Welcome to the Dumpty Trumpty podcast where we patriotic Americans work to push MAGA off their fake wall. I’m Captain Scott coming to you from my makeshift basement studio deep in the prairie heartland.
Welcome to Dumpty Trumpty podcast number eight. Save Us! This one has a little biblical background to it. But if you’re atheist, don’t worry about it. You’ll be fine. There’s no preaching going on here or anything like that. And if you’re an evangelical, please listen.
I’d like to let you know that we are now on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts. That being said, let’s get started.
Five days after President Donald Trump lost the election, he created the Leadership PAC Save America headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Earlier that year, David Limbaugh, younger brother to Rush, urged Americans to vote Trump, Save America and oppose those that will enslave and impoverish us. In Manchester, New Hampshire, in May of last year (2023), Trump told his rallying crowd: “I will rescue America from disastrous Democrats. You vote for Trump and that problem will be totally gone. I promise you.” Newsmax’ headline of Trump’s July 28th rally in 2023 boldly reported Trump in Iowa: “I’m the only candidate who can save America.” The crowds cheered in both locations. Many Americans believe Trump is the answer, the solution, their hope in eradicating dangerous problems. Most of those problems are imagined. His supporters accept it as true that only he can save us from our nation’s demise and salvage what good remains in America but not without him in the White House. They carry a dim outlook for America, and Trump encourages that opinion, repeating it often. To them, he is our political savior, our biblical King David. The notion that we need saving, rescuing, returned to wholeness, jumped at me as I studied the New Testament book of Matthew in the Jewish annotated New Testament, (If it’s interesting to you, it’s Oxford University Press) focusing particularly on the word Hosanna in chapter 21 of Matthew. Now, that word appears six times in the New Testament and comes from the Hebrew word Hoshanna. But the New Testament was written in Greek, and because there is no “shh” sound in Greek, the “shh” sound got written as an S, as in sigma. And that’s how we got Hosanna.
Matthew, describing Jesus, returned to Jerusalem, tells us the crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting “Hosanna” to the Son of David. Now biblical scholars wrestle figuring out if Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew or Greek, or if he was trilingual and we’re going to leave that arguing with them anyway. Hosanna means “Save thou us!” “rescue me.” It would also have been a happy scream to shout at seeing your rescuer swimming towards you while you’re drowning, bringing you a lifesaver or yelling Help or save us to someone who has that ability, as we Christians believe about Jesus, it’s appropriate. What is foolish is to place that hope on a charlatan, a con artist, a false prophet, if you will. Which leads us to the question: Are false prophets limited to religion only? Definitely not. Examples come to mind: the man who deceitfully woos the woman, the business person who over promises and under delivers, modern versions of snake oil salesmen, etc.. Too many times one person has hoodwinked another. We have experienced it. We know false prophets and can recognize them, but usually not very quickly.
They begin with sweetness, telling us how attractive and kind we are, how happy we can be together, how or how good we will feel after we buy what they’re selling. “Life will be better.” “America will be great again.” Described as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, they appear as dream givers, promising to satisfy our desires, end our discomfort, enrich our lives, and convince us they are capable if only he would just trust them. Their promise sparks excitement and enthusiasm, convinced they genuinely care about us. We drop our skepticism and follow their lead. But before we are on their hook, is there any chance that we can learn to detect such deceivers, such false prophets, such phonies?
Unfortunately, most of us can’t do it quickly. By the time we realize they’ve swindled us, it is too late. Chaos has set in. We have lost money. Relationships are broken. Trust is shattered. Forsaken. We are left holding the bag, finding solace in the only minor comfort that remains. “Oh, well, from experience comes with comes wisdom.” At that point, we merely promise ourselves we won’t get fooled again. “Shame on them”, we say. But there’s little benefit in focusing on the perpetrator. Instead, we must concentrate not on the deceivers, but on us, ourselves, the deceived. What is it that lets us be deceived often for so long? I think of the women on the Dr. Phil Show, madly in love with someone they’ve never met.
Unwisely, they have sent their overseas suitor thousands of dollars. Despite the overwhelming evidence of his deception, she insists the man loves her, her family is wrong about him, and they will soon be together. Such examples are not meant to blame the victim, but rather to motivate, motivate us in recognizing false prophets. “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, Shame on me.” [insert gw]
What signals the presence of a false prophet? There are clues. Trump presents a dilemma for Christians who embrace him and who take Matthew and Luke’s declaration seriously. No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. There is no written definition of these metaphorical fruits. We don’t really need one though, we universally accept helping others, dealing fairly in business, respecting human dignity, caring about the welfare of others, competing without cheating, being slow to anger, honoring marriage vows and offering grace when offended are all good fruit from good trees
From continent to continent humanity recognizes bad fruit regardless of religious belief. Stealing, cheating, oppressing the wage earner, deceiving others, drunkenness and arrogance, all stain what they touch. Shouting “Save us!” at the sinless Jesus, bearer of good fruit, is rational and wise. Yelling “Save Us!” at a false prophet is not. President Trump’s inaugural address in 2017 appealed to us. The wooing began. “The power has transferred from Washington, D.C., to the people.” That’s powerful language. The speech promised invigorating visions of the future. “The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten. No longer.”
It reminds me of “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest.”
“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” There is more. “We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work. Building our country with American hands and American labor.” [Trump recording}
If you’re not thinking, that’s very appealing. I mean, he, he’s actually acting like Santa Claus. Everything you’ve ever wanted and hoped for to occur to/inAmerica now begins with my inauguration. Can you find wrong in such rhetoric from the new president?? Yeah. Only just because it’s so fantastic [as in fanciful nonsense]. Why didn’t his followers wonder if it’s too good to be true? It probably is. The speech sounds messianic and quietly echoes ‘Come to me, all you Americans who are disillusioned. And I will give you hope.” Have evangelical Christians confusingly forgotten where their hope belongs? Looking back, reviewing the speech, two sentences overlooked by most, foreshadow, showed the revelation of Trump’s status as a false prophet. [insert Trump] “At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America. And through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover her, our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”
We’re all one in Donald Trump. Total allegiance.
No earlier president has ever asked that. Bad-Fruit
world leaders have, and I don’t have to name them.
Nowhere do world religions encourage complete devotion to a nation. Can a Christian disagree with this? They can. They claim complete trust and faith in Christ, but give to Trump what should be reserved for Christ. As we discussed in episode one, Dr. Scott Peck found two common characteristics that indicate the presence of evil lying in chaos. And this is a recurring theme under Trumpism, common in cases of human evil. Peck tells us there is a concern with image over authenticity. A lie over truth.
We know Donald Trump misrepresented being a faithful husband when he lied to three wives, his children, and the nation. He does not stop there. Despite the overwhelming evidence that no one stuffed the ballot boxes, there were no mules from Mexico cheating in Arizona , or voting machines flipped nothing, and all 50 states certified the outcome, Republican and Democrat, the former president claims the election was rigged, stolen, that he unquestionably won and three years later persists still in make-believe. Curiously, no other candidate whose name appeared on the same ballot has claimed voter fraud. The data forces the conclusion that Trump lost fair and square.
Another symptom of evil is chaos. Chaos follows Trump. Think January 6th.
The lies have created terrible chaos, mistrust, division, hate and sometimes violence. Now we have numerous arrests. The single crime with the largest number of arrests in American history, a multitude of charges and hate between left and right. Friends and family have ended relationships over whether this man is a criminal or a victim.
Christians, in particular, the evangelicals must ask themselves, Is this a bounty of good fruit?
Is this how we want all future presidents to behave?
Asking, hoping, believing Trump can save America is a misplacement of hope. A theft giving to a man that which belongs to the Lord. Trump cannot save America. No flawed human being can. It is time to review our current political beliefs in quiet prayer, universal meditation. This is true for all Trump supporters Christian non-Christians. You and I must check ourselves asking if we have given our hope to a false prophet. You can’t ask yourself that while the TV is on or your mind is in social media.
“Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.”
In quiet you will feel a pull between what your ego wants and what your soul whispers. In silence is where God, the universe speaks to us, nudging us always towards wholesome, truthful fruit, never toward hate, anger, chaos and lies. Follow the soul and free yourself from the fruit of the false prophets.
Follow us on Facebook, Blue Sky and Twitter. Thanks for your time this time. Until next time. Have a great week. Captain Scott at DumptyTrumpty.org