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A sign of hostility

rainey

Walking the dog a few days ago, I came upon what we here in the desert euphemistically call a “yard” (yards here are crushed rock – not grass) with three Trump signs.

Not an unusual sighting hereabouts – those Trump signs. Except one was very different from the other two which were the standard versions. The unusual sign said “MAKE CHRISTIANITY GREAT AGAIN – VOTE FOR DONALD TRUMP.” A garland of flowers was woven – photographically – across the top.

“Make Christianity Great Again!” I damned near lost my breakfast! For the first time in my long life, I was overcome with a heated desire to grab that sign and rip it to pieces. Even the dog – Skeezix – could feel my sudden anger.

Donald Trump is going to “make Christianity great again?’ Trump? The guy who had dozens of peaceful protesters tear gassed and shoved off public streets so he could stand in front of a church he doesn’t attend, to hold up a Bible (backwards) so he could have a photo op? That serial-lying, mean-spirited, grossly incompetent and incredibly dangerous human being? The guy who pays porn stars thousands of dollars to keep quiet about his sexual activities. Him?

No, my foolhardy and incredibly ignorant neighbor! No, not him. Not him ever! Trying to link that political disaster of a presidential aberration to anything Christ-like is absolutely impossible. That sign says more about your out-of-touch political knowledge and your lack of understanding of the Christian way of life than trying to show your neighbors your political presidential preference.

Trump has put this nation through dozens and dozens of political indignities and lowered standards in nearly everything he’s touched. Christian?

New evidence of how low Trump will go – and how unlike Christ the man is – came several days ago when an April, 2020, conversation between ace reporter Bob Woodward and Trump’s “in-over-his-head” son-in-law, the young Jared Kushner came to light.

You don’t have to listen to the entire thing. You need only 30 seconds or so to hear Kushner’s – and Trump’s – depravity. Their plan – when our COVID-19 deaths at the time stood around 40,000 souls – was to make a large government push to open everything back up. Right now! Schools, businesses, manufacturing, airlines, etc. Trump would be the self-proclaimed economic booster. “Open everything up!” “Things will be O.K..” But, if – if – coronavirus cases continued to mount, blame governors! Blame the governors!

That’s about the most devious, heinous political thinking I’ve ever heard. And I’ve been around a lot of politicians and political conversations for a long, long time.

Imagine. To please his backers – his political “friends” – he planned to reopen a then-shuttered economy so those folks could profit – no matter how many Americans died – then blame the nation’s governors for “acting too soon!”

Over the last several years, I’ve not hidden my feelings about Trump. From the git-go, he’s been a political accident, receiving fewer popular votes but winning several key electoral college states. So, the “winner” became the “loser” while the “loser” became the “winner.”

From day one, he’s exhibited how lacking he is in leadership qualities, empathy, compassion, knowledge of government, ignorance of the working side of the presidency, how to conduct himself as leader of the world’s most powerful nation.

His walk-away from political disasters has mirrored his personal conduct as a private businessman. If you lose, disassociate yourself from the loss, declare you “won” and go on to some other doomed venture. Except, in government – especially at the top of government – it doesn’t work that way.

The longer he’s been in office, the more his dangerous qualities are displayed. Un-friending our historic world partners, our treaties and other agreements with them, while cozying up to some of the world’s worst dictators. Openly admiring Vladimir Putin and all things Russian while being told by his own security professionals of the extreme dangers represented by Putin.

Now that we’ve had four years of his version of the presidency, we’ve come to know him. Really know him. His complete ignorance of business and ethics – long-known to people who’ve had dealings with him over many years – are now known by other world leaders.

And, by us. The governed. His ignorance of the office he holds, his “bull-in-the-china-shop” attitude about relationships and world dealings, his lack of understanding the Constitutional roles of the presidency versus the other two branches of government, the inability to relate to citizens of this country – all this and more has marked his tenure.

I guess, given the knowledge of Trump’s publically-known failings, the danger he poses for all Americans, his abuses of power and seeming lack of common values, combined to set me off when it came to someone publically believing he could have a positive affect in matters of Christianity. And, I suspect that sign would bring a lot of laughs in the Vatican. Trump to” make Christianity great again?”

Now that I’ve had a few hours to calm down, the anger is less. But, what’s left of it is directed at me for forgetting my own Christian values and the tolerance we’re expected to have for others. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Put THAT on a sign in your gravel yard. In my yard.
 

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