Trump won. I voted for him. No, not apologizing. I am not a team player. I was bullied as a kid. Abused by a school teacher. Heard the admonition that because of me, my parents were miserable. My bad attitude has an origin story.
Over two-thousand years ago a dissident stone mason from Nazareth got himself crucified. He was one of many dissident voices offering hope and change for the Jews occupied by the Roman Empire. You know His story even if you don’t believe. So I can’t be one more who worries about fealty to the law, the current emperor, and my reputation.
This space is contrarian. It has no fucks to give to those who offer this bargain—sing what the rest of the choir is singing or else. I don’t care about whatever I’m being bullied into singing. I care about the threat. There are rules to this that I honor. But one of them isn’t chasing affirmation from a particular tribe.
The Will to Fight
Red or Blue doesn’t matter. tbh—I am more anarchist than anything else. My heart is still broken a bit from my two years as a member of Taxi Unlimited. I still believe small businesses can be run as collectives. I vote Republican because the Progressives have lost their minds. They chase affirmation and the thrill of outrage. Progressivism has been kidnapped by feminine zealots who hunger for praise from their tribe and for the thrill of conflict with their enemies. These zealots just want the fight, nothing else.
A zealot who insists on fighting in the name of their pseudo-religion is fair game. Said zealot who throws a tantrum and threatens self-harm and shunning me because obvi, I’ll comply to prevent this? I pray they don’t harm themselves. Also, their tantrum is a waste of breath. But hey, do you boo.
I follow Jesus. He said, “Matthew 5:39, ‘But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Different sort of warrior. His fellow Jews wanted him to go to war with Rome.
You Do It
Where the culture said Zeus or Apollo would fulfill wishes Jesus said, “you do it.” Huh? Are we god? The temple is a building. In it are rabbis who help you offer sacrifices. What did he mean by saying we are the church? That’s blasphemy.
So here we are. We had an election and the Reds won. So say the Woke True Folk I should buy a shrine at my local Asian Grocery. Once I have it, light incense to Orange Mussolini and praise his holy name. Because I don’t support the Blues so I must love the Reds, obvi.
I was assigned fealty to the Reds by the Blues. Nobody asked me, nobody cared. We are either loyal to the Blues or we are enemies of them. Pushed around like that and my answer should be obvious, GFY. I’ve been a member of my church for over twenty years. Before that I was raised Presbyterian. They know me and still want me. I don’t have to put up with judgy cry-bullies.
Neither Blue Nor Red, White
I’m loyal to a martyred stone mason who was crucified a couple thousand years ago by the Romans. Because I’ve been shunned by most since I was a kid. This guy, this Jesus, so much an outsider that he was murdered by his religious brothers, I get him.
I didn’t invent this outsider identity. That stone mason from Nazareth came before me. We are the noisy tip of the spear that gets most of the headlines, likes, and follows. To choose to be a writer or any other occupation without a defined pay rate is to be one of the few who accepts the risk of rejection and an insecure future. This includes saying the sinner’s prayer at the front of the church during an altar call.
Trump won. So I’m supposed to protect my status by joining the scolds posting videos of head shaving and celibacy. Or since I am accused of being a Cheeto Satan sycophant buy a new home shrine idolizing the Orange Tyrant. The new regime means a new idolatry for Kim Jong Orange. Pass.
Kings Can’t Be Evil, Can They?
We don’t elect kings. Almost 250 years ago we told King George to go fuck himself. He didn’t react well to that. In 1789 we adopted a constitution that created a republic. Since then we argue about what that means. Since 1913 dissidents have fought to make America Communist (again). The current generation of Progressives accuse us of hating Trans people, among other allegations.
So . . . new President and new idolatry. The occupant of the chair changes but the zealots refuse to modify their ways. We still must genuflect before a shrine to the demigods in DC. Whether Red or Blue the demands are the same. I follow Christ, so . . . no.
This itch for a king goes back thousands of years. Israel demanded a King against God’s advice through Samuel. So we get Saul. And Solomon, David then fast forward quite a bit and Woodrow Wilson suggests that government should be the province of science and academia. Because these would be more wise and less tempted than the rest of us. Yeah ok.
Absolute Power
Why was Jesus such a threat? Because he said we are the temple of the new kingdom. Each of us, individually, is the new king. Not Caesar, not Obama, Biden or Orange Foolius. Trump’s victory marks the end of a bureaucratic dynasty. The Mao adjacent ascendancy of the King’s Court ruling us fell from power once DJT was inaugurated. It was supposed to be a millennial dynasty. It’s an order of magnitude sooner.
Wilson’s blind spot and one shared by many Woke True Folk is sin. With enough education and science evil is a solvable problem, right? One wishes. Well, with enough law the flaws of man can be overcome, no? Look around you. We are obese with law. Is evil defeated? Or maybe Jesus was wise and the answer is us, each of us on our own. The world we have is both light and dark, 陰陽. A king and/or his court is still human and at risk of sin. Law, science, and education can’t obviate something created when the universe was born.
So I complain about shouty, strident scolds in this space. These zealots punish anyone who deviates in the slightest from their tower of law, science and truth. It is a mortal sin to tilt at their tower of facts built of wind and water. That my sinful words cause me to be shunned is of no consequence. Anyway, there are not enough hours in a lifetime to self-confess my ancestral sin and enviable privilege. No tribunal convening a struggle session will ever be sufficient. I follow Jesus so . . .
All Hail Trump Brulée
New President, new ideology stinking up the Oval Office thus requiring a new deification of the occupants of the White House? Maybe for you. Not for me. What happens on Mount Olympus has little impact on my life. I am happy Trump won because the bureaucracy’s rise to power became untenable. We need to get back to who we were in the eighteenth century—a rogue nation of zealous Christian dissidents governing by and for the people.
So no one in DC is worthy of such an elevated adoration. They are not gods. They are men with a vision of how you run this nation of malcontents. It changes every four years. We’ve had more or less of a tyrannical bureaucracy running things for over a century. I hope Trump is the one to end it and usher us into a new era grounded in our beginnings and innovating our way to a better future.
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