It's raised quite a dilemma in my thinking. The dissonance of it clangs hard against me, and it makes me feel like I may be a hypocrite. Yet I can't get my head around it.
Can you be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump?
Every fiber of my being, every synapse of my brain, every breath of my moral conscience, screams of the impossibility of it.
I have never seen a candidate whose personal conduct was so far removed from what a Christian should be. His whole fortune (whatever it really is - something that is in great dispute) was built on the exploitation of others. No, it's not the only way you can get rich, but it is the way he did.
Every time in his early career when he got himself in fiscal trouble, his wealthy father baled him out, sometimes in ways that violated law (purchasing casino chips at one of his casinos). He's gone bankrupt repeatedly. Now you can consider them smart business moves, but they are not Christian business moves, as bankruptcies relieves of your obligations to others and hurts them to benefit you. In fact, even outside of bankruptcy, he has constantly stiffed contractors that worked for him. And the smaller, more vulnerable contractor you were, the more likely he was to stiff you, as he had less fear in your ability to retaliate.
He created whole businesses, like Trump University, that were scams designed to defraud consumers of their money.
These are not small things. The most frequent sin mentioned in the bible is that of usury, which is not just high rates of interest, but exploiting the weak, the poor and powerless for your own benefit.
He is also a misogynist, a self-confessed sexual predator. This is not just about the many women now reporting his bad behavior. Who knows? It's possible that some may be lying or exaggerating. But the pattern is deeply troubling. And the conduct is in keeping with his own rhetoric.
He is a racist who appeals to our darkest fears. He turns 'love your neighbor' on its head. He wants to build a wall to symbolically divide us, starting his run for the Presidency by calling Mexicans rapists and murderers (this is when any decent person should have crossed his name off as someone they could have voted for, but alas, it did not happen). He wants to ban a whole religion from coming into the country. He calls inner cities hell holes, and warns you that their residents are going to vote multiple times. He lives and thrives on hatred, fear and division. Us against them - how further removed from Jesus can you get?
He wants to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a system that will leave tens of millions with NOTHING. We return to bankruptcy and no access and insurance and healthcare costs rampaging without check. In my opinion, it is fundamental to Christianity that when one of us lacks decent healthcare, WE ALL LACK DECENT HEALTHCARE.
He wants to turn his back on the earth, deny our climate problems and accelerating global warming, and double down on those energy resources that are contributing so mightily to the problem. Are we not supposed to be good stewards of the planet?
What is the thin reed that some "Christians" hang onto to justify their vote for this offensive authoritarian narcissist? I'm honestly not 100% sure. The best I can tell, other than the primitive appeal to a controlling father figure, is the Supreme Court.
And what is it about the Supreme Court that these "Christians" want? Do they want a Supreme Court that will defend the poor and side with them over the concerns of the wealthy and corporations? A Supreme Court that will extend civil rights and voting rights?
No. That's not what they want. They want a Supreme Court that will turn back the hands of time and re-establish male dominance. They convolute bible quotes to justify codifying hatred of gays and women. They want to eliminate the possibility of gay marriage. And most importantly, they want to eliminate Roe v. Wade, and accelerate some states to criminalizing women and their doctors.
The rhetoric about abortion in our country has more to do with controlling women than it has to do with being pro-life. Don't get me wrong. I really, really don't like abortion. I wish it didn't exist. But I have no desire to jail women and their doctors.
Over and over, it is shown that abortions are reduced most rapidly by improving the economic conditions of women, by increasing the availability of birth control, and by providing a complete and well-rounded sex education.
The concept of late term abortions sounds horrifying, and the fabricated story that Trump told at the last debate was frightening. But it's a fairy tale. Virtually all late term abortions occur because of some terrible, threatening medical condition. What does that say about your opinion of women if you believe otherwise? How many women do you think would be that cavalier and cruel?
Banning abortion will not eliminate it. It will only drive it underground and make it more dangerous.
Donald Trump, the misogynist, someone who almost certainly is responsible for leading some of his "companions" to abortion, is your defender on this issue. Let me tell you a secret - he doesn't care a whit about this. He barely knows how to talk about it, and is just using you as a way to access the power of the Presidency. He might give you what you want. He might not. It's really not very important to him.
After all this, can you be a Christian and vote for Donald Trump? It's not impossible. Sometimes the camel does go through the eye of the needle.
But can you vote for Donald Trump and say it is BECAUSE you are a Christian?
No. No, you can't. You can't do that.
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