MAGA and Christian nationalism: Bigger threat to America than Hamas could ever be

[Nevilledog]

https://www.salon.com/2023/11/02/maga-and-christian-nationalism-bigger-to-america-than-hamas-could-ever-be/

The world inches closer to a war that only psychopaths want to see.

On Tuesday the FBI issued a warning that the chance of staged terrorist attacks in the United States has grown since the war began in Gaza. In the White House briefing later that day, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked National Security Council spokesman John Kirby: “Has the White House considered the possibility that a terrorist could be in the country right now after crossing the southern border?”

Obviously they have, or the FBI wouldn’t have issued the warning. The question remains, however, what our government response would be to such an attack. That has already been discussed at the highest levels in our government, and the public has a right to know what that reaction would be.

So, although I wasn’t called on, as Kirby left the stage I interrupted to ask the only question I thought mattered: “John, wait a minute. Before you leave: If Hamas terrorists attack the U.S., would the U.S. put boots on the ground in the Middle East?”

Kirby stopped his retreat from the stage, and press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre let him answer. Kirby was succinct: “I won't speculate about that, Brian. We’ll obviously do what we have to do to protect our troops and our people.”

*snip*

[AntiFascist]

1. Yup, if theocrats take control we will be headed toward WWIII...

...
While the world burns, Johnson and the MAGA wing of the Republican Party — which seems to have swallowed the evangelical movement while also embracing it (a T-1000 morphing into Sarah Connor is just about the right image) — is embracing the darkest verses of the Bible, apparently pushing for apocalypse with an enthusiasm only rivaled by Saul’s slaughter of Christians before he changed his name to Paul.

I’m waiting for Mel Brooks to break out into song: “Let all those who wish to confess their evil ways and accept and embrace the true church convert now or forever burn in hell — for now begins the Inquisition!”

The House of Representatives, now run by Johnson, offers a discount version of the apocalyptic orgasm the holy rollers have dreamed of for years. They’ve renewed the Inquisition and seem determined to convert the U.S. into a theocracy run by people who will thump you with the Bible, but haven’t read much of it.
...

[Bundbuster]

2. Christain Dominionism. Be afraid, very afraid.

I'm going to post a comprehensive thread later on this, my biggest political fear for the last 40 years. It's one that the media avoids like the plague, but it's been gathering power since the days of R.J. Rushdoony, Paul Weirich, Francis Schaeffer, Tim Lahaye, etc. Today it's a bigger threat than ever.

*snip*
In 2015, Ted Cruz went to Liberty University to announce his run for president. Liberty had long been a bastion of dispensationalism, an evangelical worldview with a premillennial eschatology and a separatist attitude toward society. But the senator from Texas stayed away from such topics in his speech. Instead he focused on government deregulation as essential to protecting the God-given rights of individuals. Against the failures of supposed socialist policies like Obamacare, Cruz asked his audience to

imagine abolishing the IRS. . . . Imagine a federal government that stands for the First Amendment rights of every American. . . . From the dawn of this country, at every stage, America has enjoyed God’s providential blessing. Over and over again, when we faced impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. You know, compared to that, repealing Obamacare and abolishing the IRS ain’t all that tough!

Dominionism is the belief that Christians should take moral, spiritual, and ecclesiastical control over society.

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/features/quiet-rise-christian-dominionism

[TheRealNorth]

3. I agree

Trump is promising them retribution.

[Bundbuster]

4. Absolutely, directly

MARCH 25, 2023:

WACO — Flanked by supporters waving “witch hunt” signs, former President Donald Trump turned in a signature incendiary performance Saturday in Waco, using his first 2024 campaign rally to frame himself as a victim of politicized legal investigations and vowing to be the MAGA movement’s “retribution.”

"I am your warrior, I am your justice,” Trump said in a nearly 90-minute speech, most of it focused on perceived political enemies and slights. “For those who have been wronged and betrayed … I am your retribution."

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/03/25/donald-trump-waco-rally-retribution-justice/

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

5. Good grief, Doocy is such a racist wanker

“Has the White House considered the possibility that a terrorist could be in the country right now after crossing the southern border?”

I would have responded with: "Why do you think they'd come over only through the southern border, when that is not the only way to get into the country? The 9/11 terrorists didn't enter the US from the southern border, where they're more likely to get detained--and would probably stand out as not Hispanic. They had money enough to come through our airports, with proper visas. They were smart enough to know that's the most efficient way to get into the country, with the least impediment. So unless you're proposing that we treat all visitors to this country like we do refugees at our southern border, why don't you set aside your racist paranoia long enough to deal with reality?"