Swearengin is an author, emotional & spiritual well-being coach, podcaster and content creator through his social media presence as Unconventional Pastor Paul. He talks religion and politics at times joined by his wife Ashley, a former elected official and community leader. Find him at Pastor-Paul.com.
I often like to wear earrings on my social media content; the more dangly and blingy, the better.
Why?
Well, first, because I kind of like them. But, also I like how it makes rightwing leaning American Christians howl like a backyard dog hearing a fire truck siren. And, like that backyard dog, no attempt to assuage their fear is going to quiet them.
"God said a man shouldn't look like a woman," they'll comment on my social media.
"You're no pastor; you're twisting the Bible to live a sinful life," they'll chirp in synchronized religious mantras.
These reactions give us insight into how some Republicans have successfully used the demonization of queer people - more specifically the recent hatred shown through some 250 proposed laws from across the country aimed at the cross-dressing and trans community - to manipulate Christians for their support. Finding a group to marginalize is an oft-repeated religious practice, particularly in American Christianity.
"Don't run like a girl, don't throw like a girl, and, above all else, don't cry like a girl," males of all ages are told in Christian Church. The patriarchal, misogynistic mindset of some in this religious community hints that all things female are bad - or at least second class. Why want anything feminine in a male life being groomed to be 'head of their household' with submissive wives and obedient children one might ask.
Well, as we know, life rarely works out as it does in a movie, book or religious fantasy. When these men fall short of being the perfect strong, silent, brave "John Wayne," the shame of a religion that calls humans "sinners at birth," "dirt," and "depraved flesh" kicks in. The only hope these men have for numbing these thoughts is to mask with faux manliness and to project that shame onto others through what they believe to be biblically-supported homophobia. Republicans have seized onto this "godly bigotry" and shame-based fear of femininity for their advantage.
What's interesting in this scenario is that these Christian men must ignore the fact that the Bible itself speaks very differently of gender and clothing. From the very beginning of the Jewish and Greek writings that protestant Christians now call 'The Bible' it says that humanity ('adam' = "mankind") was created in the image of God, with male and femaleness in each one (Genesis 1:27.) In the book of Proverbs "God" is portrayed as a very mysterious, very feminine form called "wisdom." In the Christian New Testament, the Greek for God's Holy Spirit is the feminine noun Pneuma.
As for clothing, while many Christians point to a Deuteronomical prohibition of men dressing as women, (an example of how Christians choose to impose some "Old Testament" laws onto others while ignoring many for themselves) the Bible displays the changing of gendered clothing over time, just as it has evolved throughout history.
In Exodus 32, we see the priest Aaron telling the Israelites to take the gold earrings from their wives, sons and daughters to supply material for the golden calf. Again, in Exodus 35, men and women brought all kinds of gold, including their earrings. There were no gender denotations. Gender specific clothing has always been a man-made construct as high heels, wigs, frilly/puffy shirts, pink colors and, yes, earrings were all created for men to wear as a sign of class and hierarchy. Heck, even Jesus never wore pants.
Yet, the need for self-righteous, self-protection and - let's be honest - the desire for lower taxes and a strong, masculine military - causes Christians to scream loudly whenever gender differentiation is broken down.
And the Republican culture war machine knows how to speak to those Christian 'itchy ears' to compel them to do their bidding. After all, Trump doesn't seem to have been wrong when he said he could "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue" and not lose any support. The Christians need to have someone in charge tell them they are better than "those people" is a powerful itch to have scratched.
I encourage all men to consider if the toxic masculinity of their church hasn't driven them into a dark hearted view of the LGBTQIA+ community and that neither the Bible nor history support Christian homophobic beliefs. The command of the Bible is to love even your enemies, so, affirming those who look different than you is biblical. Asking your politicians to demonize them is not.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
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Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.