The gentlemen's time has expired by @BloggersRUs

The gentlemen's time has expired

by Tom Sullivan


Washington state Rep. Matt Shea interviewing "Team Rugged" in July 2017.

A friend who grew up with the culture observes evangelical Jesus is white, drives a pickup truck, wears a red hat, and carries an AR-15. Evangelicals' conception of God, he believes, is a larger, grander version of themselves. It's why they've adopted Donald Trump as their personal savior. Trump's vocabulary is limited. He isn't very bright. He is incurious and he doesn't read. But like the God of the Old Testament, he demands adoration, he's quick to anger, smites his enemies, and dwells in the sky (above Manhattan) in halls of gold.

They want to hit the lottery. He hit the birth lottery.

Evangelicals as a group may still consider Trump their earthly king, but a leading evangelical publication, Christianity Today, believes it's time for him to go. Editor in chief Mark Galli begins, yes, Democrats have had it in for him from Day 1, and Trump did not have a meaningful opportunity to tell his side of the story during the House inquiry. Nevertheless:

The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.

The reason many are not shocked about this is that this president has dumbed down the idea of morality in his administration. He has hired and fired a number of people who are now convicted criminals. He himself has admitted to immoral actions in business and his relationship with women, about which he remains proud. His Twitter feed alone—with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders—is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.
The impeachment hearing illuminated the president's abuse of power and moral failings in a way the Mueller investigation did not. "This damages the institution of the presidency, damages the reputation of our country, and damages both the spirit and the future of our people," CT continues. "None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character."

Galli hesitates to ask the U.S. Senate to strip Trump of his office. But whether the Senate does, or voters do next November, Galli writes, CT's "patient charity" towards Trump has run out.

"Unsavory dealings and immoral acts by the President and those close to him have rendered this administration morally unable to lead," CT wrote of Bill Clinton in October 1998. Evangelicals' partisan loyalty the sitting president now makes a mockery of their faith, Galli explains. The only way for the faithful to remain faithful is by removing Trump from office.

'Tis the season

When last we saw Washington state Rep. Matt Shea, the Republican legislator was in eastern Washington interviewing young, biblical patriots training to fight a holy war. (God-warriors train to shoot pistols while doing one-handed cartwheels, Matrix-style.) Shea was also campaigning for eastern Washington to secede and form its own state. Shea was under investigation earlier this year into whether he had planned or participated in political violence. The investigation's report has just been published, as well as forwarded to the FBI and to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, reports the Seattle Times:
The 108-page report found that beginning in November 2015, Shea, working with militia leader Ammon Bundy, helped “in the planning and preparation” of the Malheur takeover, a six-week conflict in which dozens of armed protesters occupied the refuge in rural Eastern Oregon. The standoff ended after one protester was shot and killed and dozens were arrested.

“Representative Shea, as a leader in the Patriot Movement, planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States Government in three states outside the state of Washington over a three-year period,” according to the report released Thursday. “In one conflict Representative Shea led covert strategic pre-planning in advance of the conflict.”

Immediately after the report was released, Rep. J.T. Wilcox, the Republican minority leader of the House, said Shea “has been suspended from any role in the House Republican Caucus.”
Shea may be about to be booted from the state legislature. That requires a two-thirds vote of the House and has only occurred once in the state's 130-year history, the Times notes.
In an interview on Infowars this month, Shea called the investigation a “Marxist smear campaign” and “political warfare according to a Maoist insurgency model.” He also compared it to the inquiries into President Donald Trump, which he did again Thursday on Facebook.

Shea also said during the interview that he had “not been provided a meaningful opportunity to respond” to the investigation.
Despite investigators' repeated attempts to offer him that opportunity, Shea refused to be interviewed. Just like the sky god.



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