Hail the Gods of the Trumpian Golden Age

Donald Trump, on the day of his inauguration, in something called the National Cathedral, was told In the name of our god, I ask you to have mercy… from the pulpit, by one Mariann Budde, a woman pretending to be a bishop. "Our god"? Is that an inclusive or exclusive “our”? Is her god the same as Donald Trump's? How many gods does Ms Budde think there are?

If we can divine this then we can predict the course of the Trump presidency by its metaphysics , or 'grammar', if you will.

In his inauguration speech Donald Trump spoke of a 'golden age' and of the 'manifest destiny' of going to Mars. So far so imperial, so exciting for a teenage boy obsessed with science fiction. It is just so militantly rationally atheistic.

As if to underline this point, during the highly choreographed. inauguration, Trump didn't put his hand on the Bible to take the oath of office. In Season 3, Episode 2 of the occult TV series The Magicians, one of the characters, Alice Quinn, swears on the Bible, knowing that she is lying. This was a symbolic moment showing that not only that character, but the whole series was satanic. Trump's not putting his hand on the Bible is similarly significant.

But Trump regularly gives equivocal signals. On 5th August 2024, Trump gave an interview with Laura Ingraham on Fox news:

“Religion” gives people “some hope,” Trump said, adding that he believes in heaven. “If I’m good, I’m going to heaven,” he said. “And if I’m bad, I’m going to someplace else, like over there. Right?”

In other words, religion is a useful tool to motivate the masses. If they don't behave they will end up somewhere nasty. It can also give the masses hope when they have nothing else going for them. Presumably Trump believes he has enough agency that he doesn't need such an emotional salve. These are exactly the themes of the Dune series of books where an incoherent 'religion' is used to inspire the masses to a destructive holy war.

Trump used 'religious' symbolism during his election campaign. He endorsed a version of the Bible, the God Bless the USA Bible with additional texts such as the US Constitution, the Bill of Tights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance.

Hence, for Trump and the team behind him the text of Bible is not inviolable, but can be changed for political purposes. He is putting himself above the Council of Carthage of 397, which determined the Biblical canon. He does not even abide by the protestant principle of sola scriptura, but more of a scriptura perversa. The signalling is clear: the state religion is the state as religion with perhaps a smear of heretical Christianity. It's almost as if this playbook was written by Frank Herbert, the author of Dune.

Trump, however, sometimes has to improvise. In the 2024 interview, when he was asked what he prays for he answered, “Well, pray for our country. Obviously, I pray for the same thing you pray—our family and our country…and I guess we have a world. I pray for the world too.”

He guesses that we have a world. The softball interviewer didn’t challenge him on that. What specifically does he pray for the country and the world? Full employment? An increase in wages? A solution to homelessness? Or is he embarrassed to say? A correct answer would have been, "it's none of your business what I pray for", or less good, but as vaguely correct might be , "that the Holy Spirit guide me in everything I do." Perhaps the interviewer could have tested him by asking if he knows the ‘Our Father’.

Others in Trump's administration signal Christianity more strongly. Marco Rubio, Trump's Secretary of State, displayed a huge cross on his forehead on Ash Wednesday. At Trump's inaugural cabinet meeting, Scott Turner, a former pastor, opened with a prayer.

In the manner of a true gamemaster, eighteen days after his inauguration, Trump established a 'Faith Office'. Note not an 'Office of the Faith', but an office for faith in all gods and demons generally. The Faith Office is to:

from time to time, consult with and seek information from experts and various faith and community leaders identified by the White House Faith Office and other EOP components, including those from outside the Federal Government and those from State, local, and Tribal governments. These experts and leaders shall be identified based on their expertise in a broad range of areas in which faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship operate, including protecting women and children; strengthening marriage and family; lifting up individuals through work and self-sufficiency, defending religious liberty; combatting anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and additional forms of anti-religious bias; promoting foster care and adoption programs in partnership with faith-based entities; providing wholesome and effective education; preventing and reducing crime and facilitating prisoner reentry; promoting recovery from substance use disorder; and fostering flourishing minds;

This does nothing other than co-opt 'faith' to carry out government programmes; it’s the use of religion as a political tool. Religion is not a guide to fundamental truths, nor is it about philosophy and metaphysics, but merely a pose that provides a gloss to the material world; sort of like membership of a golf club.

Not wanting to let lie the haranguing by a woman pretending to be a bishop, Trump got another woman, one Paula White, to head this Faith Office contrivance. Paula White doesn't claim to be a bishop, but she has a television show. Her message is sheer "prosperity gospel" which comes across as a sales-pitch whereby sending her $40 to $400 per month, will give the donor success, graces and prosperity. She is more of a motivational speaker than a 'pastor'; she promises people that there is a design for their life. "Prosperity gospel" is heresy.

Christianity does not promise material success to those who follow it. Unlike Paula White, Jesus didn't say that you would "always be fashionable", rather he said, If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you¹. In relation to material success Jesus said:

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. – Luke 6:24 NIV

White is on her third marriage. Perhaps she missed this bit of the Bible:

A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. – Mark 10:7-9 NIV

There is a reason that those who enter religious life make oaths of chastity, poverty and obedience. White seems, rather, to have fallen for the temptations of this world. Furthermore, it seems that White does not see the problem that Trump's 'faith office' supports all faiths, all gods, no matter how good or evil.

Of course in the post-modern, post-Christian regime none of that matters. Trump, as the god-emperor, can inflame the passions of the followers of these various 'faiths' with his cryptic, Paul Atreides-type announcements, while dispensing his own peculiar form of justice. The peasants can occupy themselves with the dichotomy of Budde-White while the elite determine policy because they control the funding.

So-called 'faith leaders' can approach the Faith Office in supplication, wondering whom the Office will decide to fund. Mariann Budde may beg for funds to be directed to Comus, the cross-dressing cup-bearer, of Dionysus, or perhaps to the building of a temple to Feronia, the goddess of freed slaves. Paula White might prefer that largess be dispensed to Plutus, the god of wealth. Elon Musk, the dark MAGA, who dresses up as a champion of the Devil, might prefer the funds be spent on offerings to satan. Perhaps the prefects of Britannia and Gaul (Starmer and Macron, respectively) might prefer funding for Mars, the god of war.

Meanwhile a perverted, state-aligned spiritual practise, shaped by a scriptura perversa will push people away from Christianity and further undermine the Faith and the Church. It will lead the children astray², shepherded by false prophet, a wolf in sheep's clothing³.

Atheism-materialism is the metaphysics of the age. Trump may have promised a golden age, he may have set himself up as Apollo, the god of the sun, light, order and luxury, but don't be fooled. As the True God is forgotten, the old gods are filling the vacuum and for their patronage they demand sacrifice; they demand blood.