Last week, Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and conspiracy for his alleged role in hush money payments to two women toward the end of his 2016 presidential campaign. This historic moment was the first time a former president was indicted for his alleged crimes. Of course, Republicans couldnโt wait to defend Trump with any justification for his behavior that they deemed viable.
Suggested Reading
This included his lawyer, Alina Habba, claiming Trumpโs New York City indictment puts him in the leagues of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. Habba. โDonald Trump is Tupac. Donald Trumpโs Biggie Smalls, heโs better than Tupac. Iโm east coast, so I love Biggie,โ Habba said. โDonald Trump is his own brand. He is everything. This is just gonna boost him, weโve seen it in the polls. Itโs not a question, itโs a fact.โ
Shockingly, this would be the least incendiary statement the right would say about Trumpโs indictment. Resident Republican bigot Marjorie Taylor Greene compared Trumpโs prosecution to the persecution of Jesus Christ during an interview. Greene traveled to Manhattan to protest Trumpโs arraignment, discussed the timing of the arraignment before invoking the name of Christ.
โNelson Mandela was arrested, served time in prison. Jesus! Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government,โ she pathetically commented. โThere have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical corrupt governments, and itโs beginning today in New York City.โ
Trump supporter and attorney Joseph McBride said on social media last month that โPresident Trump will be arrested during Lentโa time of suffering and purification for the followers of Jesus Christ. As Christ was crucified, and then rose again on the 3rd day, so too will @realDonaldTrump. Violence is never the answer. Winning the election is. Vote for Trump!โ
Nothing is beneath the right to cling to power and propping up Trump as a political sacrifice was perhaps a predictable move. Even though itโs obviously outrageous and ridiculously tone-deaf, itโs how conservatives have always movedโand itโs proven alarmingly effective. Saturday Night Live even mocked the analogy last night. During the Easter-themed opening skit, actor Mikey Day starred as Christ sitting with his disciples during The Last Supper.
However, the gathering was crashed by Trump (portrayed by James Austin Johnson) who challenged Christโs assertions of persecution. โSound familiar? A famous, wonderful man arrested for no reason at all,โ Johnson said as the former president. โAs we speak, I am being persecuted on a level the likes of which the world has never seen, even worse than the late, great Jesus.โ
Johnson also called Florida Governor Ron DeSantis his own version of judas. โRon DeSantis came to me, tears in his eyes, he said, โHelp me, Mr. Trump, Iโm going to lose my election.โ โSo I very generously pretended to like him, and then he did a Judas, and now he canโt even get the gays out of Disney World.โ Johnson continued:
โMr. Jesus, quite a guy, but now people are saying perhaps Iโm even better than Jesus because Iโm a self-made billionaire and Christ was, letโs call it what it is, a nepo baby. I mean, his dad was God: Itโs pretty easy to start a religion when your dad is God.โ Though the number was comical, sadly it wasnโt far-fetched. The country has seenโand suffered because ofโthe fanaticism of the right.
The irreparable damage conservatives have done to Americans in the name of religion continues to harm marginalized and vulnerabilities groups. Whether its laws that attempt to eradicate trans people, abolish womenโs rights, employ deadly police forces or emphatically uphold the right to bear arms, Christianity has become the go-to excuse for Republicans to act however they like.
In other words, Trumpโs martyrdom is just a symptom of a much largerโand much more dangerousโproblem.
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.