Trump on Immigrants: These are Animals

During a rant yesterday, Donald Trump finally gave voice to the real animus of his supporters towards undocumented immigrants - and I would argue by extension gays, non-whites, non-Christians on the part of evangelicals - when he described them as animals.  Not fellow human, but animals, the implication being that they are deserving of mistreatment and even death.  When America comes to the point where it deliberately and willingly separates children and warehouses them like animals on military bases, we have reached the point of utter moral bankruptcy.  Yet John Kelly and Trump, and Jeff Sessions - a longtime racist - seemingly fully support such cruelty.  And the evangelicals continue to rally to Trump's standard.  Is it any wonder a third of Millennials want nothing to do with religion?  A piece in USA Today looks at Trump's attack on immigrants who, in his mind, all have brown skin, and other Trump lies and untruths.  Here are excerpts:

President Trump used extraordinarily harsh rhetoric to renew his call for stronger immigration laws Wednesday, calling undocumented immigrants "animals" and venting frustration at Mexican officials who he said "do nothing" to help the United States.

“We have people coming into the country or trying to come in, we're stopping a lot of them, but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are," Trump said. 

"These aren't people. These are animals."

Trump's comments came in a freewheeling, hour-long White House meeting with local California leaders opposed to so-called "sanctuary city" policies.

Trump's remarks were reminiscent of his first press conference as a presidential candidate in 2015, when he said the United States had become a "dumping ground" for people other countries didn't want.

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he said then. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

In other comments, Trump:

► Called for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf for warning undocumented immigrants of an upcoming sweep by immigration agents. "You talk about obstruction of justice, I would recommend that you look at obstruction of justice for the mayor, Jeff," the president said.

► Expressed frustration at his southern neighbor for not doing more to stop the flow of refugees and immigrants into the United States. "Mexico does nothing for us, they do nothing for us. Mexico talks, but they do nothing for us, especially at the border," he said. "Certainly don’t help us much on trade."

► Blamed Democrats for a policy of separating children from their parents when undocumented families enter the United States. 

"I know what you're going through with families is very tough," he told Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. "But those are the bad laws the Democrats gave us. We have to break up families. The Democrats gave us that law. It's a horrible thing we have to break up families."

The attempt to blame Democrats was a huge lie - what else is new with Trump - given that the policy of separating children from parents only began after Trump took office.  As for the "devout Christians" supporting Trump, they should cease the hypocrisy of going to church and feigning piety.  I suspect Christ would find them repulsive and rightly so.

Alabama Vote Will Define Republicans - and Christians

The Millennial generation which includes those born between 1982 and 2000 - now the largest generation numerically in America - is becoming increasingly anti-Republican and anti-Christianity. Indeed, if Millennials voted in numbers comparable to reactionary elderly voters, many Republicans at state and federal office levels would be swept from office (their increased voter turnout in Virginia last month made a large difference in the outcome).  While their voting turnout needs to improve, they are actively showing their disdain for Christianity and organized religion in general by simply walking away.  A piece in Living Lutheran, the official magazine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, looks at the exodus of Millennials from religious denominations and their attitudes towards Christianity.  The piece looks at data compiled by Pew Research Center, Barna Groupand others.  Here are the findings:

87% see Christians as judgmental

85% see Christians as hypocrites

91% see Christians as anti-LGBT

36% of those 27 and younger have completely walked away from religious denominations 

34% of those 35 and under have completely walked away from religious denominations 

20% align with evangelical Protestants versus 30% of the so-called silent generation

16% align with Catholicism versus 24% of the so-called silent generation

In this context, we have the Alabama special senatorial election on December 12, 2017, which in the minds of many will strongly impact how many see the Republican Party and self-professed "Christians."  A column in the Washington Post looks at how this election will have long lasting effects beyond those that fixate Mitch McConnell, Der Trumpenführer, and other equally foul and morally bankrupt Republicans.  Here are column excerpts:

Just how disordered have our politics become? And how off-the-rails is the Republican Party?

The good people of Alabama will help answer these questions in next Tuesday’s special election for the U.S. Senate. The whole world will be watching them decide whether party and ideology top decency and moderation; whether there is simply no end to the extremism Republican voters are willing to tolerate in their ranks; and whether a majority in their state believe that being a credibly accused sexual predator is better than being a Democrat.  They will also be telling us what they think the word “Christian” means. 

The outcome is likely to be determined by the consciences of conservatives, and of a specific kind: those who see Mitt Romney and Republicans like him as far more reflective of their moral sense than is Judge Roy Moore, the GOP’s ethically defective nominee whose indifference to the law led him to be removed from Alabama’s Supreme Court twice.  . . .  The former Massachusetts governor tweeted this week that having Moore in the Senate “would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation.”

For good measure, Bannon not only accused Romney of avoiding service in Vietnam. He also trafficked in the anti-Mormon sentiments common among some evangelical Christians.

Thanks to Bannon, we now know that this is no longer just a race between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney who, depending on the poll, is either slightly behind or slightly ahead. It is, in very large part, a decision by Republicans about who they are.

It is also an important choice for devoted Christians. Do they really want their faith defined by those who tried to justify Moore’s alleged relationships with young teenagers by invoking the Holy Family and saying that Joseph was older than Mary . . . . ? Or by arguing that an interest in young girls might be explained by a desire for “a large family,” as a professor at Ouachita Baptist University wrote?

Do those saying such things not realize that they are helping to discredit the very tradition they claim to be defending? No atheist could inflict this much damage to the faith.

Moore’s promoters, including Bannon, want to convince Alabama Republicans that since a Jones triumph will be taken as a rebuke to Trump, they have an obligation to fall into line. But the long-term harm to the GOP from a Moore victory will be far greater than from one lost Senate seat. Bannon is right to cast the election as being about “honor and integrity.” When it comes to these virtues, it is not a close call.