For once, Trump staged an event that didn’t seem to be too grifty,
It was a taxpayer-funded religious event called Rededicate 250.
Trump sent a tape from April — his speech was plodding,
But he wasn’t there because instead he went golfing,
So he missed the prayers and hymns and Christians who attended — sparsely.
“God deserves all the glory. Tens of thousands of strikes carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection. God is good.”
— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters.
Circana BookScan found that sales of the Good Book are up by 22% for the year through the end of October compared to the same period in 2023. Total U.S. book sales were up by just 1% in the same period. HarperCollins Publishers even named the Bible a “particularly strong seller” in its most recent earnings report, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A new Pew Research Center survey “finds that 80% of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking – a percentage that’s as high as it’s ever been in our surveys. … Most Americans who say religion’s influence is shrinking are not happy about it. Overall, 49% of U.S. adults say both that religion is losing influence and that this is a bad thing. An additional 8% of U.S. adults think religion’s influence is growing and that this is a good thing.”
Hey, christianists! It’s like they say: “You can’t misspell ‘hypochristy’ without ‘Christ.'”
Apparently, turning the other cheek don’t sit so well with our American evangelical brethren anymore. No, the literal Jesus of the literal Bible is simply too woke for 21st century Southern Baptists. Check this from an NPR interview with Russell Moore, a former leader in the Southern Baptists cult:
It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — “turn the other cheek” — [and] to have someone come up after to say, “Where did you get those liberal talking points?” And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, “I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,” the response would not be, “I apologize.” The response would be, “Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak.” And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we’re in a crisis.
“[A]lmost every part of American life is tribalized and factionalized,” said the Baptist, who is not Catholic or Jewish or Muslim or Methodist or Christian Scientist or Mormon or — you get it.
“I think if we’re going to get past the blood and soil sorts of nationalism or all of the other kinds of totalizing cultural identities, it’s going to require rethinking what the church is,” Moore told NPR.
At Pensito, we are 100% in favor of “rethinking what the church is.”
“You know, people say, ‘Well, the Bible is not a political book, and we shouldn’t be involved,’ and I’m just like, ‘Have you ever read it?’ It’s like every single chapter is like dripping in it!”
— Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) told a gathering of Christian nationalists that they have been called by God to establish Christ’s kingdom and government here on Earth.
A Utah parent filed a challenge to have the Bible removed from public school libraries, citing passages describing sex and violence. The committee appointed to review the complaint said the Bible may remain in high school libraries, but it will be removed from elementary and middle schools for containing “vulgarity or violence.”
“There are many God-fearing Christians who are Democrats, there’s not a single God fearing Christian that is a leftist, because those two things are incompatible.”
— Derrick Van Orden (R), who is running in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional district, said that at a prayer breakfast, the La Cross Tribune reports.
“I think we have a responsibility to our students — who paid to be here, who want to be here, who love it here — to give them the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they’ve already paid for and to not interrupt their college life.”
— Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.“As the coronavirus threatens to spread across the Lynchburg region, Liberty University officials are preparing to welcome back up to 5,000 students from spring break this week,” the Lynchburg News & Advance reports.
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”
— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.
“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”
— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.
“Donald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July,” The Guardian reports. “His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions.”
“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.
A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.