The MAGA cult claims that they are Christian. Right there it shows that they have no integrity because one of Jesus’ most important teachings is to Welcome the Stranger. Instead they want to deport anyone who is not loyal to their orange king.
I agree Not only are they without integrity but tolerance as well. Their view of Christianity excludes anyone who isn't like them. They are hypocrites.
If you search on Trump and birth tourism, you will discover that he rented out his properties in Florida to wealthy, pregnant East European (Russian) women. For YEARS.
Oh, anchor babies? The ones he is now trying to stop? Wherever he can make money is where he will go! From pardons to criminals in American jails to God knows what all he is doing. Any way to make money is Trump's way. I would like to see an accounting of how much of our taxpayer money he is spending like it is his own personal bank account!
I knew there was a cottage industry supporting Russian women that would come to Florida to have their babies. Even a Russian-speaking obstetrician and help with paperwork. I didn't necessarily know it involved Trump properties. Between that and the fact that DJT works in league with Putin, I've taken to referring to Florida as Tsvetochny as I translated its literal meaning into Russian and transliterated.
Trump has FIRST HAND knowledge and experience of the scam that birthright citizenship can be. One place I know those kids are not is anywhere near Ukraine. US passport holders.
That's incorrect. His father was the son of an immigrant. Only his mother was an immigrant herself. (And from a family that spoke Gaelic, not English, apparently.)
Don’t forget the “chain migration” Melania’s parents used to become citizens. Hypocrite Trump had been vocally campaigning against the practice.
MAGAs are Fake-christians. None have integrity. They blaspheme Jesus to justify their beliefs in a caste system. They are not trustworthy human beings, so always bear that in mind when dealing with the type.
In contrast, Mamdani is living his values. He’s considering having Netanyahu arrested if he comes to NY for the U.N. General Assembly in September. We could do the same on Capitol Hill if AGs from the six states with misprision laws would issue arrest warrants. Looking at you, CA, IL, DE, VT, VA, and RI. DC cops will hold them for up to 30 days pending extradition in less-than-posh accommodations. Not proud of the schadenfreude but it’s a delicious thought. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2026/07/19/nation-world-news/mamdani-says-he-may-still-order-netanyahus-arrest/
It isn't just that they lack integrity and tolerance, they go out of their way to do evil. Per AI: Evil generally refers to profound immorality, wickedness, and actions that cause intentional or unnecessary harm and suffering
And what is at the foundation of evil? People aren't born with evil in their hearts, are they? It comes from their experiences -- poverty and hardship; a child's physical and/or mental abuse; negligent, uncaring parents; skewed religious beliefs and skewed attitudes due to a lack of education, self awareness, and knowledge; mental defects, feeling unloved. I believe these factors are at the root of "immorality and actions that cause suffering." A desire to hurt and punish stems from ANGER at society, at one's situation, possible self-loathing -- and creates the hatred that fuels intolerance.
Trump and the current values of the Orwellian, anti-republic "Republican Party" is pretty much the antithesis of what Jesus is reported to have prescribed: despise and persecute the very poor and rejected, worship the wealthy and be as greedy as hell, kill or imprison your perceived enemies, and don't pay taxes (though Jesus had his own reasons for advising their payment). Somehow what Jesus is said to have said was the "Greatest" commandment seems lost on self-centered, cosplay Kristians. I do not consider myself Christian at this point, but much admire those who are, and whose "fruit" is kindness. MLK and Desmond Tutu, not Trump and Hegseth. It is not for nothing that Jesus chose a Samaritan, a member of an inimical tribe, to illustrate what it means to be a responsible "neighbor".
In any case, illustrations of integrity need not be religious. The scientific method actively seeks it, even though science can inform and prioritize, yet not necessarily settle human values. Our "Justice" system is supposed to seek it, used as directed. History and experience teaches that we are best equipped to negotiate reality when we pay close attention to it and accept it, even though to err is human, and actively lying is a conscious choice that is often chosen. Reality is indifferent about what we think and say about it, but with attention and resilience, we can often hitch a ride to where we would prefer to go (like a sailboat tacking against the wind) or largely delude ourselves and potentially be steamrolled by reality doing what it does.
As do I, but we live in an experiential world as well as a physical one. I don't mean woo-woo by that, but more as a Kantian model of human perception in which we model the input that our senses provide and build for us with what seems to be the characteristics of the physical thing in itself. With the naked eye and visual cortex we "see" patterns of "light", we interpret certain chemicals as "sweet" or "salty", and pysical levels of molecular agitation as "hot" or "cold". Our lived world is sensory, and can correspond more or less to what we assume to be real circumstances. Disciplined, keen observation, measurement, and testing tends to build a sharable basis for confidence for our most careful findings, and that level of confidence varies, from testing the boiling point of "pure" water at a given ambient atmospheric pressure, to theories attempting to explain the exact nature of the circumstances that suggest the pretense of "dark matter". We can follow the recipes of and for scientific discovery purely procedurally, and expect some useful results, yet I think that the best science involves a personal commitment to intellectual integrity.
That said, while science appears to me to the best means to determine what most likely to be true, it can only help so far in deciding what is what's most "worth it", what "matters most", and I think wisdom includes a good sense of both. Values are in part highly personal, and variable, but also are shared and social, and I think that we are wise to collaborate on ultimate, "unalienable" rights and responsibilities (they go hand in hand). Our survival as a species may depend on it.
Several disgusting traits in Trump’s character and behavior cause his total lack of integrity including lying, corruption, stealing, complicit killing of people, total adultery and criminality. But those horrible traits didn’t cause rejection of Trump in the 77 million Americans who voted to elect Trump in 2024, members of his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress, or six justices on the Supreme Court.
The only thing that seemed to matter to Trump voters was economics including inflation and high prices. Therefore, Democrats must figure out how to solve affordability and describe solutions to voters in 2026 and 2028 to get elected. So far, Democrats have not.
For example, was the new housing bill a solution to affordable housing? No. The bill was a Republican scam designed to make Democrats look like fools who accept Republican free market trickle down economic policy as Democrats have been doing over the last 55 years while Republicans stole wealth from 95% of Americans and transferred the wealth to billionaire oligarchs like Musk and their corporations. The Republican economic policy caused the transfer of wealth and created the affordability problems in housing, food, energy and healthcare.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), combined nearly 50 bipartisan proposals to supposedly increase housing supply, lower construction costs, and combat corporate ownership. But the Republicans once again convinced Democrats to fail again and lose voter trust by falsely believing the Republican scam that the “free market” will solve the problem of affordability with reduced regulations.
What’s a solution? PROJECT 2029 raises taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund building affordable housing with subsidies that are required for the working class. PROJECT 2029 has a federal plan in cooperation with companies to build 1 million new residential single-family houses of 2000 sq ft 3-bedroom 2 bath on half acre lots per year on land provided by the federal government at a total cost of $300,000 per house and land that can be rented at $500 per month with an optional purchase for only $100,000 with $5000 down payment and a 3% 30-year mortgage. That’s affordable housing.
What is more disgusting than Trump’s lack of integrity and his failure to investigate criminals in the Epstein files is that Trump's approval rating is still 35%. That rating means about 60 million people, who are registered voters, approve of Trump despite his lack of integrity, the blatant corruption and violations of law, the lying, the attacks on democracy and elections, the lack of affordability the ICE raids on immigrants including the murders of American citizens and the war with Iran.
However, the problem in America isn't just Trump, or the 60 million who still approve of Trump and his lawless fascist autocracy which is being installed with an insurrection. Trump's insurrection began on January 6, 2021, but the insurrection continued into 2025 and 2026 with Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court violating federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383). According to the federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383), a felony crime is committed by “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office”.
If a new Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic president are elected in 2028, they will have a sworn obligation (and hopefully the integrity) to enforce the federal law against insurrection and the Constitution to prosecute, convict, imprison, and therefore remove all Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court.
America can’t be saved unless the law against insurrection is enforced and all the violators of the federal law against insurrection are prosecuted, convicted and jailed.
I like William Millers comments because he is focused on action to enforce laws that have been broken. Republicans do not care about integrity and will laugh because there is no law to identify integrity. Robert Reich is eloquent describing those who lack integrity when enforcement of laws is what is needed! This democrat has been convinced for the last eight years that Trump and the misfits who voted for him need to go to jail or be seriously embarrassed with fines. And let's be clear, these assholes are pursuing a confederacy agenda that rejects the federal governments authority. I want every democrat who calls himself an attorney to get off of his ass and act like AG Merrick Garland who did absolutely nothing during the Biden administration. Conservative democrats are as much to blame as conservative republicans and may cause democrats to lose if they do not support Bernie Sanders progressive candidates. I am not an attorney so I write on blogs and vote. When I contact my Congress rep in the 17th district in Florida, Greg Steube rejects"liberal leaning content" and any suggestions deemed damaging to the Trump administration are considered "woke progressive ideology". This shit must end.
"Project 2029 has a federal plan in cooperation with companies to build 1 million new residential single family houses of 2000 sq ft..." Never heard of Project 2029 until you mentioned it -- perhaps it needs more publicity. "In cooperation with companies..." Which companies? Does it include the existing billionaire class, or the greedy developers that are tearing down existing housing in order to put up McMansions? "...Houses of 2000 sq ft. on half acre lots..." That's more space and yard than a lot of the existing housing has available, Interesting idea -- needs a little work.
Read my posts that have been describing Project 2029 for months as a proposal that Democrats should adopt and put in their campaign to get elected in 2026 and 2028.
Maybe that's a good thing, Donna. I fear most the "true believers," those who have
gifted their souls to the devil for "a higher cause." Orwell referred to them in his novel 1984. Dostoevsky referred to them in his Grad Inquisitor dialogue in Brothers Karamazov. These are individuals who surrender their human-like qualities, such empathy and compassion, for a "higher" cause and are thereby able to make peace with themselves while butchering their neighbors, often even their relatives.
The hypocrisy charge is true and it does no work. In Matthew it is not obscure. They know it. The move is not ignorance of the text, it is a smaller moral circle. The stranger who counts is the one inside the boundary, and everyone outside has been reclassified as a threat rather than a stranger. Once you accept that reframe, deportation stops feeling like a violation of the teaching and starts feeling like protection of the flock.
That is why quoting scripture back at them slides off. You are arguing about consistency. They are not being inconsistent, they are applying the rule to a smaller set of people.
The argument worth having is about who belongs in the set, not about whether they read the book.
Proof that the flock is susceptible to being brainwashed by false prophets. Their racism and misogyny that this Trump administration is relying on has exposed their relentless hypocrisy.
Keith and Johan, maybe this is to much moralising. Churchill observed: "in times of war, truth is so precious, that it should be guarded by a bodyguard of lies." Hannah Arendt has written a wonderfull essay about truth. In it she describes a discussion about causes of the first world war. You could have a dispute about a lot of things, but Belgium did not invade Germany.
What I am missing in the present debate is this simple historian's view: what are the facts? The nation is caught in preposterous bullshit and the flood of it keeps coming. I know: facts are not easy to construct. But even for God 2 x 2 =4.
Good points Tom. And Poland never threatened Germany or Russia! Vietnam never threatened the United States. Etc... Etc... Etc... throughout human history. If there ever was a God who created the Earth and all things on it, he must have left the planet long, long ago, and never looked back.
Tom, Churchill was referring to the use of deception in times of war, not as a valid code of behavior in normal times. For those who believe that humankind, or their tribe, is in a perpetual existential war "1984" becomes destiny. Question: 2x2 of what?
Of course I know the context of the Churchill quote. I wanted to distance myself a bit from the moral tone. Lies can be needed and important, especially in times of war.
Trump invited that state of mind often: "fight" or you won't have your country anymore. When there is war, you can do "Anything" to win... fitting in hid amoral mind. I think 1984 had the same war-like atmosphere.
The 2 x 2 = 4 is epistemology: you can quarrel about anything, but not about the realm of science: 2 x 2 does not equal 5...
Johan, the exclusivity that the base of trump loyalists exhibit toward outsiders from their group is one hallmark of cult behavior. As such, they follow the word of their cult master selectively as opposed to their original belief system, so that any integrity to that original system is lost, and it isn't coming back without extensive reprogramming.
Trump is an apex predator, and he makes up his version of his scripture as he devolves into insanity - one god, him, with one law, his proclamations absolute. He's subverted the reptilian limbic system of fear, hatred, and power lust of his cultists to such a degree that they will destroy anyone with true integrity who
stands in their way. This is what the dogged 33% approval rating for trump from general polls tell us - these minds have been subverted and they're not coming back.
Insightful. You and Nancy are recognizing that words are being understood differently. Fugelsang has been "preaching the real Gospel," but if there isn't consensus about what the words mean, the discussion is futile.
The inconsistencies in what is revered as the holy book of both Jews and Christians is so replete with contradictions as to be an instruction manual for how to lie and get away with it.
I've read the Bible and know many of the parables. Jesus' teachings never qualified that only strangers "inside the boundary" qualified, as far as I know. Do you have a citation?
Your point is valid and important, Johan. However, they are the ones who claim fidelity to the "book." Their logical inconsistency and moral hypocrisy is cowardly and unsustainable. We must hit them where they are vulnerable. Who belongs to the set is a never ending argument, one not worth engaging in at the moment.
The lens of consistency and integrity are important. An example for American was seen in our nation’s founding. While our understanding of all men are created equal, and the importance of the concept now less clear than, it still was opposed to the disastrous compromise that the small states insisted on that ended Wilson and Madison’s push for voting by population. Loyalty and power of states won over reason and integrity to representative government. The consequence was civil war. Bigotry and self interest walked with loyalty to an artificial construct of states and, as pointed out above, a refusal to follow the teachings of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith.
Disclaimer: I'm not a historian, but the average population of the northern states was about the average of the southern states. (I forget how the slaves were factored in). I think the Electoral College arrangement of adding two votes to each state was a mechanism to reduce the smaller states from getting steamrolled by Virginia and Pennsylvania, and other populous states.
I think this had nothing to do with the Civil War, which was the inevitable result between morality and slavery.
The slave states required the counting of black people in bondage as 3/5 a person to give them more representatives in the house to increase their political power including in the electoral college. The reason I used the example of the civil war is that the loyalty to states, and the bigotry leading to the bondage by skin color is also a form of loyalty, that is loyalty to tribe, not dissimilar to loyalty by state
Now I better understand what you were tying to say. It took time for former colonists to become more loyal to their country than their state, particularly with the slow communications of the day.
With the 3/5 boost (or 2/5 penalty, depending on how you look at it, the slave states had 29 of 65 delegates in the 1st Congress. Adding in Electoral votes, the northern side gap widens, to 53 vice 39. Thus, because of the more numerous small states, the EV worked against the slave states. (I'm counting Delaware as a non-slave state, and ignoring that slavery was legal in each of the states at the time.
‘They’ …like Vance, who has been a Catholic for a fucking nanosecond professed that God only allows you a finite amount of love. you must save it for your inner circle. Fuck everyone else
I know I’m not alone in thinking that you must be a special kind of fucking weird sad little MAGA dope to think things like this. Batshit crazy talk again 🤦🏻♀️
Gods love is actually infinite. There’s more than enough of Gods love to go around.
And, since God shows up through others. The more you love, the stronger you will be; as a person, and as a human being
Also, they seem OK with the shooting deaths of fathers in the street, for no reason, even in front of their young children and wives. The one in Maine featured a 26-year-old father bleeding out on the pavement for 5 hours. He had a social security number and was a legitimate worker with no crimes. In at least two of these horrific deaths, the killers (ICE?) said that the shootings were a case of "mistaken identity". How convenient, shoot first and then ask questions. DAMN Stephen Miller! and as always, tRUMP.
"MAGA hates the things they hate MORE than they love the things they love."
As long as the deaths of close family members honor Trump ("Covid is a hoax!" "Vaccines are dangerous!"), they're mostly OK with losing those they love....less than they love tRUMP.
Foof, it's the culture they grew up with. 'Swimming against the tide' takes courage, and commitment. They can't be halfhearted when facing the resistance and even anger that would surely ensue when you are taking the "wrong" position. like defending those they hate. Their intolerance is daunting, and cruel.
I think I understand (at least as well as I'm ever going to.)
My family has been here long enough that we, supposedly, had a land grant from the King (and in this same county in which I've lived about 60 of my years), prior to the revolution.
Now they need Trump, and his promises that if they will abandon all sense of personal responsibility, he will change history to ALWAYS make them the "good guys", no matter how much racist hate they wish to spew.
It's not only that particular teaching of the Gospel they ignore, but virtually EVERY lesson Jesus taught. They ignore the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament also. And how about 'Judge not, lest you be judged.' ; 'Before you take the splinter from your brother's eye, take the plank from your own.' Or: 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'? These are not Christians, and trump is Jesus's opposite. I won't give him the power of the Antichrist - he's far too stupid. Satan is allegedly 'wicked smart'! 😉👿🤪
Shrewd and conniving does not confer smarts in the area of true knowledge. One who has those "talents" can still be evil and clueless, a walking black hole without a soul. Not smart at all.
They are not Christian - John 4:1 believers need to test the advice from others to see if it’s really from God. MAGA deny immigrants entry into USA to make a new life. That’s not welcoming a stranger as Jesus instructed.
"red and yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight" was very much a part of my methodist religious training from preschool on... Until my terrible teens hit.
I think the MAGA cult confuses Christian Nationalism with Christianity. They are definitely not the same thing. Hate v. love, trust v. fear, exclusive v. inclusive, etc.
Not to be deliberately mean or cruel toward these poor tragic fools (who are overwhelmingly either my relatives and/or my neighbors), but if Trump's intention was for them to EMBRACE their ignorance, they would be most UNlikely to do so by attempting to "larn"(sic) them new, longer words connected to even MORE complicated, complex concepts explaining religion. (Although it seems likely they already pretty much universally knew the words "groceries" and "affordability", which is a pretty big "knowledge step-up" from the most politically and militarily powerful human on this particular planet......)
MAGA, instead, will continue to do exactly as Trump wishes. "Covid IS a hoax!", "Vaccines ARE dangerous!", "Trump is smarter than ANY Black president with the middle name of "Hussein" could EVER be!".
Implementing the Obama Pandemic Plan for dealing with the deadliness of Covid was about as likely to occur as Trump NOT believing himself smarter than ANY other human being living, either because of skin tone DARKER or skin tone LIGHTER than any other human being on Planet Earth." (Trump has never had an issue with finding himself worthy...of absolutely anything and everything.)
Personally, I was more than a bit disappointed when Trump's recent SCREW VOTING FOR POOR AMERICANS speech left out the widely known collusion between Barack Hussein Obama and Frederick Douglass, who was a WIDELY-KNOWN Greenlander at the time our Civil War was winding down, and therefore ineligible to collude with either Obama or Biden at that time when Trump only had 2 sworn loyalists on his Civil War Era Supremely White Court.
(Sorry Barbara, but in the vernacular, "I'm worn down about as thin as frog fur split four ways.")
They claim to be Christian, but they are not. Not in their faith, hope or charity and not in their morals, either. Those are not words I made up. That is a quote from St. Augustine from 1600 years ago. St. Augustine knew what he was talking about.
This was known 8 years ago. America is a glutton for punishment. Its way little too late to complain of lack of integrity. Its like deciding an alligator isnt too friendly after its eaten your arm.
True. And hoping more are recognizing how cognitively and realaly simple the equation is: Reject whoever is loyal to the trump regime. Make 'Integrity' a precondition for US leadership....
They showed their true colours and selfishly voted for Trump. They did not vote for the greater good. Buyer remorse does NOT exonerate them from their willingness to vote for a felon, knowing it would ruin so many lives. They did vote for lawlessness and inhumanity, and got it in spades. You get what you pay for. You get what you deserve!
We are experiencing a CULT mentality, White Supremacy, along with Christian Nationalists who justify anything Trump does using their religion. The irony is that Trump himself is not a Christian. He has no religion. He doesn't have a favorite Bible verse because he's never read it. He never went to a church in his life. He told everyone he was going to be a dictator and they voted for him. And now this is the price we will have to pay! I will always keep this “Don’t blame me. I voted for her” tee shirt 👇
You said, "We are experiencing a CULT mentality." Exactly. It has also been described as a "cult of personality". In addition, there is brainwashing and active disinformation going on from this administration.
From time to time, I recall the image of Trump's second "swearing-in." Melania stands off to the side holding the Bible(s) while Trump keeps his left hand straight down not anywhere near. https://mg.usembassy.gov/images-of-trumps-second-inauguration-photo-gallery/ I'm about as atheist as they come, but somehow this triggers some gut superstition. On the occasion he brandished a Bible he held it upside-down. If I believe anything, I believe DJT hates and fears Jesus and hates America.
Oh yes I remember that and have always been surprised it didn’t get much press. Kind of like crossing your fingers behind your back as you lie to someone. I wonder if holy water would burn him?
Assuming, as you believe, that DJT hates and fears Jesus, I agree and think it's because 1) he knows Jesus, whom people worship, was much more like today's Democrats, whom he hates, than today's Republicans, and 2) he is convinced that he himself is god almighty and adorns himself with gold. Among other god-awful things.
Btw, those were interesting photos in the link you provided. Thanks. I just shook my head from side to side in near disbelief while looking at them.
I think that if you listen to Trump he actually does have a religion. It is what we have called since the 1950s "The Power of Positive Thinking." If you look at the Trump family history, his parents attended the church where the author of the book was the preacher, so Donald learned it early. Behind it is a movement beginning in 19th century New England centered on the idea that you can influence or control the world around you with your thoughts, with "mind power." A lot of Americans follow this religion and most believe that it is Christianity. Trump, in his usual warped way refracted through his own narcissism, takes it to an extreme. It is why his staff and cabinet has to tell him what he wants to hear, not what is true. It is why he has to insist that he always wins and never loses. Sometimes I wonder whether he lies about everything because he believes that he can make what he wants to be true actually be true by saying it out loud. It is delusional to think that the external world can be changed or influenced by our inner thoughts. Trump shows how dangerous that is.
If we the people stayed committed to “adopting” two non-PAC candidates for Senate who refuse big corporate control through their donations, we could turn the Senate.
We have to show that grassroots contributions really mean something, again, and that big money influences haven’t crushed us.
We’ve done it in the past and we need to do it again.
Trump is the most despicable person I have ever seen - he is totally indecent - anyone who supports him in any way has no integrity and is also indecent. They are all an evil, hateful cult that is destroying our country.
In a politician's world, your integrity can be encapsulated in one fleeting photo op. John McCain defending Barack Obama in a town hall. Again, John McCain voted against overturning Obama care. Lindsay Graham rode those coat tails. But Trump if anything is a living test to integrity. Trump has always been consistent...it is his enablers who are being exposed. It is their legacies that are being exposed. Lindsay Graham's life work is reduced to being Trump's bitch.
If Trump truly believes his lies then I guess one might say that he has integrity, but it is obvious that for him the word "integrity" is meaningless, and he is as consistent as slime mould. He is pathetic, but so is the mentality of those who support him.
Another observation: "Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with." Machiavelli, "The Prince."
That's why I think mockery and laughter are great weapons to use against MAGA. People who are laughing don't have time to be frightened. Also, it pisses them off to no end, and pissing off Nazis is always a good thing.
Haberman and Swan reported the astonishing litany of mass-murdering tyrants that Trump compares himself to. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5945266-trump-declares-limitless-power/ I don't see the joke. The death toll creeps up. The only thing Obama's ridicule back then resulted in was inspiring Trump to go for it. Maybe Obama should have lain low.
Giant banners of Trump’s head hang off hallowed hollowed out government departments.
350,000 workers gone; 4,900,000 years of corporate knowledge lost.
Every single cabinet member is incompetent by design.
That’s just three deeply scary thoughts.
If you are a person who is in the machinery of government and fighting to keep things normal as you go through this you have my deepest sympathy. Watching US MoG be deliberately destroyed and be able to do nothing but hope normal returns somehow is deeply frightening. I fear for America. And for us. Because when America gets sick, the world gets sicker. The war of choice, for example, that’s hurt us all.
If anyone anywhere near the admin was actually a Christian, or had any fear of any god, they would run away screaming in fear of being struck by lightning, turned to a pillar of salt, or consigned to eternal damnation. The idea that anyone would retain any vestige of integrity after consorting with Trump is absurd. Stormy Daniels is probably still showering in bleach to try and wash off the slime and stench.
No it is NOT at all possible to have integrity when working for that disgusting human being. He has no integrity and they are all his lap dogs! They do whatever he wants and since he lacks any decency or integrity....they, therefore do not either. Nor backbones. I am so sickened by these people. No morals, values, honestly, compassion or anything else that we should have as our leaders. As I have said before...there is a special place in hell for all of them.
Thanks. I was involved in Boy Scouts as a boy and a leader for many years. The twelve point Scout Oath begins with Trustworthy and Loyal. Are they at odds?
As a mental exercise, check Trump on the other ten: Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave (standing up for what's right), Clean (morally), and Reverent.
Firstly, I don't think integrity can be described as an emotion. Secondly, that 2017 California study used some rather dubious statistical methodology and the categories they came up with seem to meld into each other rather than being distinct and some of them are unclear. For example, when they refer to 'romance' and 'sexual desire' are they trying to distinguish between ardour and lust?
Russell--There is a small "dot' after the word "Emotion," which indicates the end of a thought. After which a new sentence begins a new thought. I never intended for Integrity to be considered as an emotion.
What? Romance and sexual desire are two different experiences. They can occur together, as they often do, but there are many of us who often engage in sexual desire without any feelings of romance. Just look at the sex for money industry, or the porn industry. No romance there.
Christian Nationalists loyal first to Trump--questions our legal separation of church & state
The Police State is now our current national identity with ICE. People have been deported without due process. People here legally have been illegally put into gulag type prisons .Reports of some being deported to unfamiliar countries/continents. Cutting funds for medical research ....trying to sell off sacred Indian land Disrespect for nature.
I'm sure it's 100% impossible. To do that, among other things, I'd have to report all evidence of his crimes that I knew about to a proper law enforcement agency, but Trump owns and controls the DOJ so that, too, is utterly devoid of integrity.
To fail to report known felonies to an appropriate law enforcement agency is a felony, misprision of felony, rarely used but on the books, I bet AG Kamala Harris is going to have a field day prosecuting Trump appointees for felony misprision of felony in 2029.
Anyone who works for the Crook in Chief and not become a Crook is sure to get fired.
I'd been hiking along Vermont's Long Trail, had been in maybe three days, when I came to a tiny dirt road with a little general store. And there it was: The New York Times. With the front page obit for Roy Cohn. What a cosmic present! Irene M. Haske, speaking for the center, said the immediate cause of death was ''cardio-pulmonary arrest.'' She said the death certificate also listed two secondary causes of death: ''dementia'' and ''underlying HTLV-3 infections.''
Did I rejoice when mine enemy fell? You bet your sweet bippy I rejoiced when mine enemy fell!
Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, reliably doing the right thing even when no one is watching.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person's emotions. Compassion takes this a step further, recognizes the suffering and adds a genuine desire to take action to help alleviate it.
Without integrity and compassion humanity cannot exist.
The MAGA cult claims that they are Christian. Right there it shows that they have no integrity because one of Jesus’ most important teachings is to Welcome the Stranger. Instead they want to deport anyone who is not loyal to their orange king.
I agree Not only are they without integrity but tolerance as well. Their view of Christianity excludes anyone who isn't like them. They are hypocrites.
Especially since Trump married twice to immigrants and had "anchor babies" with both! Classic "do as I say but don't do as I do"!
If you search on Trump and birth tourism, you will discover that he rented out his properties in Florida to wealthy, pregnant East European (Russian) women. For YEARS.
Oh, anchor babies? The ones he is now trying to stop? Wherever he can make money is where he will go! From pardons to criminals in American jails to God knows what all he is doing. Any way to make money is Trump's way. I would like to see an accounting of how much of our taxpayer money he is spending like it is his own personal bank account!
because he truly believes he deserves and is owed the world. Sickness. And he is down with it.
All the golf trips.
2 747’s to G7…….
Back n forth to Florida
All Secret Service lodging:meals
trump needs to go!!!
He plays golf but he is not a golfer--that requires integrity.
My brain can't calculate enough zeros to answer your question as to how much of our taxpayer money he is spending...as though it were his own!
I knew there was a cottage industry supporting Russian women that would come to Florida to have their babies. Even a Russian-speaking obstetrician and help with paperwork. I didn't necessarily know it involved Trump properties. Between that and the fact that DJT works in league with Putin, I've taken to referring to Florida as Tsvetochny as I translated its literal meaning into Russian and transliterated.
Yes n all those babies were US citizens!!! Wonder where mom n baby are now??
Trump has FIRST HAND knowledge and experience of the scam that birthright citizenship can be. One place I know those kids are not is anywhere near Ukraine. US passport holders.
Isn't Trump a pimp? Used to be women, now it's men like Rubio, Vance, Blanche.
At least blanche loved him!!! Bout made me vomit when blanche said “I love you sir”!!
🤮
But the key word is wealthy
Remember--both of his parents were immigrants! He is an "anchor baby".
That's incorrect. His father was the son of an immigrant. Only his mother was an immigrant herself. (And from a family that spoke Gaelic, not English, apparently.)
https://www.history.com/articles/donald-trump-father-mother-ancestry
I stand corrected. You are right, of course!
It's not easy to keep track!
And he's a hypocrite one way or the other.
Yes. “Do as you would be done by” has gone the way of the dodo in right-wing ranks.
Trump accuses Democrats of "hurting the country" when it is his words, his actions, his hatred doing the damage.
Don’t forget the “chain migration” Melania’s parents used to become citizens. Hypocrite Trump had been vocally campaigning against the practice.
MAGAs are Fake-christians. None have integrity. They blaspheme Jesus to justify their beliefs in a caste system. They are not trustworthy human beings, so always bear that in mind when dealing with the type.
In contrast, Mamdani is living his values. He’s considering having Netanyahu arrested if he comes to NY for the U.N. General Assembly in September. We could do the same on Capitol Hill if AGs from the six states with misprision laws would issue arrest warrants. Looking at you, CA, IL, DE, VT, VA, and RI. DC cops will hold them for up to 30 days pending extradition in less-than-posh accommodations. Not proud of the schadenfreude but it’s a delicious thought. https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2026/07/19/nation-world-news/mamdani-says-he-may-still-order-netanyahus-arrest/
The Washington Post ran the Mamdani article as well: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/07/18/mamdani-says-he-is-looking-into-whether-he-can-order-netanyahus-arrest/ Yes, a delicious thought!
It isn't just that they lack integrity and tolerance, they go out of their way to do evil. Per AI: Evil generally refers to profound immorality, wickedness, and actions that cause intentional or unnecessary harm and suffering
- Karen Cooper
And what is at the foundation of evil? People aren't born with evil in their hearts, are they? It comes from their experiences -- poverty and hardship; a child's physical and/or mental abuse; negligent, uncaring parents; skewed religious beliefs and skewed attitudes due to a lack of education, self awareness, and knowledge; mental defects, feeling unloved. I believe these factors are at the root of "immorality and actions that cause suffering." A desire to hurt and punish stems from ANGER at society, at one's situation, possible self-loathing -- and creates the hatred that fuels intolerance.
Trump and the current values of the Orwellian, anti-republic "Republican Party" is pretty much the antithesis of what Jesus is reported to have prescribed: despise and persecute the very poor and rejected, worship the wealthy and be as greedy as hell, kill or imprison your perceived enemies, and don't pay taxes (though Jesus had his own reasons for advising their payment). Somehow what Jesus is said to have said was the "Greatest" commandment seems lost on self-centered, cosplay Kristians. I do not consider myself Christian at this point, but much admire those who are, and whose "fruit" is kindness. MLK and Desmond Tutu, not Trump and Hegseth. It is not for nothing that Jesus chose a Samaritan, a member of an inimical tribe, to illustrate what it means to be a responsible "neighbor".
In any case, illustrations of integrity need not be religious. The scientific method actively seeks it, even though science can inform and prioritize, yet not necessarily settle human values. Our "Justice" system is supposed to seek it, used as directed. History and experience teaches that we are best equipped to negotiate reality when we pay close attention to it and accept it, even though to err is human, and actively lying is a conscious choice that is often chosen. Reality is indifferent about what we think and say about it, but with attention and resilience, we can often hitch a ride to where we would prefer to go (like a sailboat tacking against the wind) or largely delude ourselves and potentially be steamrolled by reality doing what it does.
Very well said. I find integrity is more often aligned with the scientific method than religion. I appreciate your comment. Thank you.
As do I, but we live in an experiential world as well as a physical one. I don't mean woo-woo by that, but more as a Kantian model of human perception in which we model the input that our senses provide and build for us with what seems to be the characteristics of the physical thing in itself. With the naked eye and visual cortex we "see" patterns of "light", we interpret certain chemicals as "sweet" or "salty", and pysical levels of molecular agitation as "hot" or "cold". Our lived world is sensory, and can correspond more or less to what we assume to be real circumstances. Disciplined, keen observation, measurement, and testing tends to build a sharable basis for confidence for our most careful findings, and that level of confidence varies, from testing the boiling point of "pure" water at a given ambient atmospheric pressure, to theories attempting to explain the exact nature of the circumstances that suggest the pretense of "dark matter". We can follow the recipes of and for scientific discovery purely procedurally, and expect some useful results, yet I think that the best science involves a personal commitment to intellectual integrity.
That said, while science appears to me to the best means to determine what most likely to be true, it can only help so far in deciding what is what's most "worth it", what "matters most", and I think wisdom includes a good sense of both. Values are in part highly personal, and variable, but also are shared and social, and I think that we are wise to collaborate on ultimate, "unalienable" rights and responsibilities (they go hand in hand). Our survival as a species may depend on it.
Or so it seems to me.
One can approach the scientific method as a forul
Nancy
Several disgusting traits in Trump’s character and behavior cause his total lack of integrity including lying, corruption, stealing, complicit killing of people, total adultery and criminality. But those horrible traits didn’t cause rejection of Trump in the 77 million Americans who voted to elect Trump in 2024, members of his Cabinet, Republicans in Congress, or six justices on the Supreme Court.
The only thing that seemed to matter to Trump voters was economics including inflation and high prices. Therefore, Democrats must figure out how to solve affordability and describe solutions to voters in 2026 and 2028 to get elected. So far, Democrats have not.
For example, was the new housing bill a solution to affordable housing? No. The bill was a Republican scam designed to make Democrats look like fools who accept Republican free market trickle down economic policy as Democrats have been doing over the last 55 years while Republicans stole wealth from 95% of Americans and transferred the wealth to billionaire oligarchs like Musk and their corporations. The Republican economic policy caused the transfer of wealth and created the affordability problems in housing, food, energy and healthcare.
The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644), combined nearly 50 bipartisan proposals to supposedly increase housing supply, lower construction costs, and combat corporate ownership. But the Republicans once again convinced Democrats to fail again and lose voter trust by falsely believing the Republican scam that the “free market” will solve the problem of affordability with reduced regulations.
What’s a solution? PROJECT 2029 raises taxes on the wealthy and corporations to fund building affordable housing with subsidies that are required for the working class. PROJECT 2029 has a federal plan in cooperation with companies to build 1 million new residential single-family houses of 2000 sq ft 3-bedroom 2 bath on half acre lots per year on land provided by the federal government at a total cost of $300,000 per house and land that can be rented at $500 per month with an optional purchase for only $100,000 with $5000 down payment and a 3% 30-year mortgage. That’s affordable housing.
What is more disgusting than Trump’s lack of integrity and his failure to investigate criminals in the Epstein files is that Trump's approval rating is still 35%. That rating means about 60 million people, who are registered voters, approve of Trump despite his lack of integrity, the blatant corruption and violations of law, the lying, the attacks on democracy and elections, the lack of affordability the ICE raids on immigrants including the murders of American citizens and the war with Iran.
However, the problem in America isn't just Trump, or the 60 million who still approve of Trump and his lawless fascist autocracy which is being installed with an insurrection. Trump's insurrection began on January 6, 2021, but the insurrection continued into 2025 and 2026 with Trump, members of his administration, Republicans in Congress, and six justices on the Supreme Court violating federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383). According to the federal law (18 U.S. Code § 2383), a felony crime is committed by “Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office”.
If a new Democratic controlled Congress and a Democratic president are elected in 2028, they will have a sworn obligation (and hopefully the integrity) to enforce the federal law against insurrection and the Constitution to prosecute, convict, imprison, and therefore remove all Republicans in Congress and six justices on the Supreme Court.
America can’t be saved unless the law against insurrection is enforced and all the violators of the federal law against insurrection are prosecuted, convicted and jailed.
I like William Millers comments because he is focused on action to enforce laws that have been broken. Republicans do not care about integrity and will laugh because there is no law to identify integrity. Robert Reich is eloquent describing those who lack integrity when enforcement of laws is what is needed! This democrat has been convinced for the last eight years that Trump and the misfits who voted for him need to go to jail or be seriously embarrassed with fines. And let's be clear, these assholes are pursuing a confederacy agenda that rejects the federal governments authority. I want every democrat who calls himself an attorney to get off of his ass and act like AG Merrick Garland who did absolutely nothing during the Biden administration. Conservative democrats are as much to blame as conservative republicans and may cause democrats to lose if they do not support Bernie Sanders progressive candidates. I am not an attorney so I write on blogs and vote. When I contact my Congress rep in the 17th district in Florida, Greg Steube rejects"liberal leaning content" and any suggestions deemed damaging to the Trump administration are considered "woke progressive ideology". This shit must end.
Totally agree
"Project 2029 has a federal plan in cooperation with companies to build 1 million new residential single family houses of 2000 sq ft..." Never heard of Project 2029 until you mentioned it -- perhaps it needs more publicity. "In cooperation with companies..." Which companies? Does it include the existing billionaire class, or the greedy developers that are tearing down existing housing in order to put up McMansions? "...Houses of 2000 sq ft. on half acre lots..." That's more space and yard than a lot of the existing housing has available, Interesting idea -- needs a little work.
Read my posts that have been describing Project 2029 for months as a proposal that Democrats should adopt and put in their campaign to get elected in 2026 and 2028.
Do they have integrity? One word: NO
Telling lies is not a MAGA first, But they all do it and it's an ingrained habit. It's a reflex.
It's actually a GOP trait of long standing
- Karen Cooper
Maybe that's a good thing, Donna. I fear most the "true believers," those who have
gifted their souls to the devil for "a higher cause." Orwell referred to them in his novel 1984. Dostoevsky referred to them in his Grad Inquisitor dialogue in Brothers Karamazov. These are individuals who surrender their human-like qualities, such empathy and compassion, for a "higher" cause and are thereby able to make peace with themselves while butchering their neighbors, often even their relatives.
The hypocrisy charge is true and it does no work. In Matthew it is not obscure. They know it. The move is not ignorance of the text, it is a smaller moral circle. The stranger who counts is the one inside the boundary, and everyone outside has been reclassified as a threat rather than a stranger. Once you accept that reframe, deportation stops feeling like a violation of the teaching and starts feeling like protection of the flock.
That is why quoting scripture back at them slides off. You are arguing about consistency. They are not being inconsistent, they are applying the rule to a smaller set of people.
The argument worth having is about who belongs in the set, not about whether they read the book.
🐌Johan
Excellent point Johan,
Proof that the flock is susceptible to being brainwashed by false prophets. Their racism and misogyny that this Trump administration is relying on has exposed their relentless hypocrisy.
Keith and Johan, maybe this is to much moralising. Churchill observed: "in times of war, truth is so precious, that it should be guarded by a bodyguard of lies." Hannah Arendt has written a wonderfull essay about truth. In it she describes a discussion about causes of the first world war. You could have a dispute about a lot of things, but Belgium did not invade Germany.
What I am missing in the present debate is this simple historian's view: what are the facts? The nation is caught in preposterous bullshit and the flood of it keeps coming. I know: facts are not easy to construct. But even for God 2 x 2 =4.
Good points Tom. And Poland never threatened Germany or Russia! Vietnam never threatened the United States. Etc... Etc... Etc... throughout human history. If there ever was a God who created the Earth and all things on it, he must have left the planet long, long ago, and never looked back.
Vote Blue... GH
Tom, Churchill was referring to the use of deception in times of war, not as a valid code of behavior in normal times. For those who believe that humankind, or their tribe, is in a perpetual existential war "1984" becomes destiny. Question: 2x2 of what?
Of course I know the context of the Churchill quote. I wanted to distance myself a bit from the moral tone. Lies can be needed and important, especially in times of war.
Trump invited that state of mind often: "fight" or you won't have your country anymore. When there is war, you can do "Anything" to win... fitting in hid amoral mind. I think 1984 had the same war-like atmosphere.
The 2 x 2 = 4 is epistemology: you can quarrel about anything, but not about the realm of science: 2 x 2 does not equal 5...
Keith, these people claiming to be Christians haven't even read the Bible:
Matthew 6:24
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
Johan, the exclusivity that the base of trump loyalists exhibit toward outsiders from their group is one hallmark of cult behavior. As such, they follow the word of their cult master selectively as opposed to their original belief system, so that any integrity to that original system is lost, and it isn't coming back without extensive reprogramming.
Trump is an apex predator, and he makes up his version of his scripture as he devolves into insanity - one god, him, with one law, his proclamations absolute. He's subverted the reptilian limbic system of fear, hatred, and power lust of his cultists to such a degree that they will destroy anyone with true integrity who
stands in their way. This is what the dogged 33% approval rating for trump from general polls tell us - these minds have been subverted and they're not coming back.
Steven Hasan has a great podcast on cult behavior. You are so right about the brain systems being controlled.
Dr. John Gartner: trump the "essence of evil" (crocodile eyes)
https://deanobeidallah.substack.com/p/dr-john-gartner-trump-is-the-most
Insightful. You and Nancy are recognizing that words are being understood differently. Fugelsang has been "preaching the real Gospel," but if there isn't consensus about what the words mean, the discussion is futile.
this is why Republicans don't engage in discussions.
I have definitely noticed that!
The inconsistencies in what is revered as the holy book of both Jews and Christians is so replete with contradictions as to be an instruction manual for how to lie and get away with it.
I've read the Bible and know many of the parables. Jesus' teachings never qualified that only strangers "inside the boundary" qualified, as far as I know. Do you have a citation?
Yeah, Jesus is too 'woke for them. 🙄
Your point is valid and important, Johan. However, they are the ones who claim fidelity to the "book." Their logical inconsistency and moral hypocrisy is cowardly and unsustainable. We must hit them where they are vulnerable. Who belongs to the set is a never ending argument, one not worth engaging in at the moment.
That’s obviously not ‘ fidelity’ .
They’re all a bunch of liars.
These Vance-type Catholics, and others know exactly what they’re doing.
Make no mistake about that.
And, they will be judged harshly in the end
Unless it’s after they’re locked up like Nuremberg Germany , Nuremberg style !
Have the cyanide tablets/capsules ready. Let the suicides begin 🙏🏻🌻
Yes, great point
That’s just batshit crazy like most ppl who belongs in the set, it’s the MAGA ‘cult of personality’
Fucking losers
The lens of consistency and integrity are important. An example for American was seen in our nation’s founding. While our understanding of all men are created equal, and the importance of the concept now less clear than, it still was opposed to the disastrous compromise that the small states insisted on that ended Wilson and Madison’s push for voting by population. Loyalty and power of states won over reason and integrity to representative government. The consequence was civil war. Bigotry and self interest walked with loyalty to an artificial construct of states and, as pointed out above, a refusal to follow the teachings of the Christian, Muslim and Jewish faith.
Disclaimer: I'm not a historian, but the average population of the northern states was about the average of the southern states. (I forget how the slaves were factored in). I think the Electoral College arrangement of adding two votes to each state was a mechanism to reduce the smaller states from getting steamrolled by Virginia and Pennsylvania, and other populous states.
I think this had nothing to do with the Civil War, which was the inevitable result between morality and slavery.
The slave states required the counting of black people in bondage as 3/5 a person to give them more representatives in the house to increase their political power including in the electoral college. The reason I used the example of the civil war is that the loyalty to states, and the bigotry leading to the bondage by skin color is also a form of loyalty, that is loyalty to tribe, not dissimilar to loyalty by state
Now I better understand what you were tying to say. It took time for former colonists to become more loyal to their country than their state, particularly with the slow communications of the day.
With the 3/5 boost (or 2/5 penalty, depending on how you look at it, the slave states had 29 of 65 delegates in the 1st Congress. Adding in Electoral votes, the northern side gap widens, to 53 vice 39. Thus, because of the more numerous small states, the EV worked against the slave states. (I'm counting Delaware as a non-slave state, and ignoring that slavery was legal in each of the states at the time.
‘They’ …like Vance, who has been a Catholic for a fucking nanosecond professed that God only allows you a finite amount of love. you must save it for your inner circle. Fuck everyone else
I know I’m not alone in thinking that you must be a special kind of fucking weird sad little MAGA dope to think things like this. Batshit crazy talk again 🤦🏻♀️
Gods love is actually infinite. There’s more than enough of Gods love to go around.
And, since God shows up through others. The more you love, the stronger you will be; as a person, and as a human being
Their claims are empty. Light and truth don’t come from darkness and hate.
Jesus also fed the poor and healed the sick. How can a "Christian" vote to cancel SNAP or Medicaid? No integrity.
"Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:37–40).
The fascists willfully misinterpret the Bible so that they can justify their betrayal of the US Constitution. Then they call their critics "Marxists."
Also, they seem OK with the shooting deaths of fathers in the street, for no reason, even in front of their young children and wives. The one in Maine featured a 26-year-old father bleeding out on the pavement for 5 hours. He had a social security number and was a legitimate worker with no crimes. In at least two of these horrific deaths, the killers (ICE?) said that the shootings were a case of "mistaken identity". How convenient, shoot first and then ask questions. DAMN Stephen Miller! and as always, tRUMP.
"MAGA hates the things they hate MORE than they love the things they love."
As long as the deaths of close family members honor Trump ("Covid is a hoax!" "Vaccines are dangerous!"), they're mostly OK with losing those they love....less than they love tRUMP.
Irrational and brainwashed.
I wish it made more sense, Laurie, but living in the deep south for >60 years has shown me not to expect much.
They selected ignorance long before Trump started praising them for it. (What do you expect of people who prefer guns over education?)
Foof, it's the culture they grew up with. 'Swimming against the tide' takes courage, and commitment. They can't be halfhearted when facing the resistance and even anger that would surely ensue when you are taking the "wrong" position. like defending those they hate. Their intolerance is daunting, and cruel.
Thank you, Laurie.
I think I understand (at least as well as I'm ever going to.)
My family has been here long enough that we, supposedly, had a land grant from the King (and in this same county in which I've lived about 60 of my years), prior to the revolution.
a typical rural mentality. It is not restricted to the South.
Hate is the psychotic child of fear and resentment. Fox News has fanned fear and resentment for decades.
They don't follow Jesus. They follow the almighty dollar.
Salvation they got, so Jesus they no longer need.
Now they need Trump, and his promises that if they will abandon all sense of personal responsibility, he will change history to ALWAYS make them the "good guys", no matter how much racist hate they wish to spew.
They will go down in history as did Hitler. The biggest abomination of humanity- if you can call all those things in our government human.
Imagine the word "IF" in a 700 point font.
It's not only that particular teaching of the Gospel they ignore, but virtually EVERY lesson Jesus taught. They ignore the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament also. And how about 'Judge not, lest you be judged.' ; 'Before you take the splinter from your brother's eye, take the plank from your own.' Or: 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.'? These are not Christians, and trump is Jesus's opposite. I won't give him the power of the Antichrist - he's far too stupid. Satan is allegedly 'wicked smart'! 😉👿🤪
Shrewd and conniving does not confer smarts in the area of true knowledge. One who has those "talents" can still be evil and clueless, a walking black hole without a soul. Not smart at all.
They are not Christian - John 4:1 believers need to test the advice from others to see if it’s really from God. MAGA deny immigrants entry into USA to make a new life. That’s not welcoming a stranger as Jesus instructed.
It gets short circuited by white christian nationalists claiming the stranger is a criminal, rapist and oppressor.
Good point Bill.
Meanwhile they rationalize that behavior in DT!
Go figure.
They are truly fearful, hateful, and simple minded.
Vote Blue..
"red and yellow, black and white, all are equal in his sight" was very much a part of my methodist religious training from preschool on... Until my terrible teens hit.
They do "welcome the stranger" but briefly. It's like those Oregon signs that say "Thank you for visiting."
I think the MAGA cult confuses Christian Nationalism with Christianity. They are definitely not the same thing. Hate v. love, trust v. fear, exclusive v. inclusive, etc.
I completely agree, Barbara.
Not to be deliberately mean or cruel toward these poor tragic fools (who are overwhelmingly either my relatives and/or my neighbors), but if Trump's intention was for them to EMBRACE their ignorance, they would be most UNlikely to do so by attempting to "larn"(sic) them new, longer words connected to even MORE complicated, complex concepts explaining religion. (Although it seems likely they already pretty much universally knew the words "groceries" and "affordability", which is a pretty big "knowledge step-up" from the most politically and militarily powerful human on this particular planet......)
MAGA, instead, will continue to do exactly as Trump wishes. "Covid IS a hoax!", "Vaccines ARE dangerous!", "Trump is smarter than ANY Black president with the middle name of "Hussein" could EVER be!".
Implementing the Obama Pandemic Plan for dealing with the deadliness of Covid was about as likely to occur as Trump NOT believing himself smarter than ANY other human being living, either because of skin tone DARKER or skin tone LIGHTER than any other human being on Planet Earth." (Trump has never had an issue with finding himself worthy...of absolutely anything and everything.)
Personally, I was more than a bit disappointed when Trump's recent SCREW VOTING FOR POOR AMERICANS speech left out the widely known collusion between Barack Hussein Obama and Frederick Douglass, who was a WIDELY-KNOWN Greenlander at the time our Civil War was winding down, and therefore ineligible to collude with either Obama or Biden at that time when Trump only had 2 sworn loyalists on his Civil War Era Supremely White Court.
(Sorry Barbara, but in the vernacular, "I'm worn down about as thin as frog fur split four ways.")
They claim to be Christian, but they are not. Not in their faith, hope or charity and not in their morals, either. Those are not words I made up. That is a quote from St. Augustine from 1600 years ago. St. Augustine knew what he was talking about.
Matthew 6:24
[24] [c]“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."
This whole administration is a criminal enterprise. Every member is complicit. Including the right wing of the Supreme Court.
This was known 8 years ago. America is a glutton for punishment. Its way little too late to complain of lack of integrity. Its like deciding an alligator isnt too friendly after its eaten your arm.
True. And hoping more are recognizing how cognitively and realaly simple the equation is: Reject whoever is loyal to the trump regime. Make 'Integrity' a precondition for US leadership....
Really simple....
They should all be indicted and serve time, including the enablers in Congress.
Especially the Right Wing of the Supreme Court.
The members need to go SPLAT out of their windows!
Simon says: Take 59 steps backward.
Trump treats his administration as a form of private equity.
AMEN to that!
The answer is a resounding no, which means a large portion of the U.S. population that voted for Trump also lacks integrity.
They showed their true colours and selfishly voted for Trump. They did not vote for the greater good. Buyer remorse does NOT exonerate them from their willingness to vote for a felon, knowing it would ruin so many lives. They did vote for lawlessness and inhumanity, and got it in spades. You get what you pay for. You get what you deserve!
We are experiencing a CULT mentality, White Supremacy, along with Christian Nationalists who justify anything Trump does using their religion. The irony is that Trump himself is not a Christian. He has no religion. He doesn't have a favorite Bible verse because he's never read it. He never went to a church in his life. He told everyone he was going to be a dictator and they voted for him. And now this is the price we will have to pay! I will always keep this “Don’t blame me. I voted for her” tee shirt 👇
https://tinyurl.com/2mpnu5xv
Lack of experience, lack of ethics and lack of integrity: Pure MAGA. They are visceral and lack the ability to be reasoned with.
You said, "We are experiencing a CULT mentality." Exactly. It has also been described as a "cult of personality". In addition, there is brainwashing and active disinformation going on from this administration.
From time to time, I recall the image of Trump's second "swearing-in." Melania stands off to the side holding the Bible(s) while Trump keeps his left hand straight down not anywhere near. https://mg.usembassy.gov/images-of-trumps-second-inauguration-photo-gallery/ I'm about as atheist as they come, but somehow this triggers some gut superstition. On the occasion he brandished a Bible he held it upside-down. If I believe anything, I believe DJT hates and fears Jesus and hates America.
Oh yes I remember that and have always been surprised it didn’t get much press. Kind of like crossing your fingers behind your back as you lie to someone. I wonder if holy water would burn him?
His LAST BREATH should have occurred on Jan. 6, where was the Squad that does that??
Assuming, as you believe, that DJT hates and fears Jesus, I agree and think it's because 1) he knows Jesus, whom people worship, was much more like today's Democrats, whom he hates, than today's Republicans, and 2) he is convinced that he himself is god almighty and adorns himself with gold. Among other god-awful things.
Btw, those were interesting photos in the link you provided. Thanks. I just shook my head from side to side in near disbelief while looking at them.
I think that if you listen to Trump he actually does have a religion. It is what we have called since the 1950s "The Power of Positive Thinking." If you look at the Trump family history, his parents attended the church where the author of the book was the preacher, so Donald learned it early. Behind it is a movement beginning in 19th century New England centered on the idea that you can influence or control the world around you with your thoughts, with "mind power." A lot of Americans follow this religion and most believe that it is Christianity. Trump, in his usual warped way refracted through his own narcissism, takes it to an extreme. It is why his staff and cabinet has to tell him what he wants to hear, not what is true. It is why he has to insist that he always wins and never loses. Sometimes I wonder whether he lies about everything because he believes that he can make what he wants to be true actually be true by saying it out loud. It is delusional to think that the external world can be changed or influenced by our inner thoughts. Trump shows how dangerous that is.
He needs to be made into sausage, and fed to the magats! Literally for real!
I’m not sure that *humanity* is possible when your ethical world is adherence to one human, let alone integrity being possible.
And adherence to a parodically cruel and vacuous monster of a human, such as Authoritarian Trump? Nope.
His besties can never be trusted in the future, so spent is their present.
If we the people stayed committed to “adopting” two non-PAC candidates for Senate who refuse big corporate control through their donations, we could turn the Senate.
We have to show that grassroots contributions really mean something, again, and that big money influences haven’t crushed us.
We’ve done it in the past and we need to do it again.
Trump is the most despicable person I have ever seen - he is totally indecent - anyone who supports him in any way has no integrity and is also indecent. They are all an evil, hateful cult that is destroying our country.
Remember: DJT did not create the racists and bigots. He just used them to his advantage.
In a politician's world, your integrity can be encapsulated in one fleeting photo op. John McCain defending Barack Obama in a town hall. Again, John McCain voted against overturning Obama care. Lindsay Graham rode those coat tails. But Trump if anything is a living test to integrity. Trump has always been consistent...it is his enablers who are being exposed. It is their legacies that are being exposed. Lindsay Graham's life work is reduced to being Trump's bitch.
I'm not sure consistency is an attribute that I would attach to your mercurial president. Not for nothing has he earned the TACO Trump moniker.
The "A" in TACO stands for ALWAYS. Some folks associate that word with consistency.
You’re correct, Rob.
Trump is consistent (our sense of outrage over his views and political aims distracts our attention, but Trump is consistent).
Don’t misunderstand, dear American readers, that this political project is changing the US and her allies utterly.
If Trump truly believes his lies then I guess one might say that he has integrity, but it is obvious that for him the word "integrity" is meaningless, and he is as consistent as slime mould. He is pathetic, but so is the mentality of those who support him.
Another observation: "Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with." Machiavelli, "The Prince."
That's why I think mockery and laughter are great weapons to use against MAGA. People who are laughing don't have time to be frightened. Also, it pisses them off to no end, and pissing off Nazis is always a good thing.
I so agree. Instead of taking umbrage, laughing at them is so much more effective, since it renders them without power.
Actually, the way to deal with Nazis is with whatever the current equivalent of the Red Army and 8th Air Force is.
Haberman and Swan reported the astonishing litany of mass-murdering tyrants that Trump compares himself to. https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5945266-trump-declares-limitless-power/ I don't see the joke. The death toll creeps up. The only thing Obama's ridicule back then resulted in was inspiring Trump to go for it. Maybe Obama should have lain low.
Obama (and his speechwriters) probably did not know Trump had zero sense of humor.
Some thoughts.
Giant banners of Trump’s head hang off hallowed hollowed out government departments.
350,000 workers gone; 4,900,000 years of corporate knowledge lost.
Every single cabinet member is incompetent by design.
That’s just three deeply scary thoughts.
If you are a person who is in the machinery of government and fighting to keep things normal as you go through this you have my deepest sympathy. Watching US MoG be deliberately destroyed and be able to do nothing but hope normal returns somehow is deeply frightening. I fear for America. And for us. Because when America gets sick, the world gets sicker. The war of choice, for example, that’s hurt us all.
And killed school girls in Iran.
If anyone anywhere near the admin was actually a Christian, or had any fear of any god, they would run away screaming in fear of being struck by lightning, turned to a pillar of salt, or consigned to eternal damnation. The idea that anyone would retain any vestige of integrity after consorting with Trump is absurd. Stormy Daniels is probably still showering in bleach to try and wash off the slime and stench.
No it is NOT at all possible to have integrity when working for that disgusting human being. He has no integrity and they are all his lap dogs! They do whatever he wants and since he lacks any decency or integrity....they, therefore do not either. Nor backbones. I am so sickened by these people. No morals, values, honestly, compassion or anything else that we should have as our leaders. As I have said before...there is a special place in hell for all of them.
They need placing into hell right now, SPLAT!! FACE FIRST!
Yes absolutely!!
Loyalty is important -- the question is loyalty to WHAT?
Not to WHOM.
In a nation of laws, loyalty is not owed to a person—it is owed to the Constitution, to serving the best interests of the citizens.
In contrast, sycophants kiss the king’s ring.
They are motivated by self-interest (power, money, fame).
They are twisted, bent, tortious.
They enable -and thus empower- malicious leaders.
Without sycophants, malicious leaders would be, to a large extent, powerless.
Sycophants should be held accountable for aiding and abetting amoral and immoral leaders.
Thanks. I was involved in Boy Scouts as a boy and a leader for many years. The twelve point Scout Oath begins with Trustworthy and Loyal. Are they at odds?
As a mental exercise, check Trump on the other ten: Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave (standing up for what's right), Clean (morally), and Reverent.
There are 27 human emotions. With out intregity people will turn out to be just like Trump.
Firstly, I don't think integrity can be described as an emotion. Secondly, that 2017 California study used some rather dubious statistical methodology and the categories they came up with seem to meld into each other rather than being distinct and some of them are unclear. For example, when they refer to 'romance' and 'sexual desire' are they trying to distinguish between ardour and lust?
Russell--There is a small "dot' after the word "Emotion," which indicates the end of a thought. After which a new sentence begins a new thought. I never intended for Integrity to be considered as an emotion.
What? Romance and sexual desire are two different experiences. They can occur together, as they often do, but there are many of us who often engage in sexual desire without any feelings of romance. Just look at the sex for money industry, or the porn industry. No romance there.
Christian Nationalists loyal first to Trump--questions our legal separation of church & state
The Police State is now our current national identity with ICE. People have been deported without due process. People here legally have been illegally put into gulag type prisons .Reports of some being deported to unfamiliar countries/continents. Cutting funds for medical research ....trying to sell off sacred Indian land Disrespect for nature.
I'm sure it's 100% impossible. To do that, among other things, I'd have to report all evidence of his crimes that I knew about to a proper law enforcement agency, but Trump owns and controls the DOJ so that, too, is utterly devoid of integrity.
To fail to report known felonies to an appropriate law enforcement agency is a felony, misprision of felony, rarely used but on the books, I bet AG Kamala Harris is going to have a field day prosecuting Trump appointees for felony misprision of felony in 2029.
Anyone who works for the Crook in Chief and not become a Crook is sure to get fired.
I'd been hiking along Vermont's Long Trail, had been in maybe three days, when I came to a tiny dirt road with a little general store. And there it was: The New York Times. With the front page obit for Roy Cohn. What a cosmic present! Irene M. Haske, speaking for the center, said the immediate cause of death was ''cardio-pulmonary arrest.'' She said the death certificate also listed two secondary causes of death: ''dementia'' and ''underlying HTLV-3 infections.''
Did I rejoice when mine enemy fell? You bet your sweet bippy I rejoiced when mine enemy fell!
Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, reliably doing the right thing even when no one is watching.
Empathy is the ability to understand and share another person's emotions. Compassion takes this a step further, recognizes the suffering and adds a genuine desire to take action to help alleviate it.
Without integrity and compassion humanity cannot exist.
Well said Susan. Thank you.
Stated perfectly.