A Presbyterian View from Maine: Creating a New Future - Rejecting the Bullying of the Trump Era

by RICHARD KILLMER

CREATING A NEW FUTURE

Rejecting the Bullying of the Trump Era

Though I have written many op-eds for newspapers, I have never written an essay that urges my fellow citizens to vote a certain way in elections. I do understand that we each need to follow our own conscience and do what we believe is the right thing do. So, I am somewhat uncomfortable urging you to vote against Donald Trump for president.   

Yet, President Trump has engaged in bulling, and I am worry that these are not without consequences. Though any of us are free to reject the words and actions of a bully, it is often difficult to do. That is especially true for people who are especially vulnerable to the decisions that accompany such an attitude.

We could make a large list of the victims of his bullying: people of color, Muslims, people with disabilities, children at the border, refugees and asylum seekers, and anyone who disagrees with him.  Much of President Trump’s agenda is not only wrong-headed, but flouts the core values of the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.

We have seen in the last four years:

•              His use of fear-based politics -- encouraging white backlash against legitimate calls to address racism and police violence. 

•              His ignoring the common good and the basic tenets of our faiths:loving God fully and loving our neighbors as ourselves, - spreading disinformation about COVID-19, ignoring the climate crisis, the issue that will most threaten our children and grandchildren, and reinstituting the federal death penalty.

•              He advocates for an “American First” agenda, instead of as the National Association of Evangelicals says, “We must advocate for policies that offer the most potential for creating the conditions of human flourishing, not only for Americans, but also for all those in the human community.”   

•         President Trump lies almost constantly.  He boasts constantly, making ridiculous claims about knowing more than anyone else about many, many things.   

•         As the pandemic expanded rapidly in US, President Trump kept denying for about two months that there was a problem. He failed to mobilize adequate federal resources in a national effort for widespread, rapid testing. Repeatedly, he ignored the best scientific advice, even refusing to wear a mask. His actions contributed to the tragic death of more than 200,000 Americans, one quarter of the entire world’s total thus far.

•         President Trump promoted and signed a major tax cut bill that gave at least   

• 80% of its benefits to the richest 20%. The gap between the rich and the rest of Americans is as vast today as just before the great depression in 1929. The  

              top one percent of Americans own more wealth than the bottom 80%.

 I regret deeply that Senator Susan Collins has defended, supported and enabled far too many of these policies, including the tax law that benefits not working people, but the wealthy few.Against the pleas of so many women and men from Maine, Collins broke the tie that allowed the confirmation to the Supreme Court of a man accused of rape.  She voted to acquit Donald Trump of the crimes for which he had been impeached by insisting that he had “learned his lesson.”  

Religious leaders will take different steps in supporting or opposing candidates for office. Whichever route is chosen, we, as religious leaders, should speak up. Our voices can be helpful.

Whatever you are doing as a religious leader in this most crucial of elections, please let us know: http://www.pofpol.us.

Whatever you do and however you are involved, let us do to heal the soul of America. Let’s work together to create a future that rejects the harm that has been caused by the Trump era. Let’s vote for responsible, respectful public servants. 

Richard Killmer works with the Climate Witness Project for the Office of Social Justice of the CRCNA. He is a retired Presbyterian minister and has worked for various national denominations and ecumenical organizations, including founding or co-founding Shoulder to Shoulder, the Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light, and the Muslim-Christian Initiative on the Nuclear Weapons Danger.