The South’s Confederacy Has a New President–Donald Trump

Last updated on: July 6, 2020 at 9:53 pm by Kermit Zarley

The South’s Confederacy Has a New President–Donald Trump 2020-07-06T21:53:03-07:00 Kermit Zarley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Republican President Donald Trump is falling way behind in the polls, regarding the upcoming presidential election, against the Democrats’ soon-to-be nominee former Vice President Joe President. So, Trump looks like he’s grasping for straws by diverting attention away from his mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic by claiming the new Black Lives Matter movement against racism and police brutality is anti-American as it also demands that names of Confederate generals who fought against the Union in the Civil War have statues of them removed and their names removed from some things.

In President Trump’s speech at his Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore this weekend, he barely mentioned the ongoing pandemic, yet hammered away at the racial issue and removal of statues. He called for those who “damage or deface statues” to suffer “a minimum of ten years in prison.”

IMO, Donald Trump has often told lying and sometimes stupid statements. For example, at the celebration he said of the carved faces in Mount Rushmore, “I am here as your president to proclaim, before the country and before the world, this monument will never be desecrated.” Well, to do that he would have to live as long as the USA exists and be its president all that time.

And I’d like to know how Mr. Trump is going to stop this from happening, according to the Bible, at the second coming of Christ–“a violent earthquake, such had not occurred since people were upon the earth, so violent was that earthquake,” so that “every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found” (Revelation 16.18, 20), which I assume includes Mount Rushmore that Trump said he loves.

Trump further proclaimed, “This left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.” What! What does the Black Lives Matter movement against racism and police brutality have to do with the American Revolution? And how does it overthrow that? And I don’t hear those advocates say anything about that war; rather, their grievance is about the reason the Civil War was fought–slavery of blacks. Trump said, “Their goal is to end America.” Not so! Most are just trying to clean up America.

Trump continued, “Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.” Those heroes he referred to are mostly Confederate generals whose statues have existed throughout the South and whose names are on several of our military bases.

I did my ten weeks basic training in the U.S. Army at Fort Polk in Louisiana. It is named after Episcopal Bishop and Confederate General Leonidas Polk (1806-1864). He resigned his clerical position and joined the Confederate military. As the cousin of U.S. President James Polk, Leonidas fought against the Union in the American Civil War. Confederate President Jefferson Davis commissioned Leonidas Polk as a general even though he had little military experience. He was killed in action.

This weekend, President Trump criticized the only NASCAR driver, Bubba Watson, who had claimed that he discovered a noose hanging in his Talladega Superspeedway garage. It was investigated by the FBI, and they concluded it was “not an intentional, racist act.” Rather, it was a garage door pull rope that had been in place since last fall. But President Trump called the incident by his favorite word, “a hoax,” and demanded that Watson apologize to his NASCAR colleagues.

President Trump’s two strongest, Republican allies in the U.S. Senate are Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, with whom the president sometimes plays golf. Today, Lindsey Graham said that Bubba Watson’s immediate take on seeing the rope dangling like a noose was perfectly understandable and, “I don’t think Bubba Watson has anything to apologize for.”

Graham–who was born and has always lived in the Southern state of South Carolina, whereas Trump is from New York–also pushed back against the president regarding his demand to prevent people from removing Confederate icons such as statues due to this movement against racism. Graham said, “If you’re in business, the Confederate flag is not a good way to grow your business.” Mississippi, which I believe from experience has been the most racist of all the Southern states, just voted days ago in their legislature to remove the Confederate insignia from their state flag.

Donald Trump is a divider, not a uniter. That in itself makes him a lousy president of the United States of America. Jesus said, “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” (Mark 3.24 NRSV). Just over 150 years ago, the USA came close to not standing anymore when it fought the Civil War, which was mostly over slavery of blacks. Now, it looks like Trump wants us to fight it all over again.

Donald Trump’s motto during his presidential campaign and his presidency has been, “Make America Great Again.” I think he’s doing just the opposite. And now with this new twist about the Civil War, I believe Donald Trump is looking more like the president of the Confederacy than he is of the United States of America.

Politics

Society of Biblical Literature

Previous Post

July 5, 2020

DeChambeau Wins Rocket Mortgage Classic

Next Post

July 7, 2020 Mary Trump's Tell-All Book

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Angels Billy Graham Blog Description Book Reviews Christian Living Christianity Christology Church History Current Events Deity of Christ? Disarmament Eschatology Evangelicalism Ezekiel 38-39 Film Reviews God Golf Gospel Harmonization Health History Holy Spirit Incarnation? Interview Islam Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Jesus Last Empire Literary Announcements Major Championship Winners Masters Monotheism My Books New Testament Old Testament Politics Primitive Weapons Ryder Cup Science Society of Biblical Literature The Bible The Restitution of Jesus Christ Trinitarianism Trinity? Uncategorized Unconditional Love? War on Terrorism

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many minor prophets are in the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

12 10 14 16

Books by This Author Books by Kermit Zarley Blog

See All Titles »