NEW TRUMP EXECUTIVE ORDER COURTS RELIGIOUS EXTREMISTS WITH “MAGIC”

Alleged President of the United States Donald Trump signed another trademark Trump executive order Thursday. This one lets religious groups get political…sort of.

Actually, near as I can tell it may not have done much of anything at all. (As is his wont.)

The National Review—which despite its previous hate/hate relationship with Trump aligns with him on this issue—called it “worse than useless”:

“An executive order cannot repeal a statute, and legal restrictions on political activity by churches are statutory. They’re part of the Johnson Amendment, a provision of the tax code.”

As CNN tells it, the only thing this order really does is “prevents the IRS from expanding its restrictions on political activity by religious group.” Which no one was doing anyway.

The ACLU isn’t even bothering to sue. Which is like a bear deciding not to shit in the woods this time. They called the whole thing “an elaborate photo op.”

 

But this latest Trump executive order still worries me. I suspect it’s his bid to keep religious extremists thinking he’s on their side.

And I don’t like the idea of that crowd getting bolder. Mind you, they’re never particularly meek anyway.

Take Jason Rapert, founder of Holy Ghost Ministries in Arkansas. This is a guy who in 2014 complained that the United States isn’t enough like Saudi Arabia:

“Saudi Arabia, they don’t live under the same kind of law that we do. They live under the law that they see fit to live under there. We have that right too. And that’s why there’s such an injustice here.”

The “injustice” he’s on about was gay marriage. Note that Saudis don’t “live under the law they see fit” but under the law their theocratic king orders.

Admittedly, there’s not much danger of Jason Rapert becoming more political now. He’s already a state senator in Arkansas.

(Also a noted anti-Satanist. He changed that state’s laws midstream to keep the Satanic Temple from erecting a monument. Which is to say, he fell ass backwards into a lawsuit.)

But consider also people like Lance Wallnau, who believes that god appointed Trump to “subdue nations.” Or Cindy Jacobs, the self-proclaimed “prophet” who predicts “war between the states” over gay marriage. Or John Benefiel, who believes that demons possess congress, etc, etc.

 

There’s a whole horde of preachers, psuedo-intellectuals, and anti-Satanists with itchy trigger fingers out there. Craziness is at a premium in Washington and fascism is fashionable again. I don’t want to think about what these people may do if they think their time is now.

Although the other thing about this latest Trump executive order is he’s seemingly hoping none of them read it that closely. Since, again, it may not technically do that much.

The whole thing was a pageant mostly. Lots of pomp and ceremony for show. A ritual, if you will.

Ostensible president/perpetual attention sponge Donald Trump believes that with the right trappings and gestures and words on paper he can fake his way into change without actually doing anything.

There is of course a word for that: magic.

Yes, Donald Trump is appealing to the religious right through the black arts. He doesn’t realize this, of course. But on top of every other indignity, now he’s stepping on our turf too.