According to Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut, MAGA groups are not only committing idolatry by supporting Donald Trump, but additionally, Trump was a cult leader similar to Charles Manson, David Koresh, and Jim Jones. Sadly, this was not an April Fools prank.
Reid spouted paraphrases of Bible stories like the sermon on the mount, the crucifixion of Christ, and the golden calf to emphasize her theory that Trump supporters were heinously sinning by idolizing him and joining his cult.
While some obsessed Trump supporters might go so far as to treat Trump as a celebrity, it was preposterous to liken MAGA to the cults created and fostered by mass murderers like Manson, Jones, or Koresh. And, without evidence, Reid suggested Trump was calling himself God:
It’s kind of David Koresh. It's kind of Jim Jones. Because those two men started by saying, “You need to come to Jesus.” They started as Christian evangelizers. But eventually, their evangelism said, “No, I get to have your wife. No actually, I get to tell you to kill these federal agents that are outside. I'm asking you to pick up a machine gun and shoot them because I don't want to go to jail.”
This is Manson stuff, where you stop saying “Worship God” and you start saying “I am God.” “I am God” is what Trump is saying to his followers. Why are they believing it?
Had an acclaimed conservative reporter of the same standing as Reid made such connections of these cults to former President Barack Obama or current President Joe Biden, the reporter probably would have been canceled and fired.
The hilarity of Reid’s accusations was that she continually quoted the Ten Commandments as if calling Trump a cultist resonated with the majority of Christians within the U.S. who not-shockingly happen to be conservative.
One of Reid’s guests included Former U.S. Representative [R] David Jolly, who apparently also considered himself an expert on religion. This self-proclaimed Christian boldly asserted that only “people of weak faith are concerned about the actions of government.” Jolly was referring to the outcry from Christians offended by Biden’s recognition of International Trans Day on Easter.
How dare Christians allow their faith to impact their political views! Oh, except, according to Jolly, all religions operate this way. Because any person of “strong faith” will put his trust in his invisible deity, he therefore doesn’t need to worry about the actions of the government, since his deity will control the future:
The whole notion of faith, of Christian faith, Muslim faith, whatever it might be, is that you are putting your trust in something you cannot see, and you are walking by faith and not by sight. And what Donald Trump is doing is saying, “Wait a minute, let me show you all these reasons you should doubt your faith and you should trust me, and you should follow me.” That is dangerous.
I mean, take the trans proclamation, for instance. It is a weakening of faith to suggest that the Christian world should be concerned about that. People of weak faith are concerned about the actions of government. People of strong faith yesterday know they have put their faith in a deity that they have entrusted their lives and the future of the world to regardless of one's faith, it's a concept that is easily understood, this idea of faith.
It’s hilarious that Reid would condemn MAGA Christians for supporting Trump and then invite such a “religious expert” like Jolly to speak on this topic, even though he’s somehow unaware that a person’s religion could practically affect her life. “It's making me lose my mind to watch people who call themselves Christians fall down on their knees and worship this man,” Reid said.
According to Reid, Trump was also guilty of calling himself the “emperor god,” and being “the head of Rome;” for forcing his followers to follow him instead of Jesus. “He's saying ‘I am the emperor god.’ He's the head of Rome, not Jesus! But he's literally gotten his people to melt down their gold into a calf and worship it,” Reid claimed, without evidence.
“Don’t forget the Ten Commandments,” warned Reid, who suddenly became so preoccupied with everyone’s salvation, that is until about ten minutes later when she ignored the sixth commandment to not murder in order to justify her positive position on abortion.
How to rectify these contradictions was not really explained, but don’t worry, she ended the conversation with a great one-liner: “Wake up, people, and stay woke!”
The full transcript can be read here.
MSNBC's The ReidOut
04/02/24
7:11:29-7:16:36(…)
JOY REID: You know, the difference between religion and a cult is in religion your savior dies for you, as Jesus did. In a cult, you're asked to die for your savior.
And, you know, what Donald Trump is doing, it's equal parts the power of positive thinking, which is the church to the extent it's a church he grew up in, but it's also, it’s kind of David Koresh. It's kind of Jim Jones. Because those two men started by saying, “You need to come to Jesus.” They started as Christian evangelizers. But eventually, their evangelism said, “No, I get to have your wife. No actually, I get to tell you to kill these federal agents that are outside. I'm asking you to pick up a machine gun and shoot them because I don't want to go to jail.”
This is Manson stuff, where you stop saying “Worship God” and you start saying “I am God.” “I am God” is what Trump is saying to his followers. Why are they believing it?
DAVID JOLLY: Yeah, Joy. In a lighthearted way, you’d simply say Donald Trump is jealous of Jesus. All the attention given to Jesus Christ by the Christians of the world yesterday. But look, this conversation is going pretty deep, and I think you put your thumb on something in this conversation very important. Donald Trump is preying, with an “E Y” on the fallibility of faith. Right?
The whole notion of faith, of Christian faith, Muslim faith, whatever it might be, is that you are putting your trust in something you cannot see, and you are walking by faith and not by sight. And what Donald Trump is doing is saying, “Wait a minute, let me show you all these reasons you should doubt your faith and you should trust me, and you should follow me.” That is dangerous.
I mean, take the trans proclamation, for instance. It is a weakening of faith to suggest that the Christian world should be concerned about that. People of weak faith are concerned about the actions of government. People of strong faith yesterday know they have put their faith in a deity that they have entrusted their lives and the future of the world to regardless of one's faith, it's a concept that is easily understood, this idea of faith.
And Donald Trump seizes on the fallibility and creates doubt and then suggests he's the one, he alone can fix all the problems you face, when it requires an abandonment of the deity that you have previously put your trust in for those fixes.
REID: Right, because democracy is about we collectively fix the problems through a government we elect. He's saying no, that's not the way you do it, Jim Wallis. The irony of all of this, of trying to compare yourself to Jesus, and the Christ is not his last name, it means the Messiah.
The reason that when the people that he was ostensibly hoping to lead, you know, or even not even asking to lead, but was saying I am an exemplar to my people, one of the reasons they rejected him on the cross is he was not a warrior god. He was a God who said that, “I worship my father God, not the Roman emperor god.” And because he wouldn't renounce the idea that the empire, the emperor was god, and that he said, “No, my father is God,” they said “Well, we're going to kill you, we’re going to crucify you.”
Donald Trump is the opposite of that. He's saying “I am the emperor god.” He's the head of Rome, not Jesus! But he's literally gotten his people to melt down their gold into a calf and worship it. Another sin of people who, if you believe that people should’ve followed Jesus and didn't, that was the other thing, “We can't see your works, you're not a visible God. We want a visible god.” Trump is saying “No, I'm a visible god.” He's literally an idolater, Jim! It's making me lose my mind to watch people who call themselves Christians fall down on their knees and worship this man.
JIM WALLIS: This is where we have to understand bad religion has always distorted politics. And some say the only answer to bad religion is no religion. I think the answer to bad religion is true faith. And so, what I'm trying to do is say what did Jesus say? He said, “You'll know the truth and the truth will set you free.” The opposite of truth there for Jesus is not lying but captivity. And so many people you talk about here are just captive. They're stuck. They're embedded in this false religion.
Jesus said, you know, “we are made in the image of God.” God said, Genesis Ch. 1, first book of the Bible, which means any attempt to take away the vote of anyone because of the color of their skin or anything else, is an assault on imago dei. So, I want to get back to what the text says. I want to let Jesus do the talking. And then I want to say, do you believe it? Or not?
REID: That's right. Amen. And let's—don't forget the Ten Commandments, which Jesus did not refute, the Old Testament, the Torah. The Ten Commandments start with “I am God and thou shalt have no other god before me.” And if you actually are a Christian, you should have no other god before God. Donald Trump is not God. He's not Jesus. He's just a politician who doesn't want to go to prison and he's selling you crap sneakers to make you pay his legal bills when he's supposedly a billionaire. It is a scam; it is a cult. Wake up! [Claps hands] People and stay woke!
(…)
