FROM REPUBLICAN TO CHRISTOGOP - CHAPTER 1.

Shedding The Republican Skin

The Grand Old Party worked hard and long to become a party of self-identifying ignorant, corrupt, greed-driven Christians and industrialists both seeking to make the other half of America submit to their will – at whatever the cost. Despite the entire Republican National Party’s domination by Christians, who desire to enact laws based on Christianity and have done so already by overturning Roe v Wade, they still pretend they are a diverse party rather than a front for the many different sects of Christians and their lay groups such as the Proud Boys and KKK. This theater, rich with players from different Christian churches, seems so obviously a Christian Nationalist party, it boggles the mind as to how any person or media outlet concludes Republicans are a diverse party of conservative voters. Yet, they are a malformed descendant propagated from the union of traditional Republican and Christian, so disfigured as to be almost unrecognizable to the party and religion who sold their souls to one another. These ChristoGOPs now comprise approximately half the population in the United States, united by their shared religious beliefs and political ideology, both as ambiguous and contradictory as their values. These ChristoGOPs seek only their own interests whether that be discrimination or tax breaks.

They are greed and ignorance unbound!  

Differentiating the old, dead Republican and Christian from the ChristoGOP is vital to understanding why our government continues to spiral into a fascist, elitist theocracy, but more importantly, so we may recognize and break the religious and ignorance chains binding us all.

The Rising Threat of Christian Nationalism on American Democracy 

The United States has long been considered a bastion of democracy in the world, perhaps more ideally than realistically. However, recent years have seen a resurgence in the political force of Christian nationalism, an ideology that posits the supremacy of Christianity within society and its direct influence on governmental affairs. While there is no denying the historic role religion has played in American politics, the prospect of Christian nationalists gaining control over Congress and the presidency raises serious concerns about how this could adversely impact democratic norms and practices.  

Christianity & Democracy: A Turbulent History 

The relationship between Christianity and democracy has been complex and nuanced throughout history. While some religious leaders and movements championed democratic principles like freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and the right to vote, others have used their influence to undermine these values. Some argue the United States was founded on ideals influenced by Christianity, such as the belief in human equality before God and the necessity for a moral society, but the fact that separation of church and state has been a core concept, negates the fiction of the United States as a Christian Nation. While Christianity historically played an important role in the country's public life, arguably not a beneficial one in most instances, the constitutional principle of separation of church and state was established to ensure no one religion would have undue influence over governmental affairs or policymaking processes. This separation ended with a large body of voters (half of America) voting for a narcissistic, authoritarian leader (Donald Trump) who installed the current conservative Supreme Court. A new page of history turns now to the ChristianGOPs bearing the flag of ignorance, waving guns, believing anything that remotely sounds Christian – even if selfish, violent, misinformed, and just downright wrong. 

Christian Nationalism: A New Threat? 

Christianity is not a new threat. Since the earliest days of the United States, Christianity, over and over again, tried to embed itself in the public square, enforce its morality, and undermine democratic ideals. For many it is difficult to fathom what appears to be a beneficial, benevolent, and loving religion as a threat to freedom. Yet, the danger posed by a Christian nationalist takeover of Congress and the presidency lies in their potential to undermine democratic principles through religious-based governance. To accomplish this goal, the separation of church and state had to be severely compromised, so that the government could begin to favor Christian interests over those of other religious groups or nonbelievers. Erosion of the founding principle of religious freedom in the United States provides the discriminatory environment needed to undermine citizens who do not subscribe to Christian beliefs. 

Christian Nationalism is not a new threat, but this current movement combined with Republicanism produced a new threat of recreating the US as a Christian Nation. The ChristoGOP is a beast born of ignorance, hypocrisy, and greed. The ChristoGOP, sometimes called a MAGA, screams the mantras of liberty while uncaringly crushing democratic values like the press and women's rights. What becomes heresy and forbidden by law derives from the whim of the ChristoGOP leaders, answering only to the monetary, corporate, industrialists, and other Power Brokers who finance them. They may seek to limit freedom of the press by restricting coverage that challenges or criticizes their religious beliefs or policies, or more realistically, what hurts their bottom line, like reporting the truth about climate change. They might even attempt to roll back women's reproductive rights, which most Christian groups limit in some way by declaring men spiritual leaders of women, that coincidentally, forms the perfect means to control half the population by having them answer to and depend on men who already control most resources and wealth.  

The Need For Action 

Christian nationalism gaining control over Congress and the presidency is not merely hypothetical. In recent years, a growing number of elected officials, at the local and national levels, are ChristoGOPs espousing an insane ideology that even some Christians find repugnant. These politicians are not merely interested in spreading a religious view, they are intent on taking power at all costs by infiltrating all branches of government. Christian nationalism has gained a significant influence over American political affairs, but more so the ChristoGOP, who intends to continue destroying the foundations of democracy in the US to achieve what it desires. Behind the guise of Christianity and Making America Great Again, lies a cabal of greedy, racist, religious fascists who want to undo civil rights and progressive advancements made in education to healthcare. Just beyond them stands the Power Brokers, seeking nothing but profit and control by any means necessary. The threat is real and these ChristoGOPs, their leaders, and the Power Brokers will be the first to downplay the severity of the situation. 

SOME BASIC PSYCHOLOGY & LANGUAGE 

There are aspects of human psychology and the limitations of language one must understand to grasp how people became ChristoGOPs. We’re going to throw out and ignore the age-old great debate of nature vs nurture, genes, and experience, traumatic or otherwise, when considering the most critically important elements that converted Republicans into a cluster-fuck of fascist madmen.  

Several important characteristics explain this phenomenon, most notably the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is believing they possess more intelligence, skill, or capability than they do. Sometimes, this effect refers to the intelligent, skilled, or capable persons underestimating themselves, but smart people thinking they are less smart does not present the same magnitude of problems as stupid people overestimating their intellect and knowledge. 

Associated with Dunning-Kruger is Agnotology, which is the study of culturally induced ignorance that often forms as a willful, and intentional belief in things one can and should know as untrue or inaccurate but choosing to believe them anyway. This nescience guiding the Dunning-Kruger should not be considered reductively, such as resulting merely from lack of facts or stubbornness because culturally induced ignorance creates psychological issues that further exacerbate the problem. 

One such problem is projection, which refers to a basic defense mechanism in which a person believes or acts as if they believe a fault in their conduct is present in someone else. This trait is commonly scene in the ChristoGOP leadership, most notably Donald Trump, who has consistently claimed anyone who disagrees with him is a criminal, a liar, and a reprobate, all truths about himself that he projects onto others.  

These psychological issues are further worsened by the limitation of language centered in the ChristoGOP belief that the simplest definition of a word is adequate to full comprehension of the word’s meaning. This cogent feature manifests commonly in the ChristoGOP claiming, fascists are “bad” and since I’m “good” I can’t be a fascist. Racism is “bad” and since I am “good” I can’t be racist. This limited understanding allows the ChristoGOP to live quite comfortably, never feeling cognitive dissonance. 

Wittgenstein said, “An expression only has meaning within the stream of life.”ⁱ Similarly, the value of language is limited by the user’s ability to understand the words and recognize how their own psychology influences their choice and use of those words. 

BUT THERE’S JEWISH, BLACK, HISPANIC, & atheist REPUBLICANS! 

ChristoGOPs love boasting how Blacks and Hispanics reveal a diverse party. ChristoGOPs pointing to these people declares their bigotry with the same culturally induced ignorance as those who say things like, “I don’t hate Black people; I hate N.....s!” They claim “all lives matter” from the dominant position of having never known their life to not matter. With all the self-righteousness and pompousness they can muster, just as Donald Trump did in the 2024 Debate, they lie, “It’s the illegal immigrants taking the Black Jobs!”  

It is difficult to understand how any Jewish, Black, or Hispanic person votes for a party that actively works to undermine them at every turn. Their leader, Donald Trump, has made quite clear, on many occasions, exactly what he thinks of these voters.  

Sycophants like Marjorie Taylor Green are often more outspoken than their leader. POLITICO reported hours of social media video, in which,  

Marjorie Taylor Greene, suggested that Muslims do not belong in government; thinks black people “are held slaves to the Democratic Party”; called George Soros, a Jewish Democratic megadonor, a Nazi; and said she would feel “proud” to see a Confederate monument if she were black because it symbolizes progress made since the Civil War.     

These followers are not just more outspoken but willing to enact their white Christian beliefs, exemplified by Governor Ron DeSantis who has declared war on the ‘woke’ by targeting three-quarters of a million undocumented immigrants in Florida, attacking LGBTQ rights, expanding ignorance by limiting education concerning systemic racism.  

Most disturbing are the people aligned with these political viewpoints who should not be. According to Pew Research, the Jewish majority, with good reason, identify or lean Democratic. Even less surprising is the fact that half of them self-describe as liberal. Yet there are Jews that vote Republican despite the fact that the Anti-defamation League, reported to Congress in 2022, 

The conspiracy theories that radicalize and mobilize white supremacists, as well as other right-wing extremists, are laced with antisemitism and other forms of hatred and are closely associated with support for anti-democratic political violence and insurrectionism. And their adherents are no longer limited to a fringe group of extremists, but have become mainstreamed… 

In 2021, ADL tabulated 2,717 antisemitic incidents throughout the United States. This is a 34% increase from the 2,026 incidents tabulated in 2020 and the highest number on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979. 

The ADL states that “white supremacist ideology, these extremists embrace a wide range of hatreds, espousing xenophobia, Islamophobia, misogyny, and anti-LGBTQ+ bigotry” but fails to state the shared underpinning of Christianity that loosely unifies these groups. What other cause could there be than Christianity mixed with lack of education to make someone as influential and talented as Kanye West, say, “I like Hitler [he had] a lot of redeeming qualities" knowing he would be one of the first people with his back to the wall to be shot if subjected to Nazism. How could sports idol Herschel Walker believe in Republicanism, knowing leaders of this party openly express racist intentions? Perhaps it is because they are both Christian. 

Hispanics may reflect this danger more than other groups. People, liberals included, make the mistake of seeing Hispanic voters as representative of immigration issues: a bias that precludes the diversity of interests, issues, and goals of these voters, many of whom reside legally in the US and might have less concern for immigration. This diversity of interests beyond immigration and the fact that Hispanics, 43% of adults identify as Catholic explains perfectly their increased numbers in  the Republican party. Though this number is declining rapidly, (from 67% in 2010), this population is at-risk for becoming ChristoGOPs, despite the party’s open embracement of theories like The Great Replacement, which claim that whites are being replaced by minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. 

Sadly, it doesn’t matter whether you are Jewish, Black, or Hispanic because regardless of race or ethnicity, sharing an Abrahamic brand seems to make one capable of holding many values that can make a person fascist, including elitism, racism, greed, and the willful ignorance to believe they are none of these things while voting for an obviously Christian party that espouses and codifies these ideals. Perhaps lower taxes, banning abortion, or purity culture garners their vote – who knows? Clearly though, convincing themselves of sharing the same goals and believing these ChristoGOPs are not so bad – lacks difficulty. If you are willing to believe a three-thousand-year-old book that claims an entity made the world in days and put men in charge of women because they have penises, well, you will believe anything. Hell, if just raised in this Christian worldview, you cannot help but succumb to the broader norms and mores that infect everyone with this irrational thinking. Nothing proves that point more than the atheist ChristoGOP.  

The atheist ChristoGOPs somehow warp perspective around the Christian fervor and nonsense, perhaps thinking these Republicans have some great trickle-down economics that either benefits them or provides the long shot hope of one day receiving dollars overflowing the Elon Musks and Donald Trumps’ cups – because they received tax breaks. If anything, these atheists prove that lack of belief in God does nothing to cleanse a person of the Christian Pollution that environs everyone in the US with uncontrolled capitalism, poor judgement, and lack of empathy – even for themselves. 

Race, ethnicity, and even lack of religion or deity does not protect one from joining an openly racist, corrupt, and authoritarian party. That alone proves them ChristoGOPs and says everything about them as people.  

THE HITLER DILEMMA: IS ASSASSINATION RIGHT FOR YOU? 

TO ASSASSINATE OR NOT TO, THAT IS THE QUESTION 

As a child, I grew-up imagining myself as a possible savior of the world, or at least of the 70 million lives lost in WW2 thanks to that evil Hitler guy. My fantasy centered on shooting Adolf Hitler in the head. By the time I was 7 or 8, I knew enough about Adolf to consider that if I’d had a chance to shoot him in the head early enough, like before he found his way to power, it would have been a good thing to do. You know, like being kind to strangers in need and shit like that.

I was born in 1947, just a couple years after Hitler had killed himself. I grew-up in an era where Life Magazine had large, illustrated coffee table books filled with lots of action shots including ones of naked Jewish women being herded into gas chamber “showers” by smiling Nazi SS psychopaths, then shuffled quickly into crematorium ovens that looked like the ones used for pizza cooking. Those books also had lots of pics of battlefield dead and bombs blowing-up and body parts of the war dead lying around.

The assassination of Adolf Hitler seemed completely reasonable given that we missed the chance to abort him before he was even born, like an unwanted pregnancy in Texas these days. If you think about it, killing someone responsible for 70 million deaths, (6 million of those simply being exterminated because they were members of an ethnic or religious or supposed racial group) seemed then, and still seems now to me, a pretty reasonable proposition.

A percentage of the Jan 6th insurrectionists felt this way about V.P. Mike Pence for his “crime” of not supporting Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. There is little doubt in my mind that the Proud Boys and 3 percenter types at the insurrection of Jan 6th, would have strung-up Pence if they’d been able to get their hands on him. The only difference between me and them is that I’m right about who is evil and deserves to die, that they are wrong about it. 

Striping away subtlety and nuance and getting down to the nitty-gritty of all of this; I propose that we are a violet species, capable of terrible atrocities and of stopping such atrocities only by committing them ourselves.