"God gave us Trump," says lie-filled propaganda video spread by Trump
The ad, made by a conservative propagandist, treats Trump as God's gift to mankind
This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!
On Friday, Donald Trump’s campaign shared a fan-made video suggesting he was the pinnacle of God’s creation.
“GOD MADE TRUMP,” the post read—and since conservatives are so obsessed with plagiarism these days, it’s worth noting this was a direct rip-off of a Ron DeSantis ad, which itself was a rip-off of a famed speech given decades ago. (No credit was given by either Republican.)
And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on His planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God gave us Trump.
God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office and stay past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state.” So God made Trump.
“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle the deep state and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to ruffle the feathers, tame the cantankerous World Economic Forum, come home hungry, have to wait until the First Lady is done with lunch with friends, then tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon—and mean it.” So God gave us Trump.
“I need somebody who can shape an ax but wield a sword, who had the courage to step foot in North Korea, who can make money from the tar of the sand, turn liquid to gold, who understands the difference between tariffs and inflation, will finish his 40-hour week by Tuesday noon but then put in another 72 hours.” So God made Trump.
God had to have somebody willing to go into the den of vipers, call out the fake news for their tongues as sharp as a serpent's—the poison of vipers is on their lips—and yet stop. So God made Trump. '
God said, “I need somebody who will be strong and courageous, who will not be afraid or terrified of the wolves when they attack. A man who cares for the flock, a shepherd to mankind, who won't ever leave nor forsake them. I need the most diligent worker to follow the path and remain strong in faith and know the belief of God and country. Somebody who's willing to drill, bring back manufacturing and American jobs, farm the lands, secure our borders, build our military, fight the system all day, and finish a hard week's work by attending church on Sunday.”
And then his oldest son turns and says, “Dad, let's make America great again. Dad, let's build back a country to be the envy of the world again.”
So God made Trump.
I, too, just threw up in my mouth.
The ad is based on a speech conservative radio broadcaster Paul Harvey delivered in 1978 called “So God Made a Farmer.” The gist was that God wanted someone to do lots of work, impact local government, help his neighbor, go to church, and essentially be a real-life Norman Rockwell character… therefore, God made farmers. Not a bad way to suck up to the audience at a convention for the Future Farmers of America.
When the DeSantis team used that speech for his 2022 re-election campaign, they took the script, changed “farmer” to “fighter,” modified the rest of the script accordingly, and painted the conservative culture warrior as if he were some kind of American savior.
This ad doesn’t even bother to stick to the original. It co-opts the format while making shit up to appease the sort of ignorant white evangelicals and conservative Catholics who fall for anything. (The irony is that if Joe Biden released a similar ad, every white evangelical pastor and FOX anchor would be screaming about blasphemy.)
The ad is a series of lies.
Trump isn’t a “caretaker.” He botched the response to COVID in significant ways, and his promotion of hydroxychloroquine may have helped kill 17,000 people. Of all the ways you can describe Trump, family man will never make the cut.
He doesn’t “work all day.” He didn’t when he was president, either, taking numerous vacations while lining his own pockets and filling up his schedule with “unstructured Executive Time.”
If he delivered his own grandchild, there’s no record of it. It’s also a ridiculous claim since Trump is famously germaphobic.
He praises North Korea. He can’t turn liquid to gold because he’s famously a con artist. And he sure as hell never ends his week “by attending church on Sunday.” While Biden attends regularly, Trump almost never did, and when he showed up, it was often for a photo-op, campaign rally, or funeral.
The idea that Trump is a devout man of faith is a farce. He’s a sexual abuser. He’s the Two Corinthians guy. He’s the guy who said he doesn’t need forgiveness. He couldn’t name his favorite Bible verse. He held up a Bible in front of a church after his team used tear gas to drive away peaceful protesters.
As I’ve said before, not a single white evangelical church in America would ever allow Trump to be their pastor if they wanted to be taken seriously. And yet more than half of Republican voters (a good chunk of whom would describe themselves as conservative Christians) seriously believe Trump is a person of faith.
The ad Trump shared was made by the “Dilley 300 Meme Team,” which is run by MAGA cultist Brenden Dilley. In 2019, Dilley openly declared his strategy in a livestream: “It doesn’t have to be true; it just has to go viral.”
That strategy hasn’t changed in the years since because it still works. MAGA cultists believe every lie they’re fed no matter how ludicrous. (After Democratic activist Ron Filipkowski shared the Trump video and correctly pointed out it was a “ripoff” of the DeSantis ad, Dilley responded by saying “None of what you just said is true.” Even though it’s 100% accurate.)
The fact remains that some people will always believe anyone who speaks with conviction and confidence, no matter what they say. It’s the reason Vivek Ramaswamy is still in the mix of Republican candidates despite a lack of relevant experience. The more convincing you are when spreading these lies, the more likely it is that gullible followers will believe you. It works on the FOX crowd. It works in megachurches. It works in multi-level marketing scams. It’s works when spreading pseudo-science. And it’s why actual journalists are having such a hard time breaking through against bad-faith actors who don’t give a damn what the evidence reveals.
Even if this video doesn’t spread beyond Trump’s social media, it’s likely not the last time we’ll see Trump depicted as a Messiah, sent by God to prevent the (false) persecution of Christians. No amount of criminal convictions, fascist rhetoric, or stream-of-consciousness ramblings will change that.
A God who gave us Trump isn’t a God worth worshiping.
(Portions of this article were published earlier)
“It doesn’t have to be true; it just has to go viral” is pretty much the GOP’s mission statement these days
God may have given us Donald Trump, but then again he also gave us schizophrenia, muscular dystrophy, cancer, ingrown toenails, male pattern baldness, and a thousand other diseases we could do without. So, what's their point? They have no point of course. They are simply making excuses for the indefensible. Few things ever better demonstrated the disconnect between religion and morality quite like the evangelicals pledging their unconditional love for Donald Trump.