What if Trump wasn't the lesser of two evils

*Yes, another blog post about Donald Trump, but it has been a while.
** I often let my frustrations come out in ways they should not, so I am not guiltless.

    I don't believe there has been a more polarizing politician in America than Donald Trump. There are so many reasons the party of Christians and conservatives should never have picked him for the GOP nominee, and I still don't understand why he is so loved by conservatives......and especially by Christians.

  For as long as I can remember, morals have been a big deal with what has been called "the religious right." All these years later, they still hold Bill Clinton's sexual acts against him. Gary Hart, and others have come under fire over the years for their immoral acts.

 Then along comes Donald Trump: serial adulterer who supposedly bragged about his cheating, strip clubs in his casinos, vulgar, on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women (If you honestly don't believe what he bragged about is not sexual assault, I challenge you to try that with some random woman and see what happens....or what you would call it if it happened to you or a women you love.....)

  This same man gave money to Democrats for years and supported them as they fought conservativism and Christianity. He gave to the Clintons, said she would make a great president, and trashed Bill's accusers.....and even said Hillary did a great job handling Benghazi. He also fought the tea party and gave money to Kamala Harris' senatorial campaign.

 How this man won the conservative vote is something I will never understand. And even worse, how he won the Christian vote. And I get voting for him to stop Hillary, even though I couldn't.....but I don't get the over the top support and defense.

 When he was running against his buddy Hillary, a common quote was that he was the lesser of two evils. 

 But was he? Oh, I have been anti-Hillary since the start....while Trump was in bed with the Clintons and saying she would make a great president. I do believe she would have been a worse president politically.

 However, I have come to believe Trump is the worse of two evils in what really matters.

   After Trump won the nomination and had his last minute miraculous conversion to Christianity - come on, you know it would have been scoffed at if he had had a D by his name - suddenly he was loved by Christians, even those who had previously opposed him. \

 I did research, and prayed about it....and felt I could not as a Christian vote for him. You would think this great family of God would understand that....after all Christians have been ridiculed and fought about their beliefs for years....so a Christian should understand feeling a person could not vote for Trump.

 Wrong. Very wrong. Don't go against your conscience...except in politics.

  

  Despite all the Bible says about how to treat people: Love your enemies, be tenderhearted forgiving each other, love your neighbor as yourself.......and many other verses - I had way too many Christians toss that all out as I was verbally attacked for daring to not vote for him and instead vote third party. Honesty, kindness, love.....politics and Trump are more important than those, and everything else the Bible says.

I was told I was for Hillary if I wasn't for Trump. Ironic, when he actually WAS a Hillary supporter.

I was told my vote for a third party candidate was a vote for Hillary.

A long time "friend" said if I wasn't for Trump, I was for Hillary and for killing babies.

I was told if I wasn't on Trump's side, I was not on God's side.

Christians shared a post saying true Christians would vote for Trump.

Christians who dared oppose Trump were called hypocrites, judgmental, Pharisees, etc. (Yet you don't hear those when you oppose Hillary, Obama, and Biden).

  If we are truly living by Jesus' teaching, if we are trying to be like Jesus.....would Christians be saying these things to other Christians? Would defending Trump and trying to win political arguments be more important than how we make people feel?

 WWJD became a worn out phrase, but it does have a point. When it comes to politics, what would Jesus do? Would He say these things? I cannot imagine He would.

  I have friends from my own church who are anti-Trump and are silent about it....because of how other Christians treated them and reacted when they did speak up. Is that really how it should be among followers of Jesus?

 A Facebook friend of mine lived the gay lifestyle for several years, became a Christian and left that life, and is now married to a woman.....author and pastor John Piper's daughter. He of course got a lot of backlash and hate for that from the pro-gay crowd when he became a Christian and started speaking out against his former lifestyle.......but last year he did a couple posts critical of Trump. He said he got far more hateful comments from Christian Trump supporters than he ever got from the pro-gay crowd. He eventually took all of those posts down. That should bother Christian Trump supporters....but I doubt the average Trump supporter will be bothered by that.

  Speaking of things that should bother Christians, I have said it before on here: A friend of mine has 2 atheist friends who were disgusted by the Christian support of Trump, and said they never wanted to hear Christians talk about morals after the 2016 election. Seriously, what is the world thinking as Christians who rant against all things gay and other moral issues then defend Trump's adultery and other moral issues, and attack everyone who dares criticize him? I myself want to hear nothing from Trump supporting Christians about anything gay after these last 5 years. You cannot ignore and/or defend his moral atrocities and them rant about gay things.

  Trump has divided Christians and conservatives, and brings out the worse in too many people.....his supporters, Democrats, and conservatives who oppose him. I admit I have some major anger issues because of so many Christian Trump supporters, and have given back as good as I have gotten. So much for blessed are the peacemakers....you cannot be very political and be a peacemaker. And how much of a Trump supporter can a Christian be and be a peacemaker?

  Then there is the dishonesty. Well, some of what I posted above what people said are not honest. Those people knew I was not for Hillary. I have seen way too many social media posts from Trump supporters that are not true. Shouldn't Christians strive to be 100% honest? Yet there are posts saying he gave up his wealth to be president......he was always a billionaire, so false. A preacher from my denomination posted that the Obamas didn't allow Christmas to be celebrated in the White House, but now Trump does...yet there is no evidence that as bad as Obama was, that he didn't allow Christmas in the White House. And there were other posts and stories that were shared to make Trump look good whether or not they were true.

 And the exaggerations......the most pro-life president, the most Christian.......and on. He did nothing to deserve those accolades. Shouldn't honesty matter more?

  Double standard:
    For 5 years, I was told not to judge Trump, that instead of criticizing him I should pray for him, etc....yet now a man is president that they oppose also, it is OK to judge away, and there are no posts about praying for him instead of criticizing him. It is even OK to mock and make fun of Biden and accuse him of being a pedophile, with no proof. (And yeah, he is a horrible president and does not seem capable to be president). Should Christians act that way? Especially after 5 years of basically saying "Since I support this man, you must also and not say anything bad about him." It seems I am only allowed to criticize presidents that Trump supporters criticize.

  I had this thought: if Trump supporters act this way about Biden and have Biden supporting friends, how on earth would they ever win them to Jesus? 

 I had a man at my church I used to highly respect...until he barraged me with texts trying to get me to vote for Trump. At one point he said if I just admitted I was for Hillary, he would leave me alone.....yet he knew I was not for Hillary. He asked me a question (I cannot remember what it was) and I replied "Are you asking me as a Republican, or as a Christian?" He asked "Can't it be both?"

  And therein lies a lot of the problem: we react too much first as Americans, Constitution loving conservatives, Republicans, Trump supporters....instead of reacting as a Christian first.

 Example: is telling me true Christians will vote for Trump a reaction of a Christian, or as a Republican/Trump supporter? That should not be a Christian response. #1 there is no Biblical basis for it. #2 it is not kind....that person doesn't care how he makes me feel. He just wants to talk or guilt people into voting how he wants them to.

  I have found myself wondering if a lot of Christians have more faith in Trump than Jesus. Over and over we heard that Trump was what would save America, that he was all that stood between us and socialism, on and on, and on. Trump, Trump, Trump. Some Christians posted so much pro Trump stuff, and it was hard to find anything about Jesus among all of  those. I got the idea that their faith and confidence was more in him than Jesus.

 What about this man has such over the top loyalty of so many Christians that they refuse to speak out against his gun control, paying off of a prostitute, giving more money to planned parenthood than Obama did, and many other bad actions and policies?

 So yes, I do believe Trump was the lesser of two evils:

1) He has divided Christians

2) As a result of his wining, he has caused many to be dishonest and unkind

3) He has taken the focus off of Jesus for too many

4) He has helped make or magnify the double standard in Christians and conservatives in the Republican party.

5) Too many Christians care more about defending him and shutting down opposition than how they make those feel they try to shut down.

      Maybe Trump is just a symptom. I am all for patriotism, freedoms, the Constitution, our flag, and our country...and Christians can love all that....but I fear all of that has become too important and we let our politics influence and affect our Christianity instead of the other way around.

 People are more important than politics. Loving people is more important than winning political arguments. Spreading the Gospel and winning people to Christ are more important than spreading our political opinions and wining people to our politician.

 I am rather outspoken, but am still very insecure and vulnerable as I was years ago when being bullied. Now I fight back, but it has still been hard being anti Trump among all the pro-Trump Christians. Too many don't care how they make me feel as they have attacked me trying to get me to vote for him or for daring to speak out against him. There are people who don't think I should criticize him or "judge" him, yet they say what they want about Democrats. Being constantly pushed down and basically being told your opinions should not be voiced because they are not those of your family and friends.....it is not a good feeling. Honestly, as much as I dislike Trump just for him, the majority of my feelings about him is because of what I have dealt with from his supporters and because of their refusal to ever hold him accountable.

  It has all shaken my faith. I go to a very conservative church, and I have people who keep all the rules, yet some of them have said things that are dishonest and/or unkind in their defense of Trump, and in their attempts to get me to vote for him and to shut down my criticisms of him. And I doubt they would even realize the irony of keeping the rules and not loving like Jesus.

 And it has caused me to feel even more isolated. I have felt disconnected from my church for a long time, and struggle to feel I belong anywhere. Being anti Trump has made that worse surrounded by pro-Trump people, especially when family and others expect me to keep my opinions to myself about Trump. I would honestly prefer to stay home. Granted, there are others like me who are afraid to speak out against Trump because of how they get treated, but I still feel alone and isolated. 

 I also have a lot of bottled up anger over the last 5 years. I honestly have held back a lot. If I said everything I think and feel, the secret service or FBI would probably have shown up by now.

 Just how political can we be and live as Jesus commands? Just how pro-Trump can a Christian be and live like Jesus to those who do not support him or vote for him? Jesus was not political, so how political should we be?

 The Bible says nothing about voting or being political, but it does say a lot about how we should act and how we should treat people. 

 Considering what Trump has caused, I believe we would have been better off as Christians and as the church to have lost soundly to Hillary. If Christians can't love, if they more or less toss out what the Bible says when it comes to politics, wouldn't we be better off under socialism and communism?

 And no, I don't want that....but if it affects how we treat people, if winning people to our politician or views is more important than spreading the Gospel and winning people to Christ, then yes......we would be better off living in persecution.

  Patriotism is good. Freedoms are important, but people are more important. A hundred years from now it will not matter if we won a political argument or defended a politician. It will matter how we treated people and if we won people to Christ.

 We are not living for this world. It is past time Christians remembered that and started living like that.

 Maybe Trump is just a symptom, and has made it more obvious. Maybe part of it is social media and people saying on line what they would not off line.......but to use a phrase of some Trump supporters, true Christians should be bothered by how politics and Trump has affected how we treat people who disagree with us.

  In closing, I will say this: I have never been a great Christian. I have struggles of faith, depression, anxiety, sexual identity, and struggle with doubt a lot. I don't believe I was a better than anyone for voting my conscience. And to be honest, I have found myself wondering a lot over the last 5 years if I even want to be a Christian. Shouldn't it be more than this politicized Christianity that has taken over?

  And again, I am not guiltless. But shouldn't I have the same freedom as Trump supporters to criticize politicians I disagree with?