Meanwhile, Gordon Howie keeps cycling through sermons about how Democrats and leftists are really defined by “tolerance for anything debaucherous and wicked” (it must be fun to be able to say anything one wants about one’s political opponents) and that his Christianity is the only foundation for a great America:
Daniel Webster, an early American Statesman understood clearly what made/makes America great when he said,
“Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens.”
That was true in his day, and remains true today. It would follow, then, that whatever makes men BAD Christians also makes them BAD citizens. Further, BAD citizens make for a bad America. It is long past the time to turn that tide [Gordon Howie, “A New Foundation for America,” The Right Side, 2019.04.20].
Ah, the fallacy of denying the antecedent:
“If not P, then not Q” most certainly does not follow from “If P, then Q.” One can conclude, with more certainty than Webster could posit with his statement, that if X is a Christian, X is a human. However, from that truth, it does not follow that if X is not Christian, X is not human.
When Howie inverts Webster’s “If good Christian, then good citizen” into “If not good Christian, then not good citizen,” Howie is making a new claim logically distinct from Webster’s, requiring its own justification. You may spend all day trying to find one, but if you do, you and Gordon will be forced to accept that Donald Trump is not a good citizen and makes for a bad America:
Donald Trump is the living embodiment of the seven deadly sins—pride, greed, lust, gluttony, wrath, envy and sloth—and he is the precise obverse of the seven virtues as enunciated by Pope Gregory in 590 A.D.; chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.
Legal debates about obstruction of justice are fine. But no voter in 2020 should be allowed to overlook this basic reality: Donald Trump is a morally despicable human being [Robert Reich, “Robert Mueller Proved Donald Trump Is the Living Embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins,” Newsweek, 2019.04.22].
We didn’t need the Mueller report to establish Trump’s bad-Christianness. See Brian Klaas’s sin-by-sin enumeration from July 2017.
So even if we overlook Howie’s logical fallacy of denying the antecedent and let his contention stand on its own two right wings, we still end up with the conclusion that Howie’s hero Trump is not making America great or Christian.
Daniel Webster also endorsed the Fugitive Slave Act within the Compromise of 1850, which one assumes was his “Bad Christian” phase.
Collusion reeked from Trump’s campaign. Don Trump is therefore an illegal President. He oversaw and overlooked his campaign’s illegal cheating. The Mueller report identifies numerous instances of interactions with Russian nationals by the Trump campaign or Trump associates, in an effort to gain hacked emails and to coordinate their dissemination.
-The Trump campaign brazenly tried and succeeded to collude with America’s enemies. Witnesses lied under oath to Mueller and communications between Trump and his campaign staff were sufficiently encrypted to disappear after an allotted period of time. Those communications however, are subpoenaed for posterity. Some day the tech will be developed to retrieve them and we’ll see what was secretly said with all it’s illegalities.
-The Mueller report makes unmistakably clear that Americans were attacked by foreign military units: specifically Russian Military Units 26165 and 74455. And, it reminds us that the president and members of his campaign invited and welcomed those attacks, even if it did not arrange them, and that they were eager to profit from the proceeds of those attacks.
-These findings are undeniable evidence that Trump is acting in an illegal state of false Presidency. Trump’s campaign reeked with collusion. The question now is, “What are we honest Americans going to do about it?” ~ Excerpts from Politico Magazine 4-19-2019 https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/19/mueller-report-analysis-legal-experts-226662
– PS … Trump’s lie that, “Mueller found no collusion!” shall go down in history next to Nixon proclaiming, “Well, I’m NOT a crook!”. (Of course, Nixon didn’t break into the Watergate. He told someone else to do it. Trump didn’t meet with Russians to coordinate the release of stolen Clinton e-mails, by WiKiLeaks. He told someone else to do it.) This Trump lie is probably second in “Trumped Up-ness” only next to his number one whopper, “Mexico is going to pay for it!”. Of course, he still has time to tell a bigger cock and bull story. He does try every day to over-achieve.
Webster further disconnects goodness from Christianity by saying “whatever” makes one a good Christian. That implies that there is something other to “being” Christian that makes one’s performance AS a Christian “good”. There is some other underlying quality.
Welcome back Porter!
Bear … 🙏 I think the link I posted above will be of interest to you. Top legal minds in USA, each giving a succinct synopsis of their impression of the Mueller document.
(I’m going to fall back on a saying we in the restaurant business live by. “If you can’t afford to tip big, stay home.” I can’t and I will … stay in the back row of DFP and listen. I’ve learned mucho since I stopped commenting.)
There is simply no way around this:
“no voter in 2020 should be allowed to overlook this basic reality: Donald Trump is a morally despicable human being.”
I am not afraid to remind anyone of this as 2020 nears.
Howie being Howie unwittingly comes close to making his point.
Trump is a bad Christian and a bad citizen.
Debbo, I’m not sure Trump’s immorality was ever in doubt. Every voter knew he was a sleazy businessman, he had cheated on wives, he promoted xenophobia, but enough were OK with those characteristics to still vote for him.
At it’s core, what did the Mueller investigation and subsequent findings really tell us about Donald Trump – that we did not already know?
This line from Howie more struck me: “Simply put, Christians must build again the foundations that have been destroyed.”
I agree with that. Christians must rebuild their love of neighbor, help for their brothers and sisters in need, and rejection of obscene wealth. Those are the foundations that have been destroyed – destroyed through co-opting with the GOP and its “family values.”
Exactly, O.