In any other world, I would say they're mocking their own followers.
But no, in the world we live in, the Trumps and their followers really are this stupid they don't see the blatant violation of the Biblical ban on idolatry in the thing that could literally serve as a counterpart to the Golden Calf if the Old Testament were adapted to modern times.
I'm not a Christian but man this Trump guy keeps matching what revelations said the anti christ would be so well that I might look into the religion if it wasn't oppressing me and I wasn't already happy with my gods
I wouldn't be surprised if project 2025 had an entire unpublished section discussing strategies to co-opt the imagery of antichrist to use as propaganda to further muddy the waters and aid in confusion and prevent a cohesive resistance.
It has to be deliberate. Trump and Musk match the beast and the dragon so closely that it's uncanny. There's no way it's a coincidence and given that we know that the author of revelations was ranting about Nero, they have to be playacting trying to trick God into fulfilling their prophecy fanfiction.
I don't believe in God, but rapture appears like a good start. Bunch of religious freak leaving for heaven would mean the median IQ raised a little bit.
Now I don't believe a word of the Bible, but this guy checks off so many anti-Christ boxes it's getting harder and harder to see how the people who do believe that stuff don't see it.
False believers, whose faith is shallow and performative, or against the teachings of Christ (like, for example, the prosperity gospel). Real big "sucks to suck" energy in Revelations.
'Trick' requires some form of effective deception. That's not what's happening, the are just evil ass people who are voting for evil ass shit. They know what he claims and take him seriously enough to kill people about it.
the most hardcore believers are the ones who love trump the most.
But given that basically none of these people have read a bible in their life, it's understandable that they don't see the signs of their own religion.
Or maybe they are super into the anti-christ. who knows
There was a trump property about 10 minutes walk from my house and every time I walk past it I cannot quite believe the utter lack of taste. It's a sort of thing that a Saudi oil baron would consider to be a bit over the top.
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
9 “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
...
25 Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies. 26 So he stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me.” And all the Levites rallied to him.
The whole point of the antichrist is they rise to power by exploiting Christians and their faith...
Like, everything about the two line up that I'm starting to think trump is literally using the myth as a blueprint. Like, at some point someone told him about it, and his first and only thought was:
I think it's kind of the opposite. The Bible was written as a response to and warning of human greed. The fashion in which people come to power has changed since then, but human greed doesn't change.
The irony is not lost that the Bible itself was turned into a tool for greed and oppression, but I think that the actual core of the religion (Christ's teachings or whatever) were meant to warn people about the dangers of doing greedy human things.
Wasn’t worshipping a false idol considered a BAD thing?
Just don't consider it a false idol. That's the trick.
Stick your money-plated golden calf in a big box and have four old dudes carry it around on a palanquin. Then get a dozen DOGE agents to lead it in front of a government agency, blow their shofars, and pull funding until it collapses.
Boom. Straight out of the Book of Joshua, Chapter 6. Not much more holy than the Siege of Jericho.
Yeah. It's one of the few things the Bible is fairly consistent about, along with golden calf/bronze bull imagery. I'm pretty sure there's a historical religious explanation for why the Bible consistently referenced gold/bronze cattle, but I find it fascinating and kinda sad that they're so blatantly worshipping something that the Bible consistently says is wrong. Like, there's a lot of stuff in the Bible where it says one thing and then later says, "actually, wait, just kidding lol"; but it consistently talks about not worshipping idols while using cattle imagery.
Judaism likely developed out of worship of a specific deity in a pantheon. All the idol worship bans are probably a way to distance yahweh worship from everything else. It exists only to be different.
The real trouble comes when Biblical literalists try to apply this to modern situations. There are still major religions that have idols, but they tend not to be anywhere near American Christian nationalists. But when you believe every single part of the Bible is true and meaningful for your life today, you have to find some reason for it to be there.
"Umm, err, do you have a poster of Kobe Bryant on your wall? Totally an idol in the same way the Bible talks about golden calfs."
Worshipping anything else than God is the big super bad. Joshua saw a Jew sleeping with a non-believer and Joshua put a spear through them both. God was like "Hell yeah, dude!" and promoted him to be the new Moses.
That's a compilation story book, take everything you read there as fantasy. My favorite story is Genesis, the part were the dad offers his virgin daughters to have sex with a furious gang of people.
People don't go to church to be Christian. Christians can believe and pray at home if they want to, and many do. The ones that go church are looking for something else.
Hi I'm a Christian and I care. The goat seems to be made to auction to spread awareness for human trafficking. Very bizarre to go with this method though. I also know nothing of the organization and it's effectiveness in helping stop child human trafficking. Especially after that movie and the backlash it got with how little it did in helping the actual core issue. Bunch of hypocrites.
When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
He said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you led them into such great sin?”
Then the Sianai Times reported how the Pharaoh isn't actually a that bad of a guy and it would serve the Israelites to reopen communication with Egypt and discuss trade partnership, and how slavery should be an individual's choice and that they should vote Moses out for unilateral decision-making. Also, no haha the river never turned to blood and there are no locusts, don't look up at them.
At this point, Idiocracy is looking more like an optimistic fairy tale than a cautionary look to our future. At the very least Kamacho was trying to fix things and the people could be convinced by obvious evidence set plainly before them.
Ya know, maybe the Bible is right and god is real, because there's no way someone comes this close to exactly what it describes as the Anti-Christ without actually being evil.
No, I didn't. I just was stunned they profaned yhwh and Baphomet. I guess they'll get around to Kali and Shiva eventually. Got to cover all the bases, I guess. 🤷♀️
Well yeah, but the goat idols were used in some kind of previous religion and are being forbidden in Leviticus, as can be seen from the quote. So it's not exactly an old testament thing, it's just mentioned in the old testament as something you shouldn't use.
The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that patriotism is the love of one's country and nationalism is the belief that one's country is superior above all others.
Fascism is a centralized government underneath the authority of a dictator.
It's obvious that these guys want a nationalist and fascist government.
Good lord, you said nuh uh and linked a 20 minute video with no explanation. Congrats
lazy transcript of intro copy/paste.
fascism is a term i've heard thrown around since i was a kid but most of the time idiomatically fascist is what you called your type a passive-aggressive roommate stop being such a fascist deborah through osmosis i knew its literal meaning was among a cluster of related words authoritarianism totalitarianism white supremacy nationalism dictatorship but for much of my life if you pressed me to define any of these words i could have only said you know nazis hitler the gestapo you know nazis this colloquializing of fascism and its association with the cultural shorthand for pure evil makes it very hard to discuss as an ideology because even using the word fascism sounds both hyperbolic and like a punch below the belt to call a person group or idea fascist is to exaggerate for the purpose of dragging them this counter-intuitively prevents us from criticizing fascist groups even though most everyone agrees fascism is terrible because saying it you sound ridiculous you're talking about indiana jones villains so i'm going to be using the word fascism kind of a lot in this video hoping that we can semantically satiate it just enough that it's connotative meanings irreverent sarcasm and the envisioning of stormtroopers are dulled to the point that we can talk about fascism as a system of beliefs and as a mode of political organizing and about who practices it today our work necessitates a conversation about fascism specifically white fascism, fascism fascism fascism
Is there like a direct point you're trying to highlight for the class? It's honestly weird seeing "White Fascism", like... just the distinguishing 'white' term and making 'white fascism' seem more important than just regular ol 'fascism' makes this feel like a whole other level of racism/white superiority that blows my mind.
Is crazy that it's true apparently. I find it incredulous that this isn't an intentional subversion?
"We love you Trump!", covered in Trump dollars, as a false idol to money / Satan / the antichrist.... All notionally to draw attention and protect trafficed and abused children?! The guy who joked about his good friend Jeffery liking the "on the younger side"? And regularly visited Pedo island?! Surely its trolling!?!
Or not. Sadly, that is a real possibility.
(just to clarify, I don't think goats are satanic, they're delightful. But the cultural connotations are what they are...)
There's nothing satanic about goats because Satan (or god, or God's for that matter) doesn't exist. It's all a cop out, a cheap excuse to either explain a disaster or "oops, I polluted your backyard and now your children are dying? God works in mysterious ways!"
Those are custom printed. I'm sure it says "not legal tender" and other disclaimers, but if you or I designed something like that, believe it or not, jail. At best the USSS would have some very pointed questions.