For many years now, I have been trying to understand why anyone who claims to be a Christian, that is someone who follows Jesus, could vote for someone as antichrist as Donald Trump. I have tried without success to get any Trump voting Christian to explain one teaching of Jesus that Trump actually advocates for, yet none has been able to do so. Some claim that his pandering to Christian nationalists and making America a Christian nation “again” is something that Jesus taught. Others claim that it quashing the so-called “gay agenda” or “gender ideology” is what Jesus wants. Still others claim that Jesus would have been “pro-life” and therefore would have wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Some claim all of those things are true. The problem arises however, that none of them are. Jesus never told his followers to set up a Christian nation that enforces belief, never said anything about being LGBTQIA, and never said anything against abortion. For these reasons, I have concluded, along with many others, that what MAGA Christians like most about Trump is the racism, bigotry, and fascist style authoritarianism. All of those things are antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament in general.

Trump 2.0 is as bad as I feared it would be and we’re less than two months into the Trance Regime — an appellation I came up with because so many Trump voters are inexplicably in a cult like trance induced by Trump, and because it is a convenient combination of Trump/Vance. Unqualified people like Pete Hegseth and RFK, Jr., who exemplify why DEI initiatives are so important, have been put into positions of importance and are predictably failing miserably while simultaneously looking like the buffoons they are. Corrupt sycophants like Pam Bondi are making a mockery of law and order, while Elon Musk is illegally doing everything he can to destroy the apparatus of governance in the United States as Congress sits on their collective hands. Trump, whose supporters claimed was the “peace” candidate, has caved to Vladimir Putin, and has been acting like a jealous toddler while doing it. He looks with envy upon Putin’s strongman tactics, including the illegal war against Ukraine, and so he has started building a case to “annex” Canada. There is nothing that will slake Trump’s narcissism fueled appetite for aggrandizement and exaltation from his supporters.

Meanwhile, MAGA Mike Johnson, who vocally claims to follow the Bible, is doing everything he can to cause harm to the marginalized and poor in his position as Speaker of the House. Republicans claimed that Medicare and Medicaid would not be cut when they sought to pass their budget proposal. Johnson then crassly asked for people to pray that it would get passed. It has been proven beyond all doubt however that they cannot make the cuts called for in the proposal without cutting those lifesaving programs by hundreds of billions of dollars. Johnson loves the “free market” which prioritizes profits over people. That is an idea found nowhere in any Christian Bible. Despite that, “Trump’s little Johnson,” as my friend John Fugelsang calls the current Speaker, continues to enable wealth hoarding by the already wealthy at the expense of the poor, the elderly, the disabled, communities of color, immigrants, scientific and medical research, and a healthy planet. Perhaps he spends too much time on Covenant Eyes and not enough reading the words in red. Either that, or his Bible is a lot different from mine.

I’ve been calling the MAGA movement “fascist” since Trump first started using his white supremacist slogan. Many people suggested that I, and others, were overreacting to Trump’s vile rhetoric. That claim continues to be made. Yet, just this week, Trump himself posted a literal Nazi symbol on Truth Social post about Army recruitment. This was done to emphasize the anti-LGBTQIA bigotry of the Trance Regime including that of Pete Hegseth, a known bigot who has an inordinate hatred of gay people. Hegseth, an incompetent and unqualified white man, claims that diversity, equity, and inclusion makes America’s military less lethal. I do not recall anywhere that Jesus called for his followers to be ruthlessly lethal killers who hate others because of who they are. It’s also absurd to think that a nation who spends obscene amounts of money on weapons of mass destruction doesn’t already have a lethal military.

It is heartening to see people resisting Trance’s fascist kakistocracy here in the U.S. and abroad. We need much more nonviolent resistance from ordinary citizens, elected officials, civil servants, and members of the military. The latter should refuse to follow any unlawful order given by the regime. We have no time for gradualism. We have no time for decorum or playing nice (I’m looking at you establishment Democrats.) Jesus called out hypocrites, charlatans, and the powerful who oppressed others. He flipped tables and so should we. Many hands make light work and we need all hands on deck right now. No authoritarian regime is broadly popular and the Trance Regime is no exception. They can only cement power and control if we let them. They’ve told us who they are since 2015. It’s time we believe them and put a stop to this. I pray the God will thwart the plans of all those who intend evil, but I won’t sit quietly waiting for God to do the heavy lifting.