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.

[Continues . . .]

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.

[Continues . . .]

[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.



 

[billy rubin]

much of the christian nationalist movement has joined itself to donald trump[. sure, there are movers in the shadows like steven miller and jared kushner, but trump has become the figurehead that unites the people.

he's on his way out. time is impartial, and eventually he will stumble and fall in such a public and unmistakeable way that there will be a coup among his followers. a stroke, perhaps, or incoherent dementia.

whether the nationalists can retain their unty after he goes is an open question to me. its a cult, and cults must have a charismatic leader. so far trump is working on the principle that he is immortal, and he has not groomed a successor. when he goes there will be infighting, backstabbing, and division.

the people will not go away-- america's idiots are here to stay. but i dont know whether they will survive as united political force.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I don't think anyone else will have the ability to keep the cult together after he is gone.

[Dark Lightning]

I sincerely hope that that is the case.

[Recusant]

The MAGA folks have found a unifying theme or rather a number of themes, prominently including "white grievance."  I think that even with Trump out of the picture they're unlikely to simply fade away, at least for several years. Whether or not a single figure emerges that they can rally around they will remain a force in American politics. It's difficult to give up on ideas once you've strongly committed yourself to them. Not forgetting that for many of these people their political position is fortified by their version of Christianity. They've become convinced their opponents are literally in thrall to the devil and his minions.

Meanwhile the payoff from Trump to his mob of stooges will go forward. The creeps in power who're pushing it have provided a narrative for them and they're running with it.

"I Think I've Earned My Peace" | Slate

On Jan. 6, 2021, Larry Rendall Brock Jr. marched on the Capitol and became one of the riot's most indelible figures. Many remember him as one of the "zip-tie guys"—he was photographed crossing the Senate floor in tactical gear, white flex-cuffs dangling from his fingertips. Before actually showing up in Washington, the retired Air Force lieutenant colonel had discussed, over Facebook, seizing members of Congress. He also floated applying the same interrogation techniques he once used against al-Qaida to "gain evidence on the coup" he thought the members were perpetrating.

As Brock told us, the five years since have not been kind. He was convicted on six federal counts and served two years in prison. Even after his release, his combat-gear-clad image, zip ties in hand, became a visual he couldn't outrun. "I gave the Left a beautiful optic for that day, and I never meant to do that," he said. "Trust me, you have no idea how much I wish I had never picked them up, but I did."

So, when Brock heard about the Justice Department's new "Anti-Weaponization Fund"—a $1.776 billion program to compensate purported victims of a "weaponized" justice system, including prosecuted Capitol rioters—he felt something like relief. "I'm very thankful to President Trump for actually doing something about it," he said, calling the fund "long overdue."

Other Jan. 6 defendants we spoke with shared in Brock's gratitude, maintaining that, far from being criminals, they are in fact the victims of overzealous prosecutions tied to the Capitol riot. Treniss Evans, a Texan who drank a shot of Fireball whiskey in the speaker of the House's conference room, also praised Trump for the creation of the fund. Leo Kelly—a devout Christian Iowan who was seen ascending the Senate dais, leafing through sensitive documents, and praying in the chamber—described it as "a blessing." Brian Mock, a Minnesota man filmed shoving an officer to the ground before later boasting that he "beat the shit" out of him, believes the fund could finally allow him to retreat into a quieter life: "I think I've earned my peace."

[. . .]

To the Jan. 6 rioters who violently breached the Capitol, a government check using Americans' tax dollars isn't outrageous, but overdue. While the defendants we spoke to acknowledged some discomfort using taxpayer dollars to finance this retribution, more striking was their unwavering belief that they deserved every cent. "It's not really right to charge the taxpayers for it, but it wasn't really right for the taxpayers to have their resources used against us," Kelly said. Mock insisted that Capitol rioters were more deserving stewards of taxpayer money than the federal government because Jan. 6ers "are going to do way better things with those dollars than our government will ever do with them."

[Continues . . .]

[Dark Lightning]

^ They should consider themselves fortunate that they didn't get shot. I have zero sympathy. Paying these criminals is simply a crime.