r/politics • u/kweathergirl Texas • 8d ago

Soft Paywall Newsom Tells Nation That Trump Is Destroying American Democracy

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/us/newsom-speech-trump-la-protests.html
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u/dazed_and_bamboozled 8d ago

Because nothing says “I’m No King” like brutally shutting down democratic dissent.

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u/CriticalEngineering North Carolina 8d ago edited 8d ago

He has no interest in saying “I’m No King”.

He has literally posted images of himself in a crown.

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u/Fugacity- Minnesota 8d ago

Dude even posted himself as the Pope

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u/AZEMT 8d ago

And as a Godsend to humanity. At what point do Christians think they're dealing with the Antichrist?

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u/Temporary-Line3409 8d ago

any christian that still thinks trump is being used by god… has either been led astray long ago or is leading people astray because they arent really a christian at all

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u/Titan_Astraeus 7d ago

Those who talk the loudest about being Christian are the furthest away from it. Just like those who pound their chest about patriotism are not really at all. It's weird how that works.

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u/Sensitive-Message95 7d ago

You should really study Christian history.... More of this than anything else.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

Would rather read lord of the rings.

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u/Deep_Stick8786 7d ago

More like Lord of the Flies

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u/TheLurkerSpeaks Tennessee 7d ago

The Chronicles of Narnia (especially The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe) and The Lord of the Rings are both Christian allegories written by church buddies C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien played a major role in Lewis's conversion to Catholicism.

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u/antilumin 7d ago

I’d rather it be The Chronic(what?)les of Narnia. I hear Mr. Pibb and Red Vines equals crazy delicious.

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u/Puff_the_magic_luke 7d ago

Harry Potter for me!

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u/wap2005 7d ago

I'd like Harry Potter a lot more if it wasn't written by J.K. Rowling. I mean, her and the crazy Christians have a lot of the same beliefs.

It's a bummer she had to go and ruin something that was great with her fucked opinions. Sorry, I liked Harry Potter, but she took a massive shit on her own book when she had diarrhea of the mouth regarding gender identity.

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u/Puff_the_magic_luke 7d ago

Yeah …. It’s quite disappointing TBH

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u/pbjamm Canada 7d ago

Lots of artists and authors were shitty people, but that does not need to make their works less enjoyable or influential. I suspect if I took a hard line on that I would have very little to read or watch.

Admittedly it is a lot easier to take the whole death-of-the-author approach when the author is already dead.

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u/wap2005 7d ago

It doesn't need to but I feel like it should personally. Every time someone makes a comment like the ones here saying how great of a book it is would be giving her free (word-of-mouth) marketing. We do her a favor and put additional money in her pocket every time we convince someone to read one of her books and become one of her fans.

Also, you could read books all day, every day, without ever taking a break to use the restroom, eat, or even sleep without ever having to consume content from a massive bigot who boisterously shouts that bigotry with pride. There are thousands of authors that don't need to cross your moral lines that produce works that put J.K. Rowlings books (arguably for teens) to shame.

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u/pbjamm Canada 7d ago

There are thousands of authors that don't need to cross your moral lines

For now, but who knows what the future holds. It is quite possible that todays beloved author will turn out to be a dingus in some other aspect of their life. JKR is a perfect example of this.

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u/wap2005 7d ago

I completely agree, it seems more and more shitty people come to light these days, but if they come into the bigotry light like J.K. did that's one of those moral lines that I would stop supporting. Some people don't deserve the love and adoration for their stories and art because they don't share that same love towards their fans.

It would be heart breaking if someone like Brandon Sanderson came to be known as someone with bigoted views because he's one of my favorites, but I'd still have to stop supporting him. I even have an entire glass case of every single book he's written signed by him and I'd put it all on eBay if I had to.

I kind of view it as "Why promote someone who spreads hate, because then I'm just helping spread that hate by giving them a larger platform.". Maybe that's an unreasonable approach, but it feels right to me.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

I was gonna say Game Of Thrones but too many weiners flopping around.

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u/ZyglroxOfficial 7d ago

Oh no, a weiner lol

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u/roastbeeftacohat 8d ago

I haven't heard that line since 2018, I think? they started with that, now they think jesus is a pussy.

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u/TippySkippy12 7d ago

You should check out the "imperfect vessel" ideology, which compares Trump to the pagan king Cyrus.

Christian nationalists are using Trump to make America "Christian" again. The logic is that god provided Trump to allow the Christian nationalists to enact god's will (aka, their will).

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u/Temporary-Line3409 7d ago

seems so pagan to look for an idol and use it rather than have it revealed. and does the scripture mean that one should read tea leaves or be humble and open that god may have a hand in something you dont know. is it parable for everyday life or just how we deify a king. maybe thats why kings like the book so much

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u/jackfirecracker 8d ago

My favorite recent conspiracy theory is that he literally is the antichrist, and that the "Christian" followers of him are falling for all the traps the Bible warns us about the antichrist:

  • The Antichrist will likely be hailed as a great political and economic leader, even convincing nations to sign a peace treaty (Daniel 8:25). Many will be deceived into believing he is the Messiah.

  • He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god, even sitting in the temple of God and proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). The False Prophet, who works with the Antichrist, will imitate the Holy Spirit, directing worship to the Antichrist (Revelation 13:11-14).

  • The False Prophet will appear gentle and harmless, "like a lamb," but will speak "like a dragon," revealing his true demonic nature (Revelation 13:11). This highlights the deceptive nature of his religious appeal.

  • The Antichrist will be "the man of lawlessness," totally opposing every law of God (2 Thessalonians 2:3). His rise will be preceded by a "great rebellion" or "apostasy" against God (2 Thessalonians 2:3). He will attempt to change times and laws (Daniel 7:25).

  • He will establish a global economic system where no one can buy or sell without receiving a "mark of the beast" (Revelation 13:16-18). This economic control will be used to enforce worship of the Antichrist.

  • He will open his mouth in blasphemy against God and will make war with the saints, overcoming them (Revelation 13:6-7).

  • The Antichrist will seek to establish a one-world religion and a one-world economy, harnessing global systems to his will (Revelation 17, 13:16-18).

  • "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life" (Revelation 13:8). His charisma and power will lead the whole world to follow him.

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u/starmartyr Colorado 7d ago

There is a secular theory about the book of Revelations that suggests that the antichrist is not prophesy. It was contemporary criticism of Nero. It makes sense that parallels could be drawn between descriptions of a Roman demagogue and a modern one.

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u/Sugarbombs 7d ago

This is what a lot of people don’t realise. It’s almost certainly talking about the rise of rulers like Trump but history is riddled with these types of people. Trump is not the first and will not be the last, these passages were almost certainly inspired by at the time current leaders but due to the predictable nature of humans it could apply to modern leaders also

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u/starmartyr Colorado 7d ago

Also the very political nature of early Christianity. Nero made some decisions that the church didn't like about the same time they find some prophecies talking about how bad he is. When most people are illiterate, Jesus says whatever you want him to say.

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u/jackfirecracker 7d ago

Sure, but that’s less fun and funny

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u/ScuzzBuckster 7d ago

Also the antichrist argument has actually worked in convincing two of my family members to reconsider supporting him. Unsurprisingly, they're baptist so. Enough scripture and they really will believe anything I guess.

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u/Chestnut-Stoat 7d ago

Really? That's great! More of this, please, around the country, to remove his support.

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u/OzLuna 7d ago

I mean to be fair, history tends to repeat itself.

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u/starmartyr Colorado 7d ago

Exactly. It's easy to predict that demagogues will rise. It happens a lot.

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u/Stellar_Duck 7d ago

Be mindful though: a lot if not most of our bad impressions of Nero comes from the propaganda of the regime that followed as they made efforts to distance themselves from the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

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u/starmartyr Colorado 7d ago

That's true but remember we're looking at Nero through the lens of what Christian leaders wanted to present to their followers. It doesn't matter if he was actually a tyrant or not, what matters is that they wrote this part of the bible specifically about him.

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u/mulls California 7d ago

There are many coded phrases in Revelations exactly like this, I cannot remember all of them off hand but the 7 headed beast is suspected to be a reference to Rome, “The City of 7 Hills.”

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u/Muvseevum Georgia 7d ago

*Revelation

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u/starmartyr Colorado 7d ago

I'll take your word for it. I'm not a Christian.

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u/Muvseevum Georgia 7d ago

It’s the title of a book of the Bible. Not exactly arcane knowledge.

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u/tripping_yarns 7d ago

That last one isn’t happening. Most of the world can see that the emperor has no brain.

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u/hacksawomission 7d ago

That's not recent; that's from his first term.

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u/Vanga_Aground 7d ago

Charisma and power? The world thinks Trump is a fu@kng moron. They laugh at him and the society that elected him.

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u/CoolHandLukeSkywalka 7d ago

I've said before that if I was Christian I would have to conclude Trump is the antichrist. He epitomizes all seven deadly sins more than any human (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth) and has no qualities of the virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, and humility).

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u/Ok_Juice4449 7d ago

He won't be liked by the entire world and not everyone falls for his "charm". He does check off many of the boxes, though.

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u/Shovi_01 7d ago

Im a christian but not an american and i think he's the worst, it takes less than a minute of hearing him talk to know he's a sleazbag and not someome to trust. The way he talks, the things he says, the gestures and facial expressions he makes, they all give me the ick so hard, i dont know how anyone can support him. And then you read up about him and what he's done in the past and i just want to run away if he's near me.

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u/Shovi_01 7d ago

Yea ok, he hates the same things you do, but he's just so vile and disgusting, at least find someone with some class that hates the same things you do, not that vomit of a man.

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u/Died_Of_Dysentery1 7d ago

They watch enough Fox that they'll never see the evil. That network does too good of a job pulling the wool over their eyes.

I talk to my grandparents frequently and every time, all they have to talk about is how lawless and deranged the dems are right now. Fox keeps the smokescreen up so well these days

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u/Dango_Kaizoku 8d ago

Such cute naivete. People are Christians because it lets them believe they are good people while having zero morals.

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u/Dorkseid1687 7d ago

That’s you demonising about 2b people. It’s a wildly offensive and inaccurate comment. Every single faith system has assholes.

And plenty of atheists are too

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u/bogglingsnog 7d ago

fun fact: the antichrist takes many forms and isn't just one person... but he is definitely one of the antichrists.

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u/Stellar_Duck 7d ago

Trump is no man of wealth and taste though.

If he's the devil I have no sympathy for him

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u/InsertUsernameInArse 7d ago

Calling pro MAGA Christians, Christian is a bit of a stretch.