2024 Pre-election - Collection of Social Media Posts April to November
Christian Nationalism is driving many people from the church on moral grounds. This is a complex and sensitive topic. However, the moral dissonance between the protectionist stance of Christian nationalism and the open-handed other-directed ethic of Jesus causes a problem for many Christians. By PROTECTIONIST, I mean the ethical priority of the interests and the property of deserving United States citizens against all outsiders, foreigners, and any government meddling. Now this is a fine principle of economic self-interest, nationalism, and patriotism, but not really a demonstration a of Jesus centered ethic. Young people learn that we live in a global society with global issues, and that the United States does not have a record of moral purity on the international stage. Patriotism has its place, however, a morality informed by the ethic of Jesus serves as a strong check and balance to our national pride and self-interest. … From Chapter 29 of Deconstructing Christians and the Third Wave.
Video 44 – July
31 ... A Public Display of Racism...
A public
display of racism is excusable as long as it’s in service of being anti-woke.
That was the message of the Republican National Convention in offering a video
of a racist act by a white protester in Mississippi as a positive demonstration
of anti-woke political activism.
The actual
incident of a young white man making monkey gestures toward a Black woman
during protest and counter protest – we could see this is immature, misguided,
certainly as a racist expression by an overzealous protester. But for the RNC
to use this this video clip as an exemplary expression of “anti-woke” behavior
demonstrates how deeply the Trump mentality has shifted and in fact impaired
the moral compass of the party that has embraced him.
Some may say…
well that’s just an unfortunate example of an extreme element which doesn’t really represent my ideals. To that I
say, maybe you need to wake up, because the extreme interests seem to be in
charge of the party.
46 – August 5 ... Trump Paradigm Shift ...
Trump
supporters please help me understand how you are drawn to his message. This is
a serious question... I’m trying to have dialogue across the table. When you
hear Trump speak, I know it’s not that you believe what he says… It is well
known that Trump expresses an alternate universe without respect to facts and
data, that he keeps repeating that narrative until people believe it, and if
someone presents counterfactual data, he just says “fake news, fake news.”
This is a
huge problem and in fact represents an ethical paradigm shift in that Trump is
leading the way for ordinary people, church leaders, legislators, governors,
and even heads of state in other countries to merely state, spin, and
perpetuate whatever ideology they want to be true, without regard for what is
actually true.
Consider the
precedent we are setting and the risk that we are taking if we continue to
reward this ethic of miscommunication by putting this man in power once again.
47a – August
7 ... Migrant Invasion ...
The language
of a “migrant invasion” implies that immigrants come with violent,
anti-American intentions.
Trump’s
rhetoric that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” is racist
rhetoric that harkens to white supremacist ideals of racial purity and the fear
of “white blood” being contaminated.
The language
of a “migrant crime epidemic implies” that crime is increasing because of
immigration and that immigrants are more prone to criminal behavior than
non-immigrants.
None of this
is factually true … If you say to yourself … “well yes … I believe all of that,
Trump is right on all of that,” I urge you … check your heart, check your
circle of friends, check the ideological agenda of your daily news source.
Stirring up
fear about the dangers of immigrants and people of color has always been a
favorite tactic of populist fear mongering. We can’t fall for this crap when we
know it is morally wrong and is not supported by the data.
Continued in
Part 2
47b – August 9 ... Immigration and Crime ...
Continuing
our discussion of immigration and crime …Donald Trump is demonstrably the worse
source of information if your goal is to learn anything accurate and factual
about our country and our world and I do not know how people sort through all
the crap.
In part one
we looked at three of Trump’s favorite anti-immigrant myths … 1. The myth of a
crime epidemic, the myth of increasing violent crime, and the myth of high
criminality of non-citizens.
Please do
your own fact-checking research. Immigrant status and the presence of
immigrants in our communities is not an indicator higher criminality but
actually of lower criminality than the citizen crime rate. 2nd point
… Data does not support the notion of a crime epidemic in border areas or in
large cities affected by recent immigration. 3rd … In general, rates
of violent crime and property crime in the United States have been trending
down since the 1990s.
48 – October 16 ... Is it Worth the Risk? ...
Trump gave
conservatives and evangelicals a super-majority on the Supreme Court, and that
court overturned Roe v. Wade. They are gutting the power of the EPA to serve as
a watchdog against corporate damage to the environment, and they are removing
the guardrails to an authoritarian executive branch. Now many are expecting Trump to continue to
empower Christian Nationalist elements to implement conservative evangelical
ideals into law, subverting the constitution and the Bill of Rights, all under
the banner of promoting a “Christian Nation.”
While you may or may not personally approve of that extreme level of
power, as many Christian nationalists clearly do, is it worth the risk? Trump
has stated that he has no problem suspending or bypassing the
constitution. This is a truly dangerous
situation. History tells us that autocratic populists who do not want any
checks on their personal power can create a tremendous amount of damage to
their country, and to the world.
49 – October 18 ... Trump Absolutely Fails on NT Moral Criteria ...
Evangelicals
please wake up to the dangerous prospect of another Donald Trump presidency.
From a faith perspective, I did a deep dive into New Testament moral teachings,
specifically moral prohibitions. I broke down over 700 New Testament passages
on moral prohibitions into categories and I have identified the top five moral
issues by frequency of reference. How do you think Donald Trump comes out on
these five moral measures? The top five came out as truthfulness, sexual morality,
abusive speech, greed and dishonest gain, and arrogance and pride. Donald Trump
absolutely fails on all five of these and it's not even close. On the
leading moral issue of truthfulness, Trump has actually set an unprecedented
low bar in national AND international political leadership by demonstrating the
practice of saying anything and everything that he wants to be true and serves
his agenda, with no serious regard for actual facts.
Please,
don't go into the voting booth and give this dangerous man your support. Find another
leader who is qualified to represent the values that we hold dear.
50 – October 22 ... How do you explain to your children? ...
When it
comes to Donald Trump would one explain this to your children when they ask
about the qualifications of a good leader or a president? I can only assume
that the conversation goes something like “Well he’s not a moral person or an
example of a good leader, but he promises to fight the evil empire that is
destroying the country.”
“Evil
empire? What is that?”
“Well, he is
fighting against Communism and Marxism, CRT and climate scientists, electric
cars and an invading hoard of immigrants that is trying to steal our jobs, our
property, and our American way of life.”
“An invading
hoard?...”
Setting aside the whole topic of fighting the
forces of evil, what kind of moral and mental gymnastics is required to
believe, knowing who Trump is and how he operates, that by any stretch of
imagination he could be suitable to the task of presidential leadership?
51 – October 24 ... Fear Mongering ... These things are not happening ...
People,
listen. We have entered an era in which we are all aware that our sources of
information are ideologically tilted, and the reality is that ideological media
outlets are happy to play into the various fear monger narratives about the
destruction of society by Communism & Marxism, critical race theory,
climate science, the persecution of Christianity, and white replacement. Let’s get real. As you go to work and church
and school and live your life, without paying heed to Tucker Carlson, do you
really feel any actual practical threat to your freedoms? The government is not
going to take your guns, your trucks, or your gas-powered vehicles, they are
not going to implement a communist government, they are not going to restrict
your practice of religion. … It’s not happening, it’s not going to happen in
this country. I’m a Christian … and I
know very well that my faith is not being persecuted nor my practice of
religion restricted in this country … I go to church, I worship, I pray, I
practice my faith, and I don’t try to enforce it on others by rule of law or
through the use of public institutions. This is freedom of religion in a
non-sectarian democracy.
52a Part 1 – October 28 ... Future observers of history will be incredulous ...
Future
observers of history will be incredulous that Donald Trump is seriously
considered as a presidential candidate after what happened with the 2020
election as well as his demeanor, character, and behavior in general. He will
be rightfully convicted of committing serious crimes associated with his 2020
election interference, and the incredible part is that he has not already been
convicted in the court of public opinion on multiple counts of being a terrible
and unfit leader.
How is this
possible? There is a certain segment of the populace that will always be drawn
to a Trump style populism. But what pushes him to the brink of being elected is
a willful blindness on the part of many who have been enculturated, groomed,
and brainwashed to believe that it matters not how bad Trump is; it matters
only that he defeat an evil enemy that is destroying the country. This the
political myth of evangelicalism that is so hard to break down because it has
been woven into every aspect of the religious, cultural, and political
education of so many evangelical Christians who cannot bring themselves into
the realm of rationality to consider any alternative. Trump is not a fit
candidate to lead the conservative cause or any cause.
More in part
2.
52b Part 2 – October 29 ...Many have been enculturated to believe ...
As you go
into the election booth, please … exercise your critical thinking and moral
judgement. You don’t have to fly a Harris yard sign or put a sticker on your
car. Simply do the right thing and help put this era of Trump’s control over
the conservative movement to an end. He’s not stable, he’s unpredictable, and
he’s a bad example of moral leadership. Let him fade into the history books.
53 – October
29 ... Xenophobia in Trump's Platform ...
Xenophobia is actually the leading plank of Trump’s presidential platform, as demonstrated by the first three statements of the RNC platform: Seal the border, mass deportation, and “stop the migrant invasion.” This strategy requires the promulgation of a collection of false and / or exaggerated narratives that play on populist and racist notions about people from other countries. In his desperation, Trump has been more than happy to repeat false stories about Haitian immigrants in Ohio eating pets and he and Vance have caused a lot of unnecessary havoc and hate in this American city. On a daily basis he repeats exaggerations about immigrant crime when the incidence of crime is actually lower among immigrants than among the citizen population. When Trump used his influence to block the 2024 border security bill in Congress, this demonstrated to everyone that he was less interested in a hard-fought bipartisan legislation to address the problem and more interested in using the border issue as his leading campaign strategy. His willingness to repeat and promote false information about Haitians and other immigrants demonstrates that he has no moral filter when it comes to respecting others, when it comes to spreading damaging lies, and when it comes to creating havoc for a city and for its immigrant residents.
54 – October 30 ... Georgia rejected Trump in 2020 ...
Georgia
voters I’m talking to you … In the 2020 election we sent a message that did not
want a second term for the Trump presidency. After losing the election, he
proceeded to commit felony criminal acts to interfere with the Georgia election
result and later he gave support to a criminal insurrection on the capitol and
an attack on the United States Congress while in a working session to certify
the election. For Trump, the insurrectionists who violently attacked the
capitol are still heroes because he continues to live in a false reality of his
own making in which he is the center of the universe. Even though it has been
four long years, he will be convicted of his crimes and justice will prevail.
In the interim, we have another opportunity in November to reject Trump, his egocentric
leadership, and his immoral rhetoric of hate and negativity. Please don’t
discard all of your critical thinking skills by believing the rhetoric that
Trump is some kind of hero… He’s a desperate man trying to win at all costs,
and we should not reward his immoral and dishonest methods by even one ounce of
support.