On Good Friday, of all days, the Administration the National Catholic Register insults our intelligence by declaring it “the most Christian” in history sent out this gloating taunt slandering an innocent man denied due process and thrown into an El Salvadoran hell hole along with hundreds of other innocents denied the same basic human rights.
The difference between Pontius Pilate and Donald Trump is not gutless cowardice, (they are both that). It’s not gross injustice to the innocent (ditto). It’s that Pilate took no particular interest in the case before him and basically sentenced the riff raff who stood before him because it was easier than the hassle of having to explain to Caesar why he let some weirdo go when there were emphatic reports that he claimed to be King of the Jews. Pilate could see perfectly well that this guy was not a political threat, but since his tedious colonial enemies looked like they would make this stupid spat blow up in his face, he decided it was best to just kill the Galilean hick rather than have it get back to Rome. It’s nothing that hasn’t happened in colonial holdings a thousand times before and since. You can read all about it in Orwell’s great essay “Shooting an Elephant”.
No the real difference between Trump and Pilate is that Pilate didn’t get off on killing Jesus. He retained enough of his manhood to sign the order of condemnation and then, the morning’s little ruckus over with, go have a nice light lunch and get back to the paperwork. His sense of identity and masculinity did not depend on going to dance at the foot of the Cross for the delectation of squealing fanbois.
Trump, in contrast, is the Weak Bully Who Never Grew Up, somebody who only feels like a man when he can publicly indulge his cruelty and savor the sufferings of others. As ever, this sadist loves not only doing grave evil but savoring the helplessness of his victims as he jeers at them in performative vice-signaling to his orcs.
The crucifixion of Jesus was, for Pilate, a chore to be done and forgotten. For Trump, the crucifixion of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia and all his other innocent victims is an orgasm and a public orgy. He is Nero, not Pilate.
But, of course, Trump is just an enzyme. He never would have gotten to where he is if there were not millions of other weaklings who likewise savor cruelty and think it makes them look strong. So the whole MAGA Cult likewise loves to go pose in front of their victims as this weak, chinless sadist did:
If you notice a likeness to Balding Incel Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) as he poses before his victims in an effort to establish his manhood you are not alone.
But above all, there’s this Manly Man, Rep. Riley Moore. If you’ve not heard of him, he is the guy Bishop Robert Barron praised to the skies as an “ardent Catholic” in his recent and cringeworthy “Liturgy of Democracy” video in which he scolded Democrats for not bowing and scraping before the Tyrant in his State of the Union.
Compare and contrast that ghastly image with this.
Pope Francis visited Regina Coeli prison on the last Holy Thursday of his life and, after spending time with inmates, blew them kisses, which they returned. Afterward, he said, “Whenever I visit, I ask myself: Why them and not me?” A beautiful way to enter the Triduum and, four days later, Eternity.
Utter swine like the “ardent Catholic” Moore, for years, slandered Pope Francis for “virtue–signaling” when he modeled Christ for the world. That slander depends on the filthy lie that every time a Christian they hate “lets his light shine before others that they may praise our Father in heaven” (as Jesus commands) his only real motivation is to gain the praise of human beings. It is pure projection of their own black hearts from the Cult where accusation is always confession.
Meanwhile, completely overlooked is the infinitely more repugnant phenomenon of vice-signaling, which the MAGA Cult of antichrist worshippers like Greatest Catholic of All Time Rep. Riley Moore and the other weak sadists above embody. This is the monstrous habit of doing grave evil so that fellow monsters will praise you for your inhuman cruelty and hail you as a badass unbound by the norms of civilization.
Jesus condemns hypocrisy because he wants us to be good in truth, and not merely in appearance. He does not thereby praise those who are deeply evil both in reality and in appearance. But this is now the stock-in-trade of the monstrous antichrist cult of which Moore is now an apostle.
I think it’s just a matter of time before the Trump Administration attempts to monetize its savagery and contempt for human life by reactivating the Arena on some form of pay-per-view and letting Premium Subscribers watch as torture and organized fights between prisoners are broadcast for the connoisseurs of human suffering that are the millions of people in its base. Having sold them on the thrill of casting off the norms of civilization in favor of being their worst selves, the base is increasingly in the mood to explore ever darker corners of the flesh, all while rubbing their Precious Feet pin to assure themselves of their moral rectitude and superiority to Woke Libs whom they accuse of virtue-signaling by opposing such cruelty.
The cruelty of post-Christian conservatism will make ancient Rome look like a tepid thing, because its rejection of Christ has a component of willed hatred of Jesus that pre-Christian pagans, utterly ignorant of Christ, lacked.
“Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Truly I tell you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will punish him, and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating. But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating. Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more. (Lk 12:42–48)
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8 Responses
The Trump administration wanting to monetize its savagery? That’s already been floated around:
“OMG: Noem in talks to make migrants COMPETE for citizenship on reality TV show”
My word! That post from X is genuinely chilling. Had I not known better, I’d have taken it for dystopian fiction or satire. As you said, televised executions can’t be far off. It truly feels like the world is witnessing the live, full-colour rise of a Norsefire-style regime.
National Catholic Register is worthless. They praise Trump and attack anyone who does not worship him. Idolatry.
Increasingly popular seem to be things in which violence is the whole principle. Here in Auckland:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/what-is-run-it-straight-the-new-combat-sport-being-condemned-by-leading-doctors/OJTVZQTJQZBO5ERREX3X76U274/
It seems to me that the attraction is the hope of injury or death.
That’s my explanation for the traffic jams that form when there was an accident on the *opposite* road of the highway. People slowing down… why, exactly? Is that in some hope of seeing gore? Being witness to a death?
“All the evil in the world is due to lukewarm Catholics.” – Pope St. Pius X
On the right, posing before the suffering. Citizenship offered as spectacle. A rising hunger for bloodsports disguised as entertainment—gladiatorial, and potentially fatal.
It feels like a slow, unblinking descent to pagan norms.
And yet, I’m cautiously (quite cautiously) optimistic. The ancient world had no Church. But now the Church is here—and will remain. There will always be a battle, a pushback. “The gates of hell shall not prevail.”
We can see that resistance now in bold voices like Mark’s, and in the quiet strength and voices of leaders like the Pope.
As an actual Pagan, it feels to me like a rapid descent into Christian norms. Or rather the rapid shedding of the pretense that Christian nationalists were ever anything but pure nihilists and sadists.
With the exception of some few unfortunate specimens who are neo-Nazis LARPing as Vikings, the vast majority of Pagans today are horrified by and deeply opposed to the MAGA regime.
Even with its excesses and violence, even most of the ancient Pagan cultures we know of did not celebrate punching down on the weaker. It certainly wasn’t seen as an act of valor and bravery the way it is by MAGA’s True Christians.
In the Havamal collection of poems from the Viking Age, represented as the words of Odin himself, no part of it comes remotely close to comporting with the values of MAGA. It calls for hospitality for those in need, not banishment and torture. It counsels generosity, and temperance, and says, in essence, that character matters.
It also rejects apathy and moral relativism. “Where you recognize evil, call it evil, and give no truce to your enemies”.
So, throwing the poor under the bus and enriching billionaires is “Christian?” Encouraging hatred of immigrants, refugees, gays and the less fortunate is “Christian?” The National Catholic Register is nothing but a pro Trump rag. Their pro Trump propaganda is not even skillful and looks like it was written by a middle schooler.