A common criticism I get here at BNG and that some of my progressive clergy friends get in their congregations is this: “Why do you have to keep talking about Donald Trump and Christian nationalism all the time? Could you please change the subject?”
This question fails to grasp the urgency of our current crisis. It is like saying to a woman who is being abused at home, “Why do you have to talk about your abusive husband all the time? Can’t you talk about something more pleasant?” It is like saying to a person reporting unsafe working conditions in a factory, “Why do you have to talk about these scary things all the time? Can’t you talk about something less stressful?”
Mark Wingfield
Donald Trump is an abuser. He is an adjudicated rapist and predator. Donald Trump is a grifter. He is a well-known con man who gets away with the con because so many don’t want to talk about it. Donald Trump is a liar unlike any liar most of us ever have known. And there are enormous consequences to his perpetual lying. Donald Trump is literally the most dangerous man in the world, and you want to label me with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” for saying that.
MAGA is an abusive movement that preys on the most racist and misogynistic tropes possible and does real harm to people. Real people are dying and starving and becoming ill because of the cruelty and stupidity of the Trump administration. Lives are being ruined. Families are being ruined.
The nation’s house is on fire, and those of us who keep yelling “Fire!” are told to please talk about something more pleasant. While the fire rages.
Most of us would love to talk about more pleasant things but our consciences will not allow us that privilege. We must continue to sound the alarm while the threat remains.
If you want us to be quiet, step up and do something to put out the fire. Admit the urgency of the crisis. Identify with those being harmed. Use your position and privilege to call for change and hold accountable those who are enabling this insanity.
If you want us to shut up, then you must put up. Otherwise, we are not the problem.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.