Rabid right-wing Christian cleric claims Obama became president because of ‘demonic powers’
Shane Vaughn, yet another crazed conservative Christian pastor, claims ‘demonic powers’ ushered Barack Obama into the presidency. What is his evidence? The fact that Obama‘s career had been so inconsequential that he must have had an assist to get to the Oval Office. And because Obama is black, that assist must have been satanic. Vaughn didn’t actually say the second part, but I think it is a reasonable assumption.
This is his thinking,
Have you all ever thought about Barack Obama. Come out of nowhere. Nobody even knew the man. He never even led a Boy Scout troop. He literally came out of an inconsequential Senate seat over in Chicago, I believe. Nobody even knew the man. And all of a sudden, he’s the puppet master in America. Why? Because demon powers choose these people to operate through them.”
Obama, of course, was a Senator from Illinois. But that language makes him sound respectable. So Vaughn made him a Senator from Chicago — the conservative symbol for liberal failure and a racist dog whistle.
However, I don’t think that Vaughn has thought his argument through. Or maybe he realizes that his audience is shaky on American history. The people, who paid attention in class, will remember that Illinois send another man to the presidency with scant DC experience - Abraham Lincoln. They will also note another similarity. Both men were hoisted to prominence by their oratory. For Lincoln, it was the 1858 Lincoln/Douglas debates. For Obama, it was the 2004 keynote address to the Democratic national convention.
Vaughn paints the post-presidential Obama as a malevolent eminence gris. Like most normal ex-presidents, Obama has been mostly quiet since he left office. He campaigned for Hillary and Biden in 2016 and 2020. And he did make a couple of speeches deploring Trump’s vileness. But other than that, he has stayed mostly out of the public eye. Vaughn imagines, however, that Obama has been plotting Trump’s ruin.
He believes Obama orchestrated the Russia investigation because Trump defeated Clinton — which Vaughn, arguing that Hillary was Obama’s ‘protege’, was a Trump victory over the ex-President. Vaughn goes on to claim that 2020 was more of the same. Although Obama wasn’t on the ticket and Trump is not in the Oval Office.
“It is Obama, ladies and gentlemen, that is the puppet master of it all. Why? Because Donald Trump did not defeat Hillary Clinton; he defeated Barack Obama. This is personal. Hillary Clinton was nothing but his protege; she was an extension of him and his presidency, just like Joe Biden is. Trump beat Barack Obama twice because nobody likes you, Barack.”
Vaughn is on shaky ground to point the finger at others. This is a man who spent three years in prison for insurance fraud. Everyone makes mistakes. And a crime should not necessarily be the end of a career. But Vaughan defrauded his neighbors. He stole money from people in his community. He broke a trust. And he did it repeatedly.
He says he has learned from the experience and has tried to rebuild his life. However, as recently as a couple of months ago he was boasting the ‘World Vision University’ had awarded him a Doctorate in theology at 14. The youngest person ever to receive such an academic honor.
The problem is that it is hard to say if this university exists. But whether it does, or it doesn’t, it is not accredited. It is not the claim of a man with a moral compass.
And he is an anti-vaxxer. He preaches online to convince his listeners to shun a medicine that can save their lives. And on his website, you can download a religious-exemption vaccination letter. I say facilitating death is the act of someone inspired by demonic powers.