“If you’re like me, you need a spreadsheet to keep track of all of the conspiracy theories Trump is trotting out these days. Even Laura Ingram could not swallow the lies he was spewing about thugs on a plane. https://robrogers.com/2020/09/04/thugs/… #Trump #GOP #2020Election“
When faced with wingnut claims you might wonder how many can be so easily fooled.
It is actually not so strange. You might assume people think rationally and are aware of the real issues. If A is false, then logically this guy is lying, and if B is not true that it becomes clear that he aims to manipulate. Alas, many don’t think like that. Emotional buttons are pressed, egos are pandered to, those on the in feel special and chosen, part of the in group. Those outside are deemed to be wicked and evil. Mr T is simply misunderstood, taken out of context, is not perfect but is the choice of a God so that makes it OK from their viewpoint.
Such white-hat/black-hat thinking is not how things really are, but these simplistic almost cartoonish worldviews are embraced anyway because they play to a narrative that enables some to justify some utterly obnoxious stuff as heroic and justified.
What can I say but to perhaps welcome you to a fantasy world where Fox News is “Truth”, MAGA is a club for brave warrior knights, and a God has especially choosen a messiah to sit in the oval office to scupper a satanic pedophelia cult.
What new absurdities have been promoted by the merry band of lunatics this past week?
Let’s take a look so that we can laugh at it all.
Wingnut proclamations from the last 7 days
Here are some of the highlights this week…
The Cult Of Trump
- Wayne Grudem makes the case for reelecting President Donald Trump and poses a question to his fellow Christians: “If you believe (as I do) that God is sovereign over the affairs of nations, do you think that Donald Trump’s presidency has been an evidence of divine blessing or divine judgment?”
- I’m going with “Judgement”.
- Mario Murillo Says Democrats Oppose Trump Because They Hate the Bible and Christianity
- The majority of Democrats are Christian. They simply hate Trump because he is utterly incompetent and completely obnoxious.
- John Guandolo finds it “incredibly disheartening” that nobody has been executed for having “literally created an ongoing coup against the president.”
- Never mind the fact that there is no actual coup.
- Michele Bachmann insists that the election night prayer campaign organized by Kenneth Copeland Ministries swung the election for Trump in 2016.
- Is she claiming that a god rigged the election and that votes did not actually matter?
The Biden/Kamala fan club
- Elizabeth Farah Says It’s a Sin to Vote for Biden/Harris
- She is CEO of the right-wing conspiracy theory website WorldNetDaily, perhaps better referenced as WorldNuttersDaily.
COVID-19
- Dennis Prager says that the global reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the greatest mistake in human history.
- The US response has indeed been utterly incompetent. This is a contrast to the many other nations that have done far better.
- Michele Bachmann says that … “China unleashed this virus because they wanted to kill Americans … to induce fear in all of us so that we’ll hate Donald Trump so much that we’ll all go vote for [Joe] Biden and Kamala Harris.”
- It is hitting every nation on the planet, there is nothing US specific about it.
- Dave Daubenmire Likens Businesses Refusing Him Entry for Not Wearing a Mask to Racial Discrimination
- He is quite literally proud to be an idiot and loves presenting his crass stupidity as a virtue.
BLM
- Star Parker is not a fan of Black Lives Matter: … “This is worse than activities we saw from the KKK and the mafia in these tactics; these are the same type of tactics of intimidation.”
- Lance Wallnau warns that Black Lives Matter is engaged in spirit-summoning, witchcraft, and the … “summoning of demons through a ritual of incantation.”
Conspiracy Claim News …
- Alex Jones announces that DeAnna Lorraine will be moving to Texas to become a host for Infowars.
- Its a marriage made in heaven.
- Tony Perkins Suggests a ‘Criminal Conspiracy’ Is Behind Civil Unrest in America’s Cities
- He is in one sense right. Shooting people because they are black and then doing nothing about it will tend to lead to civil unrest.
Homophobia
- Scott Lively complains that he is a victim of “cancel culture” after Amazon banned his book, “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party.”
- I hate to be a tad picky, but the Nazi Party was not exactly known as a gay friendly organisation. It is a documented fact that many gay people were deported to the camps for being gay.
Truly Bizarre
Stuff that is so utterly bizarre it is self-parody …
- Liz Crokin declares that ..“the Democrat Party leadership worships Satan, they sacrifice children to Moloch & many are pedophiles.“
- I guess I missed the child sacrifice segment during the DNC
- Rod Dreher defends his friend Eric Metaxas after Metaxas reportedly sucker-punched an anti-Trump protester while leaving the White House following Trump’s speech on the final night of the Republican National Convention: “I don’t care that Eric threw a punch at that guy. He had it coming.”
- No doubt Eric, as a Christian Intellectual, had been reading the part of the bible when Jesus told the disciples to punch those who had it coming.
- Mark Taylor Says Protesters Are Mind Control Victims Doing the Bidding of People With Umbrellas
- My guess is that he got this idea from Netflix. (If you watch Netflix, then you will know the show I mean)
- Mark also went with this during the past week. He warned that anyone who votes for Democratic candidates is “supporting satanism, pedophilia, abortion, human and child trafficking” and is committing “spiritual treason punishable by spiritual death.”. I has a suspicion that he might not be voting for Biden.
- Jesse Lee Peterson tells men not to marry educated women because they don’t want to cook, clean, or stay home to take care of the kids. Worst of all, men even have to care about their feelings during sex.
- I leaning towards the thought that this guy is probably single and not married.
- Jentezen Franklin tells his fellow conservative Christians that their … “First Amendment religious freedoms are literally on the ballot” in November: “Nov. 3, 2020 represents the election of a lifetime, as well as a critical moment to speak up. If you don’t, it’s only a matter of time until ‘speaking up’ becomes a thing of the past. If I were you, I’d vote like the First Amendment itself was on the ballot.”
- Indeed yes, if you are up for the idea of The Handmaidens Tale being a policy roadmap, then Trump is your man.
- Charles McVety warns that the downfall of Jerry Falwell Jr. is part of a demonic effort to undermine Liberty University: “The devil wants those 100,000 students turned away from the Word of God.”
- Falwell did it all himself, he needs no supernatural help to be a complete arsehole
- Robert Maginnis says that Satan “has either directly or indirectly recruited” George Soros to serve as one of his top proxies on Earth.
- Soros tends to be a favourite fallback as a whipping post to drum up a bit of fear.
Good News Items
- MAGA “life coach” and proudly amoral right-wing broadcaster Brenden Dilley has been repeatedly suspended from Twitter over the years for spreading misinformation and violating the social media platform’s terms of service.
- He has made the world a truly better place by getting himself suspended from twitter.
What else came out of the Wingnut fantasy land last week?
Lots of other stuff.
As always, it is an endless stream. Some of it is good, some sad, some is rather grim, and some is quite frankly hilarious. Here are a few more samples …
COVID-19 …
- Christian Pastor, Misinterpreting the Data, Tells Church “There is No Pandemic”
- Preacher John MacArthur misinterpreted CDC data to pretend the virus isn’t a real threat.
- Christian Booted from Alaska Walmart After Screaming About Satanic Face Masks
- “Get out of a godly man’s face,” said the COVID-denying Christian.
More bizarre claims …
- Christian Website GiveSendGo Raises $200,000 for Alleged Kenosha Shooter
- The shooter has been charged with “two counts of first-degree homicide and one count of attempted homicide.”. There are no doubts here that he did it.
- Right-Wing Commentator: Voting for Joe Biden is as Awful as Murder and Adultery
- If you think like this, religion has broken your brain.
- “Christians Against Dinosaurs” Target Arizona McDonald’s T. rex Replica
- This is of course satire, but to be honest these days it is very hard to work that out and so the insight is that lots of people believed it to be real.
The Catholic Church …
- Priest: The Catholic Church Silenced Me for Criticizing Its Handling of Abuse
- The Church should be thanking Rev. Mark White, not gagging him.
Falwell corruption update…
- Jerry Falwell, Jr. Allegedly Used Liberty U.’s Resources to Line His Own Pockets
- The more reporters dig into Falwell’s finances, the more clearly we see the grift. He fits right in as part of Trump’s inner circle.
Sometimes surprisingly good things do happen …
- Los Angeles Responds to COVID-Denying Pastor by Evicting Church from Parking Lot
- John MacArthur’s church wants to spread COVID, so Los Angeles is making it harder for them to gather in person. The city owns their parking lot and pulled the contract so they can’t turn up in vast numbers.
Bonus Item – Some Humour from Alex Friedman
Let’s finish with a bit of humour from Comedy writer Alex Friedman ..