Top 10 to reasons to finally stop supporting and defending Trump…
... Please find
the courage to get off of the destructive MAGA train.
https://www.pbs.org/why-politifact-has-labeled-2025-the-year-of-the-lies
2.
Making it acceptable (for many) to dehumanize
people via open displays of cruelty, disrespect, dehumanization, racism and
xenophobia.
https://www.theguardian.trump-in-his-own-words-the year-in-racism
3.
Brazen corrupt use of the presidency to enrich
self and family at far unprecedented levels … well documented in many places
(search “Trump family financial gains”).
https://www.newyorker.com/trumps-profiteering-hits-four-billion-dollars
4.
Corrupt selling of pardons to hundreds of
criminals and eliminating their financial restoration of victims.
*An excellent resource is the page of former DOJ Pardon Attorney Liz Oyer
https://www.facebook.com/LizOyer
https://docs.house.gov/Trump-pardons-forgive-hundreds-of-millions
https://www.brennancenter.org/Pardons-and-campaign-contributions
5.
Authoritarian rule by disregard of the
Constitution and courts, use of DOJ a to punish political opponents rather than
criminals.
"Since February 2025, district court judges have ruled the Trump administration was violating an order in at least 31 lawsuits over a wide range of issues ..."
https://apnews.com/trump-courts-defiance-judges-lawsuits
6.
Authorizing unconstitutional and abusive practices
by ICE and shielding federal agents from accountability for abuse, violence, and
killing.
https://www.npr.org/alex-pretti-renee-good-ice-shootings-federal-investigations-elusive
7.
Illegal extrajudicial killing of citizens of
other countries by bombing suspicious boats. The illegal boat strike campaign continues into May and has now killed over 190 people.
https://tommyyork.blogspot.com/illegal-extrajudicial-executions
8.
Trying to purge the values of equity and
diversity as federal priorities and erasing black history, women’s history,
LGBTQ history from government displays and publications.
https://www.cfr.org/trumps-dei-purge-military-puts-us-national-security-risk
9. Attacking free speech and press by harassing, investigating, and detaining journalists; related… exerting authoritarian political control over education, scientific research, medicine.
https://pressfreedomtracker.us/
https://www.americanbar.org/assault-on-academic-freedom/
10.
Setting off a new wave of partisan gerrymandering
for federal congressional districts, a naked power grab that has now affected
approximately a dozen states, many of which are going back on voter referendums
designed to prevent the practice. Southern red states are now empowered and emboldened to put forward extreme partisan redistricting that eliminates black voting power.
https://www.usatoday.com/tennessee-lawmakers-pass-redrawn-congressional-map
11.
Above all: Trump’s role in support of the violent
insurrection against the peaceful transfer of power in 2020; subsequent pardoning of all January 6 perpetrators.
10 (or 11) is not enough…
Add to this… Vance criticizing the Pope for speaking out
against war, Hegseth quoting the movie Pulp Fiction while citing Scripture for
a violent war prayer, Trump’s Easter posting of himself as Jesus-like figure...
Here, many Christians ignore, overlook, or in some cases, try to defend these bizarre
behaviors.
12.
Starting a new mid-east war with a lack of
immanent threat, lack of clear goals, and demonstrating a flawed analysis and failed
strategy that assumed a quick “overpowering” military victory. The war has
created an international energy crisis, as the Trump administration struggles
to find a way out.
13.
Extensive use of long-term detention of
non-criminal immigrants and allowing substandard conditions and inadequate
medical care; an illegal and inhumane practice leading to at least 18 deaths in
2026.
14.
Disrespecting world leaders and breaking
historic alliances for peace and defense.
15.
Bullying strategies to exert absolute control
over all Republicans in Congress … (But fault lies at the foot of the members
of Congress for bowing down to this behavior by Trump).
https://www.yahoo.com/trump-gets-revenge
16.
Opposing and removing incentives for green
energy in favor of petroleum dependence … both irrational AND immoral... Why?
And what makes this a conservative priority, other than simply supporting big
oil? Meanwhile, intelligent leaders around the world race toward cheap and
clean renewables and fewer gas vehicles, as the U.S. stakes a commitment to 20th
century energy strategies and petroleum dependence.
https://www.actonclimate.com/trumptracker/
https://christinapagel.substack.while-the-world-shifts-to-renewables
“But the other side…”
Some of you are saying … politicians have always done these
things, democrats have always done these things … the ever-present deflection
of a “both sides” argument fails to recognize that what past leaders have done
at maybe a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10, Trump has blown off of the scale
altogether...no scale of 10 would contain the level of Trump's unprecedented behavior.
His lying is unprecedented.
His disregard of the constitution is unprecedented.
His corruption is unprecedented.
His blatant use of the government to punish opponents and
suppress dissenting opinion is unprecedented.
His arrogant disrespect of and disregard for international
allies and his embrace of enemies and dictators is unprecedented.
His open racism is not unprecedented, because it harkens
back to a time of white supremacy.
" But we support conservative Christian values…”
Others will say “I’m supporting the party with Conservative
Christian values,” and I assume that means opposing abortion, opposing LGBTQ rights,
opposing the threats of “liberalism” and “socialism.” But at what cost do you hold out against an onslaught of horrible and immoral leadership for this short list of culture war priorities? (And, by the way, do you not realize that rates of abortion have been in decline since the 1980s and decline even more during Democratic administrations?) It is neither in keeping
with Christian values nor in keeping with the moral and religious ideals of our
nation’s founding to enable corruption and authoritarianism, to quash and
disparage equality and diversity, and to attack individual freedom and liberty
in for the sake of advancing and enforcing these religious convictions, held by a minority of Americans, in the form of federal law.
It is both tragic and confounding that Trump - despite his crimes, his dishonesty, his corruption, his cruelty, his vulgarity, his self-aggrandizement and deflection of all responsibility for any negative consequence of his actions - continues to enjoy the
support of a politically powerful segment of American Christians. Why is it so? His
stated posture of supporting “God and religion” supports a specific political power
and control agenda of the religious right. Much of Trump’s domestic agenda is
consistent with the conservative Christian political power play outlined by Project 2025, but it is blatantly inconsistent with the moral and spiritual convictions of many
Christians in the U.S. along with practitioners of other faiths and those
holding humanitarian ideals. As far as religious values, the Trump/MAGA stream
emphasizes power, authoritative control over freedom in matters of religion,
and supremacy of Anglo-American Christian culture, whereas many other
Christians embrace a faith giving priority to love, compassion, and
peace-making, along with ethnic diversity as a reflection of the world of humanity and the world-wide reach of God's love.
We have a deep history of religious liberty and non-sectarian government ...
Those who understand the foundations of religious liberty in
our history also recognize that the MAGA religious agenda is inconsistent with
the Constitutional values of religious liberty and non-sectarian government.
This last point warrants further exploration in future
articles.