Draining the Swamp and Embracing the Garbage People

The Populist Social Revival could bring back the good old days of a less-sophisticated Christianity. That's a good thing.

In the first century, Christianity was a religion for ne’er-do-wells, outcasts, and scalawags. Jesus hand-selected twelve guys from Israel’s Appalachia to be his representatives, and the Messiah hailed from a one-stoplight town. The religious hierarchy abhorred them, the cultural sophisticates called them “unlearned and ignorant,” and the political class considered them insurrectionists. And yet, the church grew into a righteous mob of converted whores and impoverished beggars that in pretty short order would commandeer power and rule the world.

It’s exciting to be living in times like that.

The doddering old Coot in Chief just yesterday called Trump’s hundred (or so) million supporters “garbage.” Perhaps seeing him in a moment of rare coherence, the bureaucrats who run our Shadow Government propped him up by a microphone and he told us, “Donald Trump has no character. He doesn’t give a damn about the Latino community…just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage?…The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”

Never mind how stupid it is to insult American voters in order to stick up for a non-voting U.S. territory with zero electoral votes, just prior to an election. That’s not the point. The point is to demonstrate the absolute antipathy that the establishment has for the ordinary American, especially if they don a red trucker’s cap.

We are a basket of deplorables, after all. We are bitter people clinging to guns and religion. The Democratic Party cannot seem to understand that the lower one is on the socio-economic ladder the more likely they are to intuitively know who hates them, much like a homeless dog knows which bums won’t give them a biscuit. We pick up their vibes, and they hate us more than Pete Buttigieg hates straight women.

But it would be wrong to presume that the establishment on the right thinks more highly of us than the establishment on the left.

Imagine Albert Mohler pulling up to a neighborhood bonfire in his best bow tie, chauffeured by his SBTS body man on his Mercedes golf cart with thousand dollar rims (he has one). Never mind, that’s too fanciful of my imagination. Imagine, instead, Russell Moore showing up the the Elks Lodge…dang it. This is hard. Let’s go more realistic…Imagine Bill Krystol or David French or some other pinky-dangling faux-conservative debutant showing up at at the rural high school football game and tweeting about how dumb everyone is. That’s more realistic.

We know that’s what they think of us. It’s intuitive.

If you look at the public discourse between conservatives in social media or dueling op-eds in what few newspapers still exist, you’ll see that almost everyone has overlooked the appeal of Donald Trump. Arguments about whether he’s a “true conservative” or fake, whether he’s a big government guy or small government guy, or even whether he’s partially pro-choice or partially pro-life are experiments in missing the point.

The appeal of Donald Trump that most are missing is that he promised (and proved himself to be) a wrecking ball. While both sides of blind guides are arguing about whether or not his third term (not a typo) will save the government or not, the rest of us are supporting him because we hope he doesn’t. We want him to proverbially (I said proverbially) blow stuff up.

“Oh, no. Donald Trump is going to wreck the federal government.” Giggity.

Some might have wondered why the detestation of Donald Trump by the Russell Moore wing of evangelicalism was so immediate and violent. Some might have wondered why the slack-jawed Company Men of the SBC, like former SBC president, Bart Barber, detest Trump so vocally when sure-as-Shinola neither his congregation nor normal SBC pew sitters do. It’s rare indeed for pastors to find themselves on the opposite side of the political aisle from their congregation, especially men adverse to risk.

What if I told you - and I’ve not heard this sentiment elsewhere - that the guttural, instinctual hatred of Donald Trump by the evangelical left is for exactly same reason as the political left and the establishment right? The reason they hated him almost instantly is because he promised to “drain the swamp.”

Dismantle our institutions, you say? Fire bureaucrats, you say? Stop the financial waste, you say? Represent the people, you say? Give up our power, you say?

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People like Bart Barber or Russell Moore are in the same position as Bill Krystol or Mitt Romney. They did not climb their way to the top of the institutional trash heap by walking the tight rope of mediocrity just for someone to bring a bulldozer and garbage truck and pluck their mountain out from underneath them. Years ago, they surrendered their cullions to a lock box, followed all the institutional rules, said yes to all the right people, and took their turns scrubbing the company’s toilets on the promise that one day, they would run this empire of dirt. Nobody is going to take that from them without a fight.

And sure enough, the Populist Social Revival (as I’ve been calling it) bled directly over from Trump’s “Drain the Swamp” populism directly into the evangelical populism that has brought about an upheaval in the SBC, in countless evangelical parachurch ministries, and into many churches. That brand of populism has directly led to things like the David Platt documentary, for example, which tells an incredibly common tale of misplaced power in SBC denominational life in which celebrity pastors capitalize on their fame to earn a spot in the denominational cog, and then use their spot in the denominational cog to launch a bigger, better, celeb-focused ministry outside either the church or the denomination, like pulling the cord to a golden parachute.

When the horde of mindless, useless evangelical institutional robots heard Trump talking about cutting the human and financial waste from government - and saw their supporters cheering - they all looked at each other like the monkey puppet meme.

Institutions, like government, begin with noble purpose. But in short order, they soon elevate above all purposes only one; institutional survival. It’s for this very reason that the establishment in virtually any institution stands opposed to Trump, but more importantly, stands opposed to populism.

The medical establishment, the journalism or media establishment, the political establishment, the religious establishment, the business establishment, and the military establishment are just some of the bureaucratic institutions who naturally presume everyone else is stupid, and they need to farm all the stupid folk like cattle so they can continue to lead all the dumb people. And then, they make us lie down in brown pastures and lead us beside the swift water.

That day is ending, at least for a while. They will lose, at least for a while.

But hear me out. How beautiful, indeed providential, is it that the antipathy that the establishment feels toward all us “garbage people” is obvious? It’s glorious. And frankly, it’s an opportunity to strike while the iron is hot, and fly the flag of Christ as wildly and enthusiastically as possible while our opponents are snickering at them over a shrimp cocktail down at the gastropub.

I praise God that the establishment, both political and religious, has drawn their line in the sand at refusing to pander to the people. Let them be honest, and tell the people they think they’re all inbred deplorables.

Jesus doesn’t think that. Jesus loves them. And we love them. And they will love us back, just as much as MAGA Americans love Trump. They have that affinity for the man for one primary reason; they are convinced he loves them back. Let’s emulate that.

This isn’t me telling us to insincerely tell people we love them so as to co-opt the Populist Social Revival. This me telling you to very sincerely love them. Treat them as special. Treat them as though they are not inconvenient to us, they are not embarrassing to us, they are not illiterate rubes, and they are valuable humans (because they are).

This isn’t about a seminary dork putting on a camouflage hat like Tim Walz, and give sermons with endless sports analogies to appease the dudes. This isn’t about taking selfies with Doritos like Kamala Harris, so as to humanize her in some lame attempt.

This is about actually very sincerely loving anyone who is widely considered garbage by the establishment. It’s precisely what Jesus would do, and it’s what the other side will not.

By the way, I hope you’ve noticed by now that certain posts at Protestia almost daily have become an intentional demonstration of this strategy, of commandeering the Populist Social Revival to convey the gospel. If you could, give those articles a share and see show how well they work.