Donald Trump has told many lies. It’s part of his modus operandi. While many of us in America and around the world can see this for a fact, others have fallen too far down the MAGA rabbit hole to take the Republican nominee’s words at anything but face value.
For instance, blindly loyal Trump supporters must believe that the former president’s favorite book is—as he claimed—the Holy Bible and that he has “many at home,” whereas others take his words for what they are: a blatant attempt to appeal to Christian voters while simultaneously marketing Bibles made in China for $59.99—or $1000 if you decide to go for the Trump-signed limited edition.
Mercedes, a TikToker whose handle is @campcallout, mainly dedicates their platform to calling out and deconstructing fallacious arguments pushed by the MAGA agenda – as well as discussing other socio-political issues affecting the nation. As an ex-conservative, now moderate independent, whose parents are both pro-Trump, Mercedes has a unique perspective to impart.
In a recent TikTok, Mercedes decided to reply to a Republican girl who shared her belief that respecting the Lord’s words is an incompatible stance to voting for Kamala Harris as the next President of the United States. The Tiktoker dismantles the girl’s argument from the perspective of someone who loves the Lord, reads the Bible, and is a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Calling out the hypocrisy
To prove the Republican girl wrong while playing by the rules of her own game, Mercedes begins by reading Leviticus 19:33-34:
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt”
This passage alone should be self-explanatory as to which candidate most goes against the Bible in their dehumanizing treatment of the people they constantly call “illegal aliens.” However, because they are arguing with someone who is MAGA – a group that usually doesn’t take too kindly to factual evidence that goes against its image of Trump – Mercedes had to further hammer the point in by moving on to Leviticus 25:35, a passage which encourages people to help their fellow countrymen if they happen to fall in financial hardship: “you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens.”
After reading one more passage from the Bible, Mercedes turns the tables on the girl’s argument by laying out how the Republican candidate does not possess the characteristics (or the policies) of a virtuous, godly man. The video ends with Mercedes explaining how simply stating one is a Christian does not automatically mean a person, regardless of any other attributes, will always have the undisputable moral high ground over everyone else.
It’s unfortunate how sound logic does not seem to work too well on people within what some have started referring to as the MAGA cult. As Noam Chomsky said during a 2021 interview:
“Though we can’t credit Trump entirely with the achievement, he certainly has shown great skill in carrying out a challenging assignment: implementing policies for the benefit of his primary constituency of great wealth and corporate power while conning the victims into worshipping him as their savior. That’s no mean achievement, and inducing an atmosphere of utter irrationality has been a primary instrument, a virtual prerequisite.”
It would have been interesting had the conservative girl defined “all the things that the Left side stands for” and explained exactly how these do not “align with the Bible.” That could have been a more productive start to an actual conversation. As it is, her tirade only amounts to self-righteous finger-pointing inspired by this “atmosphere of utter irrationality.”
