We'd Nail Him Up Again

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. -Matthew 5:7

It was March 31, 1968. Martin Luther King stood in the Canterbury Pulpit in the Washington National Cathedral and delivered his last Sunday sermon. It was titled “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution." “We are coming to Washington in a Poor People’s Campaign,” King said, adding, “We are not coming to engage in any histrionic gesture. We are not coming to tear up Washington. We are coming to demand that the government address itself to the problem of poverty.” He referred to racial injustice as “the Black man’s burden and the White man’s shame.” After the sermon, he told reporters that he would not support LBJ for reelection. (King had come out against the Vietnam war, and was fed up that more had not been done to alleviate poverty.)

Seeking justice, demanding that the government address poverty...unsurprisingly, many thought that was too political for a church sermon. He would add at the press conference that if the social unrest of the times continued, it would lead to a right-wing or fascist takeover of the United States.

Later that same evening, LBJ announced to the nation that he would not seek a second term. Martin Luther King was assassinated 4 days later.

You have by now read or even seen Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde deliver her sermon for the inaugural prayer service on Tuesday from the same imposing pulpit that MLK occupied 57 years earlier. The leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington closed her sermon by addressing the newly inaugurated Trump directly.

She was certainly no firebrand in her demeanor. The Bishop spoke softly, but like the namesake of her religion, her quiet words were heard as revolutionary.

“Let me make one final plea, Mr. President. I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here." She would add, "Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were once strangers in this land."

Bishop Budde would add that “the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.” She referred to them as “good neighbors” and “faithful members” of religious communities. Over a dozen religious leaders spoke during the interfaith service, including those from Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu traditions.

Trump looked away from her. You can only imagine that the author of the book, “How We Learn to Be Brave," (which criticized Trump directly,) a female bishop, an advocate for social justice in the vein of MLK, and an authentic Christian willing to preach a Gospel message directed at him, made him seethe.

He would later call her a “Radical Left hard-line Trump hater” on his Truth Social site. He demanded that she apologize.

In an interview with the Times, the Bishop claimed that “I wasn’t necessarily calling the president out. I was trying to say, ‘The country has been entrusted to you,’” Bishop Budde said. “And one of the qualities of a leader is mercy, right? Mercy. And to be mindful of the people who are scared.”

She is, naturally, now receiving death threats. "I’m not sure they have threatened to kill me, but they seemed to be pleased if I met my eternal destiny sooner, rather than later,” she told Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. She told Time Magazine, “I am not going to apologize for asking for mercy for others."

In many evangelical faiths, especially the ones among Trump's religious supporters, the concepts of "sin" and "brokenness" and how man is inherently sinful in nature are core themes. Firebrand preachers like Franklin Graham are known to castigate their congregation (and the general public,) call for repentance, and threaten everyone with God's judgment and wrath. Evangelicals are called to repent of their wickedness, avoid temptation and evil, and atone for their fallen ways.

Bishop Budde did none of that. She didn't berate, accuse, or condemn the so-called "Christian" president or anyone else. She simply begged for mercy. Mercy for the LGBT community who fear that they're in danger as their rights are being stripped from them. Mercy for immigrants and their families who are under the threat of deportation. Mercy for victims of war.

It was little different in the time of the Christ. He preached for his followers to love and care for the sick, the lame, the poor, the outcasts, widows, orphans, tax collectors (!), prostitutes, and yes, immigrants. He told them that they had to love their enemies. Beyond loving God, believers were instructed to "Love your neighbor as yourself." He was pretty clear that "neighbor" was an all-encompassing definition.

But you knew this. Even if you weren't in the children's choir, didn't memorize your catechism, or attend youth group or adult bible study, you know the foundation of Christianity - that whole 'love your neighbor' thing.

In less than a week, the good Christian Trump has displayed nothing but cruelty. The Bishop's instincts were right to ask for mercy, but her prayer for compassion has not been made manifest in the 47th president of the United States.

This list is not exhaustive, I don't want to exhaust you. But in only a few days, Saint Trump has accomplished quite a lot:

• Halted the Equal Opportunity Employment Act.

• Announced a hiring freeze on all federal jobs.
Through a series of executive orders, Trump announced a total hiring freeze on federal jobs, except for law enforcement, security, and immigration enforcement. The understood goal is to weed out any employees who were hired as a result of DEI initiatives. Federal employees received emails Wednesday warning that they could face consequences if they do not report on co-workers who obtained their jobs as a result of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs.
There are already hundreds of stories about people being caught in the middle. Job offers are being rescinded as new hires have left old jobs and invested money in moving, often with their families in tow.
To be fair, Trump is known for his famous catchphrase, "You're fired." Unless you're white, I guess.

• The administration has unleashed the ICE goons who got busy rounding up undocumented immigrants. They claim that they are going for aliens who are criminals or suspected of criminal activity. Already, there are complaints about false arrests and detentions of American citizens.

• He signed an executive order saying that U.S. policy would "recognize two sexes, male and female."

• While touring hurricane-damaged NC Trump assured residents, "I’ll also be signing an executive order to begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA, or maybe getting rid of FEMA. … I think we’re going to recommend that FEMA go away.” Just what storm victims wanted to hear, I'm sure.

• At his orders, the security details for John Bolton and Mike Pompeo were pulled. Both men have active death threats against them from Iran, in retaliation for air strikes that took place in the earlier Trump administration. They have both since severely criticized the president.
“There is only one reason Trump pulled the security off Pompeo and Bolton…to put them in danger for “crossing him.” To send a message to anyone else who would oppose.  Both have active death threats from Iran.
All to intimidate. This is the opposite of a real man of God. This is evil." -former (R) Rep. Adam Kinzinger

• Paused disbursements to a program supplying H.I.V. treatment worldwide.
Pepfar, which is estimated to have delivered lifesaving treatment to as many as 25 million people in 54 countries, faces a funding delay of as long as 180 days. Trump has directed ALL government divisions with foreign development assistance programs to stop disbursing funds to countries and organizations until they can be reviewed.

• JD Vance told the National Conservatism Conference, "The professors are the enemy."

• Federal agencies were ordered to pause spending of Inflation Reduction Act, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds.

• Trump ousted at least 15 independent inspectors general in an overnight purge. The IGs are tasked with independently monitoring government agencies -  identifying fraud, waste and abuse. Nearly every cabinet-level inspector was fired. Even a few that Trump had appointed. The IGs are supposed to be able to function independently of political control and objectively monitor their agencies. It's a no-brainer that they will be replaced with loyal, mindless, apparatchiks.
The firings run afoul of the Inspector General Act, which requires the president to notify Congress 30 days prior to the removal of an inspector general, as well as requiring a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons." The president doesn't seem too concerned about protocol, however.

A close friend of mine recently retired from the NWS. He and his colleagues love their work and are serious about public safety and providing data/information that keeps the economy humming. I remember when Trump 45 drew his little Sharpie pen as he freehanded his personal prediction of where Hurricane Dorian might hit in 2019. He stated that Alabama (along with a couple of other southern states) might be in the hurricane's path, a prediction that did not align with the NWS prediction... apparently it was just a tossed-off comment. The NWS assured the public that the storm landfall probabilities did not include Alabama. After much confusion at the agency, Trump doubled down and insisted that it was. He went so far as to take a Sharpie pen and redraw a predicted storm path on a weather map. He also demanded that the Weather Service retract their reports which did not include Alabama. It was ludicrous. The NWS and their scientists were humiliated and of course, faced threats from the MAGAts.

As hiring was halted this week, my buddy wrote this:

This is what my agency is facing...a hiring freeze. From what I hear, many offices are already significantly understaffed. This will incur great hardship on existing employees trying to supply the excellent services you (the public) receive from the National Weather Service. I've been through a number of these freezes (both as an operational employee and as a mid-level manager in charge of dealing with the freeze). This is NOT efficient government. IT IS GOVERNMENT W/O A PLAN. A significant amount of resources will be needed just to deal with the freeze instead of directed at providing public service, and it will hit employee morale hard.

Beyond the chaos, there is an element of cruelty in each of these, and the many more directives and executive orders by Good Christian Trump. Even if you were to agree that immigration was a serious problem - a civilized debate worth having - we're back to forcefully separating families, disrupting local businesses, and taking parents away from their children. Detention camps are being built around the border. Are your papers in order?

No suggestion of arrest, imprisonment, or even fines for business owners that hire undocumented workers. It's the nation's dirty secret: we can't do without them. But to keep the promise to the racists and white "Christian" nationalists, it's good theater to make some poor immigrants suffer... send them "home"...

And meanwhile, let's wreck the economy.

It is instinctive to call the Bishop courageous. And in the context of what we've become as a nation, she was. If, for the last twenty or thirty years, ministers could have reinforced the Gospel message, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me," we might not have grown into this hateful, divided country.

But few delivered that message. Whether clergy enjoyed the feeling of power in bending and twisting the Christ's message to suit the crowd, or whether they were worried about keeping their jobs and pensions by speaking out... religion abhors a vacuum. The Christian "brand" was co-opted by the ultra-right and became one of the warrior Jesus - anti-LGBT, anti-abortion (two topics He never mentioned,) and anti-immigrant (exactly opposite of the written Word.) Worst of all, within the church there have been decades of sexual abuse of minors accompanied by institutional coverups of those heinous crimes.

“I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President."

Trump believes that mercy and compassion are nothing more than a woke political position designed to antagonize him. According to Christian scripture, that's the same reaction that the Roman authorities had in AD 33. In collusion with the governor of Judea, the chief priests and the elders persuaded the easily persuadable crowd to demand the execution of Jesus.

“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now."

Mercy. Grace. Compassion.

Trump demanded an apology from Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde and her church. His crowd heard his signal and threatened the Bishop with her life.

Knowing this is to know that if He returned today, we would nail him up again.