 In the past I have written that I have disqualified Donald Trump from consideration for the presidency due to his character flaws and lack of moral integrity. Nearly half of the American electorate, including many Christians disagree with me. Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States with over 63% of Americans identifying as such. In the latest national polls approximately 47% of registered voters support Donald Trump for president. Most of these voters are Christians who can separate Trump’s moral failings from his policies. I believe in the separation of church and state and have never voted for anyone because of their religious affiliation or beliefs. But the values I learned from my Christian upbringing are so opposed to Donald Trump’s lies and rhetoric that I would have to cast aside my foundational principles as a Christian to support him.  Trumpism: Volumes have already been written in the few short years that the MAGA movement and Trumpism have taken hold of the Republican Party. It has been equated to right-wing populism, Christian nationalism, national conservatism, authoritarianism, and even neo-fascism. Trump may indeed have certain tendencies which puts him into one or more of these political ideologies, but he really doesn’t have a political philosophy. Trumpism is simply a political movement that supports Donald Trump, and he will align himself with any group that supports him, and then coopt their views as his own. Rather than having a political philosophy, Trump has a moral philosophy which he learned from his friend and lawyer Roy Cohn. Trump learned from Cohn that in business and in life, in order to win you must “Attack, attack, attack. Admit nothing, deny everything. No matter what happens, you claim victory, and never admit defeat.” This philosophy of Trump’s is at the root of his conflict with Christian values.  Christianity: I am not a theologian, but I was born and raised a Catholic. I have come to believe that being a Christian doesn’t require affiliation with a particular church, but it requires a belief in and the practice of the teachings of Jesus Christ. Christianity in America encompasses a diverse group of people from many different backgrounds, beliefs and churches. One thing that binds most of these groups together is the teachings of Jesus Christ as written in the New Testament. The teachings that I remember are those found in “The Gospel According to Matthew”, particularly the teachings known as the “Sermon on the Mount”. Before examining how Trump’s campaign rhetoric has diverged from Christian values and norms it is important to review some of the teachings of Jesus, which are foundational to Christianity.  Christian Values: This is just a partial list of Jesus’ teachings. Many of these are familiar to Christians and non-Christians, and also appear in the writings of other religions.
 Jesus also taught about the importance of following the ten commandments. The most relevant commandment for our discussion of Trumpism is “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” To bear false witness against others is to lie about them, and the word “neighbor” as written in the English translations of the bible means an associate, brother, neighbor, companion, fellow, friend, husband, or anyone else. Jesus taught us to be good neighbors to others, to be kind and generous, to help those in need, to be forgiving, to be humble and honest. How do these teachings square with our understanding of Trumpism and the words and deeds of Donald Trump?  Can a Vote for Trump be Morally Justified: The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant, and second largest Christian organization in the United States. In 1998 it wrote about the candidacy of Bill Clinton in a resolution which stated that “۰۰۰moral character matters to God and should matter to all citizens, especially God’s people, when choosing public leaders.” The resolution further urged “۰۰۰all Americans to embrace and act on the conviction that character does count in public office, and to elect those officials and candidates who, although imperfect, demonstrate consistent honest, moral purity and the highest character.” Twenty-six years after many conservative Christian organizations spoke out against the moral failings of Bill Clinton, how is it that they can now support Donald Trump who falls much lower on the moral purity scale? I don’t consider myself a conservative Christian and will not attempt to justify something that I don’t understand. All I can do is assess the words and deeds of Donald Trump which speak to the character of the man who may very well be the next president of our country.  The Violation of Christian Values: In the final days of the 2024 presidential race, the violation of Christian values by Donald Trump are on full display. He tells lies and spreads false rumors to instill fear, divide the American people, and denigrate a large segment of our population. He calls immigrants rapists, murderers, and blood thirsty criminals “poisoning the blood of our country”. Trump uses rhetoric such as, “the Haitians are eating the pets” to promote hate and set people against one another. He portrays America as a country in decline, ravished by criminal gangs of illegal immigrants. Trump has a record of mistreating women, distaining the rule of law, and undermining public trust in government institutions. He lacks the humility to admit that he lost the 2020 election and continues to push the false claim that the election system is rigged against him. His false claims that the Biden/Harris administration withheld hurricane relief funds from predominately Republican areas, have led to threats of violence against FEMA employees and the closing of FEMA offices. Trump’s lies have led to violence and threats of violence against Capitol police officers, poll workers, elections officials, immigrants in this country legally, and public officials who have attempted to hold him accountable for his actions. Trump has promised retribution against those who have wronged him and to use the power of the presidency to punish those who disagree with him. He has vilified his political opponents by calling them the “enemy within” our country and has suggested that he will use the military if necessary to crush them. Are these examples of love for one’s neighbor, kindness and compassion towards others, forgiveness, humility, and not judging others? Well, the answer goes without saying.  Trump is Not Pro-Life: For decades many conservatives supported the Republican Party due to its pro-life stance. Trump was hailed as a hero in conservative circles for appointing three Supreme Court justices who supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But Trump is an unprincipled man who has changed his views on abortion several times to fit the prevailing political winds. Evangelicals and other conservative Christians have supported Trump over the years because he was the pro-life candidate. But it is difficult to reconcile that support with Trump’s shifting position in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe. Trump now claims to be the champion of women’s reproductive rights. He is against a national abortion ban and has called Florida’s six-week abortion ban “too harsh” and “a terrible mistake”. Will this cause conservative Christian voters to withhold their support for Trump? We will know in a few short weeks.  I have made my views on Donald Trump crystal clear during this election cycle. As I have expressed in a previous blog, character counts in the selection of any candidate for public office. My views on the character traits that I feel are important in a candidate were formed by my Catholic upbringing and the teachings of Jesus Christ. That is why I question the morality of supporting and putting into power a man who has hate in his heart, is vengeful, and lacks humility and integrity. Donald Trump has told conservative Christian groups that he “loves Christians” and will defend them against the radical-left. Even for Trump that is a wildly self-serving proposition. If he truly wants to align himself with Christians and their values, I suggest that he reads the Bible rather than hawking his own “God Bless the USA” Bible. One final piece of advice for Donald Trump, “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you”.   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 When Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate a lot of people were left scratching their heads. Anyone watching last week’s vice-presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz now has a better understanding of Vance’s strengths. Vance was poised, polished, smart and an articulate defender of Donald Trump and his policies. He was clearly the best debater on stage that night, but more importantly he presented himself, and by extension Donald Trump, as reasoned, rational and well within the mainstream. He clearly did his job of “sanewashing” the Trump ticket, and that is what troubles me.  The term “sanewashing” has been around for a few years, but it entered the political lexicon this year in the craziness of the 2024 presidential election. It has come to mean the act of packaging or massaging radical and outrageous statements in a way that makes them sound normal. News outlines covering Trump have been accused of this. In some cases it is a purposeful attempt to present Trump in a more favorable light, and in other cases it is simply to help the intended audience make sense of his ramblings. In either case it creates a misleading picture of Trump to the public and sanitizes what can only be categorized as unhinged, delusional and the utterances of an unwell man.  In the hands of J.D. Vance, the concept of sanewashing has been taken to a new level. He has the ability to spin, distort, and deflect in such a way that overcomes any criticism of Trump, casting a favorable light on any of his discredited policies. The vice-presidential debate highlighted the dangers of an articulate Trump enabler like J.D. Vance. Vance’s performance attempted to rewrite the history of the first Trump administration and normalize a deeply flawed candidate who doesn’t have a coherent plan to lead the country forward in a dangerous world.  J.D. Vance may have won the debate on delivery, but he lost it on substance. Most of what he said sounded good, but it doesn’t hold up to close examination. If you are interested in a fact-check of the debate, I refer you to the CBS News’ analysis. I’m not claiming that everything that Walz said was 100% accurate. But the difference is that Walz’s inaccuracies pertained mostly to his own personal history, while those of Vance were misleading or false statements about Donald Trump and his policies.  Here are the most important inaccuracies uttered by Vance that all voters should consider: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: Also know as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, it was signed into law in 2010 and was the crowning achievement of the Obama Administration. This law represented the most significant overhaul and expansion of the U.S. health system since 1965, providing affordable healthcare coverage to tens of millions of Americans. It was opposed by all Congressional Republicans, who have vowed to repeal and replace it every year since its inception. In the debate Vance claimed that Trump had “salvaged” the ACA, saying that “۰۰۰when Obamacare was crushing under the weight of its own regulatory burden and healthcare costs, Donald Trump could have destroyed the program. Instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care.” This statement was blatantly false. Trump was no champion of the ACA; in fact, he was just the opposite. He did everything in his power to dismantle the program which millions of Americans depend on for affordable health care. During his 2016 presidential campaign Trump vowed to repeal and replace the ACA. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order which proclaimed: “It is the policy of my Administration to seek the prompt repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” Throughout his term Trump pushed Congress to repeal the ACA, with little success. To undermine the law, Trump cut funding for advertising and outreach programs for the ACA and reduced subsidies to insurance companies for low-income enrollees. Trump still doesn’t have a healthcare plan that would replace the ACA and admitted as much in his September debate with Kamala Harris.  Peaceful Transfer of Power: The biggest takeaway from the debate for me was that Vance refused to acknowledge that Trump had lost the 2020 election. This came after Vance claimed that Trump had peacefully handed over the reins of presidential power to Joe Biden. Here is what Vance said, “It’s really rich for Democratic leaders to say that Donald Trump is a unique threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power on January 20th.” This is a dangerous revision of what actually happened in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.  The transfer of power from the Trump Administration to the Biden Administration took place in a city under siege. Thousands of troops lined the streets and miles of fences restricted access to the grounds of the Capitol. This all took place in the aftermath of Trump’s failed attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election. It was not the peaceful transfer of power that Vance claimed.  After losing the 2020 presidential election, Trump convinced millions of his supporters that the election had been stolen. This led to hundreds of election workers and state officials being threatened with violence. The life of Vice President Mike Pence was threatened for refusing to assist Trump in overturning the results of the election. The Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, resulted in over 150 Capitol police officers being injured and the lives of at least seven people were lost. No Mr. Vance, the transfer of presidential power was not peaceful!  Vance did a great job during the debate of sanitizing Donald Trump’s record and sanewashing his often incoherent ramblings. But he doesn’t believe any of it, and neither should you. It was very self-serving. Vance is looking to his own political future and Trump is the most expedient way to move it forward. If you enjoy reading this type of commentary, please subscribe to my blog and tell a friend. You will receive an email notification when new blogs are posted. The email will come from the site’s email: armchairamerican1776@gmail.com.
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