Is Donald trump a gaslighter? Is Mike Pence a Christian fascist? Both of these are extreme allegations and I could avoid all problems easily. I could put quotes on the two questions and attribute them to several sources that have suggested exactly the same thing. That is what passes for truth these days. Here I will seek to show that the two men names are very bad choices facing us. Because this is so our capacity for action is hobbled.

Do we want to impeach or otherwise be done with Trump and end up with Pence? Which of the two is the greatest danger?

Could we be done with both?

Gaslighter?

Here is a crisp description of gaslighting, the manipulation and confusing of the public. I strongly recommend you read the full text.

Ask yourself, don't the following characteristics crop up in President Trump? Does he not tell lies? Does he not deny his lies even when there is proof to the contrary? Does he not sow confusion about things you care about? Doesn't he keep at it over time with an almost daily barrage of statements that confuse, aggravate and anger?

Trump's methods

Do his deeds contradict his talk? Does he engage in effusive praise and ego-bolstering?

Does he say everything is a mess but that he can fix it? Does he accuse others of his own shortcomings? Does he create and encourage taking sides? Does he call others names, like crazy, or loser, or dumb? Does he characterize his opponents as liars?

Everyone can find themselves at moments in this series of questions. But all of them evoke Trump all of the time.

He really is the gaslighter-in-chief.

Revelation

The more revelatory part of this offering is the following video which shows us the inside of what the Trumpian support looks like in the world of Christian evangelicals. As a journalist with roots in reporting on American religion, I can vouch for the truth of what might seem a highly opinionated approach.

The author, Chris Hedges, is one of the most critical voices regarding where we are and what we have become. Regardless, he gives us a picture of life in the evangelical realm that we are never going to get otherwise.

He reminds me of a highly conservative journalist, Lester Kinsolving, now 90 and still active. Kinsolving was virtually the only journalist in the Bay Area during the 1970s who understood the lethal reality that lay in the culture of the Rev. Jim Jones. He called Jonestown before it happened. I wrote extensively about this sad chapter in our national life. Hedges knows the cultic nature of some of the dominionist, are-you-saved evangelical communities.

You be the judge regarding Pence. This video may be our best link to some underlying truth
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED