Deal Breakers.: A response to Trump before Military Leaders on September 30, 2025

Some issues in life are so completely wrong, they become Deal-Breakers. When we learn of them and can no longer deny them, they force a hard moral decision and personal course correction. If we delay, we become just as responsible and just as guilty for the harm they cause.

These are but two of the interrelated religious deal-breakers I've experienced:

* Leaders at my "church" used allegedly "Biblical ideology" to support wife-beating ('96). 

* Christian Reconstruction's endpoint [the OG, Presby, Project 2025 strategic side of the Christian Right] ultimately demanded a religious/racial caste system and servitude – likely the most significant impetus for its ideology [which took me more than decade to process and another to accept] (''02).

Stuart Rojstaczer on Instagram

The Hegseth/Trump military meeting on September 30^th was another kind of deal-breaker, religious in the sense that it formalized the undoing of the virtues of tolerance and respect from which American inalienable rights derived. They are the Christian virtues that our Christian Founders imbued in the words of our Constitution – the Christian foundation of our nation. 

Without those virtues and inalienable rights, America ceases to be a Christian nation, thus breaking the trust that our Constitution once provided. 

Yesterday, the figurehead and Commander-in-Chief of our Christian nation formally denounced these virtues. It was the Art of Deal-Breaking, but we did collectively elect a moral deal-breaking reality TV star. 

I'm sure most of his Christian supporters cheered, believing that his change in military policy after months of disregard for the Rule of Law brought our nation closer to being a "Christian nation." 

Based on studies of behavior and the history of similar events in other nations, my heart aches because I know that 2/3rds of MAGA Christians may never fully grasp the gravity of what just happened. 

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Who is Geoffrey Botkin? A Vision Forum Recruit from the Cult of the Great Commission

Revised 02Feb13

Revised Introduction, 14Feb2019

A few days ago, I received a registered, restricted access letter from the daughters of Geoffrey Botkin (GB).  They allege that I have profited somehow by hijacking their family name, and while I never dreamed that I was so powerful, they claim that I all but destroyed their family’s ability to support themselves.

Of notable mention in the letter was a reference to this “Who Is GB?” post..  If you find broken links in this and other material, please note that I’ve put my entire blog into draft to provide myself time to prayerfully consider the family’s claims about specific matters that they found painfully difficult.  I was willing to pend everything here for careful review in a spirit of cooperation and empathy, and I do because I don’t believe that these daughters have any true agency under the system that the family advocates.  I attest to the veracity of the core information.

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Racist Roots of the Constitution Party? Maybe Some Tree Branches...

The other day, I received an email asking about what I knew of the “racist roots of the Constitution Party.” I denied that there are racist roots but I did explain that I believed that there were Christian Reconstruction roots from a vein that appealed to the writings of Confederate Presbyterian ministers.

 I don’t think it’s fair, right or reasonable to say that the roots of the organization extend much beyond states rights and a notably Christian perspective, but the Constitution Party (CP) unfortunately does attract "racialists," racists, and neo-confederates. There’s also the problem of the League of the South (LoS) which, at its inception, did not appear to be an organization with any racist or racialist interest. (This may be idealistic naivete on the part of my husband and myself, but this is what we believed.) I’ve never heard anything racist or anything remotely racialist from the CP itself during our participation which ended in 2003, and I know only what everyone else does about its inception. Our departure from the CP came about because of the patriarchal rhetoric from both Doug Phillips who directed the CP efforts of the state we lived in at the time and from Michael Peroutka during the 2004 election.

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What is Right Wing Populism? (Quiverfull , Patriarchy Fringe and the Catholic Church?)

Recently, I’ve become acquainted with some Catholic Believers in the Lord Jesus who note nearly identical patriocentric trends in the Catholic Church as we’ve described with Evangelical Christianity, particularly within homeschooling circles. 

There are, reportedly, even European connections to neo-Nazi groups within the Catholic homeschooling groups, just as there is some overlap between patriarchy and those who espouse racialist/kinist/agrarian ideals. The many parallels amaze me, as the same message within a growing faction also now grows within a margin of the Catholic Church as well. Here follows an example of one of the many questions that these Catholic Believers posed to me:

“The main question my wife and I never could answer is whether this was a philosophical problem or a political one. (Which came first the chicken or the egg?) In all actuality it is probably both. As with all things human, ideas are eventually played out in action and politics. I think this movement needs to be exposed and fought. Movements like James Town and Nazism are never fought until there is carnage or sexual abuse, but then it is too late. I believe that Perennialist ideals are forming a "Super-Religion" which can unite people of various backgrounds to common belief and action. It offers a salvation similar to the Marxist ideal of a paradise in this world. A paradise with no need for Our Lord.”

[Note: I understand “perennialism” to describe a society’s cycle through paradigms and prosperity as foundational, enduring, “perennial” truths emerge repeatedly within each cycle.] Considering that the church and religion defines its own type of government and that the term “politics” defines that which involves law-making and governance, the question is one that is somewhat difficult to answer. 

 I am reminded of Christian Reconstruction and the overlap of religious and political ends within the Christian Right. I certainly don’t agree with Berlet and Lyons, bu I found their description of “Right Wing Populism” to be quite interesting, particularly pertaining to this topic. As I pulled this material from the book, I noted the many similarities between this approach and the tactics employed by the new, brave breed of “complementarians” that promote the concepts of “Christian feminism” and the “evils” of the egalitarian perspective as they attempt to “win the gender debate.” 

I was also asked what I believed the “patriocentrist world” would look like. Given the authoritarian and elitist tactics employed thus far; personally, I believe that it would have some totalitarian, bureaucratic, Orwellian flavor of some type. Indeed, I hope that none of us find out. More ideas to ponder…    

Excerpts from. Chip Berlet and Matthew N Lyons in “Right Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort.” New York, NY: Guilford Press, 2000. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF RIGHT WING POPULISM (pg 6-13)

1. Producerism

One of the staples of repressive and right-wing populist ideology has been producerism, a doctrine that champions the so-called producers in society against both “unproductive” elites and subordinate groups defined as lazy or immoral… [. . .]White farmers, laborers, artisans, slave-owning planters, and “productive” entrepreneurs; it excluded bankers, speculators, monopolists – and people of color. In this way, producerism bolstered White supremacy, blurred actual class divisions, and embraced some elite groups while scapegoating others.[. . .]In the 1920s industrial philosophy of Henry Ford, and Father Coughlin’s fascist doctrine in the 1930s, producerism fused with anti-Semitic attacks against “parasitic” Jews.

Producerism, with its baggage of prejudice, remains today the most common populist narrative on the right, and it facilitates the use of demonization and scapegoating as political tools [Saxon, A “Rise and Fall of the White Republic, p 313].

2. Demonization and Scapegoating 

Jean Hardesty argues that the contemporary Right has frequently relied on “mobilizing resentment” as an organizing process (Hardesty, JV. “Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers”. Boston, MA: Beacon, 1999).  

Demonization of an enemy often begins with marginalization, the ideological process in which targeted individuals or groups are placed outside the circle of wholesome mainstream society through political propaganda and age-old prejudice. This creates an us-them or good-bad dynamic of dualism, which acknowledges no complexity or nuance and forecloses meaningful civil debate or practical political compromise.  

The next step is objectification or dehumanization, the process of negatively labeling a person or group of people so they become perceived more as objects than as real people. Dehumanization often is associated with the belief that a particular group of people is inferior or threatening. 

The final step is demonization, the person or group is framed as totally malevolent, sinful and evil. It is easier to rationalize stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, scapegoating and even violence against those who are dehumanized or demonized (Aho,JA. “Phenomenology of the Enemy.” Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 107 -121. Young-Breuhl, E. “Anatomy of Prejudices.” Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univerisity Press, 1996.).  

The word scapegoat has evolved to mean a person or group wrongfully blamed for some problem, especially for other people’s misdeeds. We use the term scapegoating to describe the social process whereby the hostility and grievances of an angry, frustrated group are directed away from the real causes of a social problem onto a target group demonized as malevolent wrongdoers.  

The scapegoat bears the blame, while the scapegoaters feel a sense of righteousness and increased unity. The social problem may be real or imaginary, the grievances legitimate or illegitimate, and members of the targeted group may be wholly innocent or partly culpable. What matters is that the scapegoats are wrongfully stereotyped as all sharing the same negative trait, or are singled out for blame while other major culprits are left off the hook (Alport, GW. “Nature of Prejudice,” Cambridge MA: Addison-Westley, 1954, pp 243-260. Girard,R. “The Scapegoat.” Baltimore, MD: John Hopkins University Press, 1986.).  

Scapegoating often targets socially disempowered or marginalized groups. At the same time, the scapegoat is often portrayed as powerful or privileged. In this way, scapegoating feeds on people’s anger about their own disempowerment but diverts this anger way from the real systems of power and oppression.  

A certain level of scapegoating is endemic in most societies, but it more readily becomes an important political force in times of social competition or upheaval. At such times, especially, scapgoating can be an effective way to mobilize mass support and activism during a struggle for power. 

 3. Conspiracism 

Conspiracism is a particular narrative form of scapegoating that frames the enemy as part of a vast, insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm. Like other forms of scapegoating, conspiracism often, though not always, targets oppressed or stigmatized groups. In many cases, conspiracism uses coded language to mask ethnic or racial bigotry, for example, attacking the Federal Reserve in was that evoke common stereotypes about “Jewish bankers.” 

 Far right groups have often used such conspiracy theories as an opening wedge for more explicit hate ideology. Conspiracism differs in several ways from legitimate efforts to expose secret plots. First, the conspiracist worldview assigns tiny cabals of evildoers with superhuman power to control events; it regards such plots as the major motor of history.

Conspiracism blames individualized and subjective forces for political, economic, and social problems rather than analyzing conflict in terms of systems, institutions, and structures of power. Second, conspiracism tends to frame social conflict in terms of a transcendent struggle between Good and Evil that reflects the influence of the apocalyptic paradigm.

In its efforts to trace all wrongdoing to one vast plot, conspiracism plays fast and loose with the facts. While conspiracy theorists often start with a grain of truth and “document” their claims exhaustively, they make leaps of logic in analyzing evidence, such as seeing guilt by association or treating allegations as proven fact (Hofstadter, R. “Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays.” New York, NY: Knopf, 1965, pp 37-38.).  

Conspiracist attacks can be directed either “upward” or “downward.” Antielite conspiracism (or antielite scapegoating) targets groups seen as sinister elites abusing their power from above. Countersubversive scapegoating targets groups portrayed as subversives trying to overturn the established order the established order from below or from within[. . .]What these versions share, and what especially defines antielite conspiracism, is that the scapegoat is seen as a subjective, alien force that distorts the normal workings of society. Thus, despite its “radical” veneer, antielite conspiracism shares the mainstream assumptions that the United States is fundamentally democratic, and that any injustice results from selfish special interest groups, not from underlying systems of power and oppression.  

 As Donner argued, “In a period of social and economic change during which traditional institutions are under the greatest strain, the need for the myth is especially strong as a means of transferring blame, and outlet for the despair [people] face when normal channels of protest and change are closed (Donner, FJ. “Age of Surveillance: The Aims and Methods of America’s Political Intelligence System.” New York, NY: Knopf, 1980, pg 11.)  

In these ways, countersubversive scapegoating has played an important role in this country’s system of social control, bolstering elite privilege and power. 

4.  Apocalyptic Catastrophizing

Apocalypticism – the anticipation of a righteous struggle against evil conspiracies – has nfluenced social and political movements throughout US History. In its generic sense, the word apocalypse has come to mean the belief in an approaching confrontation, cataclysmic event, or transformation of epochal proportion, about which a select few have forewarning so they can make appropriate preparations.  

Those who believe in a coming apocalypse might be optimistic about the outcome of the apocalyptic moment, anticipating a chance for positive transformational change; or they might be pessimistic, anticipating a doomsday; or they might anticipate a period of violence or chaos with an uncertain outcome (Bromley, DG. “Constructing Apocalysm.” pp 31-45. Wessinger, C “Millennialism With and Without Mayhem.” pp 47-59. Both in Robbins, T & Palmer, SJ (ed.). “Millennium, Messiahs and Mayhem: Contemporary Apocalyptic Movements.” New York, NY: Routledge, 1997.). 

5.  Millenial Visons

Millennialism is a specific form of apocalyptic expectation. Most contemporary Christian fundamentalists believe that when Christ returns, He will reign for a period of 1,000 years – a millennium. Yet not all contemporary Christians promote apocalyptic demonization. Within Christianity, there are two competing views of how to interpret the apocalyptic and millennial themes in the Bible, especially the book of Revelation.  

One view identifies evil with specific persons or groups, seeking to identify those in league with the Devil. A more optimistic form of interpreting apolcalyptic prophecy is promoted by Christians who see evil in the will to dominate and oppress. Apocalyptic thinking, in this case, seeks justice for the poor and weak.  

The two interpretations represent a deep division within Christianity. The dangerous form of millennialism comes not from Christianity per se, but from Christians who combine biblical literalism, apocalyptic timetables, demonization and oppressive prejudices… These social movements sought to influence public policy, social conduct, and cultural attitudes, sometimes coming into conflict with the established order and state power.

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Not So Strange Bedfellows

About the Photo: A December 29, 2007 message received from Flickr username robertstaddon www.flickr.com/people/15266406@N00/ states that he is the copyright owner and grants permission for the use of the unedited version of the photo with proper credit.

Excerpt from from the blog of Midwest Christian Outreach entitled "The Crux":

From"Bill Gothard King Maker": “ 

Huckabee announces White House bid” was the title of the article by Aaron Sadler at the Arkansas New Bureau on January 29, 2007. Outside of Arkansas not too many took notice. I had suggested to several in the media shortly afterward that they may want to keep an eye on this not very well known Arkansas politician, mostly due to his ties to Bill Gothard. 

This was pretty much met with a collective yawn...... According to several former employees from the late 1970s era Bill had a landing strip built at his 3,000 acre Big Bear lodge retreat in the Northwoods and he had it built to accommodate Air Force 1. I am told that he indicated God had told him that one day presidents to come to him and he wanted to be prepared. Will this happen in the near future? Well, if Bill has his way it may. It is not difficult to believe. as we pointed out in our book A Matter of Basic Principles: Bill Gothard and the Christian Life that Gothard often claims special revelation and mystical understandings of Scripture from God.... 

Why wouldn’t a U.S. President turn to a fellow American leader which the Chinese government has turned to for guidance in fixing their nation’s woes? After all it wouldn’t be the first time Huckabee turned to Gothard. He did so when he was Governor of Arkansas and Gothard his plan to rehabilitate prisoners... 

In addition to the above past relationship between Gothard and Huckabee, they were together at a private fundraising even in Texas on December 23, 2007. One of the Gothard followers that was there, the Robert Staddon family, provided a photo of Bill Gothard, Mike Huckabee and Texas billionaires Mr. and Mrs. Dr. James Leininger on their blog. This particular page of their blog was recently taken down. It is also my understanding from several that James Leininger is a partner in Doug Phillip’s Vision Forum. 

Again, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with putting your money where your belief system guides you. All of us do that. And without specifically commenting more on the views represented In James Leininger’s choices, we have done that in article and blog form, I would suggest that we probably have a better idea of why Huckabee did so well with so little money in Iowa. There was a virtual homeschooling army at his disposal through Gothard and his connections. (There is a compendium of Huckabee’s ties to Bill Gothard.)

Well, Don Veinot (author of the above excerpt), there is a quite a compendium of Leininger ties to Doug Phillips documented on the Vision Forum website. Google Leininger with Doug Phillips or Vision Forum see what you find. Vision Forum also sells books authored by Traci Leininger, homeschool graduate. It seems to be common knowledge in homeschooling circles in San Antonio (where this blog host lived for seven years and attended the same Presbyterian church as Phillips before he officially founded his own, local church) that James Leininger was the benefactor of Vision Forum, providing the initial capital for the launch of Phillips' ministry.

Hmmm. I'm not at all comfortable voting for a graduate from the spiritually abusive and mind-numbing IBLP (Gothard's training program), and I am certainly not comfortable with the Leininger connection to Doug Phillips, evangelist for another spiritually abusive system, to say the least. The fact that Phillips love Dabney so intensely (referencing Dabney without qualifying statements about race or slavery) doesn't help matters either.

The billionaire, James Leininger, MD , sits on the IBLP board, yet approves of the outright silly medical and health instruction propagated by Bill Gothard (see the MCO blog article for references). As a Registered Nurse and a Doctor of Naturopathy, I believe that I am qualified to make an evaluation and offer an opinion. Gothard's health recommendations differ little from the spiritualist Louise Hay. As a trained hypnotherapist, I've spent a great deal of time evaluating the concept of disease owing to emotions and lifestyle after the tradition of Hay and other hypnotherapists. Both systems differ little from the Word of Faith movement, save that Gothard's and Hay's ideas are based in concepts of spiritism. Considering that I grew up in the teachings of Pentecost and participated as an adult in the Word of Faith movement for more than ten years, I know that tune well also. I'd rather be a Tulsa groopie than follow Gothard any day, but I believe that both are spiritually abusive and extreme in their teachings. And yes, I am an IBLP graduate as well.

At the time of this writing, I display an "Anyone But Hillary" icon and link to a site where they sell bumper stickers, buttons and attire displaying the motto. I posted it here as a half-hearted joke. With the knowledge of Huckabee's connection to Bill Gothard, and in consideration of Doug Phillips and his connections to both Bill Gothard and Jim Leininger, I am inclined to display an "Anyone But Huckabee" button as well. Thought reform (under Gothard's program) does not for a good president make in my book!

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Perception: A Major Problem for Patriarchy

"Escaping Criticism" by Pere Borrell del Caso)

Patriarchy seems to be an outgrowth of Christian Reconstruction which is largely spearheaded by Calvinistic and Reformed groups. Patriarchy is not monolithic by any stretch of the imagination and crosses many denominational bounds however, patriarchy is not limited to Reformed Theology. Because so many different groups and ideologies have contributed to what is now understood to be so-called “Biblical patriarchy,” it can be difficult to sort through. The tension that exists as a consequence of religious freedom in the United States contributes to this problem. 

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Is it All In Their Heads?

Daniel G. Amen, MD

is a well known psychiatrist, author of several best-selling books, and is also a dually credentialed specialist in nuclear medicine brain imaging.

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Among other things, I think that, in this forum, it is also reasonable to note that Dr. Amen is a "born again" Christian and was among the first class of medical doctors to graduate from ORU.

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He is somewhat of a unique but growing number of psychiatrists that do not rush to prescribe drugs, but also considers and prescribes nutrition, healthy mental habits, healthy lifestyle and natural products for the treatment of psychiatric disorders and other organic diseases of the brain.

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This is from his recent publication in the Opinion Section of the Los Angeles Times:

What do Rudy Giuliani's messy personal life, John McCain's temper and Hillary Clinton's inability to seem authentic have in common? Maybe nothing. They may be just overblown issues in the otherwise normal lives of candidates under the political microscope.

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Such symptoms, however, may mean a lot -- such as evidence of underlying brain dysfunction. Sometimes people with messy personal lives have low prefrontal cortex activity associated with poor judgment; sometimes people with temper problems have brain damage and impulse control problems; sometimes people who struggle with authenticity have trouble really seeing things from someone else's perspective.

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As a neuropsychiatrist and brain-imaging expert, I want our elected leaders to be some of the "brain healthiest people" in the land. How do you know about the brain health of a presidential candidate unless you look? The brain is involved in everything humans do....

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Three of the last four presidents have shown clear brain pathology....

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Functional scans, such as Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, provide a window into the brain. Doctors can now see healthy or dysfunctional brain patterns, much as we can assess the strength of a heart or measure hormone levels, and recognize trouble....

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A national leader with brain problems can potentially cost millions of people their lives...

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Ensuring that our president has a healthy brain may be more than an interesting topic of conversation. It can be important information to put into the election equation. A president with brain problems could wreak havoc on the U.S. and the world at large.

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Maybe we shouldn't leave the health

of our president's brain to chance.

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We have the tools; shouldn't we look?

excerpts from

"Getting Inside Their Heads ... Really Inside"

LA Times Opinion - Editorial

December 5, 2007

Daniel G. Amen, a neuropsychiatrist and director of the Amen Clinics,

is the author of "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life."

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