The Gospel of Donald Trump Jr.

The Atlantic recently carried as story about a speech by the son of the most recent U.S. President “We’ve turned the other cheek,” Donlad Trump Jr. said, “and I understand, sort of, the biblical reference—I understand the mentality—but it’s gotten us nothing. Okay? It’s gotten us nothing while we’ve ceded ground in every major institution in our country.” The journalist at the Atlantic describes Trump Jr.’s speech as communicating the following:

“He portrayed it as an existential battle between good and evil. One side must prevail; the other must be crushed. This in turn justifies any necessary means to win. And the former president’s son has a message for the tens of millions of evangelicals who form the energized base of the GOP: the scriptures are essentially a manual for suckers. The teachings of Jesus have “gotten us nothing.” It’s worse than that, really; the ethic of Jesus has gotten in the way of successfully prosecuting the culture wars against the left. If the ethic of Jesus encourages sensibilities that might cause people in politics to act a little less brutally, a bit more civilly, with a touch more grace? Then it needs to go.”

There obviously is a particular interpretation of Trump Jr.’s words here. How much can be decided by those who go back and listen to his talk in its entirety. But as it relates to “another gospel” as mentioned in the title, the Apostle Paul writes, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!”