Spinning and Ignoring the Georgia Plea Deals

As October 2023 winds down, there have been significant developments in the case against Trump et al. in the state of Georgia. After Sidney Powell flipped and took a plea deal, the Trumpian edifice began to crumble.

In recent days, we've also seen Jenna Ellis take a plea and Mark Meadows has agreed to testify in exchange for immunity. These are highly significant developments not just for the case and the players involved but for the Evangelical community which has intellectually, ethically, and emotionally invested itself in these people.

The flipping of Ellis spells doom for Rudy Giuliani who has already destroyed his standing and his longstanding 'law and order' credentials that led him to power in the first place. Ellis is also a significant figure within the Christian Right and has trumpeted her faith and her Dominionist ethos and goals – which became synonymous with Trumpism.

Meadows is of even greater importance because as Trump's Chief of Staff he was right in the thick of everything happening in the Oval Office – his office would have been right around the corner and he was one of the key gatekeepers. It's a very powerful position and now that he has decided to testify and take a deal – Trump and his remaining loyalists must be concerned. Some commentators have expressed concern for Meadows' safety.

Meadows is wealthy and at 64 years old will probably fade away. We shall see. But Ellis is not yet 40 and almost certain to be disbarred, this Evangelical feminist will have to find a different career.

She may have already done so as the highly corrupt and heretical American Family Radio (AFR) has made her host of their big morning programme. And yet, she will have to perform quite the song and dance to demonstrate she has not turned against Trump.

She's even now putting on a performance, pleading tearful ignorance. I hope readers will understand she's an absolute liar. Just weeks ago I heard her on the radio proclaiming that she was being persecuted and she was thanking those that were donating to her legal defense.

Will she return all that money (over $200,000) now that she's pleading guilty? In fact, given the Evangelical penchant for lawsuits (in disobedience to the New Testament) there's a case to be made. Donors could go after her for those funds as she collected them under false pretenses. A prosecutor could even charge her with fraud.

For the adherents of Christo-Trumpism, she has betrayed the messiah and now must justify her actions if she is to retain her standing on Radio GOP/Trump – also known as AFR.

We'll see if her charms suffice – the audience is after all pretty dumb and certainly ethically compromised. In some respects (and speaking in general terms) these people strike me as being handed over. The religion of Christ and the apostles is alien to them – and frankly hated by them.

I'm waiting to see if she pulls a 'Colson'. Charles Colson pulled a lawyer's trick after Watergate and knowing that the prosecutor wanted him, he gave him something that would result in a lesser charge and thus the prosecutor, content with a 'win' let the more serious charges evaporate – justice or truth had nothing to do with it for either party. For the remainder of his life Colson deceitfully spun this story saying he couldn't plead guilty to things he didn't do (which he in fact did and worse) but knew he had done things wrong – so he plead to those (conveniently less serious) things and 'took it on the chin' and humbly accepted his punishment and his fate.

It would seem he missed his true calling as a snake oil salesman.

Ellis is now feigning ignorance regarding the attempts to overturn and manipulate the election results – which is a blatant lie. My guess is she will hang it all on Giuliani and others, and try to (at least in her public and media discourse) keep Trump looking innocent and oblivious to what his scheming underlings were doing. It's the only way she can retain her standing and for her narrative to be acceptable to the Trumpite Cult which dominates the Evangelical circles she runs in – the circles that (for her) are critical to the riches and standing that she lusts after.

And while Christian media is taking victory laps over the recent appointment of Mike Johnson as House Speaker – the fact that major Christian figures driven by Dominionist ideology have been caught up in a scandal of corruption and criminality is not a story they want to address and as such it is buried or ignored.

One is also reminded of other recent episodes that celebrity-hungry Christian media has chosen to ignore. From Sarah Palin's disgraceful appearance on 'Masked Singer' to Lauren Boebert's sluttish antics in a Denver theatre – these stories are not convenient and thus ignored. If a 'liberal' figure had behaved in such a way it would have received significant coverage and condemnation – but Christian worldview means (it would seem) that the end justifies the means and so if a story (regardless of whether or not it is true) doesn't contribute to the overall cause then it can be ignored or lied about. They spent more time talking about Pennsylvania Senator (and pagan) John Fetterman's childish wardrobe antics than the egregious and sinful conduct of supposed Christian political figures like Palin and Boebert. Shouldn't Christian leaders be held to a higher standard? Who brought more disgrace to the government? How about to the Church?

And worse, these people (Palin, Boebert, Meadows, Ellis) are presented as Christian leaders – moral leaders. This tells us that those who promote them are even worse and more corrupt. Key actors in Christian media (outlets such as FLN, AFR, and the Christian Post edited by Richard Land) are discovered to be servants to these liars and their lies, and traitors to the very mission and 'ministry' they trumpet and purport to be pursuing. In some respects they are the worst of all – mere agents of power and political operatives putting mammon above the Kingdom, happy to exploit and manipulate the audiences that they have sold a bill of trust to. These sad sheep think these wolves are telling them the truth and doing so through the lens of Christian worldview. Instead they're selling a rotten package, a fraud that is dressed up in Christian wrappings. Is there anything more insidious? These people are looked up to by the sheep. Little do they know these 'leaders' are in fact judgment being dispensed and poured out on a Church rapidly falling into apostasy.

Rags like The Christian Post mentioned the Meadows-Ellis story, applied some spin and moved on. The Family Life Network (FLN) chose in its 'news' coverage (from a Christian worldview as they proclaim) to completely ignore it and instead focus on the supposedly outrageous comments made by the UN Secretary-General regarding the Hamas attack on Israel.

Lies upon lies, lies by commission and omission – smoke and mirrors, that is today's Evangelicalism. It is in so many ways reminiscent of the corrupt Christian culture of Roman Catholicism and the cancer of the Christendom that it dominated for centuries. They are the same cancers, the same poisons, merely in different garb.