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'Full Frontal' Forces The Question: Is Trump's Campaign Good For America?

By Emily Cutler | Politics | July 19, 2016 |

By Emily Cutler | Politics | July 19, 2016 |


Before you get too pissed, that headline is not at all clickbait because I’m sincerely asking this question: Is there a slim possibility that Donald Trump’s presidential run is a good thing for the U.S.? Let’s start with a couple of establishing facts brought to you by Full Frontal.

1) Everything regarding this year’s GOP Convention is a shitshow.

Bonus fact: Mike Pence is an asshole. Jot that in your notes.

2) A large number of Republican voters don’t give a fuck that it’s a shitshow.

Man, I’m glad they acknowledged how shamefully slappable that kid is. Hitting people is never acceptable, but we all have to admit we wanted to, right?

The more important part here is that a large number of “Christian” voters are bending over backward not to remove Trump as their party’s nominee, not to convince themselves that they should like him as their candidate, and not to pretend that his history is that of a good Christian leader, but to justify why they like him so much. And they like him not because he’s a good Christian, but because he tells them over and over again the three things they want to hear: America used to be great; foreigners, liberals, and gays ruined the country; we’re right to take it back.

The entirety of the “Religious Right” has nothing to do with small government or Christian values, and everything to do with xenophobia, misogyny, and a raging inferiority complex. And it has for the past 30 years. The difference this year is that Trump doesn’t have the Christian street cred to dress it up. Meaning we’re now also exposing the fact that “Christians” who just want to be able to freely follow their religion by forcing it on everyone else don’t actually give a shit about being Christian. Pence has built a career by being a nice, gentlemanly Christian who isn’t going to judge people, he’s just compelled to do what he believes is right. And it’s horsehit. He wasn’t a misogynistic, homophobic asshole before because Jesus told him to be. He did it because he’s an asshole.

And now, everyone can see he’s an asshole. Trump isn’t a Conservative Christian. No amount of mental gymnastics is going to convince us of that. What his nomination has proven is that the evangelical right wasn’t pursuing “tough” policies because that’s what their religion demanded of them, they demanded a hate-filled, punitive religion because they’re assholes. Having an asshole like Trump out that isn’t the way I’d have preferred this had gone, but at this point, I’ll take it.