If you were smart enough to stay off Twitter on Christmas Day, you missed one of the dumber outrages of President-elect Trump’s transition period. No, not a new Cabinet announcement or a policy proposal, but supposedly the Republican National Committee thinks Trump is Jesus.
“This Christmas heralds a time to celebrate the good news of a new King,” Chairman Reince Priebus and Co-Chairwoman Sharon Day said in a Christmas Day statement.
Out of context, that might look a bit fishy, but the rest of the statement never once mentions Trump or gets political. The entire statement is the kind of routine holiday message that could be given any year, by anyone, no matter their political affiliation.
Besides, those with a cursory knowledge of the Bible should know Christians regard Jesus as king.
Yes, Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago and isn’t a “new King” in 2016, but Christians celebrate Christmas with the same fervor every year because we act as if the savior had just been born again.
Surely even those who don’t celebrate Christmas had better things to do than to freak out and call for apologies?
Wrong.
@reince & @rnc should apologize for using Christmas to compare @realDonaldTrump to Jesus & calling him a “new king”https://t.co/ZLiumKEypX pic.twitter.com/exGn0rpdwR
— John Aravosis (@aravosis) December 25, 2016
The silly outrage gained enough ground that reporters reached out to RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer for comment. On Christmas Day.
.@seanspicer when asked by me if that Trump/”New King”/Jesus comparison was intentional: “I hope you are kidding” https://t.co/cpMFZQ3M7f pic.twitter.com/LmNCJDIKtz
— David Mack (@davidmackau) December 25, 2016
He was not amused.
Christ is the King. He was born today so we could be saved. Its sad & disappointing you are politicizing such a holy day. https://t.co/NEOkLNd1Mz
— Sean Spicer (@seanspicer) December 25, 2016
Surprisingly, it’s the Washington Free Beacon’s Sonny Bunch who has the right take here.
Two things that are true: The RNC release was poorly worded AND they were obviously referring to Jesus, not Trump.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) December 25, 2016
Someone at the RNC should have said, “We should re-word this. Someone’s going to take it out of context and think we’re calling Trump a ‘new King.'” But people should know enough about Christianity to know Christians regard Jesus as “the King of kings and Lord of lords,” as 1 Timothy 6:15 says.
Jason Russell is the contributors editor for the Washington Examiner.
