“The Devil.”
“The Antichrist.”
These over-the-top invectives were directed at Kamala Harris by a crucifix-wielding Donald Trump supporter speaking at Madison Square Garden Sunday night during Trump’s six-hour campaign event. His words drew what some media outlets described as “an ecstatic roar” from the MAGA crowd.
The hysterical attacks came from a 60-year-old Queens sanitation worker gesticulating with a cross and talking about how Trump knows “Jesus is King.” The religious vituperations didn’t stop there. Speaker Grant Cardone called Harris a prostitute: “Her and her pimp handlers will destroy our country.” Make no mistake — the biblical defamations of women as “whores,” “harlots” and prostitutes are rife, and usually prompted because women are accused of leading men to stray to a different religion. In this case, Harris is seen as threatening the Christian nationalist cult.
After comedian Tony Hinchcliffe shocked even some MAGA supporters at the event by referring to Puerto Rico as “a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean,” Trump quickly distanced himself from that deeply offensive remark. But apparently he didn’t mind the vicious, religious-tinged attacks against Harris.
Trump’s campaign has also not distanced itself from Christian nationalist leaders who claimed that Harris has a “Jezebel spirit.” Associated Press reports that the term “has sinister connotations, suggesting the person is under the influence of demons in a spiritual battle between good and evil.”
To know how chilling it is to have true believers accuse the woman running for president of having a “Jezebel spirit,” it’s necessary to look at the biblical story of Jezebel. Her crime is that she “stirred up” her husband Ahab’s “wickedness” in worshiping another deity. (1 Kings 21) For acting out the proper role of supportive, religious wife to her weak-willed husband — that is, believing in the “wrong” religion — she is thrown off a wall, then trodden underfoot by horses, as the man who ordered her violent death watches, drinks and dines with gusto. He orders her burial, but as only bits and pieces of her can be found, her remains are given to the dogs. (2 Kings 9:23–37) The Revelation authors, not finding this revilement adequate, reinvoke the story, accusing Jezebel of seducing their “servants to commit fornication,” and she is tortured, her flesh eaten and burnt to death. (Revelation 2:20–23)
The dangerous, misogynistic rhetoric against Harris joins New Apostolic Reformation leader Lou Engle’s warning after Harris became the Democratic nominee that “witches worldwide are cursing President Trump.” And Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance campaigned with Dallas evangelist Lance Wallnau, who in late September called Harris’ debate performance “witchcraft.” Wallnau explained, “That’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft. That’s the manipulation of imagery that creates an impression contrary to the truth, but it seduces you into seeing it. So that spirit, that occult spirit, I believe is operating on her and through her, similar to with Obama.”
We know what used to happen to women accused of being witches because of one bible verse, Exodus 22:18, instructing: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”
Media entities covering the event reported that many of the remarks at the Madison Square Garden campaign event were lewd, vulgar, racist and misogynistic. When the former president’s family separation architect Stephen Miller stated, “America is for Americans and Americans only,” it was impossible not to hear echoes from the infamous 1939 Nazi rally with its “America First” theme. But let’s also heed the extremist, misogynistic biblical rhetoric that Trump’s supporters have engaged in targeting the female Democratic presidential nominee.
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.