I recently made the case for Donald Trump because the thought
of a Hillary Clinton presidency disgusts me.
Her avarice, mendacity and secular humanism drive her to grotesque
positions about life, faith, and about the use (abuse) of power. However,
while the latest revelation that Trump made crude comments about women is not
truly revealing or startling, Mr. Trump’s failure to make a humble and
heartfelt plea that he’s changed (or trying to change) is. I repent of my previous acceptance of Trump.
Understand, my change of heart isn't due to the revelation
that 11 years ago Trump said and/or did something crude. Nothing in
Trump's past would surprise me. Then
again, nothing from anyone’s past ought to surprise me. My own past is not pristine. But part
of the Christian mindset has to be a willingness to forgive those who truly
repent. Whatever one might argue about
George W. Bush, his bouts with alcoholism and drug use and his repentance for
those failures say much of his character.
I guess I have continued to hope (obviously hopelessly) that Trump might
follow a similar path, acknowledge his past sins, and ask forgiveness not only
from those he specifically hurt, but of the American public in general. Our shared American heritage derives from
Christianity, whether some wish to admit this or not, and we love it when
someone sincerely begs our pardon. My
Dad always told me that if Richard Nixon had immediately come forward upon
learning of the Watergate break in and had apologized and demanded those who
acted be brought to justice, he would have remained President. It was the cover up, not the break in, that
killed his presidency. The truth is we
Americans are a generally forgiving group and we respect sincere apologies.
Trump’s past moral failures are not, in themselves, the measure of the man – nor are anyone’s past
failures the measure of them. Thank God
this is true. Paul said that he was “forgetting
what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” Philippians 3:13. So crude remarks made years ago are, alone, an insufficient basis for
rejecting his candidacy, particularly when so much is on the line. However, Trump’s attitude is a basis for rejecting him. My previous arguments in favor of voting for
Trump did not suggest Trump’s character made him palatable; quite the opposite,
I was careful to note his character was lacking. Yet, I continued to believe that despite his
character flaws, a Clinton presidency meant things that were intolerable,
especially to evangelical Christians. At
least, I thought, a Trump presidency offered some glimmer of hope that some of
that “basket of intolerables” Clinton clearly offered could be avoided.
Like so many others, I now find myself unable to continue
defending the notion of voting for Trump.
The rift with the Republicans points to an inarguable difficulty
governing. His unwillingness to even
attempt to humor us with some fake contrition suggests a lack of conscience on
par with Mrs. Clinton’s. She has
blithely lied to the FBI, then lied about what the FBI was saying about her,
she shrugged her shoulders about Benghazi, covered up her husband’s many
indiscretions with women, made clear her contempt and disdain for those she
deems beneath her, and has no regard for the value of human life, especially if
that life happens to reside with a woman’s uterus. Trump’s moral failures fall elsewhere, but
they are no less egregious.
What is pathetically absurd is this was a golden opportunity
for Trump to seal the deal. If he is so
impervious to the obvious, then it is clear he cannot run the country with the
kind of alacrity required of the leader of the free world. The obvious is that if he had hung his head a
bit, admitted what a rotten scoundrel he had been in the past, claimed to have
changed (or at least offered that he was working hard on becoming a better
man), all would have been forgiven except by those who wouldn’t vote for him anyway. Plus, it would make Clinton’s shenanigans
look even more despicable because she’ll never take that step. This was a GIFT, not a disaster.
Unfortunately, Trump just got Trumpier. He tweets more. He blames more. He disparages more. He overblows more. He scowls more. And he just lost at least one more vote.
I suggest we add this word to the language: trumpier:
adjective – Describing the quality of making a situation worse by doing the
opposite of what would ordinarily be helpful.
(Joe lost his cool when the officer told him to stop talking. Instead of shutting up, he got trumpier and
got himself arrested over a simple speeding ticket).
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