A tried and true and popular tactic of demagogues, dictators and other flavors of authoritarians is to point to the border and the horrors of immigrants. America’s current Demagogue-in-Chief referred to the issue as a matter of immigrants ‘poisoning the blood’ of the nation. Immigration is an issue that could easily be a democracy killer in the 2024 presidential election. The NYT reports about the latest impending border disaster the radical right will demagogue the hell out of:
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken headed to Mexico City on Wednesday to discuss a surge in illegal immigration as thousands of migrants trek through southern Mexico in a mass movement toward the United States.
Mr. Blinken will meet with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador at a time when border crossings have hit record numbers. There have been days this month when the Border Patrol encountered more than 10,000 people at the southern border.
Republicans have stepped up their attacks on Mr. Biden over the border numbers, a potential [actual, not potential] vulnerability for the president as he seeks re-election next year.
Tapachula, Mexico, last Sunday
The crowd heading toward the US
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A WaPo article points out how complex and weak the laws against white collar crimes are. Even prosecutors can’t figure it out:
An appeals court on Tuesday reversed a conviction that led to the resignation last year of former congressman Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), ruling that he was not tried in the right venue on charges of lying to federal agents about illegal campaign contributions from a foreign billionaire.The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said that Fortenberry’s trial in Los Angeles “took place in a state where no charged crime was committed, and before a jury drawn from the vicinage of the federal agencies that investigated the defendant.”
“The Constitution does not permit this,” the decision said. “Fortenberry’s convictions are reversed so that he may be retried, if at all, in a proper venue.”
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The Undertow is scheduled for release
March 5, 2024
An interview of investigative journalist Jeff Sharlet by journalist Chris Hedges discusses the origins and sources of the authoritarian Christian prosperity ideology that DJT adopted from three key influencers, his father, Norman Vincent Peale and Roy Cohen. For years Hedges, a presbyterian minister, has been calling this strain of Christianity “fascism” and “an existential threat.”
At ~1:58 - 9:53, the video summarizes some key points of what Sharlet has pieced together in research for his book, The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War. Sharlet also calls Christian prosperity ideology fascism. He describes DJT’s public manifestations of his thinking as some form of mysticism. He argiues that DJT’s is not exactly grounded in literal belief of QAnon, but instead of his own deranged, impossible conspiracy fantasies, which he firmly believes are literally true.
This aspect of DJT’s origin story and thinking are new to me. But if Sharlet is right, prosperity gospel Christianity is a key source of inspiration for DJT. Thanks to milo for pointing out this video.
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The Christian Post published an article entitled, TD Jakes: ‘If everything was true, all I got to do is repent sincerely from my heart ... but I ain’t got to repent about this’. The article exemplifies the arrogance and ease at which prosperity gospel elites engage in what their ideology says is moral turpitude, including bad sexual behavior. But like TD Jakes says, even if he did what people say he did, it’s no big deal because he can just repent and everything is good. One can argue that ease of sleaze mindset among prosperity gospel elites is at least some form of Christian authoritarianism. TCP writes:
Days after denouncing an unverified report casting innuendo about his sexuality and accusing him of being a frequent participant at sex parties hosted by producer and music mogul Sean Combs, popularly known as Diddy, televangelist T.D. Jakes called his accusers “liars” on Sunday and noted that even “if everything was true, all I got to do is repent sincerely from my heart.”
Jakes, who leads The Potter's House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, directly addressed his congregation for the first time on Christmas Eve and urged them not to worry about him because “I’m good.”
“Would y'all please do me a favor and stop worrying about me and give God some praise and honor and glory? I can feel you. … I am fine. I'm good. I'm good. I'm the man for the job. I'm good,” Jakes declared in a public livestream of his Christmas Eve service on YouTube which has since been made private.
“I can feel you. I can feel you. Relax ... We’re not gonna let the devil take over our service. No, no, no, no, no. We're gonna give God some praise and some honor and some glory, for this is the day that the Lord has made, we shall rejoice and be glad in it,” he insisted. “I'm not going to let the rain stop me. I’m not going to let the weather stop me. And I'm sure not going to let the liars stop me.
“The worst that could happen, if everything was true, all I got to do is repent sincerely, from my heart. There's enough power in the blood to cover all kinds of sin. I don't care what it is, the blood would fix it. But I ain't got to repent about this,” Jakes declared.
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