For his End of Days’ performance, Donald Trump should have just gone to the middle of New York’s 5th Avenue and shot someone. As he predicted in 2016, it probably wouldn’t have altered his standing. But no, he had to incite a riotous takeover of the Capitol that terrorized Congress, left five people dead and a nation sick to its stomach.
Many of us spent four years wondering if there is any dastardly move this guy could make that would penetrate his cloak of invincibility. At long last we have our answer, although it comes without an ounce of solace. Let the record show that Trump’s instigation of a violent attempted coup d’état was, in fact, the bridge too far that we thought would never come.
The 45th president has been excoriated by members of his own staff and Cabinet. Influential – and not exactly left leaning – groups as divergent as the National Council of Churches, the National Association of Manufacturers and the Union of Concerned Scientists have called for Trump to resign or be removed from office. The House of Representatives appears ready to impeach him for a second time. Even worse for him, he’s been kicked off of Twitter.
Yet, he persists. Two days after the Trump-inspired assault on the Capitol, the Republican National Committee sang his praises and encouraged his continued leadership of the party. According to social media chatter reported by The Washington Post, the president’s hard core base is so pleased with last week’s riot that they are planning an encore for the inauguration of Joe Biden, the guy they believe stole their hero’s office.
How in the world did we get to this point? In large part, through faith. It wasn’t just the Donald’s lie about a stolen election that triggered this war. It was his army’s unwavering faith in the sanctity of Donald John Trump. After stirring up his troops last Wednesday, this false prophet sent them off to invade the Capitol with these words of inspiration: “You will never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
To be sure, many in that invading mob were veteran white supremacist agitators who were symbiotically using Trump as much as he was using them. But others were clearly on a mission of faith. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reported that a portion of the pre-riot rally consisted of prayers conflating Jesus and The Donald. Goldberg wrote that one large group formed a circle and cheered when their leader said, “Give it up if you believe in Jesus,” but were even louder in their response to, “Give it up if you believe in Donald Trump.”
This is not, in any way, a knock on religion. Abiding faith in a power greater than ourselves, or in principles and values that guide our lives, is as essential to our existence as the air we breathe and the food we eat. Yet, the slope between a faith that nourishes and enhances, and one that diminishes and endangers, is extremely slippery.
Most organized religions – including Christianity, Judaism and Islam – recognize this conundrum through strict prohibitions against idolatry, the worshipping of other gods. Think of it as an exclusive jurisdiction clause: Embrace only the one true God and the religion’s articles of faith with unquestioning acceptance, but don’t do that for anyone else.
Unfortunately, many in Trump’s base never got the false prophet memo. More than any other political figure in our lifetime, he has been worshiped by supporters who follow him on total faith, without doubt or question. His former press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was called by God. Conservative radio host Wayne Allyn Root called him the “second coming of God,” and the “King of Israel.” Evangelical leaders Paula White, Robert Jeffress and Franklin Graham have repeatedly asserted that Trump’s presidency is divinely inspired and mandated.
Then there is the QAnon phenomenon. This growing contingent of hard core Trumpians believe the president has been divinely anointed to defend the world against a massive network of Satanic pedophiles in the Democratic party and the deep state. Many of the Capitol rioters were QAnon followers, including a woman who was killed in the melee.
In his book, The Cult of Trump, cult expert Steven Hassan says Trump checks every box on the list of what it takes to have an effective cult. “It’s a black-and-white, all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil, authoritarian view of reality,” he said in an interview with Vox. “And there’s a deliberate focus on denying facts in order to protect the leader.” One of the chapters in Hassan’s book is on malignant narcissism as a characteristic of destructive cult leaders.
To have faith is to accept without doubt, without question. In a religious context, faith has brought peace and comfort to millions of believers. It removes the angst of uncertainty over deeply profound questions about existence, including the ultimate: What happens when we die?”
In the political context, however, doubt is an essential intellectual tool for drafting, synthesizing and reviewing ideas, policies, legislation and candidates. Truth and knowledge come from exploring doubts. Doubt begs the question, “Are you sure?” Doubt seeks more data, more opinions, more input. Used in moderation, it is also a healthy introspective tool. Who, besides our 45th president, has not indulged in self-doubt to become a better person?
These past four years have taught us that the deity delusion is the of bane of democracy. Donald (“I alone can fix it”) Trump worships himself and believes in nothing outside of his own infallibility. Worse than that, he has an enormous contingent of venerating followers who accept his every word as gospel, and are willing to desecrate and destroy the citadel of our government along with the democracy that drives it.
As we evaluate the damage and devastation inflicted by the outgoing administration, as we make our list of needed repairs, let’s put this one at or near the top: Truth matters.
And the road to truth is paved with doubt.