Out MSNBC host Rachel Maddow called out Donald Trump for appointing a televangelist who is known for selling promises of miracle healing for thousands of dollars to an official White House position.
Maddow was talking about Trump’s “spiritual adviser” Paula White-Cain, who was appointed “special government employee and senior advisor” in the “White House Faith Office” at the start of Trump’s second term.
Related
Rachel Maddow mocks Trump administration for trying to erase “gay” WWII history post
“Your tax dollars at work, everybody!”
“In that role, I guess, she would now like you to send her $1,000,” Maddow said, playing an ad from Paula White Ministries selling the idea that they could “assign an angel” to people who pay. The angel will “give you long life” and “be an enemy to your enemies,” among other things, White-Cain’s ad promised. White-Cain then explained how people could pay for this because “ministry takes money.”
Insights for the LGBTQ+ community
Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
“She is a special government employee of the United States. She is asking for your money,” Maddow underlined.
Maddow first played part of the ad that showed the “gifts” people would receive for a smaller donation of $125, and then a part of the ad that described what people can get for $1,000, which included a crystal cross that will “release seven supernatural blessings.”
“Hard-sell, big-money, pay-me-for-miracles televangelism is as old as television,” Maddow said. “But when it’s from the White House, when it’s a person hired as a special government employee of the U.S. government, someone running an office in the White House while selling miracles on the side? Well that’s a whole new day for governance.”
She then pointed out that, while White-Cain is selling miracle cures for diseases, the Trump administration is cutting funding for vaccinations.
White-Cain was a fixture in the first Trump administration where she was an adviser to the White House Faith & Opportunities Initiative and would lead officials in prayer.
After Election Day 2020, she went viral with a flamboyantly passionate prayer for “angels” to help Trump to win as the last of the ballots were counted.
“For angels have even been dispatched from Africa right now. Africa right now. From Africa right now. They’re coming here. They’re coming here. In the name of Jesus, from South America. They’re coming here. They’re coming here,” she chanted.
She repeated that “angelic reinforcement” is coming from South America and Africa but, apparently, not Asia, Europe, Australia, or Antarctica.
Presidential spiritual adviser Paula White is currently leading an impassioned prayer service in an effort to secure Trump's reelection. pic.twitter.com/hCSRh84d6g
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 5, 2020
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.