Trump: Satan’s Manchurian Candidate?
Here is another article by our guest columnist, the Rev. William De Arteaga, on the Trump presidency. This is a controversial topic.
In the article published on February 13, De Arteaga argues that Trump has caused spiritual damage to Evangelical and charismatic Christianity in the USA and abroad.
Quotations from “Trump: Satan’s Manchurian Candidate?” 
All over the world Trump and his conservative Christians supporters have brought disrepute to Christian evangelicalism. These are really huge negative developments in American politics and history that could not have been foreseen five years ago.
… many policies that the Trump administration achieved were positive and beneficial to our nation, as in his strong opposition of China’s unfair economic policies and expansionism. His administration also achieved some goals that helped the Christian cause and slowed the process of radical secularization that seemed to be a constant of Democratic administrations, as for instance, his splendid picks for the Supreme Court and his opposition to government-funded abortions in any form.
In a traditional cult the member feels pressure to remain in the cult and is afraid of expulsion and the disdain of the fellow members if they leave. Trump achieved this type of control over his administration and major sections of the Republican Party by the use of reviling tweets that defamed and excoriated anyone who crossed him. Reviling tweets were common fate of those who disagreed with his policies, or lack of them.
Let me add here a spiritual issue not discussed by political commentators. It is that when Trump issues some outrageous claim or conspiracy theory, as in calling the Supreme Court “cowardly” because it did not rule in his favor or calling the Republican Governor Georgia and his secretary of state stupid and corrupt because they did not do his bidding (both were faithful Republicans and men of integrity) Trump committed the sin of slander.
I would like to point out that President Trump’s conduct, speech and tweets negates the tradition, begun with George Washington, that our presidents be morally upright and act as gentlemen. The end product of the gentleman tradition is that the Presidency has had a “bully pulpit” of moral order and persuasion that has been used to from time to time to bring about moral good. Of course, none of our presidents have been saints, and many had serious moral flaws that were often hidden from the public, as in John F. Kennedy’s womanizing. But being a gentleman is not a small thing. It really is the product of centuries of Christian culture and was especially influenced by the norms for men established in the Victorian (Christian) era. These norms are often ridiculed today by the secular Left, but we can see now that such norms were one of the foundations that permitted civil discourse among politicians of opposing views.
How is it that the Trump cult formed so quickly, and included so many reasonable and good Christians?
I have avoided arguing about many of Trump’s specific policies, and in fact many of them seem to have been beneficial. But Trump’s foreign policy is one area where spiritual error has led to great harm for this country and others. One can almost hear Ayn Rand speaking her hurtful ideology of selfishness in Trump’s inaugural address. Trump dressed it up as “America First.” … Trump’s foreign policy has ended the “us and for others” tradition and national goals. It is more like “America only,” not America first.
The full article is available at PentecostalTheology.com:
https://www.pentecostaltheology.com/trump-satans-manchurian-candidate
Category: Living the Faith, Winter 2021
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