Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand….
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold speaks to the collapse of societal structures, moral values, and traditional centers of power or belief. The center here can be interpreted as the core values or the established order that once held society together, now failing to maintain its grip. Anarchy loosed upon the world with the loss of the center refers to unleashed anarchy, or a state of serious disorder.
Are we facing that, or something about the opposite, where authority is taking control of our disordered democracy with its messy civil liberties and messy rule of law?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Donald Trump's chaos strategy: Why Americans
continue to fall for his game of distraction
Be very wary of any political observer or other public voice — or anyone else — who suggests that Trump and his MAGA movement are losing, in disarray, ineffective or somehow confused or weak. Such people are seeing what they want to see and not what is actually happening. Donald Trump and his MAGA movement’s strategy is chaos. Moreover, that chaos is in service to their shock and awe strategy to end America’s pluralistic democracy and to replace it with a form of autocracy if not outright fascism modeled on Viktor Orbán’s Hungary or Vladimir Putin’s Russia with Trump as de facto leader for life. As Harold Meyerson observes in The American Prospect, “As to the wider world, if we ever sought to be that beacon on the hill, we’re now the bully on the hill. America, Trumpified.”
America’s center is rapidly collapsing, and it has not been very difficult for Trump and the MAGA movement and the other fascists and authoritarians to break it.That sounds right to me. Salon gets it. Well, at least that writer gets it.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Above the Law writes about unseparating the state from the church:
Folks who were paying attention didn’t really need Project 2025 to know the direction Trump and the far right were planning to take the country in. Back in 2022, it was obvious theocracy was approaching.*** And whether it was labeled Integralism or White Christian Nationalism, it was pretty clear that conservative Christianity would be taking a hold in the White House under a Trump presidency. The only real question was how strong the hold would be. Considering Trump just casually mentioned a Christian task force housed in the White House, it’s gonna be pretty strong.
*** FWIW: It was obvious to me back in 2017. Harumph!
It's too early to predict how much impact American Christian theocracy have. There will be some impact on society and individuals and groups that God says need to be re-educated, oppressed or more vigorously put in their place. It will probably take 6-8 months before the scope, depth and grasp of the Christian nationalist wealth and power movement comes into reasonable focus. One needs to keep an eye on changes in the the rule of law and more Christian access to tax dollars.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Deployment of power by DJT and MAGA seem to be fragmenting in the American Christian world. The WaPo writes:
High-level members of the Trump administration and allies of the president are leveling attacks on religious groups, including Catholics and Lutherans, who do the same work Bush praised [in 2001], questioning their efforts to help migrants. These attacks may signal a new political approach toward religion, some experts say, one comfortable belittling faith groups — despite DJT’s self-described brand as a champion of Christians. More broadly, it has aligned some Republicans against religious groups that in some cases propelled their rise to power, Trump’s included.“This is just a complete reversal” of the Bush-era goal of bringing faith groups into public works and elevating their role in American life, said Melissa Deckman, a political scientist focused on religion and politics in America and chief executive of the polling firm PRRI. These actions are “a total abandonment of faith-based groups,” Deckman said.
On Sunday, on the social media site X, right-wing Trump ally Mike Flynn accused Lutheran organizations that receive federal grants to help the needy of committing “money laundering.” Flynn put quote marks around the word “Lutheran” — one of America’s largest Protestant groups — in the post. Billionaire Elon Musk’s then shared Flynn’s post, calling “illegal” multiple Lutheran organizations that work in the United States to provide health care to homeless people, run food pantries, and help migrants and refugees.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
The Daily Beast writes about the heretic in the White House:
Trump Enrages Christian MAGA By Naming ‘Heretic’ Pastor to White House
DJT angered some of his Christian supporters on Friday when he named a televangelist who even some conservative evangelicals have labeled a “heretic” as part of his White House administration. The president signed an executive order establishing a White House Faith Office and chose Pastor Paula White-Cain, his ally and spiritual advisor, to lead it. White-Cain, 58, is a megachurch preacher from Florida who has endorsed biblical interpretations that some evangelical Christians believe go too far. She is a proponent of “prosperity theology,” which teaches that God rewards the truly faithful with material wealth and personal success.Scott Ross, a Texas-based leadership coach and self-described “Orthodox Christian,” called the move “an abomination.” “Paula White, head of Trump’s White House Faith Office, is no Christian leader,” he wrote. “She preaches the heresies of Word of Faith & Prosperity Gospel, both utterly opposed to authentic Christianity. Worse, she has lived a life of scandal, with multiple husbands, twisting the Gospel for profit.” .... “Arguably, this is the worst and most dangerous thing President Trump has done—putting a false teacher at the helm of faith outreach. Lord, have mercy on our country and this administration,” Ross added.
Conservative commentator Jon Root, who typically posts in support of Trump, wrote, “This is the worst decision President Trump has made since taking office… Paula White is a heretic, who pedals the prosperity gospel. Plus, women should not be pastors according to The Bible.”
Putting White-Cain in the White House Faith Office is the worst and most dangerous thing?? Women should not be pastors according to The Bible??
Well, what can I say? Maybe Ross and Root are right. Who knows? We're in uncharted waters. The ship of state just might hit rocks and sink into only Christian God knows what. Knowing God stuff is waaaay above my pay grade.
Q: Are splits among Christians and bickering Christian nationalist splinter groups a sign of Yeats' widening gyre?
