{"id":27347,"date":"2026-03-23T17:29:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T00:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=27347"},"modified":"2026-04-05T20:05:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T03:05:59","slug":"morality-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/03\/23\/morality-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Morality Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Trump declares Democrats as the greatest enemy of America;<\/li>\n<li>Trump demands election rigging plan be approved &#8220;for Jesus&#8221;;<\/li>\n<li>Why do MAGA keep supporting Trump? Perhaps some kind of selective, &#8220;vertical&#8221;, morality;<\/li>\n<li>How Trump has cultivated the ugliest passions within the GOP;<\/li>\n<li>Robert Reich predicts Trump will surrender but call it a victory.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>Widely reported today.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/am12.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2026\/03\/trump-13.jpeg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mediaite, 22 Mar 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/media\/news\/trump-declares-the-death-of-iran-then-brands-democratic-party-americas-greatest-enemy-in-stunning-post\/\">Trump Declares \u2018The Death of Iran\u2019 \u2014 Then Brands Democratic Party America\u2019s \u2018Greatest Enemy\u2019 in Stunning Post<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNow with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Democrat Party!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So he&#8217;s declaring half the country to be the enemy of &#8220;America&#8221; &#8212; which he implicitly defines as MAGA and his supporters. Doesn&#8217;t he realize that, at least nominally, he&#8217;s supposed to be the president of the entire United States? Apparently not. Or is he declaring a civil war?<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Here is Trump pandering to his people.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk\/article36911713.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/1_President-Trump-Attends-Memphis-Safe-Task-Force-Roundtable-In-Tennessee.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mirror, Mikey Smith in Washington DC, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/politics\/donald-trump-demands-election-rigging-36911725\">Donald Trump demands election rigging plan be approved &#8216;for Jesus&#8217; in deranged rant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Subtitle: Giving a speech in Memphis, Tennessee, Trump said he was going to order Republicans to withhold funding from the Department of Homeland Security until the Senate passes his bill to pass the so-called &#8220;SAVE America Act&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The reason Democrats don&#8217;t support the SAVE act, aside from the difficulties it imposes on people the Republicans would rather not vote, is that Republicans refuse to include provisions requiring ICE agents to follow the Constitution. Maybe the Democrats should ask why can&#8217;t they follow the Constitution for Jesus?<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>How can MAGA claim to be Christian while supporting Trump? A long answer.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/huffpo23mar26.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/huffpo23mar26-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>HuffPost, Caroline Bologna, 21 Mar 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/vertical-morality-might-describe-why-maga-christians-seem-so-unchristian-goog_l_69bc09f1e4b0bb6debb7954b\">\u2018Vertical Morality\u2019 Might Describe Why MAGA Christians Seem So Unchristian<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;This framework reveals why some MAGA-aligned Christians act in ways that contradict Jesus\u2019 teachings.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>For many Americans, the gap between Christian teachings and MAGA politics is baffling. How can people profess faith in Jesus \u2015 who preached love, mercy and care for the oppressed \u2015 while supporting policies that punish immigrants, demonize LGBTQ people and glorify cruelty?<\/p>\n<p>The key to understanding this apparent contradiction might lie in something called \u201cvertical morality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This ethical framework measures righteousness not by goodness to others, but by something more simplistic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Defining things, quoting activist Rachel Klinger Cain.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cVertical morality is just how I describe what\u2019s called \u2018divine command theory\u2019 in metaethics,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a teacher, so I\u2019m always looking for ways to make complicated concepts a little more simple. It\u2019s basically the idea that morality comes from authority above, which is what I was taught when I was raised within conservative Christianity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vertical morality stands in contrast to the concept of horizontal morality, another term Klinger Cain has broken down in her videos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHorizontal morality prioritizes the well-being of our neighbors, communities and personal relationships,\u201d Ajoy explained. \u201cWe act in ways that cause the least amount of harm to those around us, regardless of beliefs. Someone with vertical morality may help someone in need because they believe that\u2019s what God wants them to do, versus someone with horizontal morality may help that same person for the benefit of the person that needs help.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Other key bits:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cEvangelicals are taught that all morality comes from God and therefore true goodness can only be spread by obeying God, even if it harms people around us,\u201d Ajoy said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing if pleasing God manifests by following the teachings of Jesus \u2015 loving our neighbors, loving our enemies, promoting peace and taking care of the poor, the widow, the immigrant and standing up for the marginalized. It becomes dangerous when Christians weaponize this vertical morality for power, which is exactly what we\u2019re seeing with the Christian nationalism in the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the current era, conservative Christian nationalists see anyone on their political team as good and on God\u2019s side, while those who oppose them as evil and satanic.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is that Jesus taught a compassionate, flexible, grace-filled view of what it means to live a life loving God,\u201d Levings noted. \u201cBut today\u2019s conservative Christianity is less influenced by Jesus and more by the Old Testament and Paul.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Exactly the point I&#8217;ve made over and over. And, this attitude:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt predates Jesus, and it\u2019s disinterested in evidence, science, progress, research, experience or the inclusion of other worldviews,\u201d Levings said. \u201cTheonomy is part of the Reformed theology that\u2019s been growing in the evangelical movement for the past 30 years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And from author April Ajoy:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe problem with MAGA Christians is that they promote policies that often go against the teachings of Jesus,\u201d Ajoy said. \u201cThey justify it by promoting a view of God that is vengeful. They demonize all immigrants as criminals, all queer people as predators, all leftists as violent and all Democrats as satanic \u2015 with no evidence to back these claims. And because they believe in a literal hell and a God-ordained calling to make the nation Christian, they justify cruelty in the name of \u2018tough love.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Quite a long article, hitting familiar themes, from immigrants to the Ku Klux Klan. It&#8217;s about hierarchy. Morals come from God. Believers next. And unbelievers on some lower plane. Simplistic, tribal.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, morality does not come from God; it evolved over hundreds of thousands of years because it enabled those to accomplish more, to cooperate, to develop larger towns and civilizations, greater trade networks and contacts with the outer world, than the xenophobic, superstitious tribalists who never did. The deeper explanation, which the article does not recognize, is that the motives of these vertical moralists reflect base human nature, while the horizontal moralists reflect a mature human nature, analogous to the many ways this span has been described. Deep in their guts, conservatives are more comfortable with the OT than with whatever Jesus said, which some now dismiss as being too &#8220;woke.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>And again.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/7cfpk5G9yLUQe8wSIJYqJVyS0ok=\/0x0:2880x1620\/976x549\/media\/img\/mt\/2026\/03\/2026_03_22_TrumpConservatism\/original.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, Peter Wehner, 23 Mar 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/2026\/03\/trump-maga-conservatism\/686501\/\">How Trump Killed Conservatism<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The president has cultivated and encouraged the ugliest passions within the GOP, dousing the embers of hate with kerosene.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement is the beating heart of the GOP, the dominant political party in America\u2014which makes MAGA the most important political movement in the world. And that is why some recent developments within the MAGA movement are so disquieting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Going on with examples from today&#8217;s young Republicans.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Robert Reich predicts.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!OLgR!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F7b4fa144-fd48-4ae7-99b0-697dff001376_1500x1000.jpeg\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert Reich, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/p\/trumps-surrender\">Why He\u2019ll Surrender Soon<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;But he\u2019ll call it a great victory&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>No one knows what Trump is going to do from minute to minute, least of all Trump. But it\u2019s looking ever more likely he\u2019ll be exiting Iran within days, declaring his \u201cexcursion\u201d into it (as he\u2019s termed his war) a major victory \u2014 and then changing the subject.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Because he&#8217;s done this kind of thing before. And his supporters will believe that he actually accomplished something, because he told them so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump declares Democrats as the greatest enemy of America; Trump demands election rigging plan be approved &#8220;for Jesus&#8221;; Why do MAGA keep supporting Trump? Perhaps some kind of selective, &#8220;vertical&#8221;, morality; How Trump has cultivated the ugliest passions within the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/03\/23\/morality-wars\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,90,96,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-conservatives","category-human-nature","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27347"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27524,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27347\/revisions\/27524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}