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