WE THE PEOPLE WILL NEVER SUPPORT THIS CORRUPT VERSION OF AMERICA

Why is taxpayer money being spent to proselytize? Why was the office of the president used to organize an 8-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event on the Mall in DC? To “rededicate” the nation to Christianity? This “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” event is just another effort by the Trump administration to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America’s history. Attempting to turn it from one that champions the Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires us to believe in the god that our leaders prefer. Not the god of our own choosing. So ignoring the bother of congressional oversight or bipartisanship, Trump created his own new organization, Freedom 250, to celebrate his preferred version of America. And Freedom 250 was allotted $100M by Congress to do so. Freedom 250 has also solicited donations in exchange for access to Trump. Sponsors include ExxonMobil, Mastercard, Deloitte, Palantir, and IndyCar. Donors can also request anonymity. Freedom 250 has planned events that showcase Trump rather than America. Those include an IndyCar race around the National Mall. Construction of a triumphal arch near the Lincoln Memorial. And an UFC event on the WH lawn on Trump’s 80th birthday in June. And yesterday’s tent revival on the Mall. Administration officials videoed in their assurances to the crowd that the USA was founded as a Christian nation. Which anyone with the slightest acquaintance with our history knows to be the opposite of true. Our founders did not want religion as governance. They wanted a nation founded on core political values, especially the right of self-government. And with the checks and balances on power that made that self-government possible. They envisioned a civic religion, with a belief in ‘We the People’, not a mandated belief system imposed on them by the government. They believed that we must think for ourselves. To question elected officials. And to take an active role in our government. The current government-sponsored attempts to replace Americans’ civic identity with Christian nationalism destroys the most important role of citizens in a democracy. It would demand that Americans do as we are told, turning us into subjects. But blindly obeying authority has never been the story of America. The story of America has been the opposite of obeying. So instead of the freedoms granted to us as Americans by our founders, vendors at the uber-Christian event handed out buttons that said: “WIVES SUBMIT, HUSBANDS LOVE, CHILDREN OBEY.” And this from MAGA radio host Eric Metaxas’ speech on the Mall: “It’s hard to believe that it would take two centuries for the Lord to raise up a great man to bring that ballroom finally to stand where it needs to stand. It’s extraordinary. We only had to wait two hundred years.” So a crowd of Christians was told that God spent two centuries waiting to raise up Donald Trump — to build a ballroom. And the crowd responded by cheering. Apparently a true Christian god wants a ballroom. And he wants the builder of that ballroom to also spend the day of his “Rededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise & Thanksgiving” event…golfing. Elmer Gantry would be proud. If you think the majority of America is up for any of this, you need to get out more.