For the sake of the world, for the sake of the church, for the sake of the nation, for the sake of the truth, one thing must happen in 2024: Donald Trump must be defeated.
Not just defeated in the November presidential election but defeated in every way. We need Donald Trump and Trumpism no longer to hold sway over any area of life. No other single person has done more to damage American life — while claiming it is other people doing the damage — than Trump. No other single person has caused more damage to American Christianity than Trump in the way he has subverted the gospel to appear the opposite of what it truly is.
Mark Wingfield
He not only is a cancer on the presidency, he is a cancer on democracy and Christianity. His influence and ideology must be defeated.
It is no longer melodramatic to observe that democracy hangs in the balance in this new year. As we’ve previously reported, most Americans agree with this sentiment. The problem is that only 22% of Republican voters and 28% of white evangelicals understand Trump is the real threat.
The rest have bought his persecution narrative hook, line and sinker. They believe his outrageous lies. They believe him when he whines that he’s the most persecuted person in America, that there are witch hunts after him, that he alone can save America. All these are lies. Documented, indisputable lies.
Donald Trump is a whiny baby loser who must be seen for the fraud he is. Yet we now know that somewhere between 30% and 40% of the American populace simply cannot see him for what he is. They have drunk the Kool-Aid and joined the cult.
That’s why it will take the rest of us to do what they will not: We must band together to defeat this antichrist. Yes, that’s right: Everything Donald Trump stands for is against the teachings of Jesus Christ. His narcissism, his greed, his arrogance, his lying, his meanness, his disdain for people who are “less” than him, his bullying, his dictatorial desires, his desire for revenge and retribution.
There is no conservative political agenda worth sacrificing truth to obtain.
What kind of sick person uses Christmas Day to rage and rant against his perceived enemies and to spread more lies and dissension? According to Fox News, Trump’s Christmas message on his Truth Social platform said of his political enemies: “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
What kind of Christian believes such a man is a fit leader?
Trump’s Christmas message on his Truth Social platform said of his political enemies: “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Do not be swayed by the twisted rhetoric of people like Robert Jeffress who have explained away their love for Trump by saying they’re not voting for a Sunday school teacher for president but for the meanest SOB they can find. That also is not the spirit of Christ or Christianity.
I could go on for paragraphs listing all Trump’s transgressions and mental illnesses. But we all already know those. They are well documented. The question is whether you think they matter or not.
Yes, they matter. And they matter hugely.
We are beyond the “Oh, there will be moderating influences to keep him in check” argument. We are beyond the “Oh, but he’ll end abortion” argument. We are beyond the “Oh, he’s bad but the alternative is worse.”
There are few alternatives that are worse than Donald Trump.
If he keeps getting the microphone, if he keeps getting air time, if he gets back in the White House, the damage — which will be severe — will not be limited to the United States. His success will empower strongman dictators the world over. And America’s exit from the world stage as a torch of democracy will have devastating effects worldwide for a century. As bad as Putin is now, he will be worse if Trump is empowered. As bad as Netanyahu is now, he will be worse if Trump is empowered.
This is not hyperbole. If you think it is, you have fallen for Trump’s deception.
In 2024, we must not let any of this happen. We must defeat him and his ideology. Doing so will be dependent on the courts, on the electorate and on followers of Jesus Christ standing in the gap and doing the right thing. We must call out evil when we see it.
The only way this defeat will happen is if so-called “swing” voters understand the gravity of their choices and if Christians gain the courage to speak up for the way of Christ rather than the way of accommodation and power.
This is truly a moment of biblical proportions, as happened with the Children of Israel with Joshua. This year, 2024, will be a year to choose who you will serve. We cannot serve Donald Trump and follow Jesus at the same time.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global. He is the author of the new book Honestly: Telling the Truth About the Bible and Ourselves.
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