- How MAGA rationalizes downturns in the economy;
- How a scam artist preyed on gullible old religious people (in the UK);
- How the Family Research Council is anxious to replace education with religious indoctrination;
- How repeating a lie (“tariffs are tax cuts!”) often enough will make some people believe it;
- How Trump and Musk are would-be dictators, with two examples.
You can understand why, like Trump himself, MAGAites are reluctant to admit they might have made a mistake, and will furiously rationalize whatever happens to the economy, no matter how bad. (Not unlike how the religious rationalize tragedies…”God works in mysterious ways” and so on.)
Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 14 Mar 2025: “You must sacrifice”: MAGA excuses for Trump’s trade war echo “prosperity” preachers, subtitled “Trump’s closest faith ‘advisor’ teaches that if you give her money, God will reward you with riches”
“Go forward boldly into your destiny,” declares Paula White, the head of Donald Trump’s newly-minted White House Faith Office. The charismatic preacher’s new video instructs her followers, whose ranks have swollen as a result of her close relationship to Trump, that “you must sacrifice some way during this prophetic season, because it’s through sacrifice that your spirit opens up so wide that you can receive divine direction.” She promises “increase” for those who sow a “seed,” citing Proverbs 1:33, which promises “safety” and “ease” to believers. What is this “sacrifice” White wishes her followers to make for their safety and ease? Why, sending her a check for $133, which she implies will be returned to them many times over by God.
…
Trump built his career on scams, leading to multiple civil judgments against him and his company for defrauding customers and the public. Unsurprisingly, his favorite preachers are the “prosperity gospel” types, an especially shameless grifter style. Even some far-right Christian conservatives, who otherwise back Trump wholeheartedly, are angry about his relationship to White, calling her views “heresy,” and balking at treating their religion like a get-rich-quick scheme.
But what’s striking about the prosperity gospel and its empty promises of future wealth in exchange for current privation is how much it sounds exactly like the excuses Trump and his allies are making for the economic wreckage he’s inflicting on the U.S. through unnecessary and unjustifiable tariffs. During the campaign, Trump promised, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.” Instead, he’s doing the opposite: Imposing tariffs on most major trading partners, which function like a sales tax that will almost certainly cause inflation, which had been dwindling in the last year of President Joe Biden’s term, to skyrocket again.
Concluding:
Trump and his allies might do well, however, to look at new Pew research that shows Christianity continues to face a decline, as younger generations walk away from religion. It’s not surprising, when the face of Christianity is increasingly shameless hucksters like Paula White. Trump won not because his base of support has grown, but because a large number of voters who had reservations about his personality fell for his false promises to lower prices. Now they’re being told they must endure artificially jacked-up costs and take it on faith that they will someday be rewarded for their “sacrifice.” Many people will sour quickly, realizing they’re being conned. No wonder Republicans are already starting to sweat the midterm elections.
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Related.
Hemant Mehta, Friendly Atheist, 14 Mar 2025: Peter Popoff’s “Miracle Spring Water” scam costs religious TV network £150,000, subtitled “Ofcom, the UK’s version of the FCC, penalized The Word Network for spreading dangerous medical lies”
If you’re not familiar with Popoff, he’s one of those grifters who’s been around for decades and become synonymous with sketchy evangelism. James Randi famously debunked him a long while ago, yet Popoff never really stopped coaxing gullible people out of their money using the weapon of Christianity.
Followed by a video of Popoff’s pitch. And more evidence and examples. Concluding:
Episodes of his show stopped airing on the network as of last October.
It’s the right move and one that will prevent more gullible, likely elderly Christians from being exploited by a TV preacher who promises to fix their problems if they just hand over a credit card number.
It doesn’t mean Popoff won’t rip off other people. But because the UK government cares more about ethics than this Christian preacher, Popoff will have fewer victims falling for his scam.
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Of course this would happen. In the absence of education… indoctrination.
People for the American Way, Peter Montgomery, 14 Mar 2025: Family Research Council: Destruction of Education Department is Chance to Push Religious Indoctrination in Schools
The religious-right group Family Research Council promoted an excited letter to supporters Thursday saying that President Donald Trump’s dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education could be a “game-changer” for FRC’s efforts to “bring faith and the Bible back to public schools.”
In her recent book “Money, Lies, and God,” Katherine Stewart wrote about the ways that “privatizers and proselytizers” work together to delegitimize and undermine public education. The right-wing funded Moms for Liberty demonstrates this dual strategy, urging activists to take over public school boards while advocating for “school choice” laws to divert funding away from public schools. FRC President Tony Perkins’ letter showcases such a two-front strategy to push religious indoctrination into public schools and shift more students (and education dollars) into religious schools that are free from public oversight.
Education is hard; tribal lore is easy.
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Not unrelated to the above.
PolitiFact, 13 Mar 2025: Karoline Leavitt: “Tariffs are a tax cut for the American people.”
If Your Time is short
- Virtually all economists, citing years of data and analysis, characterize tariffs as tax hikes rather than tax cuts, because much of the additional cost of the tariff is passed on to consumers through higher prices.
- Several economists we interviewed said that it’s possible to argue that the added revenue to the treasury from raising tariffs could allow the government to lower taxes. However, analyses show that it’s unlikely even high tariffs could generate enough revenue to permit meaningful tax reductions for typical Americans.
As the authoritarians well know, say something often enough, and some people will believe it. War is peace, and so on. This relates to the first item above.
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They are would-be dictators. They don’t believe in the Constitution or rule-of-law or free speech at all.
MSN, from The Daily Beast, 14 Mar 2025 (via): Elon Musk Immediately Calls for Judges to Be Impeached After Rulings Overturn DOGE Firings
Elon Musk threw a tantrum after his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was dealt a series of legal setbacks, immediately calling for the impeachment of federal judges.
“Without judicial reform, which means at least the absolute worst judges get impeached, we don’t have real democracy in America,” Musk said on X.
He reacted after federal agencies were ordered on Thursday to immediately reinstate tens of thousands of federal workers with probationary status who had been laid off by DOGE as part of its sweeping government cost-cutting efforts, dealing a blow to Musk, as he seeks to eventually reduce the deficit by $1 trillion.
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And, once again.
The Atlantic, Graeme Wood, 14 Mar 2025: The Kind of Thing Dictators Do, subtitled “The decision to deport Mahmoud Khalil is most remarkable for its pettiness, its insecurity, and its failure to grasp the spirit of America and of academia at their best.”
Finding someone whose politics you don’t like and using some flimsy excuse to put him in handcuffs is the kind of thing dictators do.
