285 Comments

"๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ฆ ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ 46๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜—๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜‹๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜‘๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ด ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต."

I do believe this might just be the closest any MAGAt has yet come to having an epiphany about the cult they've been sucked into.

Mind you, he still ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต missed it. But he ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต got it.

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Joe got a good start, but Kamala will finish the job.

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I haven't seen any evidence that Trump has been humbled. Maybe he meant humiliated?

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Can't be that. To be humiliated, one must possess a sense of shame. I haven't seen any evidence of that from the Danger Yam.

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The whole Stormy Daniels thing as well as the rumors of Putin having tapes of him in Russia would indicate that Trump is aware that some of the things he's done are things *other people* will think are wrong, and he hides those things. Even if he doesn't personally think they were wrong. So yeah, he feels shame. Or at least something shame-adjacent.

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I'd guess less "shame" and more "expensive", and we know he's a cheap bastard.

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I am not sure that he paid Stormy Daniels off because he knew and cared that other people would think that it was wrong, or because he didn't want Stormy announcing that he had a dick like a melting misshaped mushroom, or because he didn't want Ivanka to find out that he was sleeping with another woman. Because don't forget,... Trump wants to bang his daughter.

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"Trump wants to bang his daughter"

So totally effing gross.

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Is he able to understand when he is humiliated?

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Yes, but his definition of humiliation is not the same as ours since he is narcissistic. His hate of Obama come from his racism but also from an innocuous joke told by the latter. When most of us would move on, he can't stop until he feels avenged, which never happens.

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His reaction to mockery of him by politicians, the media and even late-night TV hosts/comedians is rage. Rage and childishness. He's mocked women, veterans, people with disabilities, etc. etc. etc. for years and now that he's finally getting a dose of his own medicine, he doesn't like it.

Tough shit, Donny. To use the playground language you prefer: "You started it."

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They're so weird.

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Farron just uploaded a video demonstrating what I was talking about

https://youtu.be/9kys1XIF64k?si=TTfKPZ-ZORbTb2kb

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Nice and accurate.

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He will never act humble, but he knows he's losing and stands a good chance of going to jail.

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The fact that this false prophet actually admitted he was wrong is a minor miracle in itself -- not a major miracle, but definitely a minor one. (Somewhere between "walking on frozen water" and feeding the masses with green eggs 'n' ham.)

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I've done both. I lived on the shore of a lake in Minnesota for a couple of years. I also used to fill in at my ex's daycare/preschool, sometimes we'd make green eggs (colored the whites with food coloring) and ham and read that book while eating.

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A lot of christianity is plagiarized.

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You mean like the gospels written after Mark? I having been reading Randel Helms' The Bible Against Itself' and there has been a lot of that going on. These grifters get away with it because only Atheists really read the Bible from cover to cover.

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It's like students copying off of other student's work.

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That's the meme I was thinking of. Zorgin likes using this one. :)

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It took a while to find.

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One asked for me to copy my answers during an history test, we didn't get caught but she ended with 8/20* to my 17/20.

* I don't know if it's still the case but at my time letters were used to grade homework snd tests only until 5th grade. Points are used for junior highs, high schools and colleges.

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My aunt's funny story: she took both French and Spanish in HS. She had a mental burp in class one day and wrote all French answers down on a Spanish test. The girl behind her was secretly copying her. My aunt got a redo, the cheater got a zero. Karma's a bitch. :)

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Karma can be a bitch for some teachers too. An acquaintances daughter and her friend started to be suspicious of their English teacher, when the first who was good tutored the second and yet, her grades remained the same. One day, they did their tests and discreetly exchanged their copies. When they got them back, the grades were the same. They went right to the person in charge to complain.

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That's a terrific book that every Christian should read alongside their Bible studies!

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App. 92%.

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Just the parts that got written down!

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And we know that there was A LOT that got tossed out, expurgated.

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Namely, the parts they didnโ€™t like or โ€˜approve ofโ€™ as times changedโ€ฆ ๐Ÿ™„

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Like anything that cast women in a positive light.

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Like, all the highlights.

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Of all the lies put forward by these religious "leaders", ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฎ is what one of them gets called out for. IOW, lie all you want, steal from the rubes with impunity, but don't you dare steal MY lie.

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Ironic when a good part of the babble is the result of plagiarism.

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Totally, starting with Adam and Eve, going on to the Flood from there. The REAL party is with the synoptic gospels, where Matthew and Luke were copying off of Mark's exam with remarkable blatancy.

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And let's not forget the Plagues of Egypt: those were totally plaguerized...

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That's a little measles for a pun. You can do better.

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I wondered about that. Do they really believe in their own lies?

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As someone who escaped from that cult, I think they do believe everything. It;s how they excuse/justify their grifting.

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So sad. And weird.

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Yes, definitely weird. They hate that word!

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Plagiarism is prevalent in every Christian themed merchandise, media, and trends from creationists plagiarizing popular scientific works to Christian rock bands making Weird Al style parodies of well known hit songs.

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Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist did an entire video on the subject.

youtu.be/KNik8niSrrY

40 minutes well-spent.

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Seth has seen this crap from the inside, and he has very little problem in identifying and dismantling it.

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isn't plagiarism a commandment or something?

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2 commandments. Stealing and coveting.

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Kind of redundant. Who steals what they don't covet?

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Carlin reducing the 10 Commandments to deal with the padding/redundancy

youtu.be/sk81tUUhRig

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We have always had religious con artists who prey upon the gullible, and we probably always will. Genuine education and critical thinking skills are the best defenses against these people, but I am not optimistic on that score either. Too many people only listen to what they want to hear, and find critical thinking painful. That said, there is some reason for hope. I read recently that only 63% of Americans now claim any religious affiliation. Down from near 90% only a couple decades ago. I can only hope that trend continues and accelerates.

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Well, obviously. All religious artists are con artists.

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Some much worse than others.

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Those numbers are encouraging, but somehow they do not seem to be reflected in the reality we are seeing all around us: religion invading public life more than ever; conspiracy theories with religious bases proliferating; Christian nationalist/Christo-fascist movements gaining steam...it's like: when is this supposed decline in religious belief going to start showing?

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The evangelicals are highly organized, and they are fighting a rear-guard action, trying to accomplish through the courts and legislatures what they have failed to achieve from their pulpits. They will ultimately fair, but expect them to do a lot of damage along the way. People simply do not want to be ruled by the preachers.

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Hope, but don't pray.

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There's dishonesty, there's blatant dishonesty, and then there's the outright bullshit that comes from religion and especially evangelical religion. Based on what I can see of Jeremiah Johnson's particular brand of meadow muffins, he may not be in Kenneth Copeland's league, but he's in there, trying his best (and that's NOT a compliment!). The sniping between him and his brother doesn't help matters, either.

Frankly, I would just as soon leave them to their cat fight. I'm not sure I've ever seen a family squabble like this one end well, and I doubt that the Johnsons are any exception.

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+++

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Agree: any division and in-fighting among the inhabitants of Fantasy Land is a good thing for the Real World...

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Stealing from others, Jeremiah? Coveting what others have? Don't 2 different commandments tell believers NOT to do this?

Oh, and look. You and your brother are squabbling. Looks like Jesus really did come to divide family members and set them at each others' throats.

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Letโ€™s not forget taking the Lordโ€™s name in vain. That being more of using god/jesus/holy ghost to manipulate others rather than just as a curse to alleviate frustration or pain.

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๐ต๐‘œ๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘–๐‘š ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐ถโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘ค๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘–๐‘  ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘˜ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ .

A very small scale representation of what will happen nationally if the theocrats win.

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+++ If the preachers ever acquired the power they evidently want, they would begin killing one another over doctrinal errors within a month. It would be the Thirty Years War all over.

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And even worse if the theocrats don't win. Civil war is my predictions unless the military and the police and the Democrats prepare really well for the violence from the right.

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Or christianity as a whole.

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I had a religious loon of a neighbor who โ€œpredictedโ€ Trump would win 2020, then his 2020 court cases because god came to him in a dream and told him so, then flew the American flag upside down when it didnโ€™t happen. I canโ€™t imagine how his brain must be tweaking now that probable Prez Harris will kick ass in November.

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Bet your neighborhood prophet never saw Vance coming and how much damage Vance has done to Trump's chances.

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Republicans are really *publicly* shitting on pet owners now. This was the start

https://www.zentaur.org/memes/dog_republican.jpg

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Oh my.

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George looks like he's read up on the Johnsons.

youtu.be/KIquHVa_y0U

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Was that from TRFTS? he did a great cameo in that.

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George usually nails it.

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If it were me, I would relentlessly hammer your neighbor's phony "dreams" and predictions for the rest of his life -- not to be an asshole, but to drive home the reality that his "god" is bullshit. "Hey, Gene, how are ya? Had any dreams from God that didn't come true lately? Any more false predictions you wanna share?" These people need to be shamed for their lies, and not allowed to wriggle out and keep repeating their bullshit, a la Mike Lindell.

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I would, but Iโ€™ve since moved. Iโ€™d probably would have also pranked him with Harris / Walz signs on his front lawn

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Well, strictly speaking โ€“ false prophets are supposed to be put to death. Not that I would suggest you take it into your own hands mind. ๐Ÿ˜‡

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Us atheists prefer to donate to non-prophet organizations...

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:)

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โ€œBut we decide which is right

And which is an illusionโ€ - Moody Blues, โ€˜Late Lamentโ€™

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Never trust anybody who is โ€œself-describedโ€.

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Or refers to themselves in the third person! ๐Ÿ˜

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As a self-described atheist, I heartily concur.

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[Both of them claim to represent what Christ wants and everyone around them is forced to pick sides.]

Neither? I choose neither.

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Hmmm. If you want to clean out a large pond of shit, you should use thousands of gallons of clean water, not thousands of gallons of more shit.

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What's wrong with those people? Malice?

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Fear. Either fear of the state fuhrer or of LGBT people or both.

Yoda:https://www.zentaur.org/memes/hate_suffering.jpg

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I think it's just plain old sadism and cruelty. I'm sure the fascists at work here know that every stunt they pull like this is a slap in the face to the LGBTQ population.

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I'm surprised they didn't burn them.

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So much for free speech.

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Only they and their gods have free speech. Everyone else must keep their mouths shut.

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Pink has a concert in Orlando November 18th. Will she give away books again ?

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The same prophets are predicting that Trump will win the election and their dupes are eating it up like they did four years ago. And even if he doesn't, their followers will still think that he did which makes them prime candidates to try to disrupt the peaceful transition of power.

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One positive difference is that I expect the Capitol and other DC police forces will not take a lot of s**t before acting with force this time around. I think you are right that there will be a lot of rigth-wingers claiming victory even if Trump loses. But I also think if some large pro-Trump rally happens in DC, they aren't getting in anywhere (uninvited). In 2020 the police probably assumed they would be respected as allies of these right-wingers. Now they know from experience that the leopard will eat their face.

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The problem Trump has with January 6th is that it's the kind of trick that only works once. I have zero doubt but that police forces around the country will be alert to any similar action, and I know for a fact that the FBI is monitoring anything that could resemble domestic terrorism. On top of that, while Trump refused to deploy the National Guard, Biden would have no such hesitancy.

I am far more concerned about Trump-planted election officials screwing with certifying the vote count than I am with another attempt at violent insurrection.

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That is somewhat of a concern, but not a big one for me. The places where right-wingers truly screwed with votes were places that went overwhelmingly for Trump - Maricopa county in AZ and I forget the name of the county in Georgia.

Meanwhile, IIRC the *state*-level GOP election machinery in Georgia and in Pennsylvania toed the line and did the right thing (despite Trump's caterwauling). So it appears that the localities where state officials will break the law for Trump are far far fewer than the localities where state officials will vote for him.

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I hope Biden puts the NG on standby.

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"Stand back and stand by." :)

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Some Honest Christian (an extreme rarity in this world) needs to "rise up in the midst of the congregation" and call out all the phony Trump prophecies. Some believer who hasn't yet figured out that Jesus isn't real -- who still believes there's such a thing as *real* prophecy -- needs to take a stand and denounce the many false Trump prophets, rather than just sweeping the bad predictions under the rug with embarrassment, and pretending they didn't happen.

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The problem is that so many believers live in an echo chamber and would prefer to hear a lie than the truth. If you tell them the truth then they reject both you and your message. Eventually, reality will intrude into their little world but so many have an investment in keeping them hoodwinked.

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Like that hasn't happened before.

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Back before the 2020 election, did Johnson really think Trump and his god would be BFFs?

He showed he not only doesn't understand who and what Trump is and what he has said about his Christian supporters, he also doesn't understand the nature of his own deity.

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Trump does elevate sycophants. I expect Johnson knew it would take a lucky break to get Trump's attention at all, but he prepared 'correctly' on how to take advantage of that lucky break if it happened. Which makes him not much different from a lot of people in Trump's orbit.

It's the "line of girls waiting outside the rock star's bus" concept. You probably won't be picked. But you definitely won't be picked if you don't show up. The brown-nosing is him showing up.

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To be fair, the whole Tower of Babel thing ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต exactly end well, so it's no surprise that 'ol Jehovah's followers don't really try to understand him anymore.

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An all-powerful deity was so afraid of what a united humanity could accomplish without him that he wiped away the one language everyone spoke and created countless languages to separate/divide that humanity.

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And it is a good deity the followers say. In my view even Loke/Loki behaves better and is nicer.

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Aug 15Edited

From the forthcoming MAGA Musical for the Masses, Dictator for a Day, the opening monologue for the song, 'It's Not Easy Being God'ยฉ :

"I was never really religious, never a big believer in God...because God never really picked up the phone and called me." -- Donald Trump

https://DictatorForADayShow.com

https://soundcloud.com/rich-hersh

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