I DON’T HATE DONALD TRUMP

​I’ve been accused of opposing Trump out of hatred for him.  I wasn’t going to say anything about that, but then I discovered I’m not the only one.  Others, like me, are also being accused that their opposition to Trump is because of their hatred for him.  I suspect these accusers listen to the same news media outlets, preachers, politicians, etc. who promote this lie, and yes my friends, it is a lie.  Or maybe their accusation is projection of their own sin of hatred.  I’ve heard of pro-Trump Christians (at least they claim to be Christian; I’m not so sure) express visceral hatred for a Democrat president, won’t say his name or even a word that rhymes with it.  That's deep hatred and not Christian as I understand the Bible.  So it's not surprising that they project their onto us and presume that our opposition to Trump is just like their opposition to a Democrat in power—based in hatred.
 
So I stress, we do not oppose Trump out of hatred for the man.
 
We oppose Trump because we stand firm in the belief that God calls us to truth, justice, and compassion for all.  We oppose Trump because of his policies that contradict, even mock our conviction, rooted in the Bible, that our God is a lover of justice and righteousness, practices mercy, compassion toward all peoples, regardless of gender, race, creed, political leanings.
 
This same God commanded Israel’s kings and rulers to practice justice and compassion for the poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien.   And not just the rulers, all God’s people are commanded to live justly, walk humbly before God and love mercy (Micah 6:8).  The Bible is loud about this, repeatedly, almost ad nauseum commanding the people of God (Jews and Christians) to practice justice and mercy towards the widow, the orphan, the alien, the poor.  God even warns that those who don’t give justice to the alien, the orphan, the widow, the poor are cursed (Deuteronomy 27:19).  And don’t tell me these ancient words of God no longer apply to us in modern America, as though God changed his mind and rescinded his command to give justice to the weak and lowly and poor in the world.  Because God never did.  Jesus constantly called us to repent our failure to show justice and compassion to the least among us, the widow, the orphan, the alien.  These commands are as much for us, who claim to be Christian and worship the God of the Bible in the 21st century as they were for the Hebrews and the early Christians thousands of years ago.  If we ignore, or silence these ancient words, we do so at our peril.  Trump's policies ignore these oft repeated, these loud commands from our Lord.  So of course we oppose him.
 
Those of us who have been accused of hatred and/or of being ‘woke’ (because we stand with the poor, the aliens, the despised; because we stand for truth, justice, compassion for all) stand in good company, including Jesus.  He embodied these ancient commands of God and was hated by the ruling elite and their backers.  They rejected his calls to repentance and persuaded the crowd to join them.  They crucified Jesus.  When they saw him die, they realized they’d made a big mistake.  But it was too late.
 
So too were the ancient prophets hated by their religious and political rulers.  They accused them of being false prophets and successfully persuaded the people to reject them.  Jeremiah is a classic example.  He was a victim of their hatred.  He wrote, often in detail, about the persecution and rejection he suffered.  (Just read his pathos-filled lament in Jer. 20.)  He was frequently accused of proclaiming his own and not the LORD God’s words.  Was he also accused of basing his rebukes to the king out of hatred?  It wouldn’t surprise me, but I don’t know.  I do know that all those who rejected Jeremiah because they thought he was a false prophet lying about God’s harsh and difficult demands to practice justice and righteousness, discovered they were dead wrong.  They refused to listen to Jeremiah when he warned them, both the people and the rulers:
      “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you;               they are deluding you.  They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.”[1]

The words of those prophets died with them, proving they were false, and so too will the words of today’s false prophets who urge us to support Trump and his evil.  But Jeremiah’s words that called people to act in ways that conflicted with their favorite preachers and their desires, lived on and we can now read them as God’s Word.  Jeremiah often spoke out against the kings of his day because they failed to give mercy, justice, support to widow, the orphan, the alien, the poos.  He spoke out in harsh, blunt words.  I suspect he’d say similar things to Trump and his administration and his Republican backers.  Jeremiah's rebuke to the last king of Judah seems particularly appropriate.  This is what he said was the Word of the Lord (and I’m not making it up, although I am paraphrasing and redirecting Jeremiah’s warning from ch. 22:15ff):
 
Mr. Trump, do you think you’re a president because you compete in wealth, military power, luxury homes?  Didn’t the USA do well when it did justice and righteousness; when it judged the cause of the poor and needy?[2]  Isn’t practicing righteousness and justice for the poor and needy, what it means to know the LORD God, Creator of all that is?  But your eyes and heart, Mr. Trump, are only on dishonest gain, you are shedding innocent blood and practicing oppression and violence against thousands of innocent men, women and children.  When the last kings of Israel lived as you do, Mr. Trump, when they failed to practice righteousness and justice God’s way, God took everything from them—wealth, luxury homes, military power.  They ended up with nothing, not even a name to be remembered and revered.
 
No, it’s not out of hatred that many of us oppose Trump and his regime.  It’s out of love and faithfulness to Jesus and the good news he brought into the world.  He lived in a way that lifted up the poor, the despised, the marginalized, the lowly and brought down the powerful.  Who welcomed the stranger, ate with “tax collectors and sinners.”  He called us, those who received him to live like him.
 
Jesus’ way isn’t easy.  It takes courage and practice to live it.  Trump’s ways are so much more comfortable and easier to live—a sure sign they are evil.  I choose to follow this uncomfortable, difficult way of Jesus and therefore I oppose Trump.

Not I don’t hate Trump.  I’m not saint enough to say I love him either.  But my opposition isn’t based in hatred.  Please don’t accuse me or my friends of hatred again.  Rather, accuse us of being, and trying to be more like Jesus by following his hard way of righteousness, compassion, mercy for all peoples, especially to lowly living in our country and world today.

Notes
[1] Jeremiah 23:16.
[2] Under the Biden/Harris administration, the U.S. came out of the Covid-19 pandemic with an economy that was the envy of the world; more jobs were created than in previous administrations; inflation came down and prices in the store (that had risen during the pandemic) were beginning to come down.  Trump has reversed all this.
 
March 24, 2025