Speaking at his propaganda rally held in Green Bay, Wisconsin Tuesday night, serial blasphemer Donald Trump declared November 5th to be “Christian Visibility Day”, presumably on the belief that a majority of Christians will vote for him to return to the White House. Except that nonsensical messaging mainly appeals to mostly white conservative Christians, especially Evangelicals, on the false belief that they are being “persecuted” as they no longer have uncontested power to dominate culturally or politically.
Trump declared the made-up holiday as part of theright-wingfauxoutragecampaignagainst Trans Day of Visibilitycoinciding with Easter Sunday this year and a play for the Christian Nationalist vote base that backs him to the hill.
Philip Bump at WaPo explaining why we have a Trans Day of Visibility:
The Easter holiday, the most sacred on the Christian calendar, lands on a different date each year. This year it fell on March 31, a date already occupied by other annual observances: the birth of labor activist César Chávez, National Crayon Day (promoted, naturally, by Crayola) and, since 2009, Trans Visibility Day.
President Biden’s team released statements on his behalf acknowledging three of those four occasions. (Sorry, Crayola.) Ever since, right-wing media — and particularly Fox News — has been up in arms at the idea that Biden would acknowledge Trans Visibility Day on Trans Visibility Day, given that it was also Easter.
The vast majority of it is wildly overheated and opportunistic. Some of it, such as the criticism of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), was rooted in misinformation. But it’s easy to see the political appeal: Trans issues are a central component of right-wing rhetoric, as are appeals to religious conservatives. A plus B equals C.
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His rhetoric often focuses on elevating Christians in the national conversation, as it did in 2016. He means Christian conservatives, a group that has voted for him loyally in each of his previous presidential runs.
Of course, this rhetoric is also rooted in the idea that Christians don’t already have a powerful, audible voice, which they do. Trans Visibility Day exists because trans people lack that voice; it’s an effort started by a trans woman to demonstrate to other trans individuals that they are not isolated and alone, as many are likely to feel. The trans community, after all, is still alienated and derided in much of the country.
Christian conservatives, on the other hand, are not. They may feel alienated, both because the voices of the growing non-Christian population are heard more often and because folks like Trump and Fox News hosts try to amplify a sense of aggrievement. They often appear to feel disadvantaged or threatened because the interests and values of non-Christians and nonconservatives simply exist. But, in part as a response to that perceived threat, Christian conservatives still have enormous institutional and cultural power that trans people very much do not.
This is Trump’s shtick, though: You — we — are embattled. We Christians (a mantle Trump adopted in earnest once he entered national politics); we Whites. Aggrievement is the essence of MAGAism.
Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:
Former President Donald Trump has announced that Election Day on November 5 will be celebrated as “Christian Visibility Day,” igniting debates over religious freedom and the separation of church and state in America. The declaration came amid right-wing accusations against President Joe Biden for recognizing Transgender Day of Visibility on the same date as Easter Sunday this year, leading to outrage from conservative circles.
Transgender Day of Visibility, established in 2009 and observed annually on March 31, coincidentally aligned with Easter Sunday, a holiday that moves every year, last weekend. The overlap led to spurious claims by Trump and his supporters that the Biden administration was attempting to undermine Christian traditions, despite Biden’s own proclamations affirming the importance of both events. A devout Roman Catholic, Biden has been vocal about his administration’s commitment to inclusivity and protecting all Americans, irrespective of their gender identity or religious beliefs.
Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:
Donald Trump promised to turn the November elections into a “Christian Visibility Day” in direct response to the Trans Day of Visibility.
“And what the hell was Biden thinking when he declared Easter Sunday to be trans visibility day?” Trump said at a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, yesterday. “Such total disrespect to Christians.”
But transgender people aren’t the only Americans Trump and his allies want to marginalize. He may claim he wants Christians to be “visible,” but he cannot see the many, many millions of observant Christians who do not share his identification of their faith with his ideology of cultural resentment, tribalism, and privilege. We sometimes wonder, in fact, if Trump does not fear being struck by lightning whenever he invokes the name of God as though the Lord of Hosts is one of his sycophantic followers, or weaponizes the Prince of Peace for his party’s culture wars.
The 45th president’s call for turning Election Day into a Christian rebellion against Joe Biden adds insult to injury by encouraging one of the most shameful illusions of contemporary American religious conservatives: the embarrassing claim that in this country where they enjoy vast swaggering power, they are actually being persecuted. Are Christians actually “invisible” in the USA? Take a look at the skyline of any city, town, or village with its many church steeples, not to mention religious monuments and other Jesus-infused remembrances of the nation’s dominant faith tradition. Given recent trends in religious observance (and more to the point, non-observance), you could argue that Christianity is significantly over-represented in civic life. And that should be fine among Christians who honor the memory of believers who survived in catacombs and other places of secret worship and were actually persecuted with fire and death, not simply denied special privileges or forced to endure the horror of “Happy Holidays” signs at shopping malls.
No, we do NOT need a “Christian Visibility Day”, as every day in America is one. Such a celebration reeks of Christian Conservative privilege.
Donald “Antichrist” Trump is cosplaying as a “Christian” to gain votes for his right-wing Christian Nationalist cult to possibly put him back in the White House, while the current occupant in the White House, Joe Biden, is an actual Christian who attends mass regularly.
On November 5th, sane Americans will vote to re-elect the actual Christian in Biden in order to keep democracy intact by denying the Orange Antichrist from returning to 1600 seeking to enact a tyrannical dictatorship.