
Donald Trump is a phenomenon that no one saw coming. The best political pundits are aghast on what has happened over the last several months. We were well into the primary season for the 2016 presidential race before anyone figured it out. They missed it so badly that we can’t even take any prediction they make about November seriously.
Still, we all can see it now–people are angry. I see the point of that anger. We’ve been lied to, stabbed in the back, and used. Bernie Sanders is somewhat of the same explanation on the far other side.
Forgive the pastor in me for coming out, but on this subject of anger I have a question. Over the course of your life, how have all the decisions you have made while really mad worked out for you? Well….that’s what I thought. Me too.
As I said, I am a pastor, yet I speak as a private citizen today. All those I pastor can exercise their own personal discernment and do as they please. I love them no matter what and still believe the spiritual far outranks the political. I thank God that we all can still pull the lever for whom we choose even if others near us pull it for somebody else. As a pastor, I would admonish all Christians to run their voting selection by the Lord because at the end of the day, you don’t answer to your pastor or anyone else besides the Lord. Yet in a country that still has free speech for the moment, I will throw in my two cents as a private citizen.
He talks a John Wayne kind of talk (and I love a John Wayne movie) yet his life in no way backs it up. He runs as this great businessman, but he inherited a fortune and has gone bankrupt several times. He won’t release his tax returns, has several failed ventures, and we have no idea where his business acumen has really gotten him, or what it might suggest about him leading our economic decisions.
While Americans, as they say, are notorious for voting their pocketbooks, the economy and jobs are not the biggest issues here. We have a Congress that could kill the best economic proposals anyone could suggest. Congress, whether Mr. Trump admits it or not, will have a say on the Wall and immigration as well. I want a President who will offer the best proposals, but with our Congress it is a roll of the dice at best.
So what is the biggest issue involving Mr. Trump? His character. He brags about his martial infidelities and multiple marriages and is vulgar. I know some other Presidents were both unfaithful and vulgar, but at least they respected me enough to keep it out of my face. Even President Bill Clinton tried to keep Monica Lewinsky a secret. Keeping it a secret was at least a weak attempt to agree that it was sinful behavior. To brag on it is like presidential approval and a giant leap in our downward spiral.
The Bible warns us too that “a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways”. How could his position flipflops, sometimes from one day to the next, not give pause to even his most ardent followers? He said he is flexible, and so let’s admit it– we have no real idea of what a President Trump might do.
Finally, there is his narcissistic behavior that shows up in prideful arrogance, pettiness, and vindictiveness. Am I the only one who is especially alarmed by his wanting to expand lawsuit possibilities for those who criticize him, or his attacking journalists who ask hard questions, or how he talks about his opponents, or even his penchant for revenge? The references to Hitler might not be as far fetched as some assume. I think someone who criticizes him may have more to fear than either an illegal alien jumping a wall or a member of ISIS. This hubris is his most dangerous trait by far.
Let me share a great article from National Review by Mona Cheran that well describes Mr. Trump’s character.
Donald Trump’s Character
My wife, Alicia, shared another one, this time from a fully Christian perspective:
It likely is too late to stop Donald Trump from securing the Republican nomination, so maybe this is an exercise in too-little-too-late, but I felt I had to say it.
There is the train wreck scenario that we are heading to–a general election of Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton. Some of us Christians are going to be in a real catch-22 there. Alicia told me that maybe her conscience wouldn’t allow her to vote for either, even if some complain that failing to vote for Mr. Trump is voting for Mrs. Clinton, but she just wasn’t sure. I hope she figures it out so maybe she can tell me.
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