FOLLOWERS

 I am really sad that some of my family members, friends, good friends, Christian friends, even my best friend, have chosen to follow the Trump train. I am saddened not so much because I disagree with his politics (I actually think some of the policies that were passed during his time in office were positive, though I question how much he actually had to do with them.) I am more saddened by their blind faith in a man that is clearly the antithesis of all they have proclaimed in years passed to hold dear: high morals, a belief in democracy, a conservative agenda, etc. I haven't always agreed with them politically, but it is sad to see people wantonly abandon their own ideals to follow a man who is as illogical, unastute, capricious, erratic, amoral, and clouded by his own power and ego as Trump is.

Some people have compared Trump to Hitler. I do not think he is like Hitler en toto. Hitler had a well-thought out albeit flawed and dangerous ideology born over decades, and he had a strategy for carrying out a plan for implementing that ideology. Trump is not that smart. He thinks he is, but as we have learned he suffers most acutely from Dunning-Kruger syndrome and, if anything, that will be our saving grace as long as no one learns how to manipulate him any more than they have already. Trump has no plan. He has not had a plan for four years in office. Others have provided him a plan and when it suited his purposes self-aggrandizment or money), he advanced or implemented it. But to think he had any plan is to believe in fantasy.

What puzzles me though are his followers. What is it that has caused over 70 million Americans to support him? It's true that about only 40 million of that make up his loyal "base", but what has caused them to dessert their own ideals to follow a thrice-married New York a 5-times bankrupt businessman, who is known for his lack of compassion in business circles and personal life, his reported inability to connect on a personal basis with colleagues and friends, and his crude remarks about women, the disabled, and Veterans? Why have they failed to see his absence from governing during his last 60 days in office, as the coronavirus pandemic rages, killing up to 2000 people a day and it is revealed the US has suffered the greatest computer hack ever by a foreign government (probably Russia)? Instead, Trump has been laser focused on fighting to stay in power and spending false rumors and conspiracy theories about a fraudulent election. Yet, when he has brought these arguments before a court of law over 60 times, he has lost 59 times, often by judges he appointed, conservative judges, most of whom have offered stinging criticisms of the lack of evidence. Even the US Supreme Court turned back two cases against him. And yet, his base clings to his coattails. If a Democrat had done the same thing, would those same people still follow him?

I wonder, as some writers have suggested, if the base that loves Trump finally felt free to "speak their collective mind" after 8 years of having to "be nice" during the Obama administration. Some call it "political correctness". But language matters. Just ask someone who was verbally abused and shamed as a child what effect words have. Or ask a diplomat what effect words can have. I bet you will find they both say words matter A LOT. It is said that manners are the oil that keep the engine of a civilized society working. When one takes that away, we also fail to listen to our better angels. Isabel Wilkerson in her book "Caste" says that after 8 years of the Obama administration, when a black man "jumped" the caste barrier and rose to the highest status in the land, it gnawed at the very heart of what some white Americans thought was the last vestige of their birthright. And when the presidency was sought by someone as antithetical to Obama's sanguine, smart, black man persona as Trump, those who harbored resentment to that caste infraction were ready for revenge.

I wonder if it isn't a bit like the Israelites to asked God for a king. He reminded them that he was enough for them, but they still insisted on a king so they could be like the other nations and they would have someone to lead them. God realized that his people would, eventually, come to focus more on the king as their leader than on God as their leader, and that's what the Bible shows us what happened. Generation after generation, the kind would not do right and the people would be lead away from God, and then a king would do right, back and forth. God is faithful. But He does let us see the consequences of our own blind actions just as he did with the Israelites.

Before we sink our hearts into any earthly leader, we need to look hard at what we are willing to compromise. I have a friend who said, "I am a one issue voter: abortion." Since the Democrats are pro-choice and the Republican platform is pro-life (though not all Republicans are pro-life), she will only vote Republican. She is willing to sacrifice anything for that one issue. Really? The Bible doesn't say one sin is greater or lesser than another. In fact, scripture mentions lyers and murders in one collective breath. Is abortion really the only issue? 

Of course, the debate goes on and I know no one will hear this side if they are hell-bent on the other side. Just sayin'.