Evidently, America’s evangelical Christians think so. What’s more, one of their deacons induced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to say as much:
In an interview in Jerusalem, the Christian Broadcast Network’s Chris Mitchell asked Pompeo, ‘could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?’ Esther is the main heroine of the Jewish holiday of Purim, which was celebrated this week.
‘As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,’ Pompeo said.
(CNN, March 22, 2019)
As a Christian, I believe that’s bullsh*t.
But I fully appreciate why it makes sense to evangelical Christians who also believe Trump was “chosen by God” to Make America Great Again. All of these hosannas to Trump would be laughable if so many Christians weren’t gullible enough to believe them.
To be fair, Trump casts a cult-like spell over everyone who works for him. Only this explains an erstwhile intelligent man like Pompeo joining this delusional evangelical chorus.
After all, this secretary of state seems as oblivious as those evangelicals to the geopolitical contradiction and danger inherent in America recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel.
After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2019
That, of course, is the kind of Orwellian doublespeak(tweet) we’ve come to expect from this dystopian warlord. Because, far from enhancing Israel’s security and regional stability, Trump is jeopardizing the former and upending the latter. He’s also undermining what little remains of America’s role as an honest broker (and guarantor of peace) in the Middle East.
In fact, America is now competing with Russia for Cold War-style spheres of influence throughout the region. Nothing indicates how much Trump has weakened America’s superpower status quite like Russian President Vladimir Putin daring to do this right in America’s backyard:
Two Russian military planes landed in Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday, reportedly carrying dozens of troops and large amounts of equipment. …
It comes three months after the two nations held joint military exercises. …
Russia has also vocally opposed moves from the US to impose sanctions on the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.
(BBC, March 25, 2019)
Arguably, this is Trump’s version of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Except that instead of standing up to Putin the way JFK stood up to Khrushchev, Trump is appeasing him the way Neville Chamberlain infamously appeased Hitler. Just imagine the outrage among chicken-hawk Republicans if Putin had done this during Obama’s presidency. But I digress…
The Middle East has a reputation for being a hornet’s nest. But Trump has shown repeatedly that he either has no clue or couldn’t care less about the consequences of his actions. Only this explains why he seemed unbothered about recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital:
President Trump on Wednesday formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City. …
But he offered little solace to the Palestinians, making no mention of their long-held hopes for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state. … Pope Francis and the Chinese foreign ministry joined the chorus of voices warning that the move could unleash a wave of violence across the region.
(The New York Times, December 6, 2017)
Nobody should be surprised that he’s now inviting this backlash:
Syria, which lost control of a third of the strategic Golan region to Israel during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and has not given up hope of getting it back, slammed the U.S. policy shift as ‘an act of aggression’ and vowed to regain control of the area ‘by all available means.’ …
Many U.S. allies, including the European Union, Egypt and Turkey, also expressed opposition to the shift, which overturns decades of U.S. policy on the status of the Golan Heights.
(The Washington Post, March 22, 2019)
Meanwhile, this gives Putin just cause to call on America to recognize Crimea as part of Russia. Maybe that too was the point (with all due respect to Special Counsel Robert Mueller).
Apropos of which, much has been made of Putin invading American democracy to help Trump win in 2016. But with his Golan Heights tweet, Trump is invading Israeli democracy far more brazenly to help Netanyahu win next month’s election. Yet it’s an indication of how he continually normalizes abnormal presidential behavior that nobody seems to care.
Still, the real shame is how ostensibly proud Israeli Jews continually invite American crusaders to make a mockery of their faith and “Promised Land” with evangelical presumptions.
After all, Israel is clearly willing and able to protect itself. Not only is it the most powerful nation in the Middle East, but despite existential threats from Muslim neighbors, it’s the only one with the nuclear arsenal to wipe any other country off the map.
I’ve always wondered why Israelis tolerate this Christian condescension. After all, the arrogant presumption is that evangelicals must both protect and convert God’s “chosen people” to ensure their salvation, creating a theological contradiction that would be laughable if it weren’t so insulting.
My daddy was himself an evangelical deacon. Therefore, I know all too well the religious presumptions Christian jihadists like those at the Christian Broadcast Network are proselytizing. They’ve been traducing the political alliance between the United States and Israel with their eschatological fantasies ever since Israel’s founding in 1948. But this is the first time they have a president who couldn’t care less.
Trump has shown time and again that all he cares about is doing whatever will get people to sing his praises and fund his family businesses. And there seems no limit to what he’ll do to feed his preternatural narcissism and self-interest. Only that explains his willingness to:
- Coddle a Saudi Crown prince who butchered an American resident to death
- Rile up white supremacists under the guise of championing the Second Amendment
- Urge the Zionist prime minister to marginalize not just Palestinians but non-Jewish citizens of Israel as well
- Declare his love for a North Korean dictator who tortured an American student to death
- Enable common cause with a Russian dictator hell-bent on destroying both the democratic institutions that made America great and the Western alliances that gave the world unprecedented peace and prosperity
In short, this crude president is recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel simply because evangelical Christians hail him as a latter-day Queen Esther and the Israeli prime minister hails him as a latter-day King Cyrus. iPINIONS contends that he’s not so much pro-anything as he is pro-Trump. Accordingly, the Mideast peace process and America’s geopolitical interests be damned.
Note: Evangelicals betraying their Christian values to support Trump should beware that their kids might end up disrespecting and resenting them. They need only look at the parents ensnared in “Operation Varsity Blues” — the sensational cheating scandal that tainted America’s elite universities. Their kids not only resent and disrespect them now, but are taking to social media to let the world know just how much.
Of course, this is how one should expect kids to feel about parents who so willfully betray core values that once made them seem respectable.
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