Trumpspell

Victor Garber Jesus character sings
the stinging lyrics "Alas For You" in Godspell (1973)

Alas, alas for you,
Lawyers and pharisees,
Hypocrites that you are.
Sure that the kingdom of Heaven awaits you,
You will not venture half so far.
Other men who might enter the gates you,
Keep from passing through!
Drag them down with you!

-Stephen Schwartz

As a theater major in college and someone who embraced musicals, the lyrics (inspired by Scripture) are ringing through especially this week. The song (Alas For You) is a reenactment of when Jesus was confronted about who He would follow. It was a political trap by the religious leaders of his time. Would He denounce the church or the Roman ruler, Caesar.  To paraphrase, His answer was: give to Caesar what belongs to him, and give to God what belongs to God. 

Last week Donald Trump gave a press conference which devolved quickly into a shouting match over the Charlottesville melee involving White Nationalists. Following Trump's remarks, which seemed to give racists and other hate groups safe space, CEO's who sat on the President's Manufacturing Council resigned, followed by his Strategy and Policy Forum, and then his Infrastructure Council never got off the ground. Finally, the Arts and Humanities Committee tossed in the towel.  But his Right Wing Evangelical force (perhaps singing Onward Christian Political Soldier) remains his steadfast allies under his Trumpspell. 

A Trump supporter sending a mixed message

I watched Trump bully the media, hide his tax returns, defame his opponents with the most cruel rumors, encourage his rally attenders to knock the shit out of people, and get exposed on tape, on tape bragging about how he could sexually assault women. But for some bizarre reason, the Religious Right Pastors, saw Trump's candidacy as being ordained by God. Donald Trump courted the Christian vote all the way to the White House while doing some of the most shocking and jaw-dropping things any candidate has ever done.  This, in my opinion, goes to the character of the man. Any registered voter can vote for a crazy man if he wants to, but don't try to convince us that he's normal, or an angel. As someone whose seen the best and worse from church types (myself included), the religious community is deceiving itself as well as its followers.  

One lone pastor from Trump's Evangelical Advisory board apparently drew a line after Trump's attempt last week, to tell reporters and the country that the Klan and other hate group's agenda was no worse than those who oppose them. Pastor A.R. Bernard spoke with Joy Reid on her program about his concerns of where this president's agenda was headed.

L-R Pastor AR Bernard, Joy Reid, and Pastor Mark Burns

"I don't think he's racist; I think he's ill-advised. I think he's an opportunist and I think a lot of what he's doing and saying is politically motivated. His vacillation over the weekend from one position to another simply indicates to me that he never established a set of core values that guides his thinking and a moral compass-- so that vacillation for me is Him being tossed back and forth between opinions that surround him and that's problematic for a leader. --At some point in time you have to have a set of internal convictions that say okay this is what I believe in, regardless; this is what I'm going to support." -Pastor AR Bernard AM Joy August 19, 2017

In that same interview Bernard said he was hoping that by being on Trump's council he could effect change, but finally conceded their paths were different. But Pastor Mark Burns, when asked about the beatings that pastors endured by these hate groups, side-stepped the question by giving a nervous and confusing mini-sermon of how people must think of themselves as Christian first and being black second.

Jerry Falwell Jr. defends Donald Trump on Sunday's show

Jerry Falwell, Jr. stepped into the fray Sunday, on ABC's This Week, after no GOP spokesman would defend Trump. And for Falwell the important issue was that Trump didn't give into his political foes on political correctness. He continued to avoid Trump's failure in calling these men domestic terrorists, sighting that political correctness is the real issue. Finally towards the end of the interview, Falwell offered this analogy:

"I heard his statement the other day-- I didn't hear anything that would offend somebody, but I was speaking to some of my friends in the Jewish community in Charlottesville-- I have a very good friend who is the president of the largest historically black college in the United States, Hampton University-- and we started having conversations, and they started explaining how insecure and how scared they felt that day-- when these terrorist groups were walking up and down the sidewalk, right outside their synagogue-- and I understand how good people could hear the same statement, and take away different things from it,-- and after hearing that, I understand how some people could misunderstand his words. And Yes, he could be more polished and politically correct, but that's why I supported him, because he's not." Jerry Falwell Jr. ABC This Week

As I scratched my head in an effort to try and earnestly understand Mr. Falwell Jr's statement, it was
and still remains, a real WTH moment for me. He could empathize not with the fear his black and Jewish friends felt in the shadow of terrorists parading up and down their streets, but with how they could misunderstand Trump's non-politically correct unpolished talk. It's as though people see something bad, but the Christian Religious Right, in their zeal, want God's kingdom to be set up in

Christian Broadcast Network founder Pat Robertson
greets Trump with head bowed

Washington DC at any expense. A person religious or atheist, has the right to vote for the candidate of his or her choice. But so-called moral leaders do not have the right to pick and choose their brand of acceptable good and tell this country this is what God has for us. You need to stop laying hands on just any politician for his promises, or sticking Scripture next to his name on social media, attempting to make him into God's image. There is no collective, "Thus sayeth the Lord" for America.


I stand by the personal belief that I will treat a person, the way I want to be treated. If the church is preaching another sermon, then I'll stay outside of their walls. If people can recognize a bad leader for America, through his bigotry, misogyny, and dishonesty; why can't the church?

Previous blog special: Evil Came to Charlottesville

Related: Human Decency and Respect is not political correctness. 

It's part of The Constitution

Evil Came to Charlottesville

You kill a black man at midnight
Just for talking to your daughter,
Then you make his wife your mistress
And you leave her without water;
And the sheet you wear upon your face
Is the sheet your children sleep on,
At every meal you say a prayer;
You don't believe but still you keep on.
Larry Norman





I remember this protest song from the 1970's from an obscure artist, Larry Norman, entitled the "The Great American Novel." These words came crashing into my brain this week as I watched an event in Charlottesville go from a racial clash, to a leader, and possibly a whole administration, that wants to have it both ways. Brene Brown, (Author, teacher, and lecturer) in a presentation remarks:

"Racism is trauma, poverty is trauma, classism is trauma, homophobia is trauma.-- When vulnerability, the ability to be who we are, becomes a realm of only the privileged, we have lost our capacity to create a school, a home and a country that we love." 
-Brené Brown, SXSWedu 2017 Keynote, Daring Classrooms

This week our country was asked by our president to understand that people who have intolerance to other people are not so bad. Donald Trump, in a wild shouting match with the press, claimed the people came to Charlottesville Friday to peacefully demonstrate.

" There were people in that rally-- and I looked the night before-- if you look they were people protesting very quietly, the taking down of the statue of Robert E Lee"- Donald Trump

As I watched the livestream on Friday night, I saw something different than Mr. Trump did.
Friday night August 11, a mob of mostly young men with Tiki torches screaming from the Thomas Jefferson to the Robert E Lee statues, "You will not replace us-- Blood and Soil--- Whose Streets... Our streets!!!" Plus it's obvious to the casual observer what a mob of thousand lit Tiki torches are designed for--- These so-called protestors that Mr. Trump defended to the press surrounded the Confederate statue with the VA student anti-protestors trapped at the foot of the memorial, with no exit route. On the UVA campus, people gathered for an all faith prayer meeting:

"We were worshiping, and close to the end of our worship service we received the message that we could not leave the church because a mob was approaching the church with torches. They were chanting blood and soil-- they were chanting you will not replace us-- they were chanting Jews will not replace us-- they were chanting white lives matter-- and for over 30 minutes we were not allowed to leave the church. When we were finally allowed to leave, we could not go out the front door for fear that we would be assaulted. We were ushered out the side door and the back into alleys; this is America in 2017" - Reverend Traci Blackmon Executive Minister, United Church of Christ 

She describes something echoing back to the 1950's. It was something that was done in secret, away from the public. But what the President of the United States described to reporters as a peaceful quiet protest, had been orchestrated under the tent, "Unite The Right." A combining of Neo- Nazi's, Klansmen, and White Nationalist. They were there to terrorize the population of this college town, in the name of white purity. They came looking for a confrontation. Men like Christopher Cantwell, a proclaimed White Nationalist, and spokesman for "Unite The Right" met with a news team covering the demonstration. He bragged openly about being willing to kill.

White Nationalist Christopher Cantwell "Unite The Right" 

"Of course we're capable. I'm carrying a pistol-- I go to the gym all the time. I'm trying to make myself capable of violence. I'm here to spread ideas-- talk in the hopes that someone more capable will come along and do that. Someone like Donald Trump does not give his daughter to a Jew."- Christopher Cantwell "Unite The Right" Race and Terror, Vice News

 

These are not peaceful people. They have a racist agenda of white domination in America. They came to Charlottesville to be seen before America and the media, promoting the idea of saving the Robert E Lee statue which is set for removal from Lee Park in Charlottesville. The real agenda in my opinion, was to come out of the shadows as a recruitment stunt for others with their views. Racist hate speech and demonstrations are nothing new in this country. But what is new is a President who by Monday of this week saw their activities and cause in a different angle. He pushed back on reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower proclaiming that there were nice people on both sides, and there was enough blame to go around.

"...Excuse me-- what about the alt left? They came charging at the, as you say, 'the alt right-- 'Do they have any semblance of guilt? --Let me ask you this: what about the fact that they came charging with clubs in their hand swinging clubs? Do they have any problem, I think they do.-- I watch those, very closely much more closely than you people watched it, and you had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent, and nobody wants to say that but I'll say it right now-- you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit and they were very very violent. --I've condemned Neo-Nazis-- I've condemned many different groups but not all of those people were Neo-Nazis, believe me, not all of those people were white supremacist by any stretch."

I had to watch this press briefing (that was suppose to be about his infrastructure plans) several times, just to wrap my brain around the idea; our President is trying to change our perspective on racists and white nationalists.  America was still reeling from the weekend melee that took place in Charlottesville, ending in a young woman's death at the hands of a radicalized white supremacist, when Trump began this mad man's argument. We saw the Neo-Nazis, the KKK, (who traded their traditional klan garb for polo shirts, khaki pants, and Make America Great Again ball caps), punching with brass knuckles, clubbing with bats, flinging water bottles of water and urine at their adversaries. We saw the architect of race purging, David Duke, rear his ugly head to proclaim that the Alt-Right was hear to reclaim America for the white man.

But this president pushed half the blame for what happened, and dropped it into the column of those who opposed the Klan, the Neo-Nazis, and others with a white purist agenda. It left me stunned, and no doubt other's reeling. He can't see the difference in white supremacy, and Americans who (aside from political ideas), believe we all share the same principles. 

Many people, from ordinary folks on social media to mainstream media, and folks on both sides of the political isle, have denounced his rouge conference. 

America from social media to the mainstream
were shocked by Trump's proclamation

"Mr. President, people, good people don't pal around with Nazis and white supremacist; maybe they don't consider themselves white supremacist and Nazis, but certainly they hold those views. This has become very troubling and for anyone to come on any network and defend what President Trump did and said at their press conference yesterday-- is completely lost and has the potential to be morally bankrupt."- Gianno Caldwell, Republican Political Strategist

No matter what political beliefs you might have, if your moral compass points North, Trump's words left you in shock.

But there were those who responded to Trump's remarks with perverse glee. Both Richard Spencer, who is the author of the Neo-Nazi movement "The Alt Right" (giving Hitler salutes of Hail Trump, Hail to our Leader"), and the morally bankrupted, David Duke, sent positive Tweets and remarks back to Trump after his Monday wild street-corner shouting match with the press. This was their victory dance. Donald Trump has done their dirty work and normalized their cause at our expense. I won't even dignify their sick mindset with direct quotes or pictures. Perhaps many of you understand what Trump's "Make America Great Again" cry has meant for soulless men like these. To tell America that we need to simply forgive, and come together, rings hollow. In some sad way, most of us have come together over the death of Heather Heyer who was snatched away this life, thanks to a radical terrorist. And some have come together because of the failing of this president to call evil something that is not so bad. But we as a Nation are living with the trauma of failed leadership.

For the sake of this country which belongs to all of us, and our children and generations to come, we cannot let this President's words go unchallenged.

Artist Sam Welty painting a mural of Heather on the town's Freedom of Speech Wall.

The Taylor Swift Grab

Taylor Swift performs the song "Safe and Sound"

In order to escape accountability from his crimes,

the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting.

Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator's first line of defense.

If Secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the victim's credibility.

From Judith Lewis Herman

Trauma and Recovery

I will be honest with you, I've never bought a Taylor Swift song, or been to a concert. That might make me less than a fan, but nevertheless, I know who she is, and I've caught a tune here or there. 

Miss Swift is at the peak of her popularity these days. With her clean looks and amazing musical magic, she's packing out concerts and scoring hits. But recently, Taylor has found herself fighting for reputation as an artist and a person.

In 2013 Taylor says she was “violated” by a then–country radio DJ, in a way she “had never experienced before.” David Mueller, who was 51 to Swift’s 23 at the time, “grabbed my ass underneath my skirt,” -Slate.Com Aug. 10. 2017

When the incident happened Swift's mom chose not to take it to the media or the police, but instead reported it directly to Muller's boss who took quick action and fired the then Country-Western DJ. Apparently in Muller's head, he did nothing wrong that should have gotten him fired. So he's now trying to get some revenge and payback by suing Taylor Swift. This seems to be a tactic that perps  use these days. They'd rather eat a shit sandwich than admit what they did was wrong. If any system finds them guilty of sexual misconduct, perpetrators have retrained themselves to steal a victim's narrative and hide among the wrongfully accused while employing acting skills and claim bogus victimization.

Taylor Swift center poses with David Muller and Girlfriend

Aside from the fact that this ass-grabbing thing, is just crude and stupid to do to someone you know in public, it takes a lot of nerve to think anyone should put up with handling them like a piece of choice meat. But in the narcissist's mind, he must win at all costs. The truth is against him; reality isn't his friend, but he continues to shout, kick, accuse, and flail about like a man sinking in quicksand. I looked at the photo that Taylor Swift posed for with  Muller's girlfriend. If Muller's fingers were around her waist, then he's got arms like Gumby.


I mentioned the fact that I'm not a fan of Miss Swifts, (in the conventional sense) not because I don't like her or her music, but because her celebrity status doesn't prejudice me one way or the other. She is a person and a human being who shouldn't have to endure this type of treatment from fans, friends, or anyone.

Other Pop celebs like Beyonce have been the target of stupid people whose pitiful excuse was that they couldn't help themselves. In 2013 in Copenhagen, Denmark, in the midst of strutting down the stage and slapping hands of screaming fans, one guy couldn't help himself; he crossed the line by giving the superstar a whack on the ass.  Her reaction? She gracefully turns around and states: “I will have you escorted out right now, alright?” -Beyonce's Response to Getting Butt Slapped Exemplifies Why We Need to React to Everyday Injustices Alternet.Org May 29, 2013

Fortunately for the Copenhagen fan, he took his scolding, and it ended there. David Muller, Ex- DJ on the other hand thinks that the lawsuit will help him get his manhood and dignity back. But Swift refused to settle out of court or to blink in any way. Her counter suit of one dollar seems to be symbolic of what the real issue is about.

She says she is not suing for money, but rather to convey a warning on behalf of all American women about sexual assault and is hoping that a favorable verdict by a Denver jury of six women and two men will send the message of "get your groping hands off us" to men across the nation and around the world.  CNN.com August 10, 2017

If Muller and his attorney were hoping to encounter a shrinking

Courtroom sketch of Taylor Swift

violet, full of remorse or too afraid to face her assailant again, from all accounts in the Denver court room today, she remained calm and unwavering in her convictions that Muller would not get a pay-day off of her. And if Swift was too busy before with her career, or was indifferent to the issue of sexual assault in the past, she's not anymore. It's possible that David Muller indirectly might be responsible for creating another advocate. Whoops!! But that, in my book, is a bonus. 

 When McFarland asked her how she felt when Mueller got the boot from his job at the Denver radio station, Swift said she had no response. “I am not going to allow your client to make me feel like it is any way my fault, because it isn’t,” she said. Later, she continued: “I am being blamed for the unfortunate events of his life that are a product of his decisions and not mine.” Women who allege sexual assault are scolded all the time for ruining men’s lives, even if those men are proven guilty. Swift’s sharp testimony is a very visible condemnation of that common turn in cases like these. That’s an important message for women who may find themselves in Swift’s position someday, and maybe even more so for the men who’ll be called on to support or rebuff them.- August 10, 2017 Slate.com

The Judge of course threw out the silly trial, declaring Muller failed to show burden of proof that Swift intended to hurt his career. I'll be a little nerdy here and say, chalk up one for the good guys!

 6-year-old Taylor Rayburn diagnosed
 with kidney cancer

Fame is not, and should never be, a trade-off for self worth. And whether Taylor wins or loses this legal battle today, she has a new fan in me.










Related:
Some people are declaring their freedom under the new President. For them it means life, liberty, and the pursuit of grabbiness. Check out my YouTube channel on this issue.

Click here for Youtube 

THE INVISIBLE WARRIOR REPORT: Sexual Harassment- The Beat Goes On

THE INVISIBLE WARRIOR REPORT: Sexual Harassment- The Beat Goes On: The beat goes on, the beat goes on. Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain. La de da de de, la de da de dai. Charleston was once the rage...

Sexual Harassment- The Beat Goes On

The beat goes on, the beat goes on.
Drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain.
La de da de de, la de da de dai.
Charleston was once the rage, uh huh,
History has turned the page, uh huh.

- Sonny Bono

Drums Keep Pounding a Rhythm to The Brain

I am dumfounded that sexual harassment scandals continue not just among politicians like Anthony Weiner, who sexted penis pictures, but the beat goes on with "on-air media types" who claim to be the voices for truth and justice for us all.  Bill O'Reilly, long time voice for right-wing journalism on Fox News, was finally forced off the air because the stench of allegations against him were too overwhelming, including:

"Approaching an African American woman whose desk was near his, referring to her as “hot chocolate,” and grunting like a “wild boar”
offering multiple unwanted sexual advances and lewd comments to a woman producer on his show, phoning her “when it sounded as if he was masturbating” and describing “various sexual fantasies”
suggesting that she “buy a vibrator,” “engage in phone sex or a threesome with him,” and listen to “the details of his alleged sexual encounters with a cabana masseuse, airline stewardesses, and Thai sex-show workers”- The Atlantic, April 19,2017

L- Gretchen Carlson, R- former CEO Roger Ailes

The former top guy at Fox News:  Roger Ailes got outed in July 2016, after allegations emerged that he had harassed female colleagues.

"In a lawsuit, former anchor Gretchen Carlson claimed she was sacked for refusing Ailes’ advances. Six other female Fox employees and former Fox host, Megyn Kelly, also alleged harassment by Ailes.- Newsweek August 5, 2017

Boys Keep Chasing Girls

And now, out of that same camp, comes allegations of Eric Bolling's unprofessional and disrespectful behavior towards women.  Bolling was a former co-host of the Five and recently began an O'Reilly Factor replacement gig of an afternoon show known as the "Specialists." Ironically Bolling, a voice decrying the disgusting behavior of Anthony Weiner, now has been accused by three female colleagues of sending them sexting pics of someone's man parts.  Fox, looking past his "Boobs on the ground" remark, and referring to another on-air female contributor Caroline Heldman, a politics professor at Occidental College, as "McHottie" now has been forced to deal with this issue.

Eric Bolling on suspension

I can't help it if you feel like there is a conspiracy against all right-wing male journalists at Fox. The  problem is with the institution, and not with me or anyone who would tell you to your face that sexual harassment from anyone is wrong and indefensible. When any institution or corporation throws out a few bad apples but doesn't dig deeper to root out this cancerous behavior, then they're asking for more blow-back of the same kind.

Little Girls Still Break Their Hearts

Victims of sexual harassment face losing their jobs, being branded as a troublemaker, a liar, or worse. Caroline Heldman chose to try to navigate through the harassment with Bolling, O'Reilly, and Roger Ailes right hand guy Bill Shine, to try to keep making a difference on-air. As I look at Twitter and Facebook accounts, I'm blown away by the insensitive and down-right misogynist replies from full grown people with high-school mindsets. When you trade plain ordinary values of respect for the devotion to our favorite politician, celebrity, or institution, then humanity is in trouble.

So here is my final big-picture thought-- If you think women who accuse men of this, have an agenda of trying to wreck someone's career, you're part of the problem. If you think sexual harassment is no big deal, then you're disconnected from people. If you think it's a political conspiracy, or the person making the complaints hates your party, then you really don't care about the truth. It's easier for me to turn the channel, rather than turn my back on victims of sexual harassment. And no person on either side of the political isle should get your vote, knowing that they carried on in a way that demeans another person.

Activist Celebrity David Schwimmer

"I really feel like men need to be made aware that this is happening to their wives, their daughters, their sisters, and their mothers. I don't know anyone in my family, that hasn't been a victim of sexual harassment." - David Schwimmer, Associated Press April 5, 20017

Check out David's video series on this issue. Of course Sexual Harassment can happen to either gender. So my aim goes to those who are in power, as well as those making excuses for this behavior.

Watch and share my Invisible Warrior Report
RAPE KIT BACKLOG: JUSTICE DENIED
On YouTube