is generally left to his own devices, which is not what a president is elected to do.
Wrath
One of the reasons Trump has hijacked the Republican Party is his use of social media, particularly Twitter. From his lofty perch, he strikes fear in the hearts of those who might oppose him by threatening them with an angry Tweet.
While the old adage, “sticks and stones” comes to mind, the influence of Trump’s base of supporters is so powerful, it can ruin someone’s political career. As a result, few have been willing to risk Trump’s wrath. With childish nicknames and belittling comments, Trump’s wrath is the primary source of his continued grasp on the Republican Party.
Yet, the main target of his vehemence isn’t a Republican. His hatred of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, has been the driving force in Trump’s political agenda. His hatred is such that any legislation that bears the Obama seal has been targeted.
Now that he has lost the election, his wrath is being directed at those who he viewed as not giving him enough support. Instead of accepting blame for his loss, he is blasting those around him as he continues to refuse to concede.
Envy
While Trump has always wanted to have the biggest and best of everything, the main thing he desires is not a material possession. Instead his envy is directed at his predecessor. Trump is the first resident of the Oval Office to never break 50 percent in popularity. Yet Barack Obama’s approval ratings were consistently above this mark.
It is this fact that eats away at Trump despite having tremendous popularity with those in his own party. The fact Trump has never been able to reach beyond his base is puzzling to Trump because he only witnessed the adoration of sycophants. As a result, he saw himself as enormously popular.
Yet, he was never able to achieve the level of popularity that Barack Obama enjoyed.
Pride
With his name garishly plastered over his multiple properties, Trump sees his name as representing everything that is America. Like the French monarch of old, Trump sees his will as the will of the nation. As a result, he cannot look beyond his own selfish motives in believing he is actually doing the things he does for the good of the country.
Yet it is this same selfish pride that won’t allow him to see that he’s wrong.
What’s Next?
At this point I’m sure you are saying to yourself, “So what? He lost!”.
This is certainly true, but Trump has still refused to concede. As a result, several powerful Republicans in Congress are refusing to acknowledge a Biden victory. Instead, they keep moving the goalposts in order to preserve the illusion that they eventually will have a different outcome.
Meanwhile, Trump has adopted a “scorched earth” policy that will hamper the incoming president’s ability. He is firing those he sees as not being fully on his side and replacing them with unqualified loyalists. As more Americans die from coronavirus, Trump is ignoring the facts so Biden will inherit a disease that is running rampant.
Even more frightening, Trump is hinting that, if Biden is confirmed, he will immediately announce a re-election bid for 2024. This threatens to throw the Republican Party into a prolonged period of disarray just when they had hoped to move beyond this dark era.
So, it’s important to understand just what motivates Donald Trump. If he sticks to running in 2024, we need to be ready to battle the religious hypocrisy he has hijacked.