Evangelicals have been talking about the 'End Times' since the 1980s.
I can't remember the TV preacher's name, but I'd see him on the TV talking about the Book Of Revelation every week, and every week he told us that Russia was the Kingdom of the North the Bible spoke of. Then The Berlin Wall came down and suddenly it was Iran who was the Kingdom of the North.
Yes, these tricks are old and familiar. Nevertheless, US (right wing) politics seems to be adopting a lot of the workings of cults these days. I'm just surprised that US civil society is allowing this to happen. I'm from Germany and here, too, there are openly fascist parties that are gaining strength again and using the same ol' strategies. But we don't just put up with it, we take to the streets. Why are there no massive protests in the USA against Trump, against his fascist ideas and the fact that he is still at large after an anti-democratic coup attempt and countless criminal activities? He is even a presidential candidate. You can't be serious.
Much longer than the 1980s, or even the 1880s. It just became prevalent again relatively recently because the post-war boom made “The world is ending!” sound absolutely ridiculous, until austerity kicked in.
TL;DR: I got really angry writing this. Anyone not in the US: please send help.
I get the mixed messaging this sends, but it actually fits in with their whole social philosophy.
This mob is all about hierarchy. A deep, entrenched, white rich guys at the top, caste system complete with a robust underclass with a palatable amount of slavery thrown in.
In this scheme, "Undesirables" are allowed to have their place as long as they maintain a low station in society. Black musicians, gay comedians, non-binary authors, all great as long as they don't disrupt the status quo, sway the masses, attempt to run anything, or otherwise fail at being a good punching bag. The key takeaway here is that everyone has a predestined station in this disgusting hierarchy they've dreamed up, and everything is fair game for those on top.
There's also a subtext of "thinking is for those in charge", so reading into things when consuming media is just not how this works.
So within this framework, co-opting music written by people of a lower station is fine, including re-contextualizing the message to line up with the performance and not the author. And like the people that produce such media, the media itself is disposable and will be replaced when it is convenient since this group also doesn't value personal integrity or consistency over time.
I think Shrub called it "some weird shit" seven years ago this past January 20th. But, really what he's doing is working with US cynicism to deride the country which only he can save.
And Trump is the antichrist. They know what horse they're backing, and they'd all go to hell with their false prophet if any of those fairytales were reality... But, in reality, we're greedy, selfish, talking chimps who are parasitically destroying our host, while killing each other over dumb shit.