Pastors for Propaganda
Courage Is Contagious
Sunday afternoon, shortly after worshiping the Lord, I went down to the Trump rally in MSG. When tickets for the event came online, I was met with fierce admonishment from friends, family, fellow conservatives, and even my wife not to attend – for my safety. Memories of how Trump supporters were treated in NYC in 2016 and 2020 fostered a culture of self-censorship. Even in the church, voicing support for Trump or the Republican Party might be met with social ostracization and controversy. Just four years ago, my wife and I lost almost all our friends for protesting the church’s embrace of BLM since “sensible” and “missional” pastors declared it a gospel issue. More or less compelling their members to embrace or “explore” the neo-marxist movement, which, frankly, those same pastors do not even understand. But I was tired of living in a culture of fear. I wanted to see the most high-profile political rally of all time and support the most incredible political run of our generation. This was a line in the sand for me. So I went and even convinced my wife to come with me.
Two hundred thousand people in New York thought likewise. When I got off the train to walk, I was met with three long avenues of people waiting to get into the 20,000-person arena. A sea of red hats and USA chants filled the heart of New York. There were no counter-protests, just fun vibes. I’ve never seen anything like it. I couldn’t believe it. Consider: thousands of Trump supporters in one of the most aggressive liberal cities. It shouldn’t be possible, given what happened in 2016 and 2020. But it was true. Trump, this time, broke the spell of self-censorship. As Tucker Carlson said in his speech that night, Trump has permitted everyone to be honest about what they believe and distrust the leaders who tell them what to believe, how to act, and what to say.
The crowd, aside from being massive, was also highly diverse. There were Orthodox Jews, Italians, Irish, Greeks, Asians, Indians, Latinos, and yes, Puerto Ricans—the audience itself appeared to be majority-minority. But this is not all too surprising unless one has been socialized to believe that the party is essentially racist–a rebirth of the German American Bund. Nothing could be further from the truth. The common thread that unites these groups and their support for Trump is a certain old-school New York sensibility that is gritty, loves family, and doesn’t tolerate bullshit. It is distinctive to the city, but is recognizable to most Americans. This ethos constitutes the city’s DNA. In NYC, there is a massive class divide and, also, a divide between natives and transplants. The crowd was overwhelmingly working-class, native New Yorkers who were tired of the liberal establishment. The crowd was fun. We made friends while we waited to get in. My wife talked to a couple from Queens who now live in Long Island. I helped some kids meet up with their friends lost in the crowd. We chanted USA and wowed in disbelief at it all.
Once we got in, the surrealness of the moment began to set in. MSG started to fill with MAGA hats as the speakers took the stage. The speakers were from a diverse cast, which was a condensed version of the four-day RNC. There was a great emphasis on support for Israel, going back to “common sense” social policies, the border, and so on. Many speakers played off Trump’s iconic “fight, fight, fight”, lauding people to imitate his courage and “vote, vote, vote”. The speakers reflected the coalition Trump has brought together, ideologically diverse but fed up with the system.
When the arena was filled, the tension began to rise. Who was going to speak next? Rudy Guiliani was met with thunderous applause. Then it was Tulsi Gabbard. Then it was Mike Johnson. Then it was RFK Jr. Tucker looked genuinely shocked to see 20,000 New Yorkers cheering him on. Then, the crowd went wild when Hulk Hogan came on the stage waving an American flag. Dr. Phil came and calmed the audience with his advice not to be a bystander when you see others bullied for their political opinion. JD kicked off the final crescendo to Trump. Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and Dana White reprised their speeches from the RNC. Then Elon Musk came, and I almost lost my hearing. I don’t think he could even handle the praise. His speech was short and sweet, focusing on voting and D.O.G.E. He introduced Melania, who gave an elegant speech, and Trump closed the night. It was the greatest rally ever. I didn’t agree with what everyone said, but nobody did. Welcome to democracy. There will never be a more star-studded, energetic, diverse rally. It was realignment in real time. An undercurrent of New York came together and asserted itself. We had had enough of the social indoctrination in our public schools, the uncontrolled migrant influx pressuring our infrastructure, and the neglect of our elected officials.
You can imagine my surprise then that the next morning I woke up to reports saying I attended a Nazi rally filled with racist, antisemitic remarks. The irony of having a rally where every other speaker mentions Israel is likened to a Nazi rally is not lost on me. But that would’ve been obvious even if one didn’t go to the rally. What was jarring to me was the real-time manufacturing of propaganda that this rally was hateful and fascist. It’s quite Orwellian to see the mass formation of public opinion against an event you just witnessed! But studying how such formation works is instructive to disarming its power.
The key messaging about the rally from the left focused on comedian Tony Hinchcliffe’s comments about Puerto Rico. The comedian was one of the first speakers, and the audience did not particularly understand that specific joke. After he left, his words were forgotten. I didn’t care. My Puerto Rican friend who attended didn’t care. My Puerto Rican wife didn’t care. Nobody in the rally cared. The only people who cared were far left journalists and the people who listened to what they said. Even Jon Stewart has said that the reaction to him is overblown, and if such sensibilities prevailed, they would threaten the profession of comedians everywhere. An edgy comedian doesn’t reflect the serious views of the audience. But propaganda works by getting you to ignore the most obvious facts. Like, for one, the sheer bigotry of calling the two hundred thousand people who tried to attend Nazis.
What was still more jarring was seeing church leaders engage in the laundering of this propaganda. For one, Rich Villodas made a post condemning the rally in theological garb: “I referenced Psalm 8 in my sermon today and the sacredness of human beings… I then see a comedian at the Trump rally in NYC call Puerto Rico a floating pile of garbage… vile.” Of course, in the comments, he concedes that it was just a joke. Still, he gives away his priors when he says, “when a presidential candidate has a history of racism, and chooses to platform someone who builds a comedic set on racist tropes, it’s not a laughing matter.”
Additionally, Justin Giboney, founder of the AND Campaign, disparaged Allie Beth Stuckey of being a shameless surrogate since she is, “excusing the disparagement of immigrants.” These two examples are relevant because they are often at the forefront of advocating “sensibility”, “peace”, “love” and “understanding” in the church when it comes to politics. Giboney doesn’t want the church to be beholden to a political party. Rich Villodas made an earlier post saying, “No matter how you vote, you are welcome in our church.” And yet, when liberal messaging is activated, there is a side taken that uncritically accepts liberal messaging. That is, they adopt and tune their moral sensibilities to what the left is gearing them towards. Neither Villodas nor Giboney denounced the journalists calling the event a Nazi rally. But, aren’t I made in the image of God, too? The fact that the energy of moral outrage is directed towards that which only one side cares about reveals that talk of political inclusivity from this wing is just that – talk. If they truly cared about political discourse, they would advocate what Dr. Phil encouraged rallygoers that night: to respect others and refuse to be bullied.
In Shepherds for Sale, Megan Basham details the funding web for some mainstream evangelical institutions that receive funding from leftist sources. But from watching, in real time, the laundering of messaging and the formation of opinion from some evangelicals, I would like to offer an addendum – pastoring purveying propaganda. I doubt that Villodas, Giboney, and those aligned are on a substantial payroll from the left. But they have the moral sensibilities of left and gear messaging that accords with the left somehow. That is, they accept leftist messaging uncritically, and then that flows downstream to the affiliated networks and institutions. From seeing this work in realtime, I believe that it’s not as if most pastors love or even “like” the left; it’s that they’ve become uncritical of the left and its ecosystem. They don’t ask, “why am I being told this right now?”, “Why am I being told to care about this?”, “Why is it urgent that I should be upset about this?” and so on. Reflection on any of these questions would reveal the obvious hypocrisy at play. This is just one example of this fundamental uncritical gaze. In 2020, the pastor’s uncritical acceptance of BLM and related messaging caused me to lose many of my friends at church for my dissent. Today, I might even lose friends or diminish my reputation for saying I went to the rally, had fun, and didn’t think the blacks, Orthodox Jews, Latinos, and Asians around me attended a KKK rally. If the Church wants to stake out the position of being the voice of moral clarity, the first step is disentangling our morality from liberal, bourgeois niceties. That takes courage, but if I learned anything at the rally, it is that courage is contagious! Only courage can stop the regime of propaganda.
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