I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone who knows me that I am absolutely and totally in opposition to President Donald Trump and almost everything he has done or said in the public sphere.
My sweet, compassionate cousin says I’m biased. She’s right. I freely admit it. I have a serious bias against inhumane treatment of living things. So does she. She and her adoring husband left the fast lane and bought their “dream farm.” She feeds a longhorn bull—by hand! And he follows her like a puppy. There is not a softer heart or a more compassionate human on the planet. We love each other dearly, but I cannot for the life of me comprehend how she can support our current President, and she cannot comprehend how I cannot. Still, we are living examples that love does not require political agreement.
I am first and foremost
a Christian pastor. My standard is Jesus of Nazareth—a standard I rarely attain
for myself; nevertheless, based upon that standard, my primary opposition to
the current administration is not political; although, if it were not for the
humanitarian and moral dimensions it would be. I just said it: my primary
opposition to the current administration is humanitarian and moral.
The inhumanity and
immorality seem to be based upon specific assumptions that are demagogic in
origin and nature. Google’s “AI Overview,” which I avoided for a long time
because AI has frightening potential for misuse and abuse; nevertheless, Google’s
application seems non-partisan and says this about demagogy: “A demagogue is
a political leader who appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the masses
rather than reason or logic. They often exploit popular fears and resentments
to gain power. Examples include Julius Caesar, Adolf Hitler, and Benito
Mussolini, as well as figures like Huey Long and Joseph McCarthy.” Later in
the summary, it adds Donald Trump to the list. I commend the article so you can
draw your own conclusions. Just Google “Demagogy.”
Playing on people’s
fears and prejudices has always been a tool of demagogy; and in my observation the
assumptions undergirding the current administration’s policies seem to depend
much more heavily on demagogy than on documentation.
I focus on two
examples:
First is the apparent
assumption that all beneficiaries of Medicaid are frauds, and that there is
rampant fraud among Social Security and Medicare recipients. The response is to
eliminate all three—or to privatize them for profit (which is immune to fraud,
of course). By the same logic, if you close all banks you eliminate bank
robbery.
But data from the
Social Security Administration and from a 2024 report from the Inspector
General’s office indicates less than 1% of Social Security payments are improperly
disbursed, mostly due to “insufficient controls in SSA’s automated and manual
processes”[1]and
to failure of beneficiaries to self-report changes in their circumstances.
Fraud is virtually non-existent in the system.
Still, “less than
1%” amounts to $23 billion annually which, if corrected would ease some of the
pressure on the system. So, wouldn’t the humane solution be to correct the
system rather than decrease beneficiary payments?
The second
apparent assumption is that all immigrants are illegal and are terrorists, drug
dealers, human traffickers, and gang members. The assumption of guilt supersedes
due process.
The wholesale
deportation of immigrants, regardless of their legal status and without due
process should come as no surprise, given President Trump’s long history of
degrading language aimed at immigrants and their “sh _ _ hole” countries of
origin.
The man has not
demonstrated any evidence of compassion or decency. A line from a Robert Burns
poem comes to mind:
“Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless
thousands mourn!”
So, yes, I’m
biased. I lean toward The Beatitudes (Matthew
5:3-10 (NRSVUE)
3 “Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed
are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed
are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed
are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed
are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my
account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.”
Yes, I’m biased. I
lean toward “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you
gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you
visited me.’ (Matthew 25:35-36 NRSVUE) Incidentally, in the original language,
the word for stranger is ξενος (zee – nos), which is the root of the English
word, xenophobia.
Yes I’m biased. I
lean toward The First and Greatest Commandment, “You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and you
shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And when a cynic asked Jesus, “And who
is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke
10:37ff)—a Samaritan: a hated foreigner from a “sh_ _ hole” country.
And if someone
says, “That won’t work in today’s culture,” my response is, “How do we know? Except
in isolated enclaves of spirituality, not all of which have been Christian, to
my knowledge, it’s never been tried.”
That’s the way it
looks through the Flawed Glass that is my world view.
Together
in the Walk,
Jim