How are you
meant to look at the American political situation right now? As a Christian I
mean.
Well there
are the evangelical Christians who supported Trump. Those who are celebrating a
control on abortion as God’s will. Those who celebrate the tirade against
homosexuality, trans-sexuality, Muslims and the reminder of women’s place in
society.
Then there
are those sitting there looking at this situation and asking – is this God’s
will? Is there any good in this man?
I am sure
somewhere inside Donald Trump there is some good. His love for his children and
his grandchildren is apparent. His keen business acumen could be celebrated.
His obsession with the American worker could be worked as a care for those less
fortunate.
But, at the
end of the day, in my mind a Christian is defined by love. Yes the bible speaks
of judgement and punishment, but not at the hands of other men, but at the
hands of God himself. Trump is not God.
His love for
others can be questioned. Does he love the Syrian refugees running for their
lives? Does he love the Muslim countries he has just put border controls on? Does
he love the journalists who were arrested? Does he love the animals who climate
change will affect? Does he love the women who will die from unsafe abortions? Does
he love the women who accused him of sexual assault? Does he love the disabled
who will no longer be covered with Obamacare reforms? Does he love the children
being taunted for being different after the rhetoric of his election campaign?
Does he love his wife after the social media taunting? Does he love the people
he posts mean tweets about? Does he love the other politicians in the world or
see them as pawns in his game? Does he love his own daughter when he commented he
was proud of her to “a lesser extent” than her siblings? Or does he even think
about them at all?
Does he just think of himself? Is he
egotistical? Has he created an idol in his own vision? This is the man who used
charity money for portraits of himself. This is the man who has his name on
every building he owns. This is the man who tweets angry remarks when someone
disagrees with him. This is the man who funded his own presidential campaign.
This is the man who ran up to the White House instead of holding his wife’s
hand. This is the man who stopped organisations tweeting when they didn’t tweet
the right remark. This is the man who accused the press of lying when they
showed photos of his inauguration.
So does he
has respect and honour for the position he holds? Since taking office, he has
banned many state departments from using social media. He has spoken out
against climate change and reduced funding from the US. He has talked about
making America great again, but forgot that he could make the whole world great
again. He has moved to build a wall alongside Mexico. He has stopped abortion
funding. He has reduced funding for many Diversity boards. He has threatened
war with China, indirectly. He has called his lies, alternate truths. He had
rioters arrested and then released the man who stabbed an anti-fascist protester. He has said torture works and talked of reinstating it. He has made
moves to reject Obamacare and stop the covering of pre-existing conditions. He
has done many things, whether he has signed the piece of paper or these things
were done under him, but it is his government and in turn his actions.
So is this
man a good Christian man? Maybe he is but currently I see little evidence to
support that. I really wanted to go through this article and think this man loves, he is not egotistical and he respects his position and the good he can do with it, but the evidence thus far does not show that. I see he shows little love or understanding for the majority of
the human race. He seems obsessed with himself and his values rather than what
is best for the country, or world as a whole. He seems to lie at every turn and
twist the truth for his own benefit. He seems to back policies which segregate,
punish and hurt innocent human beings and in turn animals and the planet.
So I hope
that through the next year he can show a love to the world that he has shown to
his grandchildren. I hope he can show the intelligence he has shown to his business
empire to the big problems facing America and the world. I hope he can share
the lack of prejudice of his daughters and spread that to all groups in
society. I hope that he can be mature and stop tweeting when something doesn’t
go away. I hope he shows respect to all those who deserve it, compassion to all
those who don’t and becomes a good influence on the world. I hope that he cares
for the world with all its differences and problems.
That is a
lot of hope and when his actions thus far have brought about more comparisons
to Hitler than to a Christian, it seems a jolly long way to go. So if I convert
all of those hopes to a prayer maybe that’s a little step there.
