Christian, You Got Played (Again): On Meme Videos and Emotional Manipulation

This is not about Trump. This is about how so many Christians & pastors got duped into a denunciation ritual demanded by the Left.

So, let’s talk about that video Trump posted last week that ignited a lot of controversy.

But I need to say something before I proceed. This piece is about discerning how propaganda works in Christian circles, not about the video itself.

I’ll say this upfront so it’s crystal clear: This article is not about rushing to Trump’s defense because I voted for him. This article is not about whether or not the clip at the end is racist. This article is not about whether or not Trump should have posted it, or whether the White House should have better quality controls, or whether or not Trump knew what it contained. Finally, this piece is not about Trump’s response to the controversy or whether or not he should have fired whoever supposedly posted it.

This piece is about us. This piece is about how so many Christians and pastors got bullied–once again–into engaging in a virtue-signalling denunciation ritual that communicates unquestioning allegiance to a misleading narrative pushed by the Left.

Slow Down: Scripture, Discernment, and Refusing to be Steered

Let’s start with some scriptural reminders about how to assess “breaking news” and “shocking claims.” First, Proverbs 18:13 teaches us that, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.” I’ve done that before. I’ve weighed in prematurely and ended up with egg on my face. Have you?

Exodus 23:2 is even more to the point: “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice.” In other words, time and truth go hand in hand. Hot takes, not so much.

I first heard about the video because of the outrage it triggered. I hadn’t seen it myself yet, but my initial assumption was that Trump had posted something intentionally provocative. I usually ignore such things. Trump does like to troll people sometimes, so I didn’t give it much thought. But it kept coming up again and again, and I started to wonder if something bigger was afoot.

I wondered, “Did Trump really post a video depicting the Obamas as monkeys?” If so, that would have been politically foolish. What’s the upside? What did he have to gain from doing something that would obviously trigger such a massive backlash?

So I found the original video online and watched it for myself.

Here’s what I saw: a serious video about election integrity, a topic Trump has been talking about ever since 2020. It wasn’t a cartoon. It wasn’t a troll video to make fun of people. It was one minute long and, as I said, the tone was serious throughout.

Since Trump prefers to post on Truth Social, his own social media site, any video posted there must first be recorded from the original source and then reposted there. But as the original video was ending, the algorithm autoloaded another video, which was an AI cartoon depicting the Obamas as monkeys with “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” playing in the background. The Obama video had nothing to do with the original video, and it is plain to anyone willing to be honest. Whoever did the screen recording didn’t edit that part out and posted it, unedited.

The most plausible explanation—by far—is that this was an editing or screen-recording error, not an intentional act of racism.

But the propaganda machine doesn’t care about that. Propaganda isn’t interested in truth; it is interested in compelling action, and that’s where this incident is relevant for Christians.

How Emotional Manipulation for the Outrage Machine Works: Denounce First, Truth Later, Apologize Never

I’ve written a couple of pieces about propaganda recently. The first piece is “How Propaganda Works-And Why Christians are Easy Targets.” The second piece is “Christian–Stop Falling for Weaponized Empathy.” Consider this the third entry in that series, where I’m trying to help Christians better discern how we’re being played by propaganda, weaponized empathy, and emotional manipulation.

As I argued in the “How Propaganda Works” piece, propaganda isn’t so much about spreading outright lies; it’s about provoking a particular action, which the individual later justifies with adjusted beliefs. I’ll say that again, because this is important: Propaganda aims to provoke action without reflection. This is the action-first engine of propaganda.

But every engine needs fuel. Propaganda doesn’t give us a new set of values. Propaganda takes our existing values and moral instincts and points them in a particular direction. Don’t miss that–propaganda doesn’t create moral instincts for you. Propaganda takes your existing moral instincts and tells you what you must do with them, always insisting that you ACT NOW!

In other words, propaganda is about compliance, and the moral urgency doesn’t give you time to think or reflect. Its goal is to “move you, hurry you, shame you, flatter you, or frighten you until the actions you take feel like Spirit-led instincts — which you then justify with changed beliefs after the fact.”

The Trump video from last week gave us a textbook example, and Christians walked right into it. Many Christians did not discern the situation properly and got played. How so? Let me show you.

There’s a three-move pattern: (1) Highlight suffering, (2) Create urgency, and (3) Enforce compliance.

Step One: Highlight suffering. In this instance, the video was seen as clear evidence of Trump’s racism, which activated the outrage machine to talk about how much “harm” and “pain” the video caused. When I (and many others) pointed out that it was actually an editing error, not a deliberate act of racism, the responses clearly demonstrated that propaganda was at work. It was obvious because so many were absolutely convinced that the only explanation is that Trump is an unhinged racist and he deliberately posted a video to inflict maximum suffering. Even though that’s not true, it doesn’t matter. Propaganda doesn’t care about what’s true. It only cares to provoke the desired reaction (I’ll get to that in a moment).

Step Two: Create urgency. Urgency is an essential feature of propaganda because you need people to take action on what they perceive as an emergency. No time to think, pray, reflect, or discern, something must be done NOW. Why now? Because people are suffering, and human suffering makes everything an emergency. Refusing to be rushed is not indifference to sin or suffering; it’s obedience to the ninth commandment.

Step Three: Enforce compliance. Another feature of propaganda is that it isn’t centrally controlled. There doesn’t need to be a mastermind behind the curtain pulling the levers to make propaganda work. It’s largely an organic phenomenon that seems to operate on its own. So what do I mean by “enforce compliance?” Nobody sent you a memo telling you what to do, right? And yet, so many people did the very thing propaganda aimed at: they performed a denunciation ritual.

I’ll give you some high-profile examples. First, Russell Moore posted a screenshot of the image of the Obamas looking like monkeys, and said, “Racist. Deranged. Humiliating to our country. The fact that we have decided to pretend to this is normal every day is a moral abomination.”

He didn’t post the entire video, of course, because if he did, it would be more obvious that this was an editing error. No, he only posted a screenshot that would inflict maximum PR damage on Trump.

Second, John Piper chimed in. He reposted Moore’s post, but added this commentary: “One not to be so afraid of sounding “quasi-woke” that one cannot agree with Russell Moore on this.” So, Piper approves of Moore’s assessment that Trump was posting something “racist” and “deranged.”

There’s something interesting about this. John Piper is a “father in the faith” to many and is considered a reasonable, valuable voice on a number of subjects. Piper doesn’t post often on social media.

A few weeks ago, when a worship service at Cities Church in Minneapolis was invaded by a horde of disruptive agitators, Piper said nothing, even though Cities Church was planted by Piper’s own church in the city where he’s ministered for decades. Certainly, if anything would merit Piper’s unique comment and wisdom, it would be this one. But he said nothing.

That’s fine; he does not owe anyone a comment unless he chooses to give it. But it’s at least worth noticing what does and does not prompt public comment from Piper: Not a hostile invasion of a church planted out of his ministry, but a meme video he assumed was racist, even though that’s highly implausible.

A third example, this one from Mike Cosper, from Christianity Today, who posted this: “Let’s be very clear: Donald Trump, who took out a full page ad calling for the summary executions of the Central Park 5, who was the chief profligate of the Obama Birth Certificate conspiracy theory, who made sh**hole countries comments in his first term in the oval… I’m supposed to believe there’s no way he intentionally reposted a racist meme presenting his black predecessor and his wife as apes? Okay folks.”

Cosper is certain Trump posted this intentionally, though in so doing, there’s nothing to gain and everything to lose.

This is the power of propaganda. Upon close inspection, the manipulative outrage offered and demanded by Moore, Piper, and Cosper is unwarranted because the facts clearly point to the video debacle being an editing error, not a deliberate act of sinister racism.

But truth doesn’t matter in this case. What matters is ensuring the whole world knows you denounce it. Why? Because propaganda has told you to.

Propaganda told you the video was racist, sinful, and had caused great pain to many people. Since people are suffering, it’s an emergency, and we need to act as quickly as possible to ease their pain. Therefore, we must perform a denunciation ritual. We must tell the world how evil Trump is, how racist he is, how we’re not like that evil man, who is a moral monster and beyond redemption.

Further, anyone who claims the video is simply an editing error is also an evil person, most likely a racist, who doesn’t care about all the pain and suffering Trump has caused, and we want nothing to do with them.

Sound familiar?

The Real Danger: Christians Forsaking Truth and Becoming Pawns of the Media Outrage Machine

Here’s what concerns me most. It’s not that Christians got this one incident wrong. It’s the pattern that keeps playing out every few weeks. Whenever a new outrage cycle begins, people get worked up and impulsively say and do things before the facts have a chance to come out.

Remember this: every time there’s a politically and emotionally charged news story, the initial reports are almost always wrong. But when we go online and perform a denunciation ritual before all the facts are known, we end up looking foolish. But rather than just admitting it and saying, “Hey, I got that one wrong, I’m sorry,” we double down. We don’t want to give our enemies ammunition to use against us, so we stand by our naive takes and foolish posts, even though we know they were wrong, until we start believing them. Eventually, we lie to ourselves so many times that it gets harder to discern the truth at all.

I’m a pastor, and yes, I’m also a conservative who enthusiastically voted for Trump. But I’m not writing these things to defend Trump. I have no problem criticizing the President if I think it’s needed, and I’ve done so in the past. Allie Beth Stuckey offered helpful remarks on what legitimate criticism vs. weaponized (and suspect) criticism of President Trump looks like (especially from the Big Eva class).

I’m writing because truth matters, and I’m worried that Christians are getting pulled deeper and deeper into the vortex of propaganda, and it’s distorting their ability to see clearly, discern rightly, and obey God according to the truth.

And yes, I’m aware that conservatives fall for propaganda too, which I addressed in my “How Propaganda Works” piece cited above. I’ve seen the same dynamics on the right—selective clips, inflated claims, premature moral outrage. I’ve addressed that elsewhere, and I’m not pretending immunity here. But ultimately, this isn’t a Left-or-Right issue. Discernment is predicated upon a relentless pursuit of the truth, even when truth is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or even damaging to “my side.”

I’ve fallen for propaganda before myself. I’m not immune to manipulation and deception. We’ve all jumped to a false conclusion, posted about it online, and then felt the sting of embarrassment when the facts came out later.

The question is whether we’ll learn from it or keep doing it. The people most easily deceived and propagandized are those who assume they are immune to it. That certainty — that unshakable confidence that your emotional reaction is identical to moral truth — is not discernment. It’s the absence of it.

So, I’ve made it a priority in my own life to follow the truth, difficult as it can be to discern, and follow it wherever it leads. Christians must learn to pause, verify, and refuse to be rushed, especially when outrage feels righteous.