This post has gone through a lot of changes since I wrote it just after the 2016 U.S. elections. Sometimes I edit my posts when I find typos or a lack of clarity. But this post is different. I wrote it about a particular U.S. political leader, a leader who rapidly used his position to become less and less the person I hoped he might be, and more and more the sort of person I can't support.
As time went on, it became clear that what I originally wrote here no longer applied. I wondered what to do about this post. I thought about deleting the whole thing. But then I decided to use all the changes as a reminder that's it's okay for spiritual people to pay attention to what's going on in the world and to have opinions about political events. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's essential for spiritual people to notice when leaders are sowing seeds hatred instead of courage. So now this post is a series of thoughts that are in reverse order, starting with my most recent impressions and working backwards to January 2021.
 |
| In
2021, after I moved into a new home, I discovered this plaster plaque
had snapped in half during the moving process. I reminds me of what
happens inside the brain of a person who has abandoned his or
her own conscience. Angels stop gathering with you. Angels have free will, and although they always love
you and forgive you, they aren't obliged to help you if you're
voting for world leaders who know only Hatred. Photo credit JAT 2021. |
Addendum March 1, 2025: I wrote this short piece for an online forum. It expresses how I'm feeling about the current U.S. political swamp, so I'm adding it to this post. For context, I'm writing about the disastrous Oval Office meeting that took place between Trump 2.0, Vice-President Vance, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 28, 2025.
So yesterday afternoon, I decided it would be nice to lie down on my
sofa and have a bit of a rest after lunch. The sun was peeking out after
a long, heavy, winter rain, and I thought, "Yes, it can't hurt to have a
nap."
And while I was sleeping, Trump and Vance decided it was a good time to try to wreck the whole world.
I'm tired of hearing Trump say he wants the war in Ukraine to end
because "millions of people are dying." If he cared at all about the
lives of regular people, he wouldn't have chosen the dogs of hellfire to
be his closest advisors.
The lies, the hypocrisy, the projection onto others of all his own venom
-- these are the traits of a human being who has given up any semblance
of decency, compassion, courage, and self-awareness.
Some commentators have suggested it would have been better if the
conversation between Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance had taken place behind
closed doors. I disagree. Bullies, narcissists, and psychopaths adore
secrecy, because secrecy allows them to deny they ever violated anyone.
Because it was all caught on film, individuals can now decide for
themselves what they saw, what they learned, and what side of the debate
they resonate with. Regardless of what one believed the day before
yesterday about these three men, there's no unseeing the real intents
that emerged in the Oval Office yesterday.
It's better that we know and keep remembering what we all saw (even though it's triggering for far too many people).
___________________________________________________
Addendum posted November 2, 2024: Today, I'm doing something I've never done before. I've decided to delete the entire post I originally wrote on November 11, 2016. I'm deleting it because the election campaign of 2024 has taught me that vehement supporters of Donald Trump are willing to embrace any lies he tells them. These supporters have abandoned their own conscience and their own inner voice. They've decided they shouldn't have to take personal responsibility for their own choices. Many seem happy to follow any conspiracy theory rather than do the hard work of finding meaning through the Soul's courage.
If I leave the original post intact,
it will be misused. And those who want to misuse it will get away with
it because far-right Trump supporters aren't interested in the moral
code taught by Jesus. They're trying to grow a very different kind of
religious tree, one rooted in purity, piety, and perfection. They
believe the glorification of Trump will bring about some sort of utopian
restoration. They believe all their lies and all their violent,
misogynistic rhetoric are justified because their goal is so worthy.
They are wrong.
________________________________________________
Addendum posted January 3, 2024: Because of recent changes in how individuals tend to read online posts and use -- or rather, misuse
-- posts (by taking bits and pieces out of context and using catchy
phrases to support their personal crusades), I want to say right up
front, before you get to the paragraphs I wrote in November 2016, that I
do not support former President Donald Trump in any way on any topic.
Nor am I likely to ever change my mind. He is a coward -- a bullying,
narcissistic, selfish coward.
In 2016, I didn't have
the evidence to support or condone a flat out, across the board
denunciation of the personality and policies of Donald Trump. But since
the January 6, 2021 violence on Capitol Hill, Trump has, through his own
words and actions, provided abundant proof about the kind of man he
really is. Today, I wouldn't vote for him if he were the last person in
Christendom.
Following this addendum is the post I originally
wrote over seven years ago. You can decide for yourself whether Trump
believes he's been elevated to the status of God.
________________________________________________
Addendum posted January 13. 2021: It's been a bit over 4 years since I wrote this post, and, during this time, a lot has changed. The entire world has been dealing with the unexpected travails of the novel coronavirus we call COVID-19. And the United States has again struggled with an election where a man named Donald Trump has forced a debate about the soul.
I'm writing this addendum on the day the U.S. House of Representatives is going to vote on a motion to impeach Trump for inciting insurrection. I hope the vote succeeds.
Over the past four years, Trump has shown with increasing clarity that he has no courage. He doesn't have the courage to listen to his own soul, let alone the souls of millions of Americans who needed a courageous leader during the 2020 pandemic, but instead found themselves saddled with someone who could only think about his own loss of Happiness when he lost the fall election.
On the plus side, people from both the
Democratic and Republican parties have been appalled by the barrage of
lies spewed by Trump and his closest supporters, lies that directly
incited violence on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. America has been
forced to see the ugly side of rhetoric, personality cults, and
dualistic political mongering -- all negative aspects of System 2 when
left unchecked by System 1.
It's a lesson we all should have learned from 20th century history, but apparently we needed a refresher.
| __________________________________________________ |
