RELIGIOUS CONSERVATIVES: IF YOU OPPOSE TRUMP, YOU HATE GOD

Politico reports on a new book by an old hand at weaponizing religion on behalf of the GOP:

One of Donald Trump’s most prominent Christian supporters will argue in a book due out before the 2020 general election that American evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” the president.

The book’s author, Faith and Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, became a loyal foot soldier for Trump immediately after he nabbed the Republican presidential nomination in 2016....

According to the book's description, obtained by POLITICO, the original title for the book was “Render to God and Trump,” a reference to the well-known biblical verse, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” The message from Jesus in Matthew 22, has been used in contemporary politics to justify obedience to government — or in the case of Reed’s book, to Trump.

Regnery Publishing confirmed the book’s existence but said the title is “For God and Country: The Christian case for Trump.”

According to the Bible verse, Jesus said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” -- in other words, give the state what it's entitled to, and give God what God is entitled to. Mashing the two together, as in Reed's original title, suggests to me that Reed doesn't believe government and God are in separate spheres. But maybe I'm misreading that. It's hard to tell:

In his book, Reed will “persuasively” argue evangelicals have a duty to defend the incumbent Republican leader against “the stridently anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and pro-abortion agenda of the progressive left,” according to the description.

A duty to God to vote for Trump? That's how this reads.

To be fair, that seems no worse than the usual religious Republicanism. Rabbi Aryeh Spero, who calls himself "America's Rabbi," takes the godliness of Trump a bit further in this column, which asserts that anyone who doesn't like Trump is guilty of grievous sins:

Many American Jews Need to Atone for Their Sins against Donald Trump

America has seen many presidents who have been good to Israel and the Jewish people. None has been better than Donald Trump....

Many in the secular Jewish community do not consider their attitude ungrateful inasmuch as support for Israel is no longer important to them, and they seem undaunted when anti-Semitism comes from the political Left (their home), or from social justice warriors and certain "minorities." What they consider good for Jews most often has nothing to do with Jewish need at all, but rather a universalist agenda at odds with Jewish survival. In their zeal to destroy and remove Mr. Trump from the presidency, they have gone beyond ingratitude to downright lying about him, scheming against him, and throwing normal fairness and decency out the window.

Yom Kippur, the annual Day of Atonement, falls this week. One of the most prominent prayers is "for the sins we have committed," a list of grievous sins that may apply to the penitent, thereby requiring atonement. Thus, now may be the best and most appropriate time to review the sins many within the Jewish community continue to wage against President Trump....

A list follows.

Adam Schiff: For the sin of bearing false witness, excessive lying, deceit, and tale-bearing against President Trump.

Chuck Schumer: For the sin of raging ambition, forked tongue, and "standing idly by while the blood of your brothers" is spilt in Brooklyn and while Israel remains threatened by an Obama Iran deal you refused to fight against.

"Forked tongue"? Imagine if a gentile had written that about Schumer.

Jerrold Nadler: For the sin of revenge, deceit, and falsehood against President Trump.

Eliot Engel: For the sin of allowing an enemy of your people, Ilhan Omar, to remain seated and powerful on your House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Richard Blumenthal: For the sin of sky-high arrogance, bullying, and using the law for injustice, and the sin of seeking to defame and destroy Brett Kavanaugh, an innocent man.

Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the ADL: For the sin of defamation, and deliberately and repeatedly lying about President Trump, strongly implying to the world the canard that Mr. Trump is an anti-Semite, encourages anti-Semitism, and is sympathetic to Nazis....

The list goes on, and on, and on.

Bernie Sanders: For the sin of trying to impoverish and take away liberty from the American people in behalf of an imposed socialism/communism. And the sin of constant anger and economic hypocrisy. For the sin of being the first candidate for president to formally demonize Israel, hold high the banner of those wishing to destroy Israeli Jews, and make "kosher" anti-Israel bias. After all, it must be okay if a Jew like Bernie makes it part of his platform. For the sin of distorting history....

Jennifer Rubin: The sin of hysteria, rumor-mongering, and false statements. You have betrayed.

The woman is accused of "hysteria." Of course.

The Sulzbergers of the New York Times: The sin of whitewashing Islamic Jew-hatred, as you did 70 years ago regarding Nazi Jew-hatred. The sin of ignoring your responsibility to honest journalism and, instead, devoting your staff and time to falsely bringing down a man who did nothing that fits your concocted and manufactured falsehoods....

Most secular and liberal Jews: For the sin of hating Donald Trump in your heart and mind simply because he will not bow and cave to your universalist, trans-nationalist agenda. You have become a "shanda." ...

Politicians sometimes charge opponents with trying to "criminalize political differences." This goes much further -- if you disagree with the rabbi, you've committed a grievous offense in the eyes of God. Beg for forgiveness!

Nothing new here, but it's helpful to be reminded of how awful these people think we are.