In many Christian communities gold = heaven. Many of the people I grew up with believe Trump gold plating everything is a sign of his closeness to God. The statue isn’t a direct idol, but it’s so close and tied with so much other imagery and language in those communities that it’s not fully free from it either.
Vaughn (Christian nationalist preacher) sums up their thoughts. “Donald Trump has glorified the Oval Office…Somebody said, ‘I don’t like all that gaudy gold.’ Then you’re not going to like the kingdom of God very much, where streets are even made out of it, according to people’s understanding. The Ark of the Covenant — covered in gold. The Altar of Incense — covered in gold. The Table of Shewbread — covered in gold. The Menorah — covered in gold. Because gold is godly. Gold speaks of heavenly things. And the United States of America was founded by the decree of heaven. So thank you, President Trump, and I pray that ballroom has gold toilets. I can’t wait. What a great day to be an American.”
They stop short of praying to it, but there’s a weird idolization of Trump and his gold imagery that the gold statue has become the face of. There’s this feeling at least that Trump’s followers worship him as they use all the imagery that was specifically preached against in large swathes of the country for hundreds of years. It was held up as the ultimate sign of sin amongst humans and now they’re embracing that imagery.
In many Christian communities gold = heaven. Many of the people I grew up with believe Trump gold plating everything is a sign of his closeness to God. The statue isn’t a direct idol, but it’s so close and tied with so much other imagery and language in those communities that it’s not fully free from it either.
Vaughn (Christian nationalist preacher) sums up their thoughts. “Donald Trump has glorified the Oval Office…Somebody said, ‘I don’t like all that gaudy gold.’ Then you’re not going to like the kingdom of God very much, where streets are even made out of it, according to people’s understanding. The Ark of the Covenant — covered in gold. The Altar of Incense — covered in gold. The Table of Shewbread — covered in gold. The Menorah — covered in gold. Because gold is godly. Gold speaks of heavenly things. And the United States of America was founded by the decree of heaven. So thank you, President Trump, and I pray that ballroom has gold toilets. I can’t wait. What a great day to be an American.”
They stop short of praying to it, but there’s a weird idolization of Trump and his gold imagery that the gold statue has become the face of. There’s this feeling at least that Trump’s followers worship him as they use all the imagery that was specifically preached against in large swathes of the country for hundreds of years. It was held up as the ultimate sign of sin amongst humans and now they’re embracing that imagery.