Idol Worship | The Obvious Biblical Beef With the Golden Trump

Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference, two men were seen hauling a gold statue of Donald Trump through the Hyatt Regency Orlando lobby. Clergy, coreligionists and people with eyes for easy metaphors all asked: Where’s the beef?

It doesn’t take a doctorate of divinity to see the parallel to this ludicrous idol worship and the episode of the golden calf, in which a faction of the Israelites, left alone by Moses for roughly the period Trump’s been out of office, melted down their rings into a “molten calf” and made offerings to it.

This made God (a Jealous God) angry, and Moses, too. I mean, our guy shattered the Ten Commandments when he saw what was going down. It’s pretty clear to see why.

On those tablets, notarized by divine fire, one finds the line item, “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”

It’s kinda baffling how often the people who insist on having oversized Ten Commandments outside government buildings forget this one. (Remember that the Israelites didn’t worship the Commandments themselves, just kept them in a portable litter they brought to all their battles — and that may or may not be able to melt Nazi faces.)

So, I guess I have no real drash here. The people who go hard for Trump really do revere him as a kind of kitschy deity. Here he has star-spangled swim shorts, flip-flops and some sort of paper (The Constitution?) and a magic wand in his hands. This kind of blind devotion is hardly a revelation at this late stage.

It is perhaps notable in one sense. Like the Golden Calf — believed by some to be a representation of the Egyptian bull god, Apis — the Golden Trump is an avatar of a defeated party and a rejection of a decisive victor now in leadership.

Those kowtowing to their gold-plated Trump are paying fealty to the losing side.

For more stories, go to www.forward.com. Sign up for the Forward’s daily newsletter at http://forward.com/newsletter/signup

Comments

Allies of Rep. Adam Kinzinger launch super PAC to support Republicans who have bucked Trump

Founders of the group, which include Kinzinger advisers, are also launching a sister nonprofit to “build a grass roots army,” according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post. Unlike traditional PACs, both organizations can accept unlimited contributions. Nonprofit groups are not required to disclose the identity of their contributors. AD Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) posted a video on Jan. 7, 2020, the day after pro-Trump riots at the Capitol, saying, “It is time to invoke the 25th Amendment.” (@RepKinzinger/Twitter) The effort will be up against significant head winds, as Trump still holds vast sway over the Republican Party — even after his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of President Biden’s victory. AD The new groups, which aim to mobilize the kinds of anti-Trump donors who backed the now-embattled Lincoln Project, are being launched as the former president is planning to expand his political operation with his own super PAC. Kinzin...

Federal ‘jack-booted thugs’ are roaming Portland. Where is the NRA now? (Your letters)

To the Editor: Back in 1995, the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre complained, “The government is full of jack-booted thugs in bucket helmets” trampling on our constitutional rights. Now we see presumably federal government agents, this time in military camouflage, wearing no badges, forcing peaceable protesters into unmarked vehicles in Portland, Oregon. Where is the NRA and all those who complained then? Our President Donald Trump has threatened to do the same in other cities, in spite of the objections by the mayor and governor of the place it has already happened. Our president, his agency heads and the agents themselves swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. I took an oath to defend the Constitution, too. I’ve been retired from the Army almost a half century but two things upset me about this use of anonymous federal agents: First, it is wrong. Second, camouflage is intended for fighting in the field; so, who dispatched agents into a city clad in that costume? Stanley H. Roe Hamilton

Doctor who spoke out over Trump’s Covid drive-by stunt says ‘I regret nothing’

The emergency room doctor who was reportedly removed from his hospital’s rota schedule for publicly calling out Donald Trump said he stands by his words and does not regret criticising the president for his “insanity” to wave at supporters while getting treatment for Covid-19. Dr James Phillips, who is chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University, was removed from the schedule at Walter Reed as attending physician after he slammed Mr Trump for waving at his supporters from a car while he was infected with coronavirus and risking the lives of accompanying Secret Service agents in the car. “Today, I worked my final shift at Walter Reed ER,” said Dr Phillips wrote on Twitter late on Sunday, he served his last day as attending physician. “I will miss the patients and my military and civilian coworkers - they have been overwhelmingly supportive… I stand by my words, and I regret nothing.” In October, two days after being admitted to the hospital with Covid-19, Mr Trump was dri...

Politics Now - USA

Search This Blog