In a two-hour campaign talk yesterday in Lititz, Pa., Donald Trump actually called Democrats “a very demonic party.”
A reference to “demons” in the current crazy political strife in the United States is a dog whistle to rightwing evangelicals who are a part of the New Apostolic Reformation movement that believes in “spiritual warfare.” This extremist Christian nationalist religious ideology believes in literal “demonization” — that actual demons are wandering the Earth, apparently often in the form of Democrats. A few days earlier, a YouTube video surfaced of Tucker Carlson claiming that he had been attacked by a demon who left him bleeding with scars. (Carlson, who is so out there that he was bounced from Fox News, insisted that he had claw marks from a demon attack — even though he admits he was asleep in bed with his wife and four dogs.)
The wingnuts who are referring to candidate Kamala Harris as an “Antichrist” and “Jezebel,” as FFRF Action Fund recently warned, are especially concerning. Coming under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit” refers to a particularly sinister demon, according to the Associated Press, “with deeply racist and misogynistic roots.” A recent gathering for Christian women on the mall — organized by a man, of course, as the Freedom From Religion Foundation has pointed out, actually took sledgehammers to a concrete altar representing Ishtar, the ancient goddess, as followers shouted out against abortion and other issues. Talk about symbolism.
Trump’s pledge on Wednesday, “whether the women like it or not, I’m going to protect them,” is part and parcel of such religion-fostered misogyny. The comment was revealing of both a racist and misogynist mindset. It hearkens back to Ku Klux Klan justifications of terrorism and lynching in order to “protect” white women. Harris, in rebuking his comments, tied Trump’s comment to his record as a sexual abuser and against abortion rights, calling it “very offensive to women in terms of not understanding their agency, their authority, their right and their ability to make decisions about their own lives, including their own bodies,” as she told supporters in Madison, Wis.
Aside from calling Democrats “demonic” — and the press expendable cannon fodder — Trump of course hasn’t been depending only on dog whistles to Christian nationalists. He’s been open about his Christian agenda. He very recently told Georgia pastors that he’ll give special access to conservative Christian leaders if they elect him, according to The New York Times: “It will be directly into the Oval Office — and me. We have to save religion in this country.” However, the fact that he has gone so far as to use “demonic” terminology shows his desperation to win the extremist Christian vote and his intent to do their bidding if elected.
Trump’s presidential bid presents a menace, as FFRF Action Fund’s editorial against him documents, to our secular nation and freedoms.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.