President Trump.
PRESIDENT TRUMP!
It’s gonna take me a while to get used to that.
It’s no secret I’ve never been a fan of DT. I find his manner, his arrogance, his misogyny, his xenophobia, his racist rants – all offensive.
But regardless of what I think, he will be the next President of the United States of America, and the de-facto leader of the free world. Because make no mistake, when America sneezes, the whole world catches a cold.
Now, I am certainly no economist or politician, and this blog is not about whether I think he’s gonna do a good job or not. Only time will tell us that. What I want to know is – How in the world did voting for Trump become “the Christian vote”?
For me the travesty is not that Trump won, the travesty is that 81% of white Christians voted for him, I think because of this?
But how does being on the red side equate to being Christian?
This is where it gets weird. Because life and faith and belief cannot (and should not) be divided into a red or a blue column. Jesus was a refugee, immigrant, non-white, pro-life, pacifist, who said put down your guns and spent most of his life serving the marginalised minorities. He doesn’t fit into either column. He never has. That’s why they crucified him.
I myself am pro-life, but I am also against a strong funded military and against strong immigration laws (based on what I believe the Bible says about these things). So what does that make me? Certainly not the authority on all things biblical, but why can’t I be a bit of both? Why does it have to be so polarised?
This is the great deception.
Yet we are determined to insist on this false dualism.
We consume media that fits our perspective, interact with people on social media who agree with us – leaving no understanding of the other – all the while fostering a “you’re either for us or against us” mentality that forces people to extremes because it eliminates the middle ground.
Now I get it, people in the States are tired of the political machine. Country folk think their way of life is disappearing. And they’re right. The other side is not dumb, and there is a smugness in American liberalism we could all do without. Voting for Trump was a big F-you to the liberal bourgeois elite and a desperate cry for change. I get it. We vote for change when we’re in pain. And when I watched the election last night, I didn’t see a bunch of idiots voting to be hateful – I saw a bunch of people going through a lot of suffering hoping for something better.
So, for what it’s worth, here is my prediction:
Trump will do a great job.
In the same way that President Snow did a great job of running the CAPITAL.
You had to be there.
If you haven’t watched the “Hunger Games” films that statement would have made no sense. And neither will the rest. But it is a helpful metaphor.
Trump will do a great job.
For the CAPITAL.
For the privileged.
For the powerful.
For the grasshoppers.
Not for the ants.
And those of us who live in the Capital (i.e. you earn more than $5 a day and have access to electricity and running water) – we will have much ammunition to throw at the naysayers who said he couldn’t do it.
“Look, Trump has made things better!” we will say. “Things here are great. In the Capital. For us.”
Meanwhile, in District 13 (emerging markets, Africa, minority groups worldwide etc.) things will have gotten worse. A whole lot worse.
Because in our Western Capitalist system more often than not (almost always) progress in the “Capital” happens on the back of other’s suffering. And here’s my point:
Jesus was a District 13 guy. And His Kingdom belongs to District 13 people.
Actually it belongs to ALL of us. Which means we in the Capital have to make sure our plans for prosperity include ALL the other districts too.
But I could be wrong.
Lord Jesus, let me be wrong.
President Trump. Please prove me wrong.
Almost 60 million people voted for you – and they’re not all crazy, uneducated or hateful. If your first speech is anything to go by, there is hope. It was laced with grace and humility, unlike much of your campaign rhetoric up till now.
Serve the poor. Fight for the marginalised. The widow, the orphan, the foreigner. Instil policies that help the ants, not just the grasshoppers. Come up with plans for prosperity that include EVERYONE.
And because we all know what you do affects us all, don’t just make America great.
Make the world great.
Don’t be President Snow.
Be better.
Be President Trump.
I’ll be praying for you.
