This week, the course of events in our nation’s election process has caused me to make a decision I have never before contemplated. As a follower of Christ, as a human being, I cannot, I will not vote for the GOP nominee if that nominee is Donald J. Trump. I would rather see Hillary Clinton win than endure what a Trump Administration would bring this once-proud nation.
Trump’s followers will likely brand me as a race traitor and ‘cuckservative’ for making this decision. That is precisely the reason I could never follow him myself. Anyone that would consider this the proper way of convincing me to vote for Trump are people I wouldn’t ordinarily speak to on the street, at least not voluntarily. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Trump’s support base includes the most ignorant and repulsive of beings, the racial supremacist. I cannot and will not align myself with the same lumpen, backwards souls that bombed churches in the Sixties. I used to believe that racial hatred in America was restricted to those tiny, isolated pockets of intolerance out in the hinterlands, like Mississippi.
I was wrong. It’s alive and well and using Norse mythology instead of George Wallace.
I could not look my children and grandchildren in the eyes with pride and say I voted for Trump. The shame would be entirely too great a burden to bear. My children will remember a Christian gentleman who believed that when Paul said in the fourth chapter of Galatians that the Gospel was indeed for all, that there were no “whites only” caveats. You long for the days of ‘ethnic purity’? Visit Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Paul wrote in his first letter to the church in Corinth (that’s One Corinthians for Donald and the attendant fandom) that he wanted the members of the church to avoid those who would corrupt the Gospel with immorality (1 Cor. 5:9-11). Paul made sure that the members of the church understood that he was speaking about fellow Christians, not unbelievers. These were people who called themselves Christians, but led lives in contradiction to the teachings of Christ. Unbelievers already lead lives outside of Christ. Paul expected that and he told those early church members that the only way to avoid the sin of the world was to leave it. Dying obviously wasn’t a solution. We’re not a cult.
But notice what Paul said about those “brothers in Christ” who threatened the sanctity of the Gospel with their indifferent and capricious hearts, we’re to have nothing to do with them. Think of it like being a parent. We tolerate behavior in other people’s children that we would never put up with in our own. Paul essentially tells us when people outside of a life in Christ are snorting coke off the stomach of a prostitute, it’s deplorable, but kind of expected. Deal with it, it’s the world we’re talking about here. When people who claim to be Christians are doing it, it’s a problem. As a matter of fact, we’re not even to go so far as to sit down at the dinner table with them.
So, Donald, dinner is off. Take the ex-wife, leave the cannoli.
This is a man who has stated publicly that he feels no compulsion to ask God for forgiveness, which suggests to me that Mr. Trump’s familiarity with the whole concept of Christianity is merely perfunctory. The whole point of following Christ is seeking forgiveness, and I refuse to follow someone whose words don’t match up with his actions. It’s like a vegan support group discovering one of their members holed up in a closet with a bacon cheeseburger, the ultimate betrayal of beliefs. We as Christians recognize we screw up. When we do, we ask God for forgiveness and do the best we can to avoid repeating the mistake. You’d think “The Donald” would’ve figured this out after destroying marriage number one.
Which is why I cannot understand the position of Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Dr. Robert Jeffress. These are two men who have dedicated their lives to leading others closer to God, not further away. They have chosen to throw themselves in with a man who has never sought the forgiveness of God, believing that Trump had some sort of Saul-like conversion on the “road to Washington”. I think these pastors have forgotten something in their fear, their faith in God, for one thing. They are terrified that things could somehow get worse for Christians in America, so they employ the services of a profane bully who promises them safety. They don’t want a president, they want a bodyguard. He doesn’t have to be a nice person. He doesn’t have to admit he’s made a mistake.
I saw the covers of Trump Magazine. He couldn’t make money with a casino. In Atlantic City. He’s made mistakes.
These pastors have forgotten the crucial instructions from the very brother of Jesus about being in charge of the spiritual welfare of others. Teachers will be judged more harshly for their actions, so be careful in being a teacher (James 3:1). Jeffress and Falwell’s political support in the search for earthly power threatens the spiritual welfare of others when they see Christians supporting a politician who draws support from such luminaries as David Duke. In their fear, they give those who already despise Christianity even more ammunition. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Max Lucado for breaking his silence on political matters and holding forth on the matter of decency.
So ignore the bankruptcies, forget his inclination to use the bureaucracy of the executive office as his personal hit squad. Discount the fraud and deceit surrounding his personal business dealings. Brush off the fact that he didn’t know what the nuclear triad was…on second thought, don’t brush that off, those damned things could kill us all and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is exactly how the movie The Day After started. Screw being afraid of Ronald Reagan. Do we really want this infantile man-child’s stubby little digits anywhere near ‘The Button’?
Donald J. Trump is a vain, vacuous, little man. Besotted with conceit and enamored with self-promotion, Trump would use the Oval Office in the same manner he used all of his business dealings; as a personal ATM. He’d be our “Baby Doc” Duvalier, but between his penchant for fraud and the flight of capital during his administration, we wouldn’t be able to afford to have the US Air Force send him and his Playboy cover wife to anyplace nice. The damage this man would do to the nation would take decades to repair. The GOP – and conservatism – as we know it in America would cease to exist.
I cannot vote for Hillary Clinton. She destroyed the lives of her husband’s amorous conquests and seems to have a problem managing her smartphone. I will likely write in a candidate of my choosing who may not even be a Republican. So, if you’re working for the Republican Party and happen to be reading this, you are on notice. My continued support is entirely based on what you do next. In light of the fact that Trump was given three opportunities to denounce the KKK and David Duke on national television and wouldn’t, the front runner of your party is of no use to me, which means that by proxy, you are of no use to me. If your candidate’s position is to accept the support of such people, then you accept the same support; get this through your head, the fecal material will hit the fan, you will be splattered, and it is going to stink.
The orthodoxy of racialism will so tinge the political influence of the Republican Party that it will be decades before you will be trusted with power again, if the party isn’t burned to the ground and the earth around it salted in the interim. If that happens, it will have been deserved. The GOP has the chance to come out and disavow support of Donald Trump if he is the nominee. They can make the morally correct if politically painful decision to preserve conservatism.
Or they can be pages in a history book.
The Dented Vessel 