Talking About Twisting Yourself Into Knots, Can Anyone Believe In Jesus And Trump At The Same Time?

 

When I sat down on Monday morning to write this post, YouGov had just released 3 new polls for battleground states, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania-- collectively 46 electoral votes that Trump can't afford to lose. The Elections Research Center report on the polling noted that Trump is losing more and more heavily in these states as time goes on-- and as more people vote early. By Monday morning 60,507,338 people had already voted, including 1,985,687 Michiganders, 1,461,135 Pennsylvanians and 1,344,535 Wisconsinites. Among voters who had already cast their ballots, Biden is ahead by wide margins:

• Michigan: Biden- 75%, Trump- 23%
• Pennsylvania: Biden- 87%, Trump- 9%
• Wisconsin: Biden- 73%, Trump- 26%

In all three states, Trump's hold on his racist, neo-fascist base has remained the same but a larger share of undecided voters have decided-- and they're largely voting against Trump. Also, significant numbers of voters who had been toying with voting for third-party candidates have decided to vote for Biden instead.

When the pollsters factored in voter intention of those who haven't cast their ballots yet, it's closer, of course-- but not that close:

• Michigan: Biden- 52%, Trump- 42%
• Pennsylvania: Biden- 52%, Trump- 44%
• Wisconsin: Biden- 53%, Trump- 44%

One of the demographic cohorts most likely to be sticking with Trump are poorly educated white evangelicals. On Sunday evening, Matt Kaufman, a former editor for Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine, explained to Bulwark readers why Christians should dump Trump. A conservative Christian himself, Kaufman is offended by Trump's torrential lying and gaslighting; pathological narcissism; pettiness, bullying, and cruelty; Twitter tantrums and schoolyard name-calling; corruption and abuse of public power for private interests; assaults on institutions and standards across government and culture; admiration and emulation of dictators; derogation of public servants, statesmen, and heroes; elevation of cranks, crooks, and clowns; bizarre rants and conspiracy-mongering; shameless appeals to the ugliest instincts; blatant racism; staggering ineptitude; and sheer stupidity. And that was just the beginning! He claims there are many Christians like him-- disgusted with Trump-- who are keeping it to themselves. But most conservatives won't abandon him because they see him as the lesser evil compared to Democrats.

That’s their eternal bottom line. No matter what this president does, no matter how indefensible, the greatest dangers they see always come from the left. How can I fail to back Trump, they wonder, with those threats looming? The closer Nov. 3 comes, the more urgently some of them want to know.

...If a president is (say) an utterly amoral, unstable, incompetent, insecure egomaniac, then he’s just got to go. Likewise if he acts like an autocrat, a thug or a criminal. Or if he’s beholden to hostile foreign powers. Or if he tramples the constitutional boundaries of his office, undermines basic norms and institutions, shreds the social fabric, poisons civil discourse, promotes tribalism and sets Americans at each other’s throats. He’s. Got. To. Go.

...It’s not enough for us to behave well individually if we collectively support someone who behaves like Trump. How many people will believe we’re not motivated by hate and fear if we tie ourselves to someone who traffics in both-- someone who invites the worst elements of society to come out and play? How many will believe we are motivated by conscience if we rally behind someone who’s devoid of one? What kind of Christian witness is that to the world?

In short, how much do our political allegiances damage the faith that we’re supposed to be spreading?

In the end, this might be the most compelling reason for Christians to reject Trump. There’s no shortage of others. Yes, he’s bad for our society in so many ways. Yes, he’s bad for the very causes some of us see as reasons to support him. Above all, though, he’s bad for the cause of Christ-- in ways more destructive than an army of avowed enemies could ever be.

From a Christian’s perspective, nothing should matter more than that. And if something does-- like defeating Democrats at all times, at all costs-- then I fear we’re falling into the devil’s trap. In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis had some things to say about the spiritual perils of politicized Christianity-- how factionalism and partisanship can skew our priorities. See for yourself in chapter 7: Like most things Lewis wrote, it’s worth the time.

I know the partisan temptation well: I’ve felt it often enough, particularly when I was a young man. And in my line of work, I also know the temptation to focus so heavily on certain issues that you lose sight of the big picture. Breaking away from those mindsets is a long-term process that takes conscious effort. But break away we must. If the Donald Trump experience doesn’t motivate us to do it, I don’t know what will.

I'd like to ask you to consider how Kaufman's analysis fits a young candidate the Republican Party is allowing to build himself up into a superstar of their future, North Carolina Nazi Madison Cawthorn, who we've written about since his surprise primary run-off win in June for the seat vacated by far right extremist Mark Meadows. Young Cawthorn is far to the right of Meadows and he was the subject of Judd Legum's attention this week, noting that "as election day approaches, a darker side of Cawthorn has emerged." Like virtually all Nazis, Cawthorn is also a racist and a virulent white nationalist. What pisses Legum off is that Cawthorn's racism hasn't stopped some of America's most prominent corporations from backing his campaign.

[A]fter Cawthorn scored an upset, the Republican Party lined up behind Cawthorn and corporate money began to flow to his campaign. Recent corporate PAC contributions to Cawthorn's campaign include:

Popular Information contacted all ten of these entities and asked whether Cawthorn's racist attack had any impact on their support for his campaign. AT&T and Exxon Mobile acknowledged the inquiry but did not provide a response. The other entities did not respond.

Cawthorn's truth problem

Over the course of the campaign, Cawthorn has been caught lying to create a more compelling narrative for voters. One of his campaign videos, for example, says that Cawthorn "planned on serving his country in the Navy with a nomination to the U.S. Naval Academy... until tragedy struck." But in a 2017 deposition related to the car accident, Cawthorn admitted he was rejected from the Naval Academy before the auto accident.

...Pressed on his lack of experience to be a member of Congress, Cawthorn said in an October 2 interview with a local media outlet that he had worked full-time for former Congressman Mark Meadows for two years.

“I don’t have 40 years of work experience, I’m only 25 years old, but I have worked in a congressional office for two years,” Cawthorn said.

Asked if that was full-time, he responded, “Yeah, I was full time.”

That was false. Records show "Cawthorn worked part-time on Meadows’ staff from Jan. 15, 2015 to at least Aug. 1, 2016." Cawthorn's campaign acknowledged that he was not, in fact, a full-time employee. He was paid about $1300 per month. "Madison was a permanent employee for Meadows who was paid on a part-time basis because he was physically incapable of performing some normal office duties due to his accident," a Cawthorn spokesperson said.

Cawthorn also regularly describes himself as a real estate investor and public speaker. But his financial disclosure, filed in March as a requirement of his candidacy, lists no income from either vocation. The form does not list any earned income from any source.

Multiple women allege Cawthorn made "unwanted sexual advances"

While Cawthorn was not accepted by the Naval Academy, he did attend Patrick Henry College for about a year. Ten of Cawthorn’s former classmates authored a letter this month condemning Cawthorn for his “gross misconduct towards our female peers” during his time as a college student.

During his brief time at the college, Cawthorn established a reputation for predatory behavior… Cawthorn would take young women to secluded areas, lock the doors, and proceed to make unwanted sexual advances. It became a regular warning in the female dorms not to be caught alone with Madison Cawthorn. Additionally, he referred to female students as 'bitches' and 'sluts,' both in private amongst his friends and often publicly. He also called our female peers these derogatory names when they refused to go for a ride in his car.

The letter was signed by 166 current students and former alumni of Patrick Henry College.

In response, Cawthorn’s campaign told the AVL Watchdog that the letter contained “unsubstantiated and anonymous accusations” and accused without evidence opponent Moe Davis for spurring the allegations.

Days later, the campaign published a letter of endorsement from Patrick Henry College alumni. It was signed by six people-- two of whom work on Cawthorn’s campaign. This letter describes the original letter as an attack from “liberal sources, as well as, discontented PHC alumni.” According to the AVL Watchdog, however, the authors of the original letter were not in contact with Davis’s campaign or any other political group. In fact, many of them describe themselves as conservative Christians.

In August, World, a Christian news magazine, reported that Cawthorn had made unwanted sexual advances on at least three women since 2014. “Two women say he forcibly kissed them. One woman told me he grabbed her thigh and moved his hand an inch or two beneath her dress,” wrote Harvest Prude.

Even before World published its report, one of the women mentioned in the piece, Katrina Krulikas, took to Instagram in August to publicly describe how Cawthorn forcibly tried to kiss her in 2014. Krulikas was a member of the same Christian homeschool community as Cawthorn.

“This older guy had taken me to the woods on our first date, only to pry into my sexual past and then try to force himself onto me,” Krulikas said. “I texted a friend, expressing how I didn’t feel comfortable being alone with Madison again, how he had been extremely aggressive and creepy towards me.”

Cawthorn’s campaign told World that Cawthorn had previously apologized to Krulikas “if his attempt to kiss her when he was a teenager made her feel uncomfortable or unsafe.” At the time of the alleged incident, Krulikas was 17 and Cawthorn was 19.

According to Krulikas, Cawthorn’s apology was “insincere.” He told her he “thought [she] was playing coy” and that “[he] can see in hindsight how that was over the line.”

“I believe that it should be noted that this [apology] came 6 years after the fact, when his political career is now at stake and he faces the possibility of public scrutiny,” wrote Krulikas.

Cawthorn cozies up to QAnon

In August, Cawthorn posted a video claiming that cartels were coming into the country and “kidnapping our American children and then taking them to sell them...on the sex slave market.” This claim, which is not supported by experts on human trafficking, is commonly echoed by QAnon believers. “I want to set free all the American children who have so tragically been taken from us,” Cawthorn said.

Cawthorn, who was visiting a private border wall at the time, suggests in the video that this information is coming from official channels. “I’m here meeting with a lot of ICE agents, a lot of federal agents and many sheriffs,” Cawthorn said.

On the trip, Cawthorn posted a photo with Lauren Witzke, the GOP Senate candidate who was photographed in a QAnon t-shirt and repeatedly posted QAnon hashtags. (Witzke nevertheless claims she does not believe in the conspiracy.) Cawthorn also took a photo with Mary Ann Mendoza, a member of Trump’s advisory board, who was disinvited from the RNC after promoting an anti-Semitic, QAnon conspiracy theory.

  A spokesperson for Cawthorn told the AVL Watchdog that Cawthorn “categorically disavows ‘QAnon.’” When asked by the AVL Watchdog to provide sources for Cawthorn’s statement, the spokesperson shared a March 2019 news release by The Department of Homeland Security. The release, which focuses on migrants, made no mention of American children being trafficked by cartels.

This isn’t the first time Cawthorn pandered to the fringe. Cawthorn met with congressional candidate Lauren Boebert. Boebert, who is running for office in Colorado, once said that she hoped Q was real because it meant “America was getting stronger.”

Moe Davis is now polling even with Cawthorn and, although the DCCC is ignoring the race, has a shot at beating this monster, who is already planning a Senate race in 2026 against Cal Cunningham, another step towards his eventual goal. If you'd like to give Davis some last minute love for his Get Out the Vote efforts, please use the ActBlue thermometer above.