Some of you aren't going to like this.
My daughter saw Trump's speech at the Republican convention and called him the Antichrist. Now, I don't believe in the kind of end-times scenario that this idea of the Antichrist involves, and she doesn't either (I think she saw some Left Behind movies when she was young and got the image that way), but Trump seems anti-Christ in another, more important sense, that he has spent his life bragging about things that Christianity identifies as sin. He believes in pride, revenge, greed, and stealing other men's wives, and brags about it. His locker room talk wasn't just about "getting laid" (I heard plenty of that when I was younger) it was about using position, wealth, fame, and power for sexual advantage. It's one thing to, like Bill Clinton, give in to sexual urges in a position of power, and believe me that was bad enough. (It was costly to both Al Gore and Hillary in their campaigns). But I am inclined to think he was repentant (though with a politician it is always possible to suspect motives). But boasting about evil is, to my mind, a deeper depravity.
8 comments:
A quick glance at this table of classic virtues/vices, one could argue he has "Diligence/Industria." Everything else lands pretty squarely in the vice column.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_virtues#Seven_heavenly_virtues.2C_and_seven_deadly_sins
I can understand how your daughter's thoughts affect you. My own daughter just returned from a mission trip from Kosovo and and working in a refugee camp in Greece. Her message on return was emotional for me as her father: http://stmarysfresno.sermon.net/main/main/20884528
I couldn't tell you about the motivations of guys like Trump and Clinton, although I see them in business everyday. If you see repentance in Clinton, I see Trump picking a guy like Pence (savaged by liberals for being a decent guy) as some hope of redemption.
I needed no persuasion from my daughter. Trump had to choose Pence to retain the cooperation of the Republican mainstream. Otherwise, you would have seen Republicans bolting right and left.
I haven't seen a shred of evidence that Clinton was ever sorry for what he did.
Trump's boasting about his depravity was the main reason I could not seriously consider supporting him for president, regardless of his politics. As Dr. Reppert said, it's one thing to sin, but another thing entirely to boast of being a sinner. And Trump is undeniably not only unrepentant, but is actually proud of his sins.
Of coarse you need no persuasion by your daughter, she reinforced by her comments what you had already decided. Ditto for me. That wasn't my point.
Republicans, like myself, were already bolting right and left. Pence, although helpful, was not what lead to my final vote (as if my vote mattered).
I'm pretty sure from here until the foreseeable future, the blue collar nonreligious working class in the swing states will be deciding the election. They liked Trump over Clinton, Obama over his two opponents, Bush after Clinton.
But what do I know.
I can tell you in two words why you voted for Trump, Dave. Neil Gorsuch. (Though you didn't know his name at the time). Trump fulfilled that promises, whatever else he may have failed to do in his administration.
Well, I guess that's an indication of how shallow I present myself online that I can be be told in two words why I decided the way I did.
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