The MAGA Evangelical Christians are drawing parallels between Holy Week and President Trump’s Tuesday surrender to New York authorities.
The analogies are emerging because it will be Holy Tuesday and as many can remember back to 2020 in the beginning of the pandemic Trump made it clear how important Easter is to him and America.
After being indicted by a New York grand jury, Trump is anticipated to surrender and show up in court in Manhattan on Tuesday.
The accusations against the former president are not yet known because the indictment is still sealed.
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But, information about hush payments made to former porn actress Stormy Daniels during Trump’s 2016 campaign has been presented to the grand jury.
The most significant week of the year in the Christian calendar is Holy Week, which started this past Sunday.
It follows the story of Christ’s Passion from his triumphant entry into Jerusalem through the Last Supper, his betrayal, imprisonment, crucifixion, and death.
Palm Sunday was on yesterday April 2 and Holy Saturday is on April 8. Following Easter, which comes on April 9 this year, is Christ’s Resurrection.
Trump is being categorized as a biblical martyr.
On Good Friday, when Christians remember Christ’s crucifixion, it would’ve probably been best for Evangelicals for Trump to surrender on that day. Biblical historians have spent a century attempting to piece together what they believe Jesus was doing on Holy Tuesday, a middle-of-the-week gloomy day of Holy Week. Yet, the widely accepted account of what took place on Holy Tuesday will continue to fit well into the victimization and righteousness narrative that Christian nationalists have created around Trump.
After his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when the joyful crowd threw palms in front of his donkey to smooth his path, Jesus cleansed the Temple of Jerusalem on Holy Monday, overturning the tables of the moneychangers.
Holy Tuesday was a day of testing for Jesus. As he entered the temple, according to the Gospel of Matthew, “the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’”
Jesus had an answer ready:
“Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.”
The MAGA movement often likens Trump to Jesus, and now they are starting to link the liturgical calendar, Jesus Christ, and Trump’s most recent legal issues.
In reality, the right-wing indignation that exploded on Thursday after news of Trump’s indictment in New York had an apocalyptic tone, and MAGA-world individuals are starting to play their biblical parts. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has come to represent MAGA in Congress, swore right away to travel to New York to back Trump; she appears to be playing the part of Mary Magdalene, who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and subsequently watched his death.
Of course, the MAGA world is portraying Michael Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and the key witness against him in the New York case, as Judas. What could be more advantageous for Trump than a MAGA pastor reading Matthew on Tuesday outside the courthouse?
Christian nationalists may need to defend Trump at least four times, which is a dilemma for them. Trump is currently the subject of two federal criminal investigations, as well as one in Georgia, in addition to the New York case.
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