Hellfire (American Revelation IX, One.)

Through me is the way to the suffering city;
Through me is the everlasting pain;
Through me is the way that runs among the Lost. Justice urged on my exalted Creator: Divine Power made me,
The Supreme Wisdom and Primal Love.
Nothing was made before me but eternal things
And I endure eternally.
Abandon all hope - Ye Who Enter Here.'

~Sign above the gates of hell, Dante's Inferno.

...

Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ~John 11:25

So, evidently yesterday Trump got raided at Mar-A-Lago by the FBI. Apparently, it's related to his theft of classified documents. That was yesterday, I found out about it when I got up...because I had to work Sunday night and slept most of the day.

LO...and I cannot fucking stress this enough...L.

Meanwhile, Republicans in general be like "You can't do that to him!" and Trump Supporters are basically threatening civil war all over social media.

I have a little experience in these matters myself and suffice it to say, as an Airman it was made clear to me exactly what would happen if I stole classified documents or any such thing, and it would absolutely not have taken the FBI 20 months to get around to raiding my shit if I'd done so.

I also...having been a conservative and lived in Northern Michigan for much of my life...have more than my share of experience with these fucking people.

With people who make up a bunch of stupid false prophecies about cities and nations being destroyed by the Wrath of their small, vengeful God and their children being the "Two Witnesses" of Revelation?

*Marks that down on Right-Wing Idiot Bingo Card helpfully provided by that English bloke.*

You know, the loudly, obnoxiously jingoistic "Patriots" who hate America, who hate everything about America, who'd cheerfully kill everyone else in America, shoot down its government, its military, trash civilization and society, strip this country all the way down to the bedrock and give it all to somebody like...Donald Trump?

*Marks that down too.*

Donald Trump, who until about ten years ago literally, in the most obnoxious way possible, represented everything these fucking people loudly said they hated about America.

America and its bustling cities, it's decadence and irreligion, its sexual immorality. I used to own (On VHS, because that's how far back I go) at least one Playboy videotape in which Donald Trump made an appearance as the ostensible host of whatever was going on. It was on the discount rack somewhere when I bought it, and I must've both had money and been bored, because I didn't (still don't) bother to buy that kind of shit otherwise.

Somehow I missed that Trump was in it, and I was like...eww. Two hot Latinas, Okay. That guy, not OK. Like...Eww.

At that time, back in the early-to-mid-1990's I associated Donald Trump with bankruptcy, divorce, occasional racism, stupid shit and casinos where everything was dirty or sticky, the food was garbage and the slot machines were tighter than an Evangelical virgin church girl.

Yes, I've been to Atlantic City, alright?

Donald Trump, that guy, who so many of the "Christians" these days try and claim is some kind of paragon of Bible-thumping moral rectitude. Donald Trump, sometime WWE wrestler.

Some of those WWE guys, I'll take it seriously when they say they're Believers, because of how they conduct themselves.

But Trump? Son of a bitch couldn't name two books of the Bible and claimed he didn't need God's forgiveness. 

Excuse me? None of this shit computes and I used to be a conservative Christian.

But I'm a tell you what does compute.

"We Are All Domestic Terrorists."

Yep, that fucking computes.

Let me tell you why.

About this time of year in 1994, I was an Air Force Security Policeman stationed at KI Sawyer Air Force Base in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A good four hour drive from my Mom's house, and I'd come home for a couple days on a weekend leave. Sunday evening, I'm getting gas at the local Shell Station and I was in my BDU's because the plan was to go home, rack out for a few hours, then get up and go to work and I wouldn't have to take as much time to get ready. My duty day started early the next morning, as I recall.

I'm in uniform. Camo, combat boots, American flag on my shoulder, brand new Sergeant's strips, too. In the front license-plate holder on the dark blue 1980's Chevy Caprice that I was driving at the time there was a white plate that said "Someplace Special." It was a cultural thing for the 410th Bomb Wing. Anybody from the Upper Peninsula and a lot of Cold War or early 90's USAF bomb wing veterans will likely know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure I'd expect anybody else to, and that's OK. 

And I'm not gonna lie, I was a bit cocky about it all, too. 

Old Ford truck pulls up on the other side of the pump I'm using. Fat local loser (who'd been a friend of mine in high school) and his buddy (who I didn't know) get out of it. Other guy goes in the store. My old high school bro comes over and starts talking to me. This dude...who had all though the time I'd known him in the before times literally laughed about my going to church and used to call me "Sir Mix-A-Lot" because my girlfriend all through high school was a chubby nerd girl (who was way smaller than he'd gotten since) starts talking about how he's Found Jesus. (!!!!) [Note: This dude was previously known for two things, listening to rap music and smoking cigarettes and weed. I'd known from hunting with him and his cousin that neither one of them could hit shit with a rifle.] Since I'd last seen him he'd gone from wannabe Rap Guy and plus-size 90's hip-hop fashion back to the scummy side of typical dirty rural redneck, reeking of chain-smoking and motor oil...and he'd apparently quit shaving.

He tells me he's joined some militia group up by Cheboygan (the closest big town) because "The Lord wanted him to." And then he told me that I should look into doing the same because of the "New World Order" or some such bullshit, and by his, er, "reasoning" we were supposedly "on the same side."

Again, Me = In Uniform, no cover but hair military high-and-tight, shaved up, everything including the inside of my car military-grade clean and reeking of Lysol. I was trying to quit smoking (again) and trying to get the smell out of my car. Respect is earned, by every action, every day. Excellence in all that we do, yo.

And I got this fat fuck with apparently the I.Q. of pocket lint a pack each of Basics and King Edwards in the front pockets of his dirty shirt up in my face?? Oh, HELL NO!

And I'm like "Motherfucker, look at yourself. By definition we're not on the same side of anything. Look at me, dude. Look at this flag, these stripes! I just got back from Saudi Arabia. You? You look like you fell out of a Skoal can! Who the fuck you think you're talking to?" He tried to make some bullshit excuses but I kept right on him and finally just told him to get the fuck out of my face before I fucked him up. He went and put whatever amount of gas his buddy had paid for in the truck. I went in and paid for my gas and by the time I was done and getting on the road they were gone.

Never saw him again, except in the local paper. He got busted for selling weed and did some time. Through mutual friends, I heard both sides of the story. As it turns out, these kind of fucking people always think consequences for their actions is some kind of vast conspiracy.

I don't know if this dude's parents (or him, for that matter) are still alive or if any of them live in the same place, but I'll tell you what. Where they lived 30 years ago there's Trump 2020 signs still all over the damn place.

And I'd run into the same kind shit seven years later from my ex-wife, except instead of the government being out to get her it was demons and witches out to stop the Chosen Ones from being born. The fact that she'd ran our finances into the ground and tried to wreck every other relationship in my life...and then gone psycho religious nut when I'd (predictably) left could not be reached for comment. 

About the only difference is I know my ex isn't a Q-nut or a Trump Supporter. She buys into all the rest of the conspiracy theories and then some, by the way.

I'm warning you now. Expect that if Trump is indicted, let alone arrested or locked up, that he will absolutely Find The Lord(TM) and appoint himself These Fucking People's Preacher-In-Chief.

And this, too, is a thing you need to know.

You think the conspiracy theories and the Q-Anon shit is/was bad? There is absolutely no more "Morally Flexible" do-whatever-you-want-and-feel-justified-about-it belief system in the world than this New Apostolic Reformation Prosperity Gospel crap that's resurfaced as a thing lately and apparently even overran CPAC.

These are the people who live lives that'd make a troop of horny Bonobos feel ashamed. And they don't care if you know, just don't point it out or they'll get mad. But Jesus loves and forgives them (and not you) and that makes everything they do Okay.

This is absolutely two streams of things I was hoping like hell wouldn't come together, but here we are.

You think Republican rationalizing is bad, immature and puerile now, on a normal day? Or that Republicans normally are piece of shit criminals and grifters? Wait until these motherfuckers get them some Holy Ghost, and you ain't seen nothing yet. Remember "I know the way to Jesus, now send me $20" is these people's starting point.

They'll do a bunch of nasty shit, claim God is going to supernaturally destroy this, that and the other thing when it doesn't go their way...and when that doesn't happen they'll get muscles the size of Samson moving them goalposts, and when nothing happens after the third or fourth...or thirty-fourth...time they've tried to call down Revelation on your ass or the world in general for not doing what they want...and nothing happens...they'll start trying to bullshit the Universe into giving it to them.

And what they want is hellfire. They don't care if it consumes them, too. They just don't. Every last person I've ever seen get into this shit turns self-destructive sooner or later. As long as the Blood God eats you first, that's all that matters.

And that was before far-right politics entered the equation. Their religion was all about them and their selfish desires even before that. They follow Trump because they think he IS them, or at least, their wildest imaginings about themselves, personified.

Or they will until he goes down. When he does, they'll hope he brings about the End Times somehow.

And when that doesn't work, they'll start trying to bring it all about their own damn selves. Their goal is that they get to go to heaven and watch you get eaten by the Things From Beyond. Heaven isn't Heaven if other people get to go. America isn't America if somebody says "Mubarak Ramadan!" to them in Walmart.

And when push comes to shove, no, they don't give a damn about Jesus...because in the end they will convince themselves that they are Heavenly Beings.

Oh, you thought it was a Cult before? 

The Cthulhu cultists Lovecraft came up with have nothing on these idiots. I'm not joking.

This is Christianity, as redesigned by the people who brought you the Aliens franchise and Warhammer 40K, with some real bad drugs thrown in. But unlike gaming or science fiction writers, these people really believe in their own stuff. 

Or at least, in the dopamine rush that it gives them, and Trump Jr. says that makes it all real, right?

And they will try to weaponize ALL this crap to make sure that the Rich Old White Man doesn't face consequences. When he does anyway, they'll say Trump didn't Believe In It Hard Enough and go get themselves another one.

And then they'll try and repeat this cycle of crazy contradictory bullshit again and again, because they think each time they pull the lever, they'll get a different result.

If that's the definition of insanity, well, I really don't know how else to describe this shit.

If you want a better country, you're going to have to be a better citizen, and we're likely going to have to fight for it, too.

Слава Україна!

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ~Matthew 24:27