“Sometimes the country needs a man”
by digby
Ann Coulter, ladies and gentlemen:
It took a billionaire living the glamorous New York City life to exhibit real Christian courage by going against every elite group in the nation, every media outlet, every well-heeled donor, to defend America from destruction by immigration.
Baptist leader Russell Moore, desperate for liberal approval, claims that Christian conservatives “must repudiate everything they believe” in order to support Donald Trump, who “incites division, with slurs against Hispanic immigrants and with protectionist jargon that preys on turning economic insecurity into ugly ‘us versus them’ identity politics.” (Please like me, New York Times!)
Moore is especially offended by Trump’s “boisterous confidence” and “waving arms” — as he put it in the Times, journal of respectable liberal opinion. (Do Baptist preachers ever wave their arms? Somebody Google that.)
How would Gen. Douglas MacArthur fare with today’s evangelical leaders? Ronald Reagan was a visibly devout Christian, but Richard Nixon wasn’t. Joe McCarthy wasn’t. MacArthur wasn’t.
Sometimes the country needs a man.
The idea that Christians are supposed to be milquetoasts is liberal propaganda. Ask the money-changers how meek Jesus was. (Not the Clintons; I mean the other money-changers.) God commanded the Israelites to go to certain cities and kill “every living thing.” As I recall, the Crusaders were a little rough around the edges. When Trump attacks, he targets the rich and powerful. When the elites attack, they target the average American and everything he cares about.
When Trump boasts — about his wealth, his family, his intelligence — it’s funny, not mean-spirited. No one feels inferior. In fact, legions of political commentators who’ve never accomplished anything in their entire lives feel immensely superior to Trump.
No doubt, wisdom shall die with them. (Job 12:1 — one of many examples of sarcasm in the Bible, a rhetorical device bossy Christians tell us is un-Christian.)
By contrast, Trump’s personal style is denounced by the Piety Police with smug certitude, to showcase their superior moral understanding.
I’m almost sure the Bible says nothing about arm-waving, but it says quite a bit about the sort of pride that allows a person to presume to speak for God on acceptable speaking styles. God does not mandate personality types and, if He did, I doubt it would be “lisping sycophant.”
It’s not Trump who’s displaying the sin of pride here.
Don’t underestimate this strain in the GOP. It’s strong. Remember this?
And there’s a ton of creepy iconography out there like this which, if I were a believer, would strike me as somewhat sacrilegious. But what do I know?
But I’m curious about how Trump is such “a man.” He’s an effete billionaire blowhard.
And I can’t help but be reminded of all the slurs against John Edwards for his attention to his hair, including Coulter herself charmingly calling him a “faggot”. Trump obviously spends hours each day getting his hair dyed and styled. I don’t personally have a problem with that. After all, women in public life are forced to do it whether they like it or not — and even when they do they’re subject to endless attacks for their looks. Still, Trump doesn’t really fit the right wing’s Real Man profile all that well.
This is Coulter so it is, by definition, trolling. But I don’t think her sentiments are any different than most of the Trump fans. They see a rude, obnoxious braggart as the definition of manhood. That’s fine, I guess. But it ain’t Clint Eastwood.
*By the way, I think Coulter is right that Trump reads her stuff. He definitely got the “mexicans are rapists” stuff from her book. And his constant references to McArthur track with her books as well. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprising, McArthur didn’t have any respect for the notion of civilian control of the military. I get why Coulter would admire this. But why would anyone who’s running to be the Commander in Chief think that’s so great?
.