Tag: maga
Young Americans Leaving Church Over MAGA Ideology And Christian Nationalism

Young Americans Leaving Church Over MAGA Ideology And Christian Nationalism

In polls conducted in 2015 and 2022, the Barna Group asked respondents how much they agreed or disagreed with the following statement: "It is becoming harder to find mature young Christians who want to become pastors."

In 2015, 69 percent agreed either "strongly" or "somewhat." In 2022, the number had increased to 75 percent.

Blogger Hemant Mehta analyzes these figures in a column published on his Friendly Atheist blog on September 8. And he cites far-right Christian nationalism and the MAGA movement as key reasons why so many young Americans have no desire to become pastors.

"It doesn't help that the most pressing social issues of our time put conservative Christians on the wrong side of the moral divide — to the point where even younger Christians often disagree with what their churches teach," Mehta argues. "Thirty-eight percent of white evangelicals under 35 support abortion rights compared to 16 percent of those over 65. Younger evangelicals are more likely to support marriage equality. In 2020, younger white evangelicals were less likely than their parents and grandparents to support Donald Trump and Republicans in general."

Mehta continues, "If older pastors are worried about politics dominating their churches, why would younger potential pastors want to run churches made up largely of MAGA cultists? Many of the most devout younger Christians can't even bring themselves to attend churches, much less consider managing them. Why would anyone growing up in a culture where white evangelical cruelty is the GOP's entire platform, and sexual abuse is routinely swept under the rug, and women are treated as second-class citizens, and immigrants are seen as disposable, want the stigma of pastoring a Christian church?"

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Jeffrey Epstein

Epstein Set Up Meetings With Thiel And Other Trump Allies Before 2016 Election

Four years have passed since wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, facing federal sex trafficking charges involving minors, was found dead in a Manhattan jail cell. A medical examiner ruled that Epstein had died from suicide by hanging on August 10, 2019.

Epstein, who was 66 when he died, associated with a lot of famous people. According to the Wall Street Journal, Epstein set up meetings with some of Donald Trump's supporters before the 2016 presidential election.

Those supporters included Thomas Barrack and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel (a major donor to MAGA Republicans), WSJ journalists Khadeeja Safdar and David Benoit (not to be confused with the jazz musician) report.

Another was the late Vitaly Churkin, who was Russia's ambassador to the United Nations at the time.

Forbes reporter Sara Dorn, in a separate article on Epstein, notes that "The New York Times reported in May that e-mails from Epstein's assistant show he planned to meet with Thiel at least three times in 2014, but the paper did not confirm whether the meetings occurred and Thiel declined to comment at the time."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Chris Veal

Right-Wingers Cheered Trump Mural -- Until It Was Completed (VIDEO)

Within hours of Donald Trump’s Fulton County jail mugshot getting plastered around the world, right-wingers were pretending that having the leader of their political movement indicted four separate times was a good thing. Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk’s inhalation of copium included calling it the “most iconic mugshot in American history,” and Lara Trump told Newsmax it would “backfire” on Trump’s detractors. Meanwhile, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a poorly photoshopped mugshot of her own in the most superficial form of solidarity available to her.

On The Ingraham Angle, Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo proposed that the mugshot would launch Donald Trump into a cultural landscape with famous musicians and “outlaws,” such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, and Tupac Shakur. He went so far as to say he had heard a “Black lady” call Trump “a gangsta,” which to Arroyo meant Trump now “has cred among a new block of voters that perhaps have never given him a serious look and now they are looking again.” In Arroyo and other right-wingers’ imaginations, Black people believe that anyone who gets a mugshot is cool.

On Sunday, Georgia-based artist Chris Veal painted a mural of Trump’s mugshot on a building that runs along Atlanta’s Eastside BeltLine Trail. Kirk and other right-wingers saw the beginnings of the mural’s creation on X, formerly known as Twitter, and championed it as proof positive that Atlantans were in revolt against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

Shortly after Kirk reposted the video, Veal finished his mural and surprise surprise! It wasn’t the pro-Trump message Kirk and others wanted so badly. A bubble had been added to the mural that read: “M.A.G.A. My Ass Got Arrested.” The repost eventually earned a community note.

As for the predicted “backlash,” Veal told Fox 5 that the mural took about three hours to complete. He said feedback has been positive, with people smiling and laughing and giving him “high fives.” Veal added, “I hope they get a kick out of it. I hope they keep up with it and get out and vote.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Ramaswamy Is Not A Registered Republican In His Home State

Biotech millionaire and 2024 Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, according to a Friday NBC News report, is classified as an "'unaffiliated' voter" in the Ohio county "he's been registered to vote since November 2021."

Ahead of the first GOP debate earlier this week, several polls indicated that Ramaswamy had "moved into third place in the 2024 GOP presidential primary," but his "MAGA comments" during the debate "drew applause from Republican voters in the audience, indicating that he has a good shot at overtaking [Florida Governor Ron] DeSantis in the primary."

Per NBC, the GOP hopeful "has not voted in a Republican primary recently enough to be affiliated with the party in his home state's voting records," and "he brushed past a question about his sparse voting history during Wednesday's GOP presidential debate."

NBC reports:

According to voting records first posted by an account called Ohio Legislative Watch on X, the website formerly known as Twitter, Ramaswamy did not vote in the Ohio state primaries last year. The records, which NBC News has independently reviewed, also show 'no history recorded' in the primary held this past May.

Earlier this year, the GOP hopeful "proposed adding a constitutional amendment to raise the voting age from eighteen to twenty-five unless citizens pass a civics test or enlist for six months of public service."

According to the 26th Amendment to the United States Constitution, "the right of citizens of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of age."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.