Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

Pointing and laughing at religious lunacy for more than half-a-century

Franklin Graham joins Trump’s inauguration charade, saying ‘look what God has done’

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FIVE minutes was all I could take of Trump’s toe-curlingly awful inauguration on Monday, replete with Nazi salutes by Elon Musk.

A day earlier I had completed a Cat & Mouse, a novel by acclaimed crime writer, James Patterson. In it he said of narcissists like Trump:

They are different. They exhibit little or no concern for anyone but themselves, though they sometimes pretend to care about others. True narcissists can’t empathize. They have an inflated sense of self, can become highly unstable if criticized, and feel they are entitled to special treatment. They are preoccupied with grandiose feelings of success, power, beauty, and love.

Trump’s already over-inflated ego got a fresh blast of hot air when Evangelist Franklin Graham stepped up to the lectern to liken Trump’s leadership to that of the biblical figure Moses, praying, “You and you alone saved his life and raised him up with strength and power by your mighty hand.”

Graham called on Americans to remember their blessings, including freedoms and prosperity, while urging them to remain steadfast in their faith.

A day later a far less bigoted church leader — Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington — was branded “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater” by the President.

Trump wearing his pissed-off face as Budde castigates him

Delivering a sermon at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday she told Trump that he was sowing fear among the country’s immigrants and LGBTQ people. This came after Trump issued executive orders that explicitly target trans people by erasing their identities in federal policy.

Here Patterson’s line “they become highly unstable if criticized” comes into play. Trump called on her to apologise, bellowing:

She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart.

And the lifelong bully damanded an apology. Budde responded by telling him to get lost.

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IN 30 years as vicar of Emmanuel Church Wimbledon, London, the Rev. Jonathan Fletcher, above, is alleged to have engaged in naked beatings, nude swimming and massages, as well as other sexual misconduct, and bullying and “spiritual abuse.” Then, in July 2024 he was charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one of grievous…

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11 responses to “Franklin Graham joins Trump’s inauguration charade, saying ‘look what God has done’”

  1. stephenharvie Avatar
    stephenharvie

    Graham making sure he gets his share of the thirty pieces of silver…

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  2. Broga Avatar
    Broga

    Barry: I couldn’t listen beyond the first few sentences. I’ve have stoppedl listening to the news unless my wife tells me there is something I would like to hear.. The BBC shows repetitive bullshit from and about Trump with no hint of criticism. What they don’t mention are the signs of dementia or perhaps paranoia: repeated comments, nonsensical statements, lies and meandering speculations that lead nowhere. No references to him being a convicted criminal, a rapist, and such a lpersistent liar that he changes the lie in the same speech

    He has fading contact with reality. For him reality is what he imagines. He should be assessed by psychiatrists as he is at present a global danger. Our PM seems to be keeping his head well down, apart from a leisurely dinner with the criminal. Starmer seems so ineffective even his own supporters complain about his lack of political judgement.

    Trump, is pathetic in his attempts to impose himself. His targets are the vulnerable, the disabled and he seems to think denying blacks jobs will be popular. It will be amongst the sickos who surround him. For the rest it demonstrates his innate viciousness when he thinks the vulnerable are in his power. He is overwhelmed by his own ego. He is a doddering, often dopey, 78 and behaves as if he were immortal.

    He himself will soon discover how short is his time span. At the moment he postures as if he were all powerful and immortal. A triumphant Roman general 2000 years ago when riding in a chariot through cheering crowds had a slave beside him whispering, “Remember you are mortal.” Reminders are already prodding Trump e.g. his problem with finishing some sentences.

    Shakespeare, a true genius, said it best as usual. From Hamlet:

    “Imperious Caeser, dead and turned to clay,

    Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:

    O, that that earth which kept the world in awe,

    Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!”

    The fact is that Trump’s little bubble where he is all important is about to burst. Many take the trouble to be aware of that and think about it. Not someone of Trump’s limitations and attitudes. However, nature is fair; no one escapes. Not even someone as important as Trump imagines himself.

    The problem is that he is causing such vast damage in the meantime. How can someone who is not mentally unstable withdraw all support from the environment and deny, at this time, global warming. He is damaging all of us including his own supporters. Have they no grandchildren? He behaves as if he is immune.

    The whining excuse of many is that if we don’t appease him he will make us suffer. What about principles or is it to be principal after profit as usual. As for the excuse I think Starmer has personal experience about the results of arse licking Trump.

    And finally, God has saved Trump and is guiding and supporting him. I don’t think that opinion will fill many churches on Sunday. Excellent article and much needed.

    Regards.

    Broga

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    1. Avatar
      Anonymous

      I have previously referred to my daighter’s Masters dissertation “Anti-Intellectualism: Trump, Twitter and Political Communication in the Era of Social Media” where the conclusion is that Trump’s intellectual age is at maximum 13; it took Jo 93 pages to reach that conclusion and you, Broga, summed him up in 2 pages.

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      1. Broga Avatar
        Broga

        Anonymous: You are very kind and very generous. Thank you. And I wish your daughter Jo the very best in her career, She has made an excellent start. I am Scots and have a special fondness for the country and Edinburgh.

        Liked by 1 person

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        1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
          malcolmjdodd

          … not anonymous, c’est moi Malcolm.

          I love Edinburgh, except for Marchmont Road, the hill from the Meadows (all student accommodation), all four storey houses with 12 foot ceilings – Jo was always on the top floor! No wonder I have a bad back having trekked up them with suitcases.

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          1. Broga Avatar
            Broga

            Malcolm.

            Edinburgh has a special memory for me. My first girlfriend had relatives there and we visited them for a few days. We were very young, no car and we travelled by train. It was a long time ago and we were innocent (and stayed so) and very naive. It was a happy time that is now impossible to duplicate in the current society.

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  3. malcolmjdodd Avatar
    malcolmjdodd

    Jo studied at the University of Richmond USA as an exchange student 2016/2017, the relevant period to this study and, I would suggest, just as applicable to the events of this week.

    Anti-Intellectualism: Trump, Twitter and Political Communication in the Era of Social Media

    Jo Anne Dodd
    Exam number: B070626 May 2018
    MA (Hons) History and Politics, University of Edinburgh
    Dissertation Supervisor: Dr Lucy Abbott

    Abstract

    At 10:57am on June 16th 2015 Donald Trump, a New York-based real estate developer, chairman of The Trump Organisation and former executive producer of reality TV show “The Apprentice”, tweeted ‘I am officially running for President of the United States. #MakeAmericaGreatAgain’1. Trump received the official Republican Party nomination on July 19th, 2016, and went on to run a heavily social-media-based campaign on his twitter account ‘@realDonaldTrump’, distinguishing his communication style not only from the other candidates but also from every president before him (Enli, 2017). Twitter is described by theorists of media ecology as promoting simple, impulsive and uncivil discourse, whilst Trump’s case has fascinated journalists and academicians who see his political success as signifying of a departure from experienced political elites’ monopoly of the Washington sphere (Enli, 2017: Ott, 2017).
    This study hypothesizes that the common denominator between Twitter’s underlying logic and Trump’s case is the phenomenon of ‘anti-intellectualism’, which is broadly defined as the rejection of intellect or intellectuals (Hofstadter, 1963; Lim, 2008). Through a content analytical approach, it intends to examine how Donald Trump used twitter during his 2016 campaign to communicate anti-intellectual discourse, and will draw a comparison to Trump’s extemporaneous language during the three presidential debates to determine whether a difference exists in levels of anti-intellectualism. The media ecological lens will be applied to this comparison to speculate about the role of twitter in promoting anti-intellectual discourse.

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  4. Tyrannical Trump throws a hissy fit after a bishop urged him to be kinder to LGBT+ people and immigrants – The Pink Triangle Trust

    […] responded by branding her “a Radical Left hard line Trump hater”, […]

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    1. malcolmjdodd Avatar
      malcolmjdodd

      … throws a cissy fit …

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