MAGA? A word please

In his annual message to Congress (1862), President Abraham Lincoln asked, “Can we do better?” He observed, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”

Disenthrall. I love the sound of the word. Come on MAGA say it out loud with me: “Disenthrall.” According to Merriam and Webster, disenthrall means “to free from bondage” and “to liberate. A few of the synonyms include: To free, loose, redeem, unchain, unbind, liberate, disencumber, disentangle, rescue, emancipate

President Lincoln thought the nation, immersed in war, thought the people needed to “think anew and act anew.” What an apt description for MAGA. Once riding high on the fumes of President Trump’s revenge message, his gold-gilded obsession with power and wealth, MAGA has eaten the dirt of defeat. Their bold words taste like ashes in their mouths.

Trump influencer, Laura Loomer, is broken-hearted: “I hate to say it, but America is over. The communists and jihadists are going to open our borders and replace our votes with votes from illegal aliens. We now have reps who openly speak about their hatred of America, their love of communism and their support for sharia law.”

Disenthrall is exactly the best word for MAGA. Here is your best chance to walk away from the secular political god controlling your existence. The words of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. can be yours: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God we are free at last!”

There are gospel words similar to disenthrall. There are a cluster of words in the Greek New Testament equated with disenthrall – “set free, liberate” (Romans 6:18); “release” (John 8:36); “redeem” (I Corinthians 6:20).

Something similar to President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation needs issuing to MAGA.

“And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons enslaved by the demagoguery of President Trump within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.”

Imagine MAGA free from the hyperbole of hatred, the disgust and profanity, the demolition of truth, decency and democracy. Free from the destructive spirit of anarchy and chaos. Free from the nightmare of J6. Free from political disruption, vitriol and promotion of political mistrust and animosity. Free from outrage and revenge.

Given the propensity of MAGA for outrage, the Lincolnesque statement should also include: “And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence.”

To suggest MAGA disenthrall itself from the president will strike many as absurd. They may assume I am not serious. I assure you I am serious. MAGA has drunk to the dregs the chalice of authoritarianism and needs a detoxification from Trump’s sheer awfulness.

Rhetorical scholars have a term for the Trump/MAGA relationship: Total identification. Trump and MAGA believe themselves to be “substantially one” with each other. It is a charismatic relationship where the leader is glorious, adored and worshiped.

In a charismatic relationship, the leader is sublime, beyond anything negative, a pure expression of the true identity of the followers. Followers perceive President Trump as superhuman, anointed by God, “the leader;” they unconditionally follow him; and they give unqualified emotional commitment.

MAGA will no doubt be outraged. For instance, Eric Metaxas will not tolerate disenthralling. He is a primary example of a relationship with President Trump known as “ultimate identification.” Eric Metaxas has hitched his wagon, in terms of his career and his life, to MAGA.

After the election Metaxas is fighting mad: “If you think MAGA is over, you’re nuts. To count Trump out is INSANE. We have only begun to fight. This is about SAVING AMERICA. It’s not about anything else. If you’re not up for the fight, you’re complicit w/the evil trying to destroy us. If this is God’s nation, FIGHT FOR IT.”

And here’s proof of “ultimate identification.” Everyone blaming Trump is missing the point and should be ashamed of themselves. He is our leader against the forces of madness.”

To disenthrall will be a painful process. The Bible has a specific word for the experience: Repent. The word literally means, “to change the mind.” If MAGA has been convinced war is the way to be great again, rethink that. If MAGA thinks secular political power will produce greatness, rethink that. If MAGA thinks, the USA was created for their gratification and control, rethink that.

If MAGA can be disenthralled, MAGA can rejoin democracy – compromise, discussion, debate, dissent, disagreement – in all its messy glory. I am praying for MAGA’s liberation.