Inaugural Address: What Is Trump NOT Telling You?

If you’re not careful, you might believe the religious rhetoric coming out of Donald Trump’s mouth. But what is he NOT telling you?

In Donald Trump’s inaugural address, the President made nine statements pertaining to religion. My last article, “Trump’s Inauguration Speech: Reading Between the Li(n)es” examined the first three:

“Give people back their faith”
“One nation’s glorious destiny”
“My life was saved for a reason”

In this second of the series, I will look at three more statements the returning President made, concerning religion. Some of them were overt, and some of them were covert. It’s important not just to look at what Donald Trump says, but to understand what he means. Because there’s a lot he’s not telling you.

“Every Race, Religion, Color, and Creed”

“We will move with purpose and speed to bring back hope, prosperity, safety and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed.”

Oh, really? Let’s take a look at Trump’s track record when it comes to religion and creed.

Muslimadvocates.org has published an infographic titled, “A Record of Bigotry and Hate: Donald Trump’s Long History of Anti-Muslim Animus.” This page recounts Trump’s statement that the Koran “teaches some very negative vibe.” It records his false claim to have watched Muslim celebrations after the 9/11 attacks. It quotes Trump as saying, “Islam hates us.” Of course, it records Trump’s call for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Check out the website to read more.
The Washington Post’s “Trump’s long history of trafficking in antisemitic tropes” testifies to Trump’s disdain for the Jewish people. The article quotes him as saying, “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — Before it is too late!” It discusses Trump’s accusation that US Jews have a dual loyalty both to America and to Israel, and speaks to American Jews as if they are, in fact, Israelis. The article continues to show how Trump depicts Jews as using money to manipulate. Check out the article to learn more.
DC Report illuminates Trump’s distaste even for the Christians who helped vote him into office. Click to read, “What He Really Thinks: Trump Mocks Christians, Calls Them ‘Fools’ and ‘Schmucks’.” The article highlights author Michael Cohen, who “quotes Trump calling Christianity and its religious practices ‘bullshit,’ then soon after masterfully posing as a fervent believer.”

In fact, Trump and his government did more to harm religion than it did to support it. Click here to read Cap 20’s “How the Trump Administration Has Harmed Faith Communities.” What Trump isn’t telling you is that he will use religious language to try to convince faithful people that he represents their best interests.

“We Will Not forget Our God”

“National unity is now returning to America and confidence and pride is soaring like never before. In everything we do, my administration will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success. We will not forget our country. We will not forget our Constitution and we will not forget our God.”

Ok, I suppose this particular quote doesn’t demonstrate anything you couldn’t show by gathering sound bytes from any other political speech, Republican or Democrat. To be fair, this is almost innocuous. At least, it’s as innocent as any political address can be, when it employs civil religion. But I do need to point one thing out:

Quotes like this presume a monolithic, monotheistic society that does not reflect the diverse spiritual landscape that is America. While US money says, “In God We Trust,” and the Pledge of Allegiance says, “One nation under God,” there is no one God to whom all Americans pray. What Trump isn’t telling you is that part of his “Make America Great Again” agenda (yes, he does use that word in this speech) is to unify the country under one (Christian) religious banner. Not because he believes in it, mind you, but because religion is power.

When we hear him talk like this, we must remind him that “there is no ‘our God.’ Instead, America represents a beautiful diversity of people, from all faiths and no faith. Please, Mr. Trump, don’t lump us into one category—especially one that you’re only pretending to be part of, yourself.”

“Two Genders: Male and Female”

“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.”

At the risk of breaking my own rule and going beyond the President’s comments related to religion, I’ll tackle this one, briefly. I can only think of three reasons why Trump wants to discriminate against transgender individuals:

He just likes bullying people, and transgender folks are the latest cultural punching bag.
Like it or not, it’s a fact that the existence of transgender people complicates things. And Trump likes everything in black and white. He needs to keep things simple, like his vocabulary and his supporters’ thought processes.
Though he is not a fundamentalist Christian himself, he wants to scratch the back of those who have scratched his. If “the enemy of my friend is my enemy,” then he wants to stick it to anybody who is despised by fundamentalist Christians. And again, at the moment, transgender people are the Evangelical punching bag.

So, while Trump’s words here are not a direct religious comment, fundamentalist Christianity is definitely between the li(n)es of his speech. What Trump isn’t telling you is that he hates anybody his supporters hate, and he will bully anybody they bully.

Inauguration: Donald Trump Claims Divine Power

In his inaugural speech, the returning President made some bold and misleading statements. He claimed to promote the “safety and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed,” even though history shows his distaste for anyone who isn’t white, male, cisgender, heterosexual, and able-bodied. He suggested that there is one god to unite all Americans (I’ll tell you more about that god in my next article). Plus, he pandered to the right-wing religionists who put him into power by supporting unscientific claims about gender.

I hope you’ll join me for the final installment of this series, “Inauguration: Donald Trump Claims Divine Power.” I’ll look at the last three religion-related statements in his inaugural speech: