Eric Metaxas has become a parody of himself. Others have chronicled his journey down the Trump rabbit hole over the past weeks (see links below). This post returns to the fake Bonhoeffer quote he made famous. Now he apparently wants it for himself.
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act. God will not hold us guiltless.”
— Eric Metaxas— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) December 11, 2020
Metaxas has bought into the election delusion of Donald Trump and taken a leadership role among those who are promoting it. This quote somehow is meant to vindicate his action supporting Trump. What is odd about it that he appears to be taking credit for it.
To my knowledge, he has never fully acknowledged that he attributed the quote falsely to Bonhoeffer in his books on the subject in the first place. He minimized his role in spreading the false attribution after I published a series of posts showing that the quote cannot be sourced to the great German pastor.
Now instead of to Bonhoeffer, he falsely attributes the quote to himself. Anything but set the record straight, I guess. What should we expect from a guy who has put his faith and trust in Donald Trump?
Others who have written regarding Eric Metaxas’ journey into election madness include:
Michael Gerson, Mark Wingfield, John Fea, Mark Silk, and Bob Smietana.
Remember your Christian Apocalyptic Catechism?
What happens to someone when they take The Mark?
Metaxas has taken The Mark of the Trump on forehead AND right hand.
I had no idea until recently that Metaxas has a show on AM radio. We all know that another AM radio titan, Rush Limbaugh, is not long for this world due to terminal lung cancer, and there will no doubt be a mad scramble to fill the void that Limbaugh will leave in the AM radio universe. Could Metaxas be pulling these stunts in an attempt to make the case that he should be Limbaugh’s replacement? It’s the only sane explanation I can think of…
Interesting idea. I think that, so often, it is about money …
(Incidentally, in some ways, Trump is performing a public service by relieving his supporters of cash for his legal wild goose chase. They then have less money for beer and bullets! Perhaps Metaxas could be of some similar kind of use? Just a thought …)
True, but U.S. White Nationalists and their Evangelical supporters won’t react well to financial hardship. Merely another reason why we will witness a continued rise in Domestic White Nationalist Terrorism, confirming precisely what many of us have foreseen for years.
There is certainly an issue with certain parts of the population feeling that they have been ‘left behind’. We saw this with the Brexit vote in the UK. The incoming administration certainly needs to seek to address this in whatever ways it can, although we all understand the constraints …
The origins of the warped senses of identity that drive people are, I think, very complex. Trump has done little or nothing to assist the poorest working folk in the US, but some of them love him and what he represents nonetheless. And white evangelicals are often pretty middle-class and of the view that the poor deserve to be poor. The whole Trumpangelical thing is extremely weird!
(My comment about Trump’s ‘redistributive public service’ was of course tongue-in-cheek. My guess is that those who keeping throwing their money at Trump have money to throw around.)
There is certainly an issue with certain parts of the population feeling that they have been ‘left behind’. We saw this with the Brexit vote in the UK. The incoming administration certainly needs to seek to address this in whatever ways it can, although we all understand the constraints …
The origins of the warped senses of identity that drive people are, I think, very complex. Trump has done little or nothing to assist the poorest working folk in the US, but some of them love him and what he represents nonetheless. And white evangelicals are often pretty middle-class and of the view that the poor deserve to be poor. The whole Trumpangelical thing is extremely weird!
(My comment about Trump’s ‘redistributive public service’ was of course tongue-in-cheek. My guess is that those who keep throwing their money at Trump have money to throw around.)
Because He will stick it to their Enemies, real and imagined.
SPITE is in play, where who cares if I win, YOU LOSE!
Lose-Lose Situation but Who Cares?
As I have suggested elsewhere, I think there is also an almost freudian aspect to some people’s ‘Trumplove’.
There are people for whom supporting Trump is about money and/or influence, of course, but, for many, it is IMO tribal or freudian. This is perhaps why, whatever Trumps has done (good or bad), his support has remained at roughly 43%* for the last four years.
*I know Trump garnered just under 47% in the national popular vote last month, but I reckon that the difference can be accounted for by ‘reluctant Trumpers’ and/or biddable opportunists (or maybe deluded, dyed-in-the-wool Republicans who cannot see that their party is not what it was, although it is interesting to note that down-ballet Republican candidates generally did a little better than Trump himself).
An aside: 43% was the level of support for Hitler in the 1933 election in Germany. It is a tribute to the US political system that, while 43% was enough for Hitler, it is not enough for Trump. (And maybe one fortunate aspect of Trump’s MO is he seems able to enthuse only his base, plus those who feel that they owe him something; he will never win over a majority of Americans – he has disgusted too many of them, whether it is, among other things, the cheap and dirty attitude to women, the racism or the lame-duck killing spree.)
Your problem is that you are looking for “sanity” when it comes to die-hard Trump supporters.
The Iron Throne will soon be empty.
And the Game of Thrones begins.
Daggers, Poison, and Red Weddings, with Divine Sanction.
And like the show, a very disappointing ending, no doubt…
“Eric Metaxas has become a parody of himself.”
Maybe he finds parodying himself to be actually quite lucrative? Quite a few of these ‘religious’ loonies seem pretty good at accumulating the dollars …
If Metaxas is delusional enough to think Trump won the election, maybe he is delusional enough to think that he is really Bonhoeffer.
“I am , that I am.”- Donald J. Trump.
“My Lord and my God, Donald Trump!” – Eric Metaxas.
Well, thank goodness that, Trump’s ‘self-understanding’ (lol) notwithstanding, the Supreme Court has made its position clear and the Orange Executioner will soon be leaving the White House. Sadly, he won’t be going before doing his (unprecedented for over a century) deadly dick-swinging … 🙁
What a disgusting little man he is! Anyone tempted to give him ‘the benefit of the doubt’ needs to cast off their delusions or seek psychiatric help!
(Anyone who calls themselves a Christian should note that Trump’s shameful ‘killing spree’ is direct opposition to the teaching of the Church.)
I wonder everyday what happened to Christians and conservatives commitment to “Pro-Life”? Then the death toll shoots up another couple thousand, and not one word.
Remember, these are the types of christians who only think you have a right to life, UNTIL you are born, after that you’re on your own.
Those so-called Christians who go along with Trump’s disregard for people’s safety and his lame-duck killing spree are, quite simply, charlatans. I’m sure Bonhoeffer would have had something to say about that! Oh wait … I think B might have said something relevant to the antics of certain kinds of political ‘leader’ … Let me think now … What was it? 😉
Those so-called Christians who go along with Trump’s disregard for people’s safety and his lame-duck killing spree are, quite simply, charlatans. I’m sure Bonhoeffer would have had something to say about that! Oh wait … I think B might have said something relevant to the antics of certain kinds of political ‘leader’ … Let me think now … What was it? 😉
Because (like the Dark Powers in Black Magick), Trump gave them what they wanted — a CHRISTIAN Supreme Court. No Roe v Wade, Prayer Back in Schools, a CHRISTIAN Nation…
That should be LORD in all-caps.
Yesterday, Rod Dreher & Andrew Sullivan both posted about Metaxas’ descent into Trumpism.
In case anyone wishes to read these additional posts, links are provided:
Dreher:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/eric-metaxas-trump-bloodshed-american-apocalypse-live-not-by-lies/
Sullivan:
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/christianism-and-our-democracy-0cc
Thanks – don’t know why I didn’t think to add those.