Dominionists in the United States

[Recusant]

The slimeball MAGA pastor who dedicated the new golden idol at a golf course in Florida made sure to say that it wasn't "a golden calf."  As if what he said had any relevance to reality. Not because he's a Christian but because he's a political propagandist. Meanwhile the crew that built the monstrosity called it "the golden calf." Here's hoping the cult is remembered in history as the abomination it is.

"'The Golden Calf': Trump's sculpture artist speaks out" | Salon

The sculptor behind the giant gold Trump statue at Trump Doral says the project involved crypto financiers, delayed payments, demands to slim down Donald Trump's appearance and an internal nickname: "the golden calf."

In a surreal interview with independent journalist Jim Acosta, Ohio artist Alan Cottrill described the chaotic process behind one of the strangest pieces of political iconography to emerge from Trumpworld in years.

The 22-foot monument — dubbed "Don Colossus" by some online commentators — was commissioned by cryptocurrency investors connected to a memecoin project and installed at Trump's Florida golf resort earlier this month. The statue depicts Trump with his fist raised in the air following the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

But it is the sculptor's description of the process that has drawn attention online.

In the interview, Ohio-based artist Alan Cottrill describes being approached by what he repeatedly calls "crypto bros," many of whom he says he barely knew beyond first names during the early stages of the commission. According to Cottrill, the group pushed for repeated aesthetic changes to make Trump appear slimmer and more idealized than the photographic references he was initially using. At one point, he recounts being instructed to reduce what the clients called Trump's "turkey neck," eventually describing the final version as an intentionally "idealized representation."

The project reportedly evolved further when the backers decided the bronze sculpture should be covered in gold leaf — a shift Cottrill says emerged partly from internal discussions about making the statue look more extravagant and visually aligned with Trump's public image. He claims his studio jokingly referred to the piece internally as the "golden calf" from the beginning, a reference critics online quickly seized upon after the statue's unveiling.

Cottrill also describes delayed payments, frantic installation deadlines, and communication involving political intermediaries and Trump allies connected to the project. At one stage, he says, he hid the statue in an undisclosed location in Ohio until final payments arrived.

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Meanwhile a nice slush fund to reward the dipshits that Trump sent to attack the Capitol and any other toadies he decides to give taxpayer money to (source).

[Recusant]

A new report from Pew Research shows that during Trump's second term so far, Americans' views on religion and government have not changed much. The Dominionists/Christian nationalists remain a minority (fewer than 20%) and have not made significant gains in convincing people to join them. We already knew that they're a minority. On the other hand they've got the ear of the Trump administration and some, like Speaker of the House Johnson and Secretary of Defense Hegseth, are in highly powerful positions in the government.

Vox has an item about the Pew report, but . . . Over the past few years I've become somewhat disenchanted with Vox, even though it can be informative. A look at a couple of items on their current home page tells the story. In one, the author says that the Democratic Party should stop talking about climate change. In another, the author tells us that "Data centers could actually be good for your hometown". Yeah, WTF? Vox can present an anodyne, mealy-mouthed attempt at objectivity when dealing with topics that really don't call for it. In their article on the Pew report you can see that. "Oh, no reason be particularly concerned about the prominence of Christian nationalists. After all, they haven't gained many converts, even with Trump back in power."

Not buying it. The Dominionists are intent on imposing their ideology on the US regardless of the views of Americans as a whole. The Republican Party is their political stronghold, currently engaged in subverting democracy through gerrymandering and any other election fiddling they can get away with. Still, it's a take on the Pew report and does its best to inform.

"A year of Trump is backfiring on the religious right" | Vox

This weekend, an array of Christian religious leaders and government officials are scheduled to gather at the National Mall. They'll convene to pray, yes, but this rally — organized as part of the White House-backed Freedom 250 celebrations tied to this coming July 4 — will also serve as a "rededication of our country as One Nation under God."

If you've been following the cultural resurgence of religiosity in the United States, this ceremony shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The religious right has been ascendant during the second presidency of Donald Trump, and they've harnessed his disdain for rules and norms to blur the lines between church and state.

Inside the White House, the secretary of defense has framed the war in Iran and American military action abroad as sanctioned and guided by God. Outside the government, this alliance between church and state often skirts near the edge of outright idolatry. Conservative pastors are erecting golden statues of Trump (but insisting it does not mirror the infamous golden calf of the Old Testament). They're extending their hands over the president in prayer after comparing him to Jesus and standing by him, with some mild criticism, after he cast himself as an AI-slop Messiah.

Through it all, these conservative and evangelical religious leaders seem confident that their vision of Christianity, or a more religious America, is on the rise.

Yet, a new report from the Pew Research Center suggests that these activists — who tend to agree with a range of beliefs that can be described as "Christian nationalist" — are not in line with the reality of what the American public wants.

Instead, Americans broadly reject many of the precepts of this more conservative ideological vision of America. They agree that religion is a force for good, but large majorities stand by the principles of Thomas Jefferson's wall of separation between the sacred and the secular.

In other words, instead of being persuaded or converted by a bolder and louder religious right, many Americans don't like what they're seeing.

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[Icarus]

The use of religion as a powerful tool is utilized by shrewd hustlers.  The victims are receptive to whatever chicanery the hustler wishes to promote. The prayer thing at the national mall had a suspiciously Trump like fingerprint.


The victims have immovable beliefs as a result of spiritual continuity.  "A hundred million people can not be wrong" is one of the fallacious arguments that the hustlers use and the sheeple accept without question.