The sitting President of the United States just referred to an elected member of Congress from Minnesota as "garbage." By now, this, of course, is not news. By now, what this should have been is an outrage, an unacceptable, unAmerican, unpatriotic, anti-Christian statement that should have generated immediate and forceful censureship from the Republican Party, because he claims to be one of them. From them, silence, which is to be expected, given their moral bankruptcy and their lack of patriotic American values.
So, too, should there have been immediate condemnation and rebuke from the pulpits of mega church conservative Evangelicals who love the focus of cameras and publicity on them, because such a statement is a direct contradiction of the whole of the Christian gospel, an indictment that can draw support from every word of Christ's sermon on the mount, and every apostolic principle found in the New Testament. It's a statement, directed from one human being to another, that demonstrates the very principle of "anti-Christ [see I John 4:1-3]. From them, too, unfortunately, there is silence, also to be expected, given their apostasy from the Christian gospel and their unprincipled selfishness.
There's a Context Here That Can't be Ignored
Representative Ilhan Omar is an American. She's not a Somalian, she is a citizen of the United States and a member of Congress, elected by the majority of voters in her district, which includes most of the city of Minneapolis. Many of them share her background in common, born in Somalia, being a member of a family who came to the realization that the anarchic country held no future for them, and so, like the ancestors of every single American citizen once also considered, they left to come to the United States.
It's pretty obvious that Omar has gone well beyond expectations in contributing to the progress and good will of the United States. Her appreciation for what she has received from being a citizen of this country is recognized by her gratitude, shown by the sacrifices she makes and work she performs for its protection and its prosperity. Her work has been affirmed by her constituents,, who have elected and re-elected her to serve four times, each time by margins which go far beyond the capability of the numbers of the former Somalians who have earned American citizenship and live in her district to produce.
Name-calling is one of the most petty behaviors in which politicians indulge. It reveals their character, or lack of it, revealing frustration over the fact that the facts do not support their own contentions and they can't win the argument with their opponent. What makes this particular name-calling by Trump especially disgusting, petty, and also ads the elements of being anti-American and anti-Christian to the mix, is that his basis for using the term has to do with Omar's ethnicity and religion. In American idealism, true patriots who understand the reason for this country's existence, and its constitutional democracy and the freedom it protects, do not openly demonstrate such bigotry.
A clear majority of the Minnesotans who reside in the city of Minneapolis and its suburbs that constitute congressional district 5 have the personal integrity and maturity, and this understanding as patriotic Americans, to recognize this. Trump, on the other hand, is demonstrating clearly that he does not.
The Reaction That I Am Expecting, But Will Not See
There are multiple reasons Trump is not qualified to be President, and multiple more reasons that he should be impeached, removed from office, tried for crimes that include sedition against the United States, and imprisoned. But the commission of horrific crimes, none of which would surprise me if they are discovered, is not the only reason he is disqualified from office. This disgusting pettiness, and outright evil attitude and behavior he is demonstrating against a fellow American, because of his religious and racial bigotry, is just as bad.
The lack of a reaction to this particular incident tells me all I need to know about the conservative Evangelical leadership in this country. Their silence betrays their hypocrisy.
There have been some reactions in the media which have been scathing, and on the kind of scale we should expect from a free press. It's a damn shame that the most honest, and appropriate level of condemnation and disgust toward Trump has come from the late night talk show comedians, Kimmel in particular, and from others along the same line like Stephanie Miller. I did a lot of hollering, fist pumping and cheering in my car on the way to work listening to her show the morning after all this came out. And when words fail me, I turn to Rachel Maddow and Jen Psaki, who somehow managed to communicate the anger and frustration I feel almost every time this demagogue opens his mouth.
But it will be next to impossible to find a conservative Evangelical pulpit where the kind of disgust and anger that poured out unrestrained when Charlie Kirk was shot will be coming forth after this display of bigotry and evil by Trump. Most will be silent, and many, in fact, will openly defend him, while most others will silently be cheering him on. They've become skilled haters and bigots, over time. They've had years of practice against blacks, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans.
There have already been, and will continue to be multiple Christian voices speaking out against this slanderous, anti-Christian, unpatriotic bigotry on full display in Trump. This kind of injustice needs to be confronted, at the ballot box, and openly, in the forum of public opinion. Anyone who claims to be a Christian, a follower of Christ, and a believer in the authority of the Bible will find themselves to be in a place which they cannot defend, when they try to justify or defend Trump's statements like this one. They have to completely deny the Christian gospel in order to support Trump, so their response is to withdraw into total silence.
And in so doing, they tell us who they really are, and what they really believe.
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