How Trump Makes "Enemies of God" Within Our Nation

The Horrific Wisdom of "Faces of the Enemy" for Our Time

If I had one book I could force everyone to read¹ it would be Sam Keen’s “Faces of the Enemy.” I reread it often. I preach about the concepts. I’ve even written a song that borrows the title in the chorus.²

“Faces of the Enemy” posits that governments use a very specific process, a knowable, dehumanization process, especially in times of war or authoritarianism. The process is not limited to authoritarian regimes. It’s actually common in Western Democracies as well, during times of war.

Nazis were, most definitely, experts. But, we Americans have used this same process (against Nazis and the Soviet Union…). Iran and Iraq used it against each other when they were at war with one another.

I’m writing about “Faces of the Enemy” again, because it’s been clear for some time that our own American government now uses this process on our nation and “homeland.”

Our government is turning a process that we have most “successfully” used to fight “foreign enemies” on American society itself.

Why does it matter?
Because when used on a “homeland,” this process trains neighbors to turn on neighbors. It balkanizes and breaks down society itself. It makes citizens less willing to trust each other. And, out of that fear, to trust a strong-leader as the only thing that can “save us.”

UPDATE: I’ve also recently covered this info in a “Coffee on the Porch” Clip

How The “Enemy-Making Process Works.”

It’s the process of using propaganda to slowly, gradually, sometimes imperceptibly, change an “adversary” into an “enemy.” In eras past, this was mostly visual, print-media propaganda. Today, it’s often videos, some produced with AI.

The process wratchets up increasingly vile and heinous names to describe an enemy, until at the end of the process the enemy is considered sub-human…and finally an “demon” (“The enemy of God”).

Sam Keen is a poet at heart, and so he posits a poem that describes the whole process:

“To Create An Enemy,” by Sam Keen

Start with an empty canvas
Sketch in broad outline the forms of
men, women, and children
Dip into the well of your own
disowned darkness
with a wide brush and
stain the strangers with the sinister hue
of the shadow.
Trace onto the face of the enemy the greed,
hatred, carelessness you dare not claim as
your own.
Obscure the sweet individuality of each face.
Erase all hints of the myriad loves, hopes,
fears that play through the kaleidoscope of
every finite heart.
Twist the smile until it forms the downward
arc of cruelty.
Strip flesh from bone until only the
abstract skeleton of death remains.
Exaggerate each feature until man is
metamorphasized into beast, vermin, insect.
Fill in the background with malignant
figures from ancient nightmares – devils
demons, myrmidons of evil.
When your icon of the enemy is complete
you will be able to kill without guilt,
slaughter without shame.
The thing you destroy will have become
merely an enemy of God, an impediment
to the sacred dialectic of history. “
(from the book: “Faces of the Enemy”)

So, the process moves in the following way….

1. We fail to see our own faults and flaws.

2. We project our own fears onto “The Other”

3. “The Other” first becomes an “Animal”

4. “The Animal” then becomes a “Devil” (or, enemy of God)

5. And finally, “Enemies of God,” because they are “demonic” can (and should) be freely killed, as a way to save society and please God.

These issues are deeply embedded into our primordial spiritual and emotional DNA. They are trans-cultural, and can be found in every age, and in every culture.

”Before we make war, even before we even make weapons” Keen says, “we make an idea of the enemy…”

As Keen researched cross-cultural war propaganda, decades ago now, his shocking conclusion?

”It’s as if all these propaganda artists have gone to the same art school!”

Our American versions of this are best described as "American Nationalism,” or “Christian Nationalism.” There are scores of contemporary books, podcasts, sermons, documentaries, detailing these concepts.

I simply want to be clear that when you hear those concept (American Nationalism/Christian Nationalism) it’s describing this deeper, all-pervasive, enemy-making process that infects all of humanity.

The Good News/Bad News of “The Enemy-Making Process”

Yes, it is true that an “enemy of God” may be killed without guilt, shame, or explanation…because they are now no longer human, but, now, “sub-human.”
That’s the bad news.

But! There’s odd good news, too. Keen suggests that is is, in fact, quite hard for us human beings to kill others, especially at scale. It’s actually not in our nature to do so.

We turn our enemies into “The Other” and, finally, “The Demon” because otherwise we cannot effectively train soldiers to kill them. It’s against the nature of human beings to kill an “The Other” at scale. This is why the training for professional soldiers is so extensive.

This is also, sadly, why “re-entry” into civilian life is so very difficult for so many military personnel. Soldiers must UN-learn what they assume is true about the military “theater.” (That there are bombs in every road, or enemies behind every corner.)
But the odd good news: It’s only when we dehumanize “at scale,” that we humans then “kill at scale” as well. Stop the former, and you can credibly slow down the latter.

Let’s take a look at some examples to see the commonalities/process…

Propaganda Examples of the Enemy-Making Process

Some of these are from borrowed from Keen’s book. Here’s an interesting side-by-side, from World War II.
On the left: an American propaganda picture.
On the right: a German one.

As you see, the American propaganda makes Germany/Japan out to be a two-headed monster, destroying the Statue of Liberty.
But see on the right…also a sort of “two headed monster” in the German propaganda. The figures are FDR and Churchill…as pirates with guns, seeking to destroy Germany.³

Keen notes that “animals” are often used to depict “The Enemy.” Along with rats, snakes, and other vermin, “octopi” are extremly popular, thoughout human history. As an animal, octipi can been as taking over the entire world with their menacing tentacles.

Note! This is a likely a German octopi-image, from World War II. It’s from 1938, whch means it could’ve been created by Nazis. But if you didn’t know the date, it could easily be from 1950s America! This helps us see the trans-national nature of these images and horrific fantasies.

Finally, two chilling examples from non-Western sources. These are from the bloody and painful Iran/Iraq War.
On the left: Propaganda from Iraq, messaging about Iran.
On the right: Propaganda from Iran, messaging about Iraq.

The picture of the Ayatolla (on the left) was used on the cover of Sam Keen’s book. Note how the Ayatolla in the picture has a Star of David in his eye!
The message for Iraquis: “Saddam Hussein can protect you from evil Iran, which is being run by the Jews.”

But! Note how Iran’s own propaganda suggests that Iraq is a “dog” being held on its leash by America, and…wearing a star of David!
Message to Iranians: “Saddam Hussein is controlled by America…and, also, Jews.”

During the Cold War, Russia was a frequent target of American propaganda. See how large the Russian boot is, against this poor, defenseless American woman. Protecting “our women” is a recurring theme in propaganda.

But also note the terrifying threat to American men: they would all be sterilized!

I will simpy note how today many contemporary American Conservatives claim that America’s men are being “emasculated,” or rendered infertile, by so called “woke ideology.” Or, that the COVID vaccine would destroy American fertility.
(As St. David of Byrne would say: “Same as it ever was.”)

There’s sooo much more than this. Some of it is far more vile and culturally insensitive than what’s posted here.

I urge you to Google “war propaganda” and search around for a while. It’s eye-opening to see, as Keen discovered decades ago, how this dynamic cuts across all lines of nationality, gender, race, religion, class.

“The Enemy of God": The Final Step in Killing “The Other”

The final “move” of enemy-making is turning our enemy into “the enemy of God.”

World War II gave us a unique opportunity to see how both sides of that conflict sought to portray their enemy as “the enemy of God.”
Here’s are two chilling side-by-sides.

On the left: The “Axis” Powers aren’t just killing the “Allies”…they’re killing Jesus.
One the right: A racist Italian(Axis) image portrays America(Allies) as a barely human black monster, plundering Italy’s churches and…wait for it…killing Jesus!

These disparate images help us see how religion can be twisted to serve nationalist purposes. Yes, our own “American Christian Nationalism” is bad. But it is a very old human playbook. Powerful interests will always attempt to coopt religious images and iconography for political and nationalistic aims.

America also played the “Enemy of God” game during World War II. Here, our American propagandist aren’t even coded. Nazis are bent on destroying the Church and the Bible.

Here is a video of Sam Keen himself describing this process:

Trump’s Use of the “Enemy-Making Process”

This process of “tribe-defense” and “enemy-making” can be turned on any group, class, gender, race, religion, at any time WITHIN A COUNTRY, TOO.

The problem for any nation is that the process is corrosive to civil society. It breaks down trust between neighbors. It causes people of different interest groups to balkanize…and even for us to balkanize politically, too. It causes us to see an “Enemy” around every corner…

I wrote about this some just prior to our last election, in this post:

---

---

The harm comes in how we begin to see each other as “enemies,” and “demons,” and less-than-human.

Eventually, thoughts become actions. If you dehumanize your enemy long enough, the mentally unstable in your society will begin to hear the dog whistle, and lash out against the internal enemy.

Gaslighting Divisiveness From the Top

Here is just a partial list of names Trump uses to describe others:"

“Enemy of the people”
“Lying”
“Low IQ”
Slimeball”
“Deranged”
“Dog”
“Animal”
“Crazy”
“Rapists”
“Thugs”
“Pocohantas”
“Corrupt”

Here is a more complete list.

Friends, these are not names our President uses to describe actual external enemies/threats to the United States of America. These are names he routinely uses to describe FELLOW AMERICANS.

He uses them against both Republicans and Democrats. He uses them against men and women, and people of almost every race and religion.

Examples of Homeland Security Propaganda

This was all happening during his first term. But now, in his second term, this process is bluntly embedded into the messaging of “Homeland Security” to all Americans.

Take a look at this actual image from the “Department of Homeland Security” Instagram account:

It’s modern American propaganda, coded in the style of those World War II images about Nazis. This one is especially worth your meditation. It’s your old “Uncle Sam,” typically seen uniting all Americans against a common foreign enemy.

But! he’s not doing that any more!
Uncle Sam is taking off his traditional hat, in favor of an ICE hat.
Clear message?
”The American threat is now from WITHIN…and more than the military, it is only ICE who can save us.”

ICE is currenty functioning as a domestic army with little-to-no checks and balances and accountability. They appear in our American streets, in full military gear. They walk down suburban streets. (Recently, just a quarter mile from our church…)

US Military leader are accountable to Congress. ICE is only accountable to the President…the Executive Branch. So, let’s be clear: effectively, ICE is Donald Trump’s private, unchecked, domestically based, Army.

And there is a clearly-coded racialized message in all of this. Americans are being divided against each other, in clear messages like these, also from the official Homeland Security Instagram account:

I promise you this: Every American family of color, even those who’ve been in our country for generations, they are living in more fear today as they see these images.

They are getting the message, loud and clear. That they are not a part of the homeland.

Here is a blatant example of “Christian Nationalism” also from Homeland Security. Again, this is how Keen says we create “The Enemy of God” that can be killed without shame:

Again, this is a screenshot of an actual Dept of Homeland Security video, mixing images of fully armored ICE agents, over holy scriptures from the Bible. Just to look at this image, it’s something we might have seen in the early 2000s from Iraq. But we are meant to understand that this is their hoped-for “new normal” for American streets and homes.

Friends: This is how Christian Nationalism is created and normalized.

A blatant mixing of American domestic-miltary power (ICE) with Christian scriptures…this is the very definition of “Christian Nationalism.”

And lest you say: “But, they just mean ‘illegals,’ not all People of Color…”
One final set of images to drive the point home.

On the left: A US Homeland Security image from 2025.
On the right: A Nazi Party image from 1930s Germany.

The racially coded messaging is very blunt. White people are “the homeland,” just as they were in our own “settler colonial” times…and just as Aryan Germans were in the 1930s.

UPDATE!
Since I published this essay, readers have sent me yet another recent propaganda piece from “Homeland Security.” For anyone who still believes I’m reading too much into this, I offer this image:

Again, this is a propaganda piece from an official social media account of our Federal government. They added on the phrase “Which way, American man?”

Which probably means nothing to you…but definitely means something to White Supremacists.

Here is an exerpt from the book in question (and, trigger warning, it’s horrifically racists)

These are not even coded messages anymore, friends. It’s a horrificially racialized one, that plays on the basest tribal instincts of everyone…potentially turning neighbors into enemies.
As one social media writer noted: This is not a dog whistle…this is a fog horn.

A fog horn straight to the brains of White Supremacists.
And sent to the amygdala-brains of all Americans, right now.

Jesus’ Message: Rejecting Tribalism in Our Time

My Christian faith tells two primary stories: Resurrection and Incarnation.

Both speak against this process of otherizing our “enemies.” The Christian story of Jesus’ resurrection says that no human being is irredeemable.

There is no such thing as a “deplorable” human being. There is no such thing as a woman who is a “dog” or a Mexican who is an “animal.”

Jesus’ resurrection challenges us to believe that ALL of us can treat each other with more respect and dignity, because ALL are redeemable.

Jesus teaches us that all human beings carry within them a part of the divine. Incarnation is a part of our human story too. We are both human, and we carry that light of God within us. When we love one another, we are actually loving God. That is Christian incarnational theology.

Therefore, we must never see our “political enemies,” as “demons,” or “animals” or subhumans….but as a part of God’s human family. Especially those within the walls of our own nation. Human beings are Children of God, not thugs, rapists, dogs, animals.

I hope you are hearing this: There is a non-Christian Nationalist Christianity that seeks to overcome our inherent tribalism; and that feels called to the work of transcending it (as much as humans ever can) through the grace of God.

This is, in fact, a primary message of Jesus’ Gospel. But it’s never a popular message, in any age, either. This Gospel message eventually gets him killed. It’s what drove his own “hometown” to try and kill him during his very first sermon…when Jesus had the audacity to suggest God calls prophets to “foreigners,” not just their own nationality and race.

For as much as “Christian Nationalism” reinforces the most dangerous blending of church and state…there is another kind of Christian —the kind I try to be— who hears in Jesus’ message this call to overcome our tribal nature.
This is who Jesus calls us all to be, as humans.

---

Finally, maybe you don’t see things from a religous perspective, So, I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s words from 1861, about “our better angels.”

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
— Abraham Lincoln

Those are perhaps the best political words we could say to each other in our nation today.

No matter what our party or our political principles, we must find a way to see each other as friends, not enemies. We must reject language and actions that cause us to drift toward enemy-making.

That said, this also means active resistance of Facism, Fascist language, iconography, and government policy…as we see those being forwarded and foisted on the public.

It’s a complicated mix of still choosing to see our “Other” as human, while also resisting harmful policies they might forward.

My urgency to write all of this comes from my faith….from my strong belief in Jesus’ story of resurrection, hope, and incarnate-holiness in every human being. But even if you don’t come from that Christian perspective, perhaps you can see embrace Lincoln’s words.

We MUST again find ways to see each other as friends, family, neighbors…and not “enemies of God.” Because THAT way will lead to mystery and death, most assuredly.

May God help our United States.

---

1. I know…I can’t…

2. "The Birches of Moscow,” from the album, “Songs for the Time Being”

3. This would be a good time to remind you that I’m not suggesting America’s WWII efforts were not righteous and just. Only illustrating the truth that the process of creating the enemy is exactly the same, regardless of the morality or structure of the government, because it is a human process that knows no cultural bounds.