VP Candidate JD Vance and Lord of the Rings


While Trump's selection of JD Vance means Vance will campaign all out for Trump and attack Harris, this appointment raises interesting issue around Christianity. Vance is miles from the orthodox Christian right views of his former VP, Mike Pence. When it comes to personal views of traditional Christian orthodoxy the implied answer of Trump and Vance is, "...let's move on to a different topic." The link discusses Vance's peculiar fascination with Lord of the Rings and its influence on him.

Lord of the Rings, of course, is about spiritual and imaginary beings who come to be identified and good and evil. Surely the story fits the ancient art of story telling from back before the written language. The Bible itself has such a story line. I'm speculating on the mind of JD Vance when I attribute to him an interpretation of current events. Participants fall into good and evil, the latter being Biden and now Kamala Harris. Vance does not seem to categorize good and evil through the eyes of a traditional Christian. It is through the eyes of politics.

I read that Vance did not join a church or reveal anything about religious beliefs until he and his Hindu wife had a child. For some reason, they decided JD would take over the religious part of the child's life and he joined a church. His wife is quoted as saying something like, "Christianity has been good for JD. It calmed him down." They now have three children. His wife is registered as a Democrat. 

When JD appeared at a Christian event since he was selected by Trump he told the audience Christians would "be at the table." For whatever reason, he did not launch into Christians being the good guys and Democrats evil. Maybe holding back is part of being married to a Democrat and realizing Lord of the Rings and a realization the Bible stories are as well.

Whatever is in the mind of Trump and his inner circle, if there is such a thing, there was no room among the VP cast for another Christian right like Mike Pence. They are useful for votes but not for a part of the Trump administration team. Ironically, maybe Christian right people are not as willing to ignore the election outcome and lie about it as is Trump. 

There can be no doubt Vance pledged to overrule the voters for Trump if given the chance. Perhaps he saw in Lord of the Rings that evil resides in a majority who want Harris to win and good in not allowing the voters to decide. 

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