30,000,000 jobless claims total now, a tip of the iceberg.
1,000,000 people infected with the coronavirus, 60,000 dead so far.
Hunger lines, cars lining up for miles, searching for food.
A stock market gyrating wildly, searching for solid ground, for a way, any way, towards profit, towards gold, with no connection to the reality of enormous human suffering unfolding before our very eyes.
A time coming perhaps even more devasting than the Great Depression.
Meanwhile, we have a President disconnected from reality.
“We’re doing great, I’m wonderful” is his mantra, and the chant is carried forward by his son-in-law, by Vice President Pence, the entire United States Senate, the vast majority of the Evangelical community, other church congregations and their communities, Fox News, and at least a third of the citizens of our deeply divided Republic.
Our devastation mirrors our soul.
What we give our allegiance to reflects our inner reality.
Who is Donald Trump?
A president who denigrates African-Americans, Mexicans, other nations and nationalities; who aspires to deprive millions of Americans of their current health care; who verifiedly lies obsessively through his teeth and tweets; who is insanely set on expanding to the tune of another trillion dollars our death arsenal of nuclear weapons; who supports a Senate and Senate leader who secretly lusts to abolish Social Security for tens of millions of our elder citizens; who has been caught on tape expressing his low regard for women; who is trying daily to destroy the credibility of our system of justice, of our courts, of our newspapers and media; who would tear apart hundreds of thousands of children – “Dreamers”; who would open our public lands to plunder and rape by monied interests; who would break all time-honored bonds with our allies around the world; who spits on science and reason; who attacks anyone in sight from his bully pulpit who questions his honesty, greatness, genius; who belittles anyone who shines a light on his immense, overwhelming inner corruption….and the list goes on and on.
This is Donald Trump. This is the person his followers line up behind, whom they support with rock solid unity.
At the heart of many of his staunchest followers’ support is their Christian faith. Pence is the head honcho in this respect. Time and time again, we see Trump huddled in prayer circles with his Christian followers. Many of these supporters believe God sent Donald Trump to lead them out of the wilderness. They rally around him like the Messiah.
We boast of being a Christian nation. The heart of Christianity, the heart of its founder, is compassion for the poor, for the weakest among us; for love, even love of one’s enemy; for justice and selflessness and concern and dedication to the well-being of others. We all know the markers.
Religion, above all, is about behavior, not platitudes or dogma. What is our behavior? What is the behavior of a true Christian?
In every respect, Donald Trump fails miserably. His treatment of people is abominable. His is the most ego-centric and selfish of lives.
Christians have to answer. Who am I?
Trump supporters have to answer. Who am I?
Because, make no mistake, if you – Pence, Republican Senators, Evangelicals, other so-called Christians, voters, the whole array of followers – pledge allegiance to our current President of the United States, you are supporting and falling in line with a person who is the very antithesis of the model of Jesus. You partake of Trump and everything he is and stands for. You are deeply complicit in his words and actions.
Trump is the virus upon this nation. The Republican Party is a virus upon this nation. We need a vaccine to cure this deadly virus lest it continue to infect the entire body politic, body social, past and present and future – all the great dreams that have been born upon this continent since its beginning, of justice, of compassion for all, the great true dream of the true America that has yet to be brought to fulfillment.
This is Judgment Day. Your judgment.
Where do you stand?
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