Populism in America is cyclical. President Andrew Jackson fought banks; politician William Jennings Bryan fought barons; Louisiana Gov. and then Sen. Huey Long fought inequality; Trump fights systems of every stripe. His crusade is part grievance and part gospel, speaking to a republic that distrusts its own elite institutions and their caretakers. Trump excels at stretching politics into follow-through performance. After all, who else would dare prepend his name to the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the U.S. Institute of Peace in real time.
…
Trump’s evangelical supporters remind us that the great men of old were seldom polished and never perfect. Moses killed, yet led his people to freedom. David sinned, yet ruled with vision. Paul persecuted, yet became the greatest apostle. Scripture teaches that imperfection often precedes purpose, and greatness is rarely graceful. The Christian faithful rely on these proverbial lessons when explaining their loyal and unapologetic allegiance to such a coarse Christian. Unlike Elijah, it will be impossible to take up his mantle.
You must log in or register to comment.
Fuck’s sake, he picks Andrew fucking Jackson as the first example? President "I’ve wanted to commit genocide since the War of 1812”? President “fighting the banks set up van Buren for a massive economic crisis”?
My username might give it away, I love studying the worst presidents in US history because they’re way more interesting than someone who was just kind of there and never got any scandals named for them. But damn, I really didn’t want to live through one of them
We’ve had a lot of them. I’m not sure how you could make it to 40 without enduring a particularly foul one.
I do think a lot of the 19th century presidents get a pass simply because they were nearly universally awful. Like, how do you rank Cleveland against Johnson or Tyler or Buchanan when it’s just a race to the bottom?
Nixon was an absolute monster as a human being, but he was at least reasonably competent and politically savvy. Trump’s much more in line with that earlier era of presidents - the most popular klansman or charismatic stooge of industry, but with no redeeming virtues as an actual bureaucrat.
He wasn’t a good president, but I think Nixon was good at being president, and if he had the modern propaganda shield that Trump does, I’d be terrified of what he could have accomplished. All of Trump’s sycophants combined don’t hold a candle to what Kissinger was able to do under Nixon.
I’ve only been alive for five US presidents, and too young/too propagandized to really understand what was going on until the end of the Obama administration. But it really is the same shit over and over again, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
Pedophile. Rapist. Felon.
That’s unpolished?
That is not a real person.
I sincerely wish you were right. But after living in a deep red state for a decade, I can tell you her might very well be real.
People who call themselves Christians literally worship this dude. This monument to spite and hate! “They’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats.” And he still got a solid third of the country to vote for him.
I meant the author. “Adonis Hoffman” sounds like something Homer Simpson would come up with.
Notice me senpai type shit
“God, I want to suck him off.”
Opinion By Adonis Hurfman.
More of a pandering to his illiterate “Christian” base shit.
The Christian faithful rely on these proverbial lessons when explaining their loyal and unapologetic allegiance to such a coarse Christian. Unlike Elijah, it will be impossible to take up his mantle.
I mean he is a generational talent at scamming people. Even more than that, I’d say he’s the most successful grifter of all time. Who else in all of history even compares to the level Trump has scammed the US?
John Blunt? Points for being a sword-maker named blunt that founded a joint stock company. But he just scammed the upper class in the UK. Trump has so much more thoroughly scammed the US, and even many non-Americans around the world.
In ten years, they will be all saying they didn’t know or that they were tricked
Trump’s like if fat bastard was born rich, raped kids and became president
You forgot about his many failures along the way. Do you know how many kids slipped through his tiny fingers?
Into Lake Michigan?
Great things. Terrible, yes. But great.
Adonis… no amount of ass kissing will make him notice you, you’re best to move on to find someone who will give you attention. Unless you give him lots of money, presenting yourself to him won’t make him love you back.
The only attention Adonis will get from Trump is the latter noticing the color of his skin and sending him to some third-world country’s prison system.
Actually, large parts of Trump’s cabinets in both presidencies were random bloggers and commentators. Not even rich or famous ones, just whoever kissed his ass well enough.
“Pam, you’ve got… you’ve got some shit on your nose.”
More like on the back of her tongue
Yeah… Adonis… Buddy… You should actually read those Bible stories you’re citing.
Moses: Banned from entering the “promised land” as punishment for demonstrating a lack of faith in God.
David: Has an affair with Bathsheba. She gets pregnant. He has her husband assassinated in an attempt to cover it up. God sends the prophet Nathan to tell David that life from then on will be a Game of Thrones level clusterfuck and boy was it ever.
Paul: Religious nut. God appears to him in a very “shit your pants” kind of scene to ask Paul, “Why are you persecuting me?” After getting a change of underwear, he gets told to go spread the news of Jesus to a [probably] very skeptical audience, considering his reputation for torturing and murdering Christians. Gets shipwrecked, imprisoned, and eventually [presumably] executed by the Roman Empire.
You know what those three guys have in common? They all fucked up. Some worse than others. And they all faced harsh consequences for their moral failings. So, if you’re looking for corelaries between Trump and those guys, maybe the most glaring one is that we haven’t even gotten to the good part yet. The part where he is held accountable for his misdeeds.
President Trump has created a unique political reality, largely by leading through instinct
… “leading through INSTINCT”??? I get that the article is complete bullshit, but nobody has an “instinct” to be a good president. I can guarantee that all of the best presidents in history (1) understood the importance and history of their office, (2) surrounded themselves and appointed the best talents they could find, (3) proactively tried to be the best president, and (4) stayed awake during important meetings.
The author is similarly insulting in saying “gifted athletes.” Do you know the one thing all top athletes have in common? It’s that they work their asses off. Even if they’re naturally gifted, it won’t amount to shit without putting in the work.
gifted athletes
He meant to compare him to grifted athletes.
unique political reality
In other words, substituting realities and replacing them with his own.
Jesus Christ, I thought it’s a Communist article praising Xi.
Well he IS at olympic level in mental gymnastics.
Its like they are preemptively thanking him for saving capitalism because they believe he will.
Its wild how much the wealthy are willing to believe fantasy as much as the peasants.
