Trump for President? Evangelicals Paying Attention
i just watched a video on cbn on trump who's obviously not my favorite for president in 2012. i am NOT a republican by any measure, nor am i a democrat. i def ain't a tea partier either. trump is really interesting in the most disturbing way and a mildly entertaining train wreck. i've become increasingly concerned with not only the attention he's managed to garner around this presidential bid, but how little attention people are paying to the things he has to say. the last person to truly challenge him on any front has been bill o'reily.
just some of the things trump has said:
1. " would much prefer if barack obama was a great president...but he's not...he's one of the worst presidents ever...it's only going to get worse"
now i'm a little confused as to what would inspire such a sweeping indictment of a two and a half year presidency. i think there have been far worse presidents. take james buchanan who did nothing as southern states began southern blocks that eventually became the confederacy, refused to tackle the issue of slavery in territories which would eventually thrust this nation into civil war. or how about andrew johnson, whose antics encouraged racist, slavery supporting secessionists to institute de jure racism and butcher reconstruction attempts (including the draaaama around ratification of the reconstruction amendments- 13th, 14th, and 15th)? i mean bro-man was impeached twice, though found not guilty. or how about herbert hoover who did very little to prevent this nation from falling into economic depression, except maybe sign international trade laws which further exacerbated the depression? i think obama is admirable, and is working as hard as he can. i also think that obama can be uninspiring, underwhelming, and underestimate his authority as a leader. this post is not about obama, however. you can read for yourself what the heck has obama done so far?
2. "other nations are ripping off america. we're just a laughing stock?"
-ever heard of globalization? neoliberalism? we've been a laughing stock since the 80's. #reaganomics
3. "we won the war, we take over the oil fields. there's no way we leave those oil fields and let iran take them over".
-this troubles me for many reasons. i've never really heard such honesty regarding imperialism, neoliberal foreign policy, and unabashed support for unethical wars to establish u.s. hegemony in the arab region...
4. "i am a christian...the bible is the thing, the book".
-look, as a christian, i do not pay much attention when people call themselves christians. i spent my entire life calling myself a christian and i was living an unsurrendered mess of a life and didn't even know that salvation through Christ Jesus was available to me, and that i could be saved by grace through faith (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8, etc). i don't know where trump is in his walk or if he understands what walking with the Lord entails. that is personal to him and God and i can't express an opinion.
but whether or not someone is christian enough to be president is a little bit of a problem for me. in other words, i understand the evangelical base is an influential, even powerful voting bloc, however, i don't know if a disingenuous appeal to christians in this country is cool. frankly, this isn't a christian nation. what i do believe that the u.s. can be claimed for the Lords glory, and that in order to do so we must elect leaders who commit to protecting life, defunding unethical wars and redirecting resources towards fixing major gaps in the justice system, ensuring and legislating equality in education, housing, etc. caring for the sick (those without healthcare), the needy (the unemployed and underemployed), the poor (taking a stab at reducing poverty rates. the first step would be finding better ways to measure poverty), and the orphan (children remain the most vulnerable group in this country, and are obviously disproportionately represented in poverty stats), etc. a country where people serve in the name of Christ, regardless of the response to Christ. a place where people are loved and prayed for, despite our differences...you know, that whole they'll know we're christians by our love thing...and not all our crazy.
additionally, "christian" is becoming such an empty term. i'm currently reading an awesome book that's an account of what life was like in the early christian church, specifically during the roman empire. christians were an underground group and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ was to assure death by upside down crucifixion, thrown into the lions den, or burned alive, like some of the apostles in the new testament were subject to. today, we have have people like lady gaga calling herself a christian.
my problem with donald goes even further. in this interview he claims there is a muslim problem of extremism that the koran teaches, not realizing that he represents the very same christian fundamental extremism through misinterpreting or misrepresenting scripture and what it commands. the only difference is that islamic fundamentalism manifests itself in al-qaeda because al-qaeda is a fixture in that region of the world; a means through which forms of islamic fundamentalism can be expressed. in this country, christian fundamentalism is expressed via vitriol, congressional hearings, and the westboro baptist church.
either way, i'm excited for what the 2012 presidential elections are gonna produce. now, if only i could have a mashup of jim wallis, mike hukabee (the pastor, not the politics), and new deal-era FDR, sprinkled with a little majora carter and john maynard keynes, i'd be straight. meh, a girl can dream...
