Tuesday, January 15, 2024 - Closer looks at Trump's work in Iowa and ... Guatemala?

I am not a religious person, but I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church, so it's not as if I don't have a decent grasp of the values of the white evangelical voting bloc. So how do we square Donald Trump taking 53% of Iowa's white evangelical voter support last night - and since that's actually being a dip from his 2020 and 2016 numbers, is that a harbinger for his prospects this November? That got me to wondering just how we are where we are - in an era where the white evangelical voter supports politicians who come nowhere near their moral realm? Like when ⁠Texas' governor defends letting migrants die⁠ as his forces block federal border patrol agents from doing their job. With that taking the conversation towards immigration (and how the Bible commands God's children to treat them), I had to share what I learned yesterday: that the Biden/Harris administration has been quietly working on addressing ⁠'root causes in migration'⁠ from Central American countries. Dealing with root causes vs slapping band-aids (like walls & detention)? What a concept! But get this: also quietly, in Guatamala, where ⁠a progressive just won that nation's presidency⁠, a former ⁠Trump Cabinet official has been down there stirring up near-insurrectionist obstacles ⁠to that inauguration even occurring. Could it be that Republicans want to keep the invigoration crisis going because it's a useful problem to drum up votes?