Mike Pence (right) vs, Trump (left)
Michael Brown (left) vs Trump's failed "Prophets" (right)
The men I'll be talking about here are, respectively above, republican Mike Pence and evangelical fundamentalist Michael Brown. They are both influencers & leaders on the North American right-wing stage, but they are at least trying bring a modicum of reason & moderation to a sub-culture where unreason, extremism and downright crackoptism are thick on the ground. We all know about evangelical Mike Pence, Trump's vice president, who on the 6th January 2021 had to choose between the lies of what was beginning to look like a would-be-dictator and Pence's belief in the well established American democratic institutions. Pence's unwillingness to endorse Trump's stolen election conspiracy was admirable, but really I wouldn't want to be in his shoes: The Trump-supporting far-right are inclined to regard republicans who are loathe to support Trump as "traitors". Moreover, there's a universal tendency for "traitors" to be perceived as worse than enemies and punishments can be severe to say the least.
In an email newsletter at the beginning of December 2021 entitled "The Traitors Among Us", the far-right Trump supporting "Townhall.com" branded anti-Trump republicans as traitors:
But it's not just Congress where
conservatives have enemies among them. In the media, there's more of the
same grift going on. As Townhall covered recently, Newsmax — a network that
gained an audience by claiming to be a further-right alternative to Fox News —
has apparently been telling their staff to "go easy" on the Biden administration
and White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
It's time for conservatives to do
what they say they will and excise those who undermine the movement from
within. Stand and fight with us against these traitors.
I wonder what would happen to these republican "traitors" if Trump or a loyal successor got into power? Would such strong accusations lead to jail or even executions'?
But Pence continues to make noises that will help sweeten North American evangelical Christians. See here:
But I'm afraid Mr. Pence important though you believe them to be, abortion and sexuality/gender are side issues. The far more important issue is the potential rise of a populist driven dictatorship and for Christians the worrying specter of the support this would receive from far-right evangelicals with dominionistic tendencies. Michael Brown, my other customer, perhaps inadvertently talks about this subject.
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a) that Trump did not win the 2020 election with a landslide and that the election result was largely valid
b) that Trump is no savior of America and is in fact very immoral
c) that the prophecies of a Trump election victory were false.
d) that covid is real and a potentially dangerous illness
e) that covid vaccinations are a good thing
f) that the prophecies predicting the end of covid were false
I think that Brown actually does hold to all these views. So, as you can imagine, Brown's got his work cut-out and has to tread on eggs. In response Brown resorts to a mixture of mincing his words and making concessionary statements to sweeten the bitter pill and signal his basic identification with the causes of the right-wing tribal group and it's war against "the radical left".
For a start Brown makes it no secret that he voted Trump at the 2016 & 2020 elections and that he would likely vote Trump again or preferably his successor. He actually thinks that Trump ought now concede to a successor. In an a web article dated 12 December and titled "Trump Knocked the Door Down; Let Someone Else Walk Through it" Brown says things about Trump that are very telling: He seems very aware of the failings of Trump. This is how Brown puts it (I've added my comments in bold and added emphases):
Donald Trump’s greatest accomplishment as president may not
have been the policies he enacted or the justices he appointed. Instead, as
important as those accomplishments were and are, [Brown is Soft Soaping the far-right here!] it is possible that the most
important thing he did as president was to say to the political world, “I will
not play your games. I am the champion of the people, not a member of the good
old boys club.” [No, Trump is only a champion for himself; in any case all politicians claim they are for the people]
But now that he has broken the mold, thrown out the old rule
book, and forged a new path of leadership, [broken the democratic constitution and forged a path to dictatorship?] it will be best in 2024 for another
conservative leader with backbone and conviction to take the lead. [Not a leader who claims he's going to "drain the swamp" I hope! I think I know what that expression is code for!] Trump simply
brings too much collateral damage with him [Ah, now you're talking!] (and, I remind you, I voted for him
in 2016 and 2020).
What prompts me to write this now is the latest reminder of
the negative baggage that came along with Trump, this time in the form of two
interviews he conducted with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid for his new book,
Trump’s Peace: The Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East.
As reported in the Jerusalem Post, in April of this year,
Trump explained to Ravid that he had not spoken to former Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since Netanyahu called President Biden to
congratulate him after his election.
As quoted in the book, Trump said, “I haven't spoken with
him since [he congratulated Joe Biden]. [Expletive] him.”
Trump also said to Ravid, “The first person that
congratulated [Biden] was Bibi Netanyahu, [According the Brown that's an untruth!] the man that I did more for than any
other person I dealt with. Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible
mistake.
“I liked Bibi. I still like Bibi. But I also like loyalty.[Godfather figures generally demand loyalty] The first person to congratulate Biden was Bibi [According the Brown that's an untruth!]. And not only did he
congratulate him, he did it on tape.”
This is the same man who threw Vice President Mike Pence
under the bus on January 6. Is it any surprise that he also ditched Bibi? [too Right!]
In reality, as noted by the Post, “Though Netanyahu was the
first leader in the Middle East to pick up the phone to Washington, journalists
were quick to note that Netanyahu was actually not one of the first people to
give Biden a congratulatory call. In fact, he made the call nearly a month
after Biden’s election, after calls had already come in from the leaders of
France, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland.”
Yet, according to Ravid, during the two interviews Trump
granted him, one lasting 90 minutes, he brought up Netanyahu’s call to Biden 5
times. Talk about letting something stick in your craw. Talk about not letting
it go.[Really Brown, is that surprising? Dictators & Godfathers expect loyalty or else]
But are we really surprised? (Note also that this story has
been all over the news for several days now, and I have seen no report from
Trump denying the quotes.) [No, not at all surprised]
So, in Trump’s view, despite the presence of a new
administration in the White House, Netanyahu should not have reached out to
Biden. The election was stolen, plain and simple, and even though Israel would
be dealing with Biden, not Trump, in the days to come, Israel had no business
congratulating him.[If Trump wins the 2024 election his first priority will be to settle scores and consolidate his power]
Put another way, loyalty to Trump mattered more than the
strength of Israel’s relationship with America. [Yes, because it's all about Trump's ego]
Brown is trying to stay loyal to the right-wing cause and yet his instincts tell him Trump is not merely a liability but dangerous to America and dangerous to the world. Brown is right to object to Trump's insistence of loyalty above all else. But then Brown doesn't identify this behavior as evidence of an immoral would-be-dictator who would likely use lies and conspiracy theories as a pretext to dismantle American democracy. Trump knocked the door down alright, but this was the door to something very ominous indeed. Compare Pence: If Pence was a successor we could at least rest assured that he wasn't aiming to rebirth the republic as a totalitarian state.
Of course, this attempt at moderation earns Brown his flak. His article gets this comment (My emphases):
You are mistaken Dr Brown. It was Pence and Netanayahu who
threw Trump under the bus, not the other way around. They were both well aware
that the 2020 election was stolen, but they both decided to do the expedient
thing and bow to the deepstate. As Isaiah 59 says, "truth has fallen in
the street", with virtually no one in public office these days having the
courage to do the right thing as it is personally too costly for them.
...there's a gullible idiot who has swallowed conspiracy theorism! Notice how sure he is of the existence of the "deepstate" and that Pence was a knowing "traitor"; an ominous sign for Pence (and all of us) should the far-right he represents triumph in America. The American Christian right-wing sense that they have become a has-been culture & increasingly marginalized since the 1960s. Their's is an over reaction as they attempt to reestablish themselves by signing a pact with the devil .
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In Part II I'll look at some of Brown's other revealing articles. In the meantime some links on the Trump prophecies:
False prophecies from Tracy Cooke can be seen in the YouTube video below (I'm surprised they haven't deleted this video which was published in March 2020):
