I have been fascinated with the office of the President since college, as well as the virtues of truth and decency, and lastly deconstructing my faith journey, the last 9 years has been rough. It's been rough on everyone, including Trump supporters. They are angry and have their reasons but obviously at this point, what he spews must be their belief system. Trump denigrates his enemies using bigotry, misogyny, racism and sexism all of which has been on display in our faces for a decade now and yet this is all okay. Let's add his multiple illegal and corrupt activities for decades and his bent to fascism. He's working hard to stay out of prison. Trump KNEW whom his "people" were, who would never turn their back on him. So many of us have waited years as his behavior has worsened for Trumpers to change their minds. Staying with him has always been unfathomable and honestly the biggest disappointment is the support of him by Christians.
I'll get to that later.
Oh and our children are watching.
I kept waiting and waiting for Nixon era type Republicans who asked him to step down after Watergate to step up but that type of Republican does not exist anymore. Liz Cheney, US Military Commanders, 700 current and former National Security Advisors and Republicans leaving or no longer in office, thankfully, do exist and have stood up.
There is a lot of fear stoked, as Trump preaches gloom and doom, hate, revenge in his current word salad. I equally have fear and doom with the thought of a Trump presidency with no guardrails and a packed Supreme Court that was not properly vetted. There is free reign for the President with immunity. Who would Trump bring with him to the office? Who would be the guardrails? Many of Trump's original hires, which were second and third tier "regular" Republican party, went to prison or were fired because the narcissist doesn't listen to reason. His VP was fired because Trump tried to have him killed in the insurrection because Pence was doing his job. And now with Trump showing obvious mental and physical decline, JD Vance and Project 2025 could really take over. Do you want to retain medicare and social security? Vance is scary because he might actually pass legislation which Trump really couldn't do because he flies by the seat of his pants (and ego) and has no capacity for coercing bipartisan support.
The list of grievances against Trump is so long, one cannot keep it short, but I'm going to try.
One of the issues that speaks the most to me as the mother of two college aged daughters is his lie of "being a supporter of women." He loves women, the same ones he cheated on, has sexually assaulted and grabbed by the pussy. He and his henchpersons have overturned Roe v Wade and now allow women to die in parking lots because doctors fear retribution. They force female children, victims of rape and incest to have babies. Childbirth has always been risky and through more advanced medical practices, less women and babies have died over the decades, but not anymore. Maternal death is on the rise.
Abortion is healthcare. Abortion is healthcare that women need. Miscarriage, ectopic pregnancies, fetal abnormalities, maternal life endangerment are all reasons for removal of the fetus and/or to keep the woman alive. If men were the ones to bear children, this would absolutely not be happening.
I thought that the Pro-Life movement was about saving fetuses. But as Republican legislatures have enacted their laws, that is just not the case for them. It is about control. Certain legislatures including Louisiana don't care about rape or incest victims of any age. Some want to take birth control, Plan B, lifesaving Mifepristone medication off the table and into a locked box. They want to track women going to another state to access abortion care, and put them in jail. Others are waiting with baited breath to charge the first doctor. This is an attack on women. Trump says women love it, one of his many, many, many lies. As a woman who went through infertility, and the mother of daughters, we can't go back! Today, a woman miscarrying, or who is told horrible news about their unborn baby, they then have to navigate both the loss of the infant and trying to go out of state increasing emotional, physical and financial burdens and a risk of dying.
If it was about life, military assault rifles would be banned and background checks would actually occur. In 1994 when they were banned, deaths went down. When the assault ban expired in 2004, deaths went up. Also, it is not a black and white issue, it is a both/and issue. You can keep your non-assault rifles and handguns while reducing the number of ones that do the most damage. It is common sense.
Now to Christians who support Trump. This is the BEST sermon below by a Texas House of Representatives Democrat, James Talerico. It is the voice that I have wanted to hear for a very long time. The below video is 19 minutes long, here are the highlights: "Christian Nationalists have turned the Son of God, a humble rabbi into a gun toting, gay bashing, science denying, money loving, fear mongering fascist."
Continuing Rep Talerico's words: "Christian nationalists walk around with a mouthful of scripture and a heart full of hate. Don't tell me what you believe. Show me how you treat other people and I'll tell you what you believe. Jesus didn't tell us to love our churches. He didn't tell us to love our doctrines and our creeds. He didn't even tell us to love our scriptures. He told us to love our neighbors, and there was no exception to that commandment. Love thy neighbor, regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, or immigration status."
He continues a little later: "You know what's interesting, not once in the entire Bible does Jesus ask us to worship him. All he asks is that we follow him. Love like he loved. Love the outcast. Welcome the stranger. Feed the hungry. Heal the sick. Free the oppressed. As the hymn says, 'they will know we are Christians by our love.' We have to get back to that."
Our children are watching.