Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 192
November Surprises
NBC News: “Spicer, who is Roman Catholic, had been left off a list of White House officials who had the chance to meet with Pope Francis in May when Trump visited the Vatican.”
“Vatican spokesman Greg Burke confirms the former White House press secretary attended a meeting with Pope Francis on Sunday.”
Public Policy Polling: “Asked what racial group they think faces the most discrimination in America, 45% of Trump voters say it’s white people followed by 17% for Native Americans with 16% picking African Americans, and 5% picking Latinos. Asked what religious group they think faces the most discrimination in America, 54% of Trump voters says it’s Christians followed by 22% for Muslims and 12% for Jews.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has been tweeting Bible verses every day since May 16, Politico reports.
“Almost all of them come from the Old Testament, and specifically the book of Proverbs. Proverbs is notable in that is presents a fairly consistent view of the world: The righteous are rewarded, and the wicked are punished. In the understanding of Proverbs, everyone gets what is coming to them; behavior is directly linked to reward or punishment. This worldview has social consequences: Those who succeed in life must be more righteous than those who struggle.”
“Some of the statements in Proverbs look strikingly similar to those made by modern-day conservative policymakers… In short: Proverbs is probably the most Republican book of the entire Bible.”
Peter Linzmaier of Thompson Falls, MT writes to the Missoulian in response to a letter to the editor which asked if it was acceptable with Christians that Rep.-elect Greg Gianforte (R) assaulted a reporter the day before the election:
Jesus assaulted and bodily threw the money changers out of the temple who were trespassing in Gods’ house.
Greg Gianforte emulated Jesus by assaulting Ben Jacobs, who was trespassing and invading his privacy. He also proved to be a real Montanan to his supporters who are not self-proclaimed Christians but abide by the teachings and actions of Jesus.
President Trump’s entourage at the Vatican “included his wife, his daughter, and an array of staffers—but not White House press secretary Sean Spicer, a devout Catholic who told reporters earlier this year that he gave up alcohol for Lent,” Politico reports.
“Both sides, according to a White House official, agreed to limit the number of staffers who attended. Two other senior communications aides from the White House were included: Hope Hicks, who like Melania and Ivanka Trump wore a black veil over her hair, and Dan Scavino, the White House director of social media and a longtime Trump loyalist.”
“Jakarta’s Christian governor was sentenced to two years in jail for blasphemy, a harsher-than-expected ruling that critics fear will embolden hardline Islamist forces to challenge secularism in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation,” Reuters reports.
“Tuesday’s guilty verdict comes amid concern about the growing influence of Islamist groups, who organized mass rallies during a tumultuous election campaign that ended with Basuki Tjahaja Purnama losing his bid for another term as governor.”
President Trump “has invited conservative leaders to the White House on Thursday for what they expect will be the ceremonial signing of a long-awaited—and highly controversial—executive order on religious liberty,” Politico reports.
“The signing would represent a major triumph for Vice President Mike Pence—whose push for religious-freedom legislation backfired mightily when he served as governor of Indiana—and his allies in the conservative movement.”
President Trump “has increasingly infused references to God into his prepared remarks — calling on God to bless all the world after launching strikes in Syria, asking God to bless the newest Supreme Court Justice, invoking the Lord to argue in favor of a war on opioids,” Politico reports.
“He’s also taken other steps to further cultivate a Christian right that helped elect him, granting new levels of access to Christian media and pushing socially conservative positions that don’t appear to come naturally to him.”
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) refused to say on CNN that Muslim Americans are equal to German Americans in their usefulness to society — doubling-down on recent comments that white people have made greater contributions to Western civilization than other “sub-groups.”
Said King: “I’d say they’re all created in the image of God and they’re equal in his eyes. If they’re citizens of the United States, they’re equal in the eyes of the law. Individuals will contribute differently, not equally to this civilization and society. Certain groups of people will do more from a productive side than other groups of people will.”
First Read: “As DNC members travel to Atlanta to choose the party’s next chair on Saturday, there’s an elephant in the room that no one is talking about it — but that everyone is thinking about: Keith Ellison’s Muslim faith.”
“Don’t get us wrong, this isn’t an issue among the 447 DNC members. As we’ve written, many/most voting members would be happy with either Ellison or Tom Perez. But some outside the party seem to be goading Democrats to pick Ellison, as David Duke did earlier this month.”
“In the wake of 11 new threats today against Jewish centers, from New York to New Mexico, the FBI said it is investigating, along with the Department of Justice, bomb threats to the centers across the country,” ABC News reports.
“Federal authorities are looking into threats communicated to at least 60 Jewish centers around the country this year. The threats started in January and the FBI began investigating later that same month. The threats have come in ‘different waves,’ with more threats phoned in to centers today, according to one source familiar with the matter.”
A new Chatham House survey finds that a majority in all but two of the ten European countries surveyed supports a complete ban of immigration from Muslim countries.
Only the United Kingdom at 47% and Spain at 41% didn’t have a majority.
“The flag fluttering above the U.S. Capitol is emblazoned with a crescent and star. Chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ rise from inside the building. That’s the provocative opening scene of a documentary-style movie outlined 10 years ago by Stephen K. Bannon that envisioned radical Muslims taking over the country and remaking it into the ‘Islamic States of America,'” according to a document describing the project obtained by the Washington Post.
“The outline shows how Bannon, years before he became a strategist for President Trump and helped draft last week’s order restricting travel from seven mostly Muslim countries, sought to issue a warning about the threat posed by radical Muslims as well as their ‘enablers among us.’ Although driven by the ‘best intentions,’ the outline says, institutions such as the media, the Jewish community and government agencies were appeasing jihadists aiming to create an Islamic republic.”
President Trump “vowed to overturn a law restricting political speech by tax-exempt churches, a potentially huge victory for the religious right and a gesture to his political base,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump said his administration would ‘totally destroy’ the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits churches from engaging in political activity at the risk of losing their tax-exempt status.”
A new Ipsos Mori survey finds that members of the public in European states including France, Belgium, Germany and the UK greatly overestimate their country’s Muslim population and the rate at which it is growing.
“The average French estimate was that 31% of the population was Muslim – almost one in three residents. According to Pew Research, France’s Muslim population actually stood at 7.5% in 2010, or one in 13 people.”
“The French were not the only ones to hold such misconceptions: Italian, German and Belgian respondents all guessed that more than a fifth of the resident population was Muslim, while in reality the figure ranges from 3.7% in Italy to 7% in Belgium.”
James Hohmann: “It was not an act. Trump’s concern about Syrian refugees entering the U.S. without proper vetting and his personal discomfort with Muslim radicalization is genuine and deeply felt, according to several people who have spoken with him directly. Much of what he said during his rallies was improvisational, and he certainly campaigned by the seat of his pants from time to time. But he thought the Muslim ban through, heard out objections from his advisers and spoke on the phone with several people before making the announcement.”
“Trump’s political instincts were certainly at play. He saw an opportunity to exploit the fears of the American people, and he captured it. He saw a rising tide of xenophobia and prejudice across the country, and he swam with the current.”
“Because he has few core principles, beyond winning, Trump was perfectly willing to stake out a position that he knew his major Republican rivals – for constitutional, legal, moral, practical and national security reasons – would never be willing to embrace. That gave him a textbook wedge issue, which worked to his advantage throughout the primaries.”
“President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign staff temporarily redirected the webpage detailing his controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigration into the United States, one of the most divisive and controversial policy ideas of his campaign, but swiftly sought to restore it after reporter inquiries Thursday,” the Washington Post reports.
Washington Post: “Yes, the man who once feuded with the pope (how soon we forget that actually happened) is cratering among Catholics.”
“Back in 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney lost the Catholic vote by just 2 points, 50 percent to 48 percent. And the GOP has actually won the Catholic vote as recently as 2004 and in 5 of the last 10 presidential elections.”
“But Trump trails among Catholics by a huge margin. A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute released this week shows him down 23 points, 55-32.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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