Hillary Clinton likens Trump to Nero, attacks Douglas Wilson

Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton penned an article in The Atlantic this week, likening President Donald Trump to infamous Roman emperors and accusing his supporters of waging a war on “empathy” and Christian values.

The former first lady also singled out Idaho-based pastors Douglas Wilson and Joe Rigney for attack, implying they exhibit the new “MAGA faith” she claimed is morally rotten and finds its roots in misogyny.

“I believe that Christians like me — and people of faith more generally — have a responsibility to stand up to the extremists who use religion to divide our society and undermine our democracy,” Clinton, a lifelong Methodist, said in a Friday X post that linked to her Thursday op-ed titled “MAGA’s War on Empathy.”

I believe that Christians like me—and people of faith more generally—have a responsibility to stand up to the extremists who use religion to divide our society and undermine our democracy.

My new piece in @TheAtlantic:https://t.co/BaQBanERIw

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 30, 2026

In her lengthy article spanning about 6,000 words, Clinton argued that last weekend’s fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reminded her of the parable of the Good Samaritan, the principles of which she claimed have diminished “in Donald Trump’s America.” Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, was shot Saturday in Minneapolis after allegedly resisting arrest while armed with a gun and two loaded magazines.

Clinton, who during her 2008 presidential campaign called for the deportation of illegal immigrants who have committed a crime, claimed that the Trump administration is deliberately instilling fear by exhibiting cruel tactics during its immigration enforcement, which she suggested is the antithesis of Christianity.

“That compassion is weak and cruelty is strong has become an article of MAGA faith. Trump and his allies believe that the more inhumane the treatment, the more likely it is to spread fear,” she wrote, adding that former presidents going back to her husband “managed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants without turning American cities into battlegrounds or making a show of keeping children in cages.”

Clinton claimed “the rejection of bedrock Christian values such as dignity, mercy, and compassion did not start with the crisis in Minnesota,” and approvingly cited the Rt. Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, who rebuked Trump to his face from the pulpit during an inauguration service last year at Washington National Cathedral.

During her homily at the time, Budde called for “unity” while imploring Trump to “have mercy” on “scared” people such as “gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families.”

Clinton then pivoted to go after Rigney, whom she called an “extremist pastor,” and Wilson, whom she called an “influential Christian nationalist.” Both are pastors at Christ Church (CREC) in Moscow, Idaho, and Rigney was openly critical of Budde’s sermon, which he called “a reminder that feminism is a cancer that enables the politics of empathetic manipulation and victimhood that has plagued us in the era of wokeness.”

Rigney also helped plant Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, which has found itself at the center of the uproar in Minnesota after anti-ICE protesters disrupted its service on Jan. 18.

Clinton highlighted Rigney’s 2025 book, Leadership and the Sin of Empathy, which argues that empathy untethered from godly compassion and biblical fidelity threatens to undermine leadership at all levels, potentially leading to manipulation, enabling sin and even inverted cruelty when it prioritizes feelings over moral discernment.

Wilson and Rigney appeared to take Clinton’s criticism in stride, with Rigney urging his publisher “to reprint the cover of Leadership and the Sin of Empathy with [Clinton’s] enthusiastic endorsement.”

“As it now appears that Hillary is aware of my existence, and is not exactly a fan, I wanted to state on the record that I am feeling upbeat, and am not downcast or depressed in any way,” Wilson said in an apparent jocular reference to the long-standing “Clinton body count” conspiracy theory that the Clintons have their opponents murdered while making it appear to be a suicide.

Wilson and those associated with him have drawn criticism for controversial things he has said about women, including favoring the repeal of the 19th Amendment and men voting on behalf of their households. He has fielded critique from his own church federation, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, for “using unnecessarily provocative language, including derogatory or calloused language about women.”

Also weighing in on Clinton’s rebuke was the Rev. Brooks Potteiger, a CREC pastor who leads Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship (CREC) in Nashville, Tennessee, which Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has attended.

“Christian, remember this every time liberals call you ‘extreme’: you believe generally the same thing about God and the world as your great-grandma, and they believe men can become women,” Potteiger said.

Clinton later went on to compare Trump to the worst of the Roman emperors, claiming he exhibits Caligula’s “decadence” and Nero’s “cruelty.” Caligula, whose short reign was marked by sexual depravity, financial chaos and claims of divinity, was assassinated by his own Praetorian Guard because of his tyranny.

Nero, who murdered his mother and died by suicide, unleashed the first major state-sponsored persecution against Christians after blaming them for the Great Fire of Rome in A.D. 64, which he was rumored to have started. Both Peter and Paul were reportedly martyred during his reign, and some schools of Christian eschatology believe the number 666 in the book of Revelation was in reference to Nero and the governmental persecution he embodied.

“You’d think good Christians would see the irony of throwing their lot in with a wannabe Roman emperor, but the whole point of a cult of personality is to leave you blind and afraid,” Clinton said of Trump, who defeated her in the 2016 presidential election.