Tallman: Trump, Harris, U.S. politics and the Antrichrist

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Is Trump the Antichrist or simply a misguided human being?

The “Antichrist” in the Christian scriptures is a person who opposes Christ by claiming to be the saviour of the world in Christ’s place.

During the campaign, Donald Trump accused Kamala Harris of being the Antichrist. Some of his far-right followers took this up: that Harris is the Antichrist because, if elected President, she would cause the slaughter of millions of children if she got Roe vs Wade reinstated. In addition, they claimed, she has allowed millions of illegal aliens, all rapists, murderers, and terrorists, to flood across the U.S. border.

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Personally, I have found immigrants to be hard-working, upright citizens who wanted a better life for their families, and refugees to be people fleeing disasters or threats of death in their own country. Though the Trump supporters’ claims are spurious, they seem to have influenced the voting public.

On the other hand, the Harris camp could have pointed out that, in the Christian scriptures, the devil is called the “Father of Lies,” (John 8:44), and Trump is well-known as an unrepentant liar bent on deceiving the entire country with his lies. Also, he is arrogant and boastful, spews racism and hatred toward minorities, like Puerto Ricans, is sexually immoral, and wants to be the most powerful person in the world. He has no respect for the law and tried to destroy democracy by inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, attempt to overthrow the U.S. government.

By claiming his opponent, Kamala Harris, is the Antichrist, he has indirectly put himself in the place of Christ. So, it would be easy, given all the above, to conclude that Trump himself is more likely the Antichrist than Harris.

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The U.S. Supreme Court has granted whoever is president some legal immunity, so it may be terrifying to see what Trump does without guardrails, as Harris has warned us. He denies climate change, and the U.S. is the biggest polluter in the world, so under his watch, we may not only have to kiss democracy, but also the whole planet goodbye.

On the other hand again, though he seems to admire dictators, Trump is not Putin. He is simply a misguided human being. He has not destroyed millions of lives and caused untold suffering. Putin is a more appropriate candidate for the title of “Antichrist.”

In any case, I think the Democrats lost the election on the issue of abortion. Rather than being pro-choice, liberals would do better, if a woman does not want a child, to do all they can to support her financially and emotionally in every way, but also to support the child by promoting adoption and making it as easy as possible.

Besides that, a couple should choose whether they want a child before they have sex, not after. This is a form of pro-choice both parties could support and promote. This does not solve the problem of rape, but pregnancy due to rape is very rare, about five per cent.

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Vigorously promoting adoption instead of abortion would take the wind out of Republican sails. In the future, if the Democrats did this, the huge Catholic and Evangelical anti-abortion lobby in the U.S. might back them.

In any case, the United States lost a great chance to make history by electing not only another Black person, but also a woman. Unbelievably, they chose a convicted felon who does not respect the law over a former attorney general who does.

May God bless and save America from its own folly!

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and educator of adults in religion. brucetallman.com

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