Following up on your essay from last week, what is the specific danger you see, and how could progressive Christianity be affected?
Dear Reader,
Allow me first to summarize information gathered from various sources, some of them referenced below.
1. Trump wants to be president, so that he can: stay out of prison, take revenge on his enemies, increase his wealth and power, and feed his ego.
2. If he loses the 2024 election, he will say his victory was stolen and that he is in fact the new president. He already did that in 2020, terminating in the Jan 6 storming of the Capitol. We have seen how he will react to a loss.
3. If he wins the election, he will feel justified in doing whatever he wants. Win or lose, he will claim victory. It is crucial that we recognize this outcome.
4. He and his enablers, particularly the Heritage Foundation, have prepared for this day, win, or lose but claim victory.
5. On day One after inauguration day, whether winning or claiming to have won, he will invoke the Insurrection Act, and claim absolute power to call up active military to quell dissent and gather up and contain undesirables in camps. There will be nationwide protests and chaos will ensue.
6. Without any special authorization, he will claim the power to transform the Justice Department, the FBI and other departments into an agent of his will.
7. His enablers [Heritage] will have vetted 54,000 employees for civil service positions set to replace current civil service employees. These new replacements will have been chosen not because they are loyal to the Constitution, but because they are loyal to Trump.
8. Trump supporters include 59% of retired military as well as an unknown number of active military and police officers. Refusing a presidential order, illegal or not, would destroy a soldier’s career and could involve a long term in prison. The Proud Boys, or some similar group, could act as a personal police force.
9. Given all this power, Trump would exact revenge on his critics. For example, he has already called for the execution of former Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, whom he accused of treason.
10. There would be no safeguards preventing such unlimited power from persecuting anyone. No one, including his loyal followers, would be safe.
With respect to Christianity, Evangelical “Christians” are a huge part of Trump’s base, without whom he could not even run, much less be elected. With the added power now of the Speaker of the House, who wants to make the US a white Christian theocracy, abolish reproductive rights, convert public education into charter schools, and expel “aliens”, the program of fundamentalist Christianity would be unstoppable. Progressive Christianity would come under attack.
~ Carl Krieg, Ph.D.
Notes
***Trump hints at expanded role for the military within the US. A legacy law gives him few guardrailshttps://apnews.com/article/
Experts in constitutional law and the military say the Insurrection Act gives presidents tremendous power with few restraints. Recent statements by former President Donald Trump raise questions about how he might use it if he wins another term.
***Advisers have also discussed deploying the military to quell potential unrest on Inauguration Day. Critics have called the ideas under consideration dangerous and unconstitutional.
https://www.washingtonpost.
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