If submitted as part of a fictional story, the repeated ironies of the Trump campaign would be pegged as too “on the nose.” But today we awoke to these as realities.

Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly supported a thrice-married, casino-owning, pornography-supporting foulmouth and sexual assaulter who has only a nominal affiliation with Christianity and did not even mention it in his convention speech—except to ad lib the line about not being deserving of the evangelical support he had received. He proudly claims to have never asked for forgiveness, and he never talked about Jesus. He knows nothing about the Bible. He even took a photo with Jerry Falwell’s son in front of an office wall that showed himself on the cover of Playboy magazine.

He was supported by some as a pro-life candidate, though he held five different positions on abortion over the course of three days of his campaign and portrays no familiarity with the pro-life movement.

He ran a markedly anti-immigrant campaign, as the son of an immigrant.

He somehow became a symbol of rural America, while hardly ever living anywhere but New York City and ever being seen wearing anything but a suit. His only known hobby is golf, which he plays at private country clubs.

He claims to want to bring jobs back to U.S. citizens but repeatedly has hired foreign workers for his own businesses.

His clothing line is partially manufactured in China, but he claims he wants to punish with tariffs businesses who do such things.

He portrays himself as a self-made man but actually inherited millions of dollars. He would have roughly the same wealth if he had done nothing but invest his inheritance in an index fund.

His campaign manager and some high-profile supporters are known for anti-Semitism, but one of his daughters is a Jew.

He called himself “the king of debt” during his real estate career, but as a candidate railed against the national debt (which his plans for military spending and infrastructure spending will undoubtedly increase).

And now, for the final irony of his campaign, this man who rose to political prominence based on his egregious denial of the birthright citizenship of the current president, will meet with him to take over his power.

 

Michael Peppard is associate professor of theology at Fordham University and on the staff of its Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. He is the author of The World's Oldest Church and The Son of God in the Roman World, and on Twitter @MichaelPeppard. He is a contributing editor to Commonweal.

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