The greatest MAGA irony
Across America, evangelical pastors stand before their congregations and exhort them to cast their votes for Donald Trump. Trump is the Chosen One, they proclaim, personally selected by God to lead the country according to God’s laws and God’s moral principles. The choice, they insist, could not be more obvious.
According to what logic in which madhouse? As a former evangelical Christian from the 70s and 80s, I am still amazed at how far my former friends in the faith have fallen for the Trump cult. It would be somewhat understandable if Trump pretended to be one of them. But in temperament, deed and criminal behaviour Donald Trump is the closest thing in my lifetime to the Antichrist, the very man we were on constant alert for back then, the very man we were cautioned against.
The Antichrist, we were warned, would be Boastful, Crafty and Deceptive. He would deceive many. We smugly assured ourselves we would not be among the deceived.
Oh no, not us, we knew only too well what the Antichrist would look like. We were all ready for him when he showed up. We were all too smart for him.
Kamala Harris, by contrast, is a real Christian. She was raised in the Baptist tradition. She actively participated in Howard University’s Christian environment. She carried her faith into politics where to this day she practises the teachings of Jesus, teachings such as love thy neighbour, care for the sick, the elderly, the prisoner, the foreigner, and so on. All the things MAGAs hate. MAGA pays lip service to Christ, but Kamala is an actual Christian.
In many ways, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris also remind me of the antagonist and protagonist of a book I read back then, Stephen King’s “The Stand.” Trump is like Randall Flagg, a deeply evil but charismatic leader who becomes a kind of messiah for survivors of a plague that wipes out 98% of earth’s population. His people, the most evil among the survivors, readily submit to Flagg’s fascist dictatorship. Kamala Harris is like Mother Abigail, a joyful, good and godly black woman who leads the best of the survivors against Flagg. In the end they defeat Flagg and his followers.
It seems that in fiction and in myth we have been prepared for Trump for decades. When he finally showed up many people fell for him anyway. I don’t get it, but I must accept the evidence of my own eyes. I don’t understand why so many millions of people love Trump. To me, he’s the Antichrist, he’s Randall Flagg. It ought to be obvious. For many it is not. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.