A political ‘non-political’ act

By now you’ve heard of the Saturday shooting that took the lives of 11 people at Tree of Life synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. (Full disclosure: I live just a short bus ride from there and attended a bar mitzvah of a former schoolmate there in the 1970s.)  Yesterday, President Trump came here to “pay his respects,” visiting the temple and also one of the hospitals where some of the victims who survived the shooting were convalescing.

Given that the president came across that day as somewhat of a mourner, many of his supporters were infuriated that anti-Trump demonstrators filled the streets of Forbes Avenue, the main thoroughfare, that same day. This wasn’t a political visit, they insist.

They’re wrong.

One, he was asked to delay his visit for a couple of weeks, to allow the families to grieve in peace; however, he refused the entreaty and came anyway — and in doing so, he became the issue. After all, there’s an election next Tuesday and he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to be seen in a rare positive light.

Two, upon learning of the shooting he made the insensitive comment that the shooter, identified as a Robert Bowers of the suburb of Baldwin Borough, could have been stopped had the synagogue had armed guards (given his arsenal and that two of the wounded were Pittsburgh police, that seems far-fetched).

And three, the reason Bowers took aim at worshipers that morning in the first place was due to the belief, fairly common in right-wing conspiracy circles, that the Jewish people were financially supporting the “caravan” coming from from Honduras that’s seeking political asylum in his country, falsely claiming that it’s an issue of “immigration.”

See, one of the issues that the demonstrators have with the president was his unwillingness to repudiate “white nationalism” — chilling, given that it’s the same ideology that spurred Adolf Hitler to take control of Germany. Given the context that 30 percent of Squirrel Hill is Jewish, that's pretty potent.

Once again, you have Trump supporters complaining about a lack of “civility” in American politics. But they should understand that Trump has never been civil in his own right — even at a rally that he held before coming here he blasted the media, a staple of his grievance. That’s why his visit here should never be seen as one of someone who cares.

Because, really, he doesn’t.

A cautionary tale

In 1984, the later Easter Sunday service at the socially-prominent Presbyterian congregation where I had been received as a new member just a month before got some, shall we say, unwelcome visitors — a lay activist group comprising unemployed steelworkers and a group of pastors who shepherded the churches they attended. They complained that upper management of the steel companies who were members of our congregation were disrupting their lives by closing plants and thus throwing them out of work. Over the next year or two the groups deposited dead fish in safe deposit boxes in branches of one of the local banks and threw balloons filled with skunk oil at members after a Christmas program later that year, among other things.

Most people probably would have dismissed these people as a bunch of hotheads wanting attention or money. But leaders of the congregation did something different: They listened.

I’m not privy to any specific things that my congregation did, but I do know that some back channels were opened with folks in the valley areas where the closed plants were located. Because the church responded properly to what many would have considered a violation of its sacred space, the demonstrations eventually ceased due to losing popular support. In the 14 years I attended that church, it proved to be its finest hour.

I bring that up in reference to such Republican figures as Sarah Huckabee Sanders, press secretary to President Trump; and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell being accosted by demonstrators. Many conservatives have complained that they’re being targeted simply because they, in the words of some, “think differently,” and that the demonstrators are simply hooligans engaging in temper tantrums and being paid by George Soros to troll them.

It’s not that at all, because if that were the case and they were truly interested in moving the process forward they would talk to their political opponents. The thing is, Trump’s base is not, and in fact never has been, interested in talking with anyone who disagrees, even dismissing its opponents out of hand and displaying its arrogance in the process. And it’s that arrogance, not the positions, to which they react.

Many, many people have talked about restoring a sense of “civility” to American civic and political life, but when one side regards the other as a disease to be eradicated that would be tough, if not impossible, to pull off. I can tell you that, because I personally know some of its adherents, the political left these days won’t be mollified (read: “know its place”) and that, if attitudes don’t soften on the other side, such demonstrations and disruptions will not only continue but get even worse.

There’s a biblical principle here: “You reap what you sow.”

Sorry, but I won't "walk away"

Earlier this week I was invited to participate in the #WalkAway campaign. I declined.

If you don’t know what that is, not that you should care, it’s another attempt from the political right to demonstrate just how powerful and “right” it is when it comes to the African-American community, the folks most likely to resist its power plays and even get in its face. Its supposed most recent “feather in the cap” was rapper Kanye West, who recently visited the White House (and, most people outside the conservative movement believe, made a total fool of himself in the process during a speech he made).

But let’s be straight as to what this campaign really entails: Another attempt to de-legitimize any group that not only disagrees with the right but even comes against it.

And it isn’t the first time, either.

I learned in the 1990s that the movement was willing to pay African-Americans handsomely, whether in cash or exposure (likely both), to turn their backs on their own people, which is why the pejorative “sellout” was actually quite accurate in this case; in fact, in 1998 the movement reached out to me.  Most, however, didn’t, nor did or would I.

The bottom line is that it simply wants people on its side without examining which of its own policies are harmful or divisive in their own right, which also speaks to its arrogance and lack of humility. It simply doesn’t relate to anyone who doesn’t agree, preferring name-calling to reasoned debate, therefore debasing the discourse and causing the rift that we see today.

I’ve heard that 200,000 people have actually left testimonies with the #WalkAway movement, but that’s not even a drop in the bucket given the 40 million African-Americans in this country. And while we’re at it, let me drop the names of some folks who have “walked away” from the conservative movement/Republican Party over the years, some since Donald Trump became president: Max Boot, George Will, David Brock, David Brooks, Rob Schenck, J.C. Watts, Jeff Flake, John Boehner.

We can do better than this — but do Trump supporters want to?

The 'miracle' of Trump's election

I understand that a movie called “The Trump Prophecy” will be or has been released insisting that the election of Donald Trump to the presidency was “an act of God.” I might agree with that — but for a far different reason than his worshipers might.

One of the reasons why they feel that God raised him up was to reveal, and root out, corruption in the Federal government. Well, God has done some revealing of corruption, all right — but, in this case not with just Trump himself but, more importantly, in the hearts of many of his Christian supporters.

That’s not, shall we say, politically correct, but it is Biblically correct. The trouble is that Trump has in fact become an idol who is leading much of the church away from God, and that’s what He’s exposing right now. In an excellent essay “So Now You Want Civility?”, John Pavlovitz, in listing Trump’s long list of insults and bad behavior, exposed the ruse of his bringing forth the righteousness his Christian supporters say they want. Of course by “righteousness” they really mean ending legal abortion, driving gays back into the closet and worshiping America.

And because much of the evangelical church has sold out its prophetic witness for the sake of maintaining its privilege, it will be removed from its lampstand. Indeed, that process has already begun, with the millennial generation as a whole leaving their parents’ evangelical hypocrisy.

One thing about the devil is that he will often speak things that are technically true but only to seduce people away from Ultimate Truth. Just think about what he promised Eve after he encouraged her to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We all know what happened then.

I generally don’t make political posts on Facebook, but I did recall the adage “Be careful what you pray for — you just might get it.” We need to understand that God is under no obligation to answer prayers in the way we want Him to; He does things only to glorify Himself.

So yes, God may have indeed elevated Trump to the presidency — but to show us our sin. LORD, have mercy …