Driving around my neighborhood in North Dallas, I’ve noticed an unspoken correlation with political yard signs this fall. Because we’ve lived in the same house for 25 years, I have a pretty good idea of who my neighbors are.
It finally dawned on me one day that every yard that is decked out in multiple Trump/Vance yard signs and Trump flags and Ted Cruz yard signs and American flags belongs to an old white man. Occasionally an older white woman, but most often a man.
That’s not to say only old white people are planning to vote for Donald Trump to return to the White House; it’s to say they’re the ones most likely to show off about it. They’re proud to be voting for a racist, rapist, racketeer who wants to rule like Hitler. They just don’t seem to comprehend the historical liabilities of such a vote or what it portends for their great-grandchildren.
Mark Wingfield
Yes, I’ve read the pieces that explain many Trump supporters just want to stick it to the “libtards” they hate so much. Even if they’re voting against their own economic interests, they are energized by making their liberal neighbors like me angry. OK, yeah, that tactic is working. You’ve made me angry. And puzzled.
But I’ve got a different question for you: How will you explain your vote in the 2024 presidential election to your grandchildren and great-grandchildren? Do you really want them to know their grandfather was someone who voted for irrational tariffs on imports, who voted for racial profiling, who voted for mass deportations that will make conservatives feel good but will wreck the U.S. economy? Do you want them to know their grandfather believed the nonstop lies of Trump and JD Vance and Tucker Carlson so much that he embraced their wacky conspiracy theories and thought it would be good to put them in charge of anything?
Is that the legacy you want to leave?
What if — and there’s a high probability here — one of your grandchildren turns out to be gay or lesbian or transgender or mixed-race or needs emergency care because of a pregnancy gone wrong but can’t get it because you voted to shut down legitimate medical care for women in need?
“Will you be willing to explain to your children that you really stuck it to the liberals back in 2024 but the cost was the disgrace and demise of the evangelical church?”
Is that the kind of world you want your grandchildren and great-grandchildren to live in?
Moreover, do you want your offspring to live in a world where the Christian church has been wrecked by an invasion of lies and the embrace of a political agenda over a Jesus agenda? Will you be willing to explain to your children that you really stuck it to the liberals back in 2024 but the cost was the disgrace and demise of the evangelical church?
Is that the legacy you want to leave?
Now, I know some of you are objecting already and you’re wanting to interrupt my speech to say your vote is motivated by the economy and good business decisions. Can you look ahead and realize that explanation will be found fraudulent in future American history because Donald Trump is a fraudulent businessman and a grifter? He is the antithesis of a “good businessman.” Have you actually studied the economic patterns between Democratic and Republican presidents in recent history?
Or are you only motivated by today’s prices of gas or groceries — over which a U.S. president has precious little influence? Could you show me chapter and verse from the Bible where personal cost of living is the standard for any decision?
Next, you’re likely going to object by saying you’re voting to protect your grandchildren from the influence of gay, lesbian and transgender people. Persecuting and prosecuting people who are not like you in sexual preference or gender identity never has produced good fruit anytime in history. Why do you think all the sudden that will be a legacy you want to pass along? Is that a Jesus agenda you find anywhere in the Bible?
And just how are your grandchildren actually threatened by gay or lesbian or transgender neighbors? Do you have any real evidence? Or have you just heard stuff on Fox News?
And finally, do you want to explain to your grandchildren that you voted for a man who declared out loud that he admires Hitler and wants to be surrounded by generals like Hitler had?
You may retort: “Oh, he just says crazy stuff like that to get attention. He doesn’t really mean it.”
“Everything he embodies and says is the opposite of the teachings of Jesus. He is indeed an antichrist.”
That’s what many others said in 2016, and we ended up with a horrific preview of what would come in a second term in a Trump administration. When people tell you what they intend to do with their power, you should believe them. Donald Trump is telling us exactly what he and his appointees will do.
And he is telling us he is the most unhinged, demented, antichrist of a presidential candidate ever in American history. Everything he embodies and says is the opposite of the teachings of Jesus. He is indeed an antichrist.
Is voting for someone Jesus would cast demons out of a legacy you want to explain to your great-grandchildren?
Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall laud your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts.”
Do you really believe your vote for Donald Trump will laud the works of the Lord from one generation to the next? I’m pretty sure your grandchildren and great-grandchildren won’t see it that way.
They’re more likely to remember you as someone who drank the Kool-Aid than as someone who shared the cup of the Lord.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves and Why Churches Need to Talk About Sexuality. His brand-new book is Troubling the Truth and Other Tales from the News.
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