Jesus saves Trump

At a Christian rally to hear testimonials: even in mainline Protestant churches, the old politics of respectability is dead

Orgies, having sex with both men and women, doing far too many drugs, and then, "My life was saved by Jesus." Last night I listened to several Christians give testimony. They were all Trump supporters and it occurred to me they have an easy time forgiving Trump because they too have been forgiven.

One of my Trump friends invited me to a special event at her church last night and I went along not realizing it involved testimony. Testimony is rare at her church, apparently they only do it once every 3 months. These stories were wild: sex, drugs, violence, murder plots.

One woman moved out to LA to become an actress and she spent her late teens and early 20s in a hardcore party scene, involving sex with multiple partners and tons of drugs. Then she told us how she was saved by Jesus. This story seemed almost normal compared to some of the others.

Maybe the wildest story was the woman who hated her husband and so, when he went to Columbia on business, she contacted various criminal friends to help her find a hitman who could kill her husband. But later she was saved by Jesus. Her husband eventually died of cancer -- this was a laugh line.

Seriously, she said, "My husband died in 2010. But I didn't kill him, I swear!" The whole room laughed. Her husband died of cancer and somehow this was the laugh line of her story. I get how these people all forgive Trump of his sins, after a night like this.

A surprise, for me, is how much the mainline Christian testimonies now overlaps with the testimonies given at Alcoholic's Anonymous. When I was a teenager there was still a wide gap between the respectable churches and the 12 Step Programs, but no longer.

Ever since I was a teenager, I have had friends who struggle with drugs and alcohol, and I've gone with them to 12 Step meetings. I got used to "I was doing too many drugs and having too much sex, but then I was saved by Jesus." Although when I was a teenager AA moved away from "Jesus."

The counter-culture of the 1960s was full of people who would say, "I am very spiritual but I reject organized religion." These were the people who expanded the diffuse movement known as New Age spirituality. These people changed the culture of Alcoholics Anonymous. They insisted on saying "I was doing too many drugs and having too much sex and then my life was saved by my Higher Power" rather than say "Jesus." But the idea was the same. And I do sort of get, when you listen to these stories, then Trump cheating on his wife no longer seems like a big deal.

Historians such as Elaine Pagels tell us that the tradition of testimony goes back to the early days of the Christian faith. But the larger orthodox churches were uncomfortable it. Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, all tried to put limits on testimony. The Protestants brought it back in the 1500s, in a big way. But the specific traditions that we associate with the 12 Step program were invented by John Wesley in the 1730s. He was reacting to the gin epidemic, that was killing the British working class.

The earliest phase of the Industrial Revolution saw the invention of cheap gin, and the results were devastating. We are talking about a devastation many orders of magnitude more serious than the current opioid epidemic in the USA. The gin epidemic killed enough people that population growth slowed.

So John Wesley invented the Methodist sect, and their strict stance against alcohol. And that movement gained strength during the 1800s and spread to the USA. Lutheran ministers such as Frank Buchman, his "parties" where he asked for real "Christian commitment" and lifestyle change contributed.

There were offshoots from the Methodist movement that were specifically setup to fight against alcoholism, but some of those movements, in the 1930s, developed an association with fascism which probably encouraged an American movement that was clear of such influence.

Alcoholics Anonymous was setup in the 1930s, with help from Bill W and others, though by the 1950s Bill W was seen as the sole leader of the group. But even then, I have the impression that some of the mainline Christian groups were uncomfortable with the kind of testimony given at such meetings.

But my point is, whatever division existed in the past, no longer exists. Last night I was at a regular church, and the testimonies that I heard given were exactly the kind of stuff that you might hear at any 12 Step Program: "I was doing too much drugs, had too much sex, then I was saved by Jesus."

I often struggle to understand what motivates people to support Trump. Especially Christians. But last night, I could see how these people would resonate with Trump: Trump was a sinner just like they were. And the Democrats were the type of people who denounced sinners.

I can imagine that these people don't resonate with someone like Biden because he is not an obvious sinner like they are. But Trump is an obvious sinner, like they are, and so they feel more comfortable with him.

I am only guessing, but I think their sentiment is something like, "I am an ugly sinner, hated by the world, and Trump is an ugly sinner, hated by the world, therefore I can trust him, because he and I are similar. I cannot trust the Democrats because they seem to be respectable and therefore alien".

It is a total cultural revolution, and it is this revolution that gave us Trump as President. Think about the word "anonymous." For many years I have said "Alcoholics Anonymous" as a proper noun, without thinking about its constituent parts. But why did "anonymous" seem important in the 1930s?

Even as recently as 2012 I recall asking a friend of mine where she had met her new boyfriend and she responded, "I'm not allowed to tell you." But of course, that did tell me. In my social circles, that meant they had met "in the rooms." And she was trying to keep it anonymous.

In the 1930s, it was important to remain respectable, even if you were an alcoholic. Whatever testimony you gave, it should not be repeated. The freedom to give testimony depended on people's ability to go back to their lives after the meeting was over.

And so there used to be a wide gap between the respectable churches and what you would hear at a 12 Step meeting. But no longer. On Wednesday, people had their phones out and were recording everything on video. There was no expectation of privacy. "I had too much sex with men and women" was public.

This was a mainline church, and the people were affluent, but the old politics of respectability were dead. The woman who described, in detail, how she tried to find hitmen to kill her husband described everything while a dozen people recorded her on video. She felt no need to be anonymous.

After a night listening to such shocking stories, I sort of understand why these people support Trump. Nothing he does seems especially shocking, in light of the testimonies given at this church. These people feel they are hated sinners, and Trump is a hated sinner, so they feel affinity with him.