America seems to be on a death trip. We can’t fix it by demonizing one another.

I’ve written critically about Trump, but I don’t consider myself a tool of the Devil, and I didn’t like it when a prominent religious leader seemed to be making that accusation about millions of Americans. We have enough problems in this country without the president’s pastor literally demonizing political opponents.

But it’s a good rule in journalism (and in politics and religion, too) to try to understand what motivates disturbing comments.

I’m more convinced than ever that Pastor Paula shouldn’t have said what she did about demonic networks, but I understand better where she comes from and how, maybe, to respond. And perhaps there is a larger point here about our national political divide.

What’s difficult for liberals to understand is that in these debates, conservatives feel victimized — shamed and excluded by what they regard as a cultural elite. Explains Zahl: “Those millions feel muzzled and unable to say what they think, for fear of being labeled, shunned and even physically attacked. That can create a kind of ‘pressure-cooker’ that can result in an ‘earthquake’ at the ballot box.”

These are the religious roots of Trump’s war against the liberal elites. “ ‘Liberal’ itself is always a good word!” says Zahl. “But its ideological hardening has produced a degree of intolerance, especially in relation to ‘deplorables’ like myself, that is breathtaking in its ability to silence the opposition.”

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