No matter what happens in the coming months—to the pandemic, the economy or race relations — this country cannot take four more years of the division that Donald Trump’s presidency has foisted upon us.
President Trump has been effective at taking credit, deserved or not, for getting conservatives on the Supreme Court, passing a tax cut, building a bit of wall and watching the Dow and NASDAQ go up.
But since his election, he has made no effort to become the president of all the people, none whatever.
And when called upon to lead the nation in a crisis or two or three, he’s been a failure. Under his angry, confusing leadership, we can’t even agree on how to cope with a deadly plague.
President Trump, who likes using superlatives, especially when assessing himself, has actually become the greatest presidential divider this nation has seen since Abraham Lincoln. But, unlike Trump, Lincoln couldn’t avoid it. He saw the country come apart when all but three Confederate states left the Union before his March 1861 inauguration out of fear his election meant the end of slavery and their prosperity.
The Republican Party of Donald Trump is far different from the party of Lincoln or, for that matter, the party of his most recent Republican predecessors.
George W. Bush prided himself in being “a uniter, not a divider;” his father, the first president Bush, tried to form a “kinder, gentler nation,” than even that of his sunny dispositioned predecessor, Ronald Reagan. They all saw themselves as presidents of all the people and it served them and the country well.
But not Trump. Our vision of the 45th president is that of an eternally angry man, who deals with the profound issues of the day by making up schoolyard nicknames for his adversaries. For the faithful, even those embarrassed by the vulgarities and the ignorance, the response is, “he lowered taxes, he put conservatives on the Court, he eliminated restrictions on business.” Character doesn’t count.
Since his inauguration, when he lied about the size of his audience, Trump has been a dishonest president, deviating from the truth upwards of 17,000 times. But, of course, these numbers, although carefully documented, are from the “fake news,” which is any news that doesn’t consider the president infallible.
The press, we are told constantly, is the enemy of the people and therefore undeserving of its constitutional protection. Free speech begins and ends with his.
I’ve long wondered why Trump has not even gone through the motions of trying to unite the people and thereby expand his base during his first term. After all, he did lose the popular vote by about 3 million, but maybe he actually believes those Clinton votes were stolen from him. For whatever reason, appealing only to 35 or so percent of the electorate and alienating the rest hardly seems like a winning formula.
This failure to expand his base has left Trump in a terrible position as the nation faced the pandemic, racial unrest and a plunging economy. But instead of dealing firmly with the pandemic from the beginning, Trump largely made it a state problem with 50 interests and 50 solutions in place of a vitally needed national approach to a national calamity.
He may not be a racist but Trump talks like a racist and acts like one. He is a skillful player of the race card, painting the vast majority of sincere demonstrators for equal rights with the same brush as the looters, vandals and anarchists. He regularly shows more concern for dead Confederate generals than the living descendants of their slaves.
He can’t even get the nation to unite in an effort to attain a mutually beneficial revival of the economy, as he constantly contradicts and mocks his own medical authorities for urging us to practice caution in making contact with each other.
Like it or not, the president is the nation’s role model in chief, yet this president refuses to wear a mask in public and obey other precautions. Some role model.
Trump was the good times president who failed when the going got tough. In dealing with all of these crises, the president’s top priority has been his reelection.
That reelection would be a second plague.
Simsbury resident Dick Ahles is a retired journalist. Email him at rahles1@outlook.com.
"They had this in mind from last year," girls varsity head coach Les Funk of Pine Plains said. Funk said the young team wanted the sectional title and "never gave up," until they won it Wednesday, March 5, at Mount Saint Mary College.Photo by Nathan Miller
Naveah Rennie, no 34 of Pine Plains, was the Bombers' dominant scorer, racking up 20 points by the end of the matchup against S.S. Seward Institute during the Section IX Class C finals at Mount Saint Mary College on Wednesday, March 5.Photo by Nathan Miller
Lent: Time to consider social gospel movement
We are entering the annual Christian season of Lent this week.With its 40 days of contemplation and “little Easter” Sundays, it is a time to remember the healing ministry and the sacrifice of Jesus.During this season, we are invited to think deeply about our role as agents of grace and love in our hurting world.
There is a long history of making sacrifices and commitments for Lent, modeling our discipleship and hopes for a more heavenly world. It is through this lens that I invite you to join us in considering what gifts and services the community needs that we can commit to bringing forth in the weeks leading up to Easter.While many lean into solitary introspection during Lent, it may be particularly advantageous to use our meditations and sacrifices for the greater good this year.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, advised his followers centuries ago that “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness but social holiness. Faith working by love is the length and depth and breadth and height of Christian perfection.”These words are connected to the firm belief of Wesley that a Methodist was fundamentally one who loved God with all their heart, mind, strength, and soul, along with loving one’s neighbor as oneself.He believed that being in love with God naturally also required loving other people, as every person was a beloved soul coming from the same source of life that we are.
Consequently, Wesley stood against slavery long before it was a popular view, prioritized caring for those who were poor and imprisoned, and made a point to do good to as many as he could for as long as he was physically able.
Indeed, the Methodists are not the only Christians who believe such things.These thoughts are primary messages of the Christian faith.In more recent history, we can note that during the time of the Golden Age, at the end of the late 19th century, the Christians mobilized to counteract the abject poverty, child labor, dangerous working conditions, and lack of education of the time.Famous theologians such as Washington Gladden, Walter Rauschenbusch, and W.E.B. DuBois began the Social Gospel movement, enacting with new verve the passion of Christ that empowers the community toward building the Kingdom of God.As Christians, they believed in uplifting the downtrodden and creating a community where all had a chance to thrive.Child labor laws were enacted, better working conditions were secured, Sunday School helped provide education, settlement houses were created, and the Salvation Army was born.
The social gospel movement continued in another wave of reforms and empowerment through the Civil Rights era.Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his intellect, energy, and life to help secure the reforms that enabled persons of color to vote, go to non-segregated schools, and have the right to share public spaces without discrimination.Like Christ, he paid the ultimate price for his prophetic vision.However, his impact on our society was formidable, lasting far beyond his short lifetime.
As Christians, it is very clear what to do in times of hardship, crisis, or challenge.Throughout the centuries, our call has been to help heal the world, doing whatever we can to uplift and transform loneliness into community, reminding each one how precious they are and how important it is to unite for the sake of the whole.Individually, the challenges can be overwhelming, even too much to bear.Collectively, we can do all things through the One who strengthens us.As they say, “We have the receipts!” We can do it again.
This Lent, let us give up our pessimism and fear, replacing it with a commitment to community and hope.Yes, things can seem dreadful, but our souls are not served by allowing ourselves to descend into the dark.We are keepers of the light.Let us do all within our power to create brightness so that its warmth may strengthen all as we live into the Social Gospel movement for our time.Chin up, friends, we can do this.We simply must be willing to get serious about doing it together.
Rev. Dr. Anna Crews Camphouse is pastor of Canaan, Lakeville, Millerton, and Sharon United Methodist Churches
Lead Pastor of the Northwestern Hills Cooperative
Parish UMC