Central-Illinoisand

Saturday, August 31, 2019

Flashback: When Newsweek Touted Obama’s Biblically-Worded Second Coming

Liberals and the media went Apeshit when Trump said he was the chosen one. Silence and bed wetting and leg tingles when Newsweek printed this

Newsweek Second Coming

Trump has been on a roll this week, having already used the “L” word in relation to American Jews when he suggested that those who vote for Democrats are disloyal to Jewish interests. He took a lot of grief for that. LU contributor Jeff Dunetz, however, defended Trump’s real point: that it’s counterproductive for Jews to vote for Democrats today, given the party’s decreasing support for things like Israeli security, national sovereignty in general, and their increasing levels of Antisemitism. Joel B. Pollak pointed out at Breitbart that Trump was merely saying to liberal Jews what liberal Jews have been telling their Republican-voting counterparts for years.

But as frequently happens, Trump’s terminology and phrasing were, shall we say, Not What J.E. Would Do. (On the other hand, J.E. doesn’t remember the last time she got her panties in a wad about something Trump said. It never turns out the way the knee-jerk-shriek chorus thinks it will, but they never seem to learn that we don’t live in their knee-jerk world anymore.)

Tweeting quotes from long-time fringe activist Wayne Allyn Root also qualifies as NWJWD. For whatever reason, Trump did it anyway on Wednesday morning.

“Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words. “President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world…and the Jewish people in Israel love him….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019

…..all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job.” Wow! @newsmax @foxandfriends @OANN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019

The backlash instantly went high-order.

Trump promoting himself as the ‘second coming of God’ is another sign of his lack of basic mental capacity: Yale psychiatrist https://t.co/Tzksoggp7Y pic.twitter.com/4GE78tx96s

— R. Saddler 📎🗽🌊🌊🌊 (@Politics_PR) August 22, 2019

Donald Trump has exposed himself to accusations of a messiah complex after self-referencing as "the King of Israel", "the second coming of God" and "the chosen one" in the space of a few hours https://t.co/PgJTWwDIGe

— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 22, 2019

Worst Second Coming of Jesus Christ … EVER! https://t.co/CFcggjMt9H

— John Moffitt (@JohnRMoffitt) August 22, 2019

#DisloyalToTrump #AnybodyButTrump2020 pic.twitter.com/GNUQE9VcsU

— Paula Sue Glashauser (@SueGlashauser) August 21, 2019

Trolling the press corps, Trump then referred to himself as “the Chosen One,” in an exchange about trade-warring with China during his impromptu presser on the way to Marine One. So if you were looking for reasons to calm down about Trump using language with a “Messiah complex” tone to it, you were out of luck.

Here's the clip. Speaking about his trade war with China, Trump looks to the heavens and says, "I am the Chosen One." pic.twitter.com/mKWA9g7wzQ

— David Mack (@davidmackau) August 21, 2019

Careless pundits got busy misquoting Trump all day, turning “King of Israel” (the actual quote from Mr. Root) into “King of the Jews.” “King of the Jews” was the taunt used by the Romans as they carried out Jesus’s crucifixion, whereas “King of Israel” would be, say, David or Solomon, from the Judaic kingdom nearly 1,000 years earlier. Either way, Trump’s behavior was so far beyond inexcusable, they’ve never even heard of Zipcodes there.

There may or may not be value in having a chat about American culture and the use of Biblical allusions. Millions of Americans are not freaked out by Biblical allusions. Merely using them is neither crazy nor unthinkable; it’s how they’re used that may sometimes be annoying, misguided, over-the-top, etc.

These millions of Americans take the allusions in differing spirits; some people might be offended, others unworried. Christians aren’t nearly as apt to charge “Blasphemy!” as non-Christians may think. Allusions and comparisons come with the territory of toweringly iconic figures like Jesus. Modern Christians are generally comfortable with the understanding that the world will say what it’s going to say, but that doesn’t change who Jesus is.

As usual, however, Trump’s severest critics were righteously appalled on Christians’ behalf. Imagine the horror: comparing Trump, with in-your-face allusions, to Jesus Christ!

So it’s interesting to recall the cover of Newsweek from the week of Obama’s second inauguration in January 2013.

Remember the subtleness here? pic.twitter.com/C8yE55G5eS

— ymedad (@ymedad) August 22, 2019

Granted, Newsweek has become the American Pravda in recent years. But that hadn’t quite happened yet in 2013. This wasn’t Wayne Allyn Root, self-published guy. This was mainstream media’s Newsweek, decorating a feature article by Evan Thomas.

Granted, again, Evan Thomas was the one who referred to Obama as “sort of God” in 2009.

The Second Coming Cover was the second Obama-as-God picture gracing Newsweek. The first was in November 2010:

And beating them to the punch, in May 2010 competitor Time Magazine asked if Obama was “God The Father Or God The Son.”

In May 2013, the National Catholic Register put together a shortlist of Obama-as-God allusions from his supporters. We also remember fondly when MSNBC compared the countdown to the implementation of Obamacare with the first coming of Jesus Christ, and when Chris Matthews referred to Obama metaphorically as “the messiah” during the 2012 primary season.

It does make it somewhat harder for the reasonable observer to get a really good lather going about Trump. Obama had Newsweek to provide gack-making coverage. Trump has Wayne Allyn Root. Which source is the one we’re “supposed” to expect more tempered, journalistic neutrality from?

https://lidblog.com/newsweek-second-coming/

Tucker Investigates: How did Chris Cuomo get into Yale?

Interesting topic

Boston: ISIS Beheading Plotter’s Conviction Overturned by Obama-Appointed Judge

This is indeed “judicial malfeasance of the highest order,” as is clear from the fact that Wright was obviously no fantasist engaged in “role-playing”: he was actually financing an Islamic State jihadi and actively plotting jihad murder stateside. But Leftists such as Justice David J. Barron tend not to see any jihad activity; when they look at cases such as that of Daoud Wright, all they see is the danger of “Islamophobia” that must be avoided at all costs. And so Wright will walk free years earlier than he should. What will he done? What is being done while he is prison to disabuse him of his jihadi beliefs? Why, nothing, of course. To attempt any such thing would be “Islamophobic.”

“ISIS Beheading Plotter’s Conviction Overturned by Obama-Appointed Judge,” by Pamela Geller, American Thinker, August 29, 2019:

Daoud Wright is a former Islamic State (ISIS) operative in Boston who was the ringleader of a plot to behead me. In December 2017, he was found guilty on five counts in this terrorist plot against me, which involved Wright maintaining close contactwith and even financing a major American ISIS leader, Zulfi Hoxha. Yet late Wednesday afternoon, one of those convictions was overturned. Federal Appeals Court Justice David J. Barron said Wright “could have been simply been ‘role-playing’ with respect to following ISIS’s direction.”

Back when Wright was convicted, the jury didn’t think Wright was just “role-playing.” They brought the verdict in swiftly: according to WBUR, they “reached five verdicts in six hours.” Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb said: “Mr. Wright is a terrorist, an ISIS supporter and recruiter who intended to wage war against the United States by beheading people and killing Americans.”

Barron, in contrast, clearly has embraced the claim of the defense during the trial, that Wright was just a fat fantasist sitting in his mother’s basement playing video games and dreaming of glory. But in an extraordinary article that appeared in the left-wing Atlanticin January 2018 entitled “A New American Leader Rises in ISIS,” Seamus Hughes, Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, and Bennett Clifford revealed that a “shared interest in video games may have been one of the first things that brought Hoxha together with David Wright.” The video games were not an idle pastime:

Islamic State’s 2015 instructional manual for its Western supporters, “How to Survive in the West,” includes references to video games as a method of training to join the group. More importantly, it may have brought together Wright and Hoxha, who unlike Wright successfully followed through on his intentions to support the Islamic State using violence… During Wright’s trial, prosecutors argued that he used several video games, including Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and other titles to “virtually prepare” for jihad. His defense attorneys, however, painted Wright, who weighed over 400 pounds at the time of the conspiracy, as a “fat, failed loser” who used video games as a substitute for real-life violent activity, according to the trial transcript. Unfortunately, one can be both a gamer who veers towards violence and weigh in at 400 pounds of loneliness and isolation.

The “fat, failed loser” Wright also financed Hoxha’s flight to Syria to train with ISIS: “The court records show that prior to Hoxha’s departure, David Wright put him in touch with another American Islamic State supporter, his uncle Usaamah Rahim, and together they began helping Hoxha as he prepared to travel in the spring of 2015. The two men raised money for Hoxha’s plane ticket to Istanbul by selling Rahim’s laptop on Craigslist.”

Barron should have known all this and taken it into account. His ignoring it and vacating Wright’s ISIS conviction is judicial malfeasance of the
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2019/08/boston-isis-beheading-plotters-conviction-overturned-by-obama-appointed-judge?fbclid=IwAR2T3T6V-Dc5EHSw9HPujZjTn_EgiSgebtjU-vx5Ubb6f6diBptFC6VLkEM
highest order…

Trump supporters ‘not fit for polite society, we have to ‘level them’ says WAPO columnist

This is all coming from the side that claims to be about freedom and democracy. This is from the side that claims to be so tolerant. It’s quite amusing that the same people who are pushing for a socialist country are the same ones who claim that the President is Stalinist and all that. For 8 years under Obama, these same people tried to shut down anyone who disagreed with their dear leader. All while rooting for the end of capitalism, a one party state, wanting Obama to act more like a dictator, and they are still doing so today. Difference is, they are now acting as though they are the ones who support freedom and the checks and balances. Bullcrap! The biggest threat to this country is the left. The biggest threat to this country is a Democrat party. I am ashamed I ever voted for these people. If the Democrats win in 2020 we are done as a nation. That is the truth. Words from the poster on facebook

A Washington Post columnist unloaded on President Donald Trump and former members of his administration in an unhinged rant calling for the Republican Party to be “burned down” leaving no “survivors.”

Jennifer Rubin, the Post’s alleged “conservative” writer, took her hatred for Trump to a new level as she slammed former Trump officials on Sunday’s “AM Joy” on MSNBC.

Discussing the departure of former White House press secretaries Sean Spicer and Sarah Sanders, Rubin declared they should be “shunned” for the rest of their lives after MSNBC host Joy Reid spewed that “this is an extreme administration that is dangerous.”

“What we should be doing is shunning these people. Shunning and shaming these people is a statement of moral indignation,” Rubin smugly announced.

“These people are not fit for polite society,” she declared, citing how a former Trump staffer was employed by the University of Virginia for a time.

“I think that it’s’ absolutely abhorrent that any institution of higher learning, any news organization or any entertainment organization that has a news outlet would hire these people,” she said, reacting to discussion on Spicer being named part of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” cast and Sanders moving on to the Fox News Channel.

“It’s not only that Trump has to lose, but that all his enablers have to lose — we have to collectively, in essence, burn down the Republican Party,” Rubin announced, with zero pushback from any of the other liberals on the show who would cry foul if the comments were uttered by Trump or other conservatives.

“We have to level them because if there are survivors — if there are people who weather this storm, they will do it again — they will take this as confirmation that, ‘Hey, it just pays to ride the waves — look at me, I’ve made it through,’” she added.

“This has become a dysfunctional anti-government party. That is not what the country wants and what it needs. And the proof is in the pudding,” Rubin argued.

“The reason they engage in voter suppression is because their underlying agenda is very unpopular. No one’s in favor, it turns out, of taking away people’s health care. People don’t like it when you come after Medicaid and Medicare,” she added.

The allegedly right-leaning columnist went on to encourage Democrats while continuing her violent rhetoric against Republicans, noting her hopes for a “leveled” GOP.

“And if they don’t, then they’re going to lose election after election. And, frankly, that would be fine, too,” Rubin stated. “My hope is that Democrats don’t blow it. My hope is that Democrats are able to pull together a coalition that’s large enough to govern, and that we can have some sane governance for a period of time.”

Rubin apparently did not see any issues with her calls for violent opposition to the “manic president,” as she referred to Trump in an opinion piece for The Washington Post.