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I Don’t Care Who You Voted For

I Don’t Care Who You Voted For

Last updated on: January 30, 2025 at 9:27 pm by Mark Wilson

I Don’t Care Who You Voted For 2025-01-30T21:27:32-05:00 Mark Wilson

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We make our friends; we make our enemies; but God makes our next door neighbors.

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

*–*Gilbert K. Chesterton

Life on Catholic Social Media is going to feel like a virtual WWE match for the next several years.

The mud-slinging will be over the results of the last presidential election in which Donald J. Trump became the 2nd president in U.S. history to serve 2 non-consecutive presidential terms. Some are very thrilled and that this is the best moment in history, second only to the 2nd coming of Christ and the other side thinks this the worst moment since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Catholic writer David Mills wrote about Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Edgar Buddie’s remarks to Trump.

The problem for the president is that when you ask for God’s care, as he did in getting ministers to pray for him, you ask for God’s rebuke and correction. And when you ask religious speakers to speak to you, they may tell you truths you do not want to hear.

Not every Christian liked the sermon either, looking at social media. It was one with which a Christian should have no substantial disagreement. It was Christianity 101.

Some Christians came predictably unglued by her request for mercy for gay, lesbian and trans people. But even those who agree full-heartedly with Trump’s executive order “Defending women from gender ideology extremism” should recognize how transgender people and their families feel and treat them with mercy.

David Mills: Donald Trump didn’t like being told to have mercy | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

He was surprised at the response of Christians to his column.

The responses to my column interested me, partly because they showed how sharply divided American Christians are — going from two sides of people who were politically opposed but uneasy allies because of their shared faith, to two very distinct and opposed groups for whom the shared faith is not primary.

Trump polarizes, for various reasons, including the intentional way he operates (as I wrote three weeks ago), but I hadn’t expected people I know to be so polarized.

I Don’t Care

I honestly don’t care if you voted for Trump or Kamala. I didn’t vote for either.

I’m glad Kamala isn’t in office to be completely honest.

But I’m not happy Trump is in office either.

If You Felt

If you felt you needed to vote for Kamala because you found Trump to be a threat to American democracy, Great. Glad you voted your conscience in a election. I know good Catholics who voted for her.

If you felt you needed to vote for Trump because Kamala’s abortion policies were way past the point of reason and sanity, Great, Glad you voted your conscience in a election. I know good Catholics who voted for him.

There is not a black and white answer to why someone did or did not vote for either candidate.

Everyone has different reasons.

I don’t care who you voted for; I care how you treat others who voted differently then you and that you treat them with respect and charity.

Different Catholic Voters

In one corner we have
the Catholic Anti-Trumper.

They usually vote democrat and are pro-life. Their main emphasis however is on Catholic social issues such as immigration. They like Pope Francis and usually dislike the USCCB unless they are talking about a cause they favor in the realm of social justice. They tend to be passionate about their faith and some of them have very gifted skills that allow them to talk about the faith that sparks awe and wonder in the believer.

They however take most of their social media time to talk about how they hate Trump and MAGA people. They have nothing nice to say to anyone who voted for Trump and can only heap scorn and disapproval on such individuals.

They love Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde and think she is a hero.

Any good thing Trump does is usually ignored in favor of angry rhetoric.

Some say things like this…

If you voted for Trump, then you are responsible for the mob rush on the Capitol on January 6. You are responsible or the injury and death of police officers. You support the separation of families and put former VP Mike Pence in danger.

So learn how to get along with others now or you will do it later. Your gonna learn how to love your neighbor before you can gaze on the face of the God who is love. May God purge us all of annomisity and annoyness towards are brothers and sisters. Learn To Get Along Here, Or In Purgatory | Mark Wilson

I can think of real life examples of this I have seen on social media.

Again I don’t care who you voted for. You might have legit concerns about Trump and think someone is very wrong for voting for him. But to constantly berate people for doing so and who have legit concerns about not voting for him is not very charitable.

In the other corner we have
the Catholic Pro-Trumper.

They usually vote Republican and are pro-life. Their main emphasis is on pro-life and other pelvic related issues.

There are two kinds of Catholic Pro-Trumpers.

Anti-Francis Pro-Trumper

This group thinks that Trump is the most Catholic president ever and that he is a better Catholic then the pope.

Pope Francis is confusing and destroying the church.

Pro-Francis Pro-Trumper

They just think Trump is the greatest thing in politics and endorses Catholic values in the public square.

Pope Francis is the pope and a decent guy and you don’t say the type of things that most Anti-Francis Trumper’s say about him.

While the two different Pro-Trumpers have war of words about the holy father, they become allies on all things Trump. They both seem to agree with the Trump stance on immigration and disagree with the pope and USCCB’s opinion on how we are to treat illegal aliens. They like the pope and bishops when they talk about pro-life issues but think they are out of their league when they talk about immigration.

They take some of their social media time to praise Trump very loudly. Anyone who didn’t vote for Trump and those that constantly only heap scorn and disapproval upon him are subject to their own ridicule and scorn. Some Catholic Pro-Trumpers have even been known to cease friendships because of it.

They hate Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde and think she was way out of line with what she said to Trump.

Some of them can’t make it past the fact she is a woman priest in the Episcopal Church to even consider her actual words.

Some say things like this…

Several different people in the past several months have recently tried to kill Trump in several different ways. This would not have happen if the Anti-Trumpers didn’t keep building him up as a dire threat to America and democracy.

I’m not saying you should ignore errors or writers who are part of the church of ‘mean legalistic Pharisees’ or the church of ‘sugar sweet Pollyanna nice’. I’m saying you don’t always have to complain about MAGA Conservative Catholics or those Democratic Liberal Catholics. “ And you don’t always have to be nasty in response and retaliation. Finding Truth By Engaging People With Whom One Disagrees | Mark Wilson

I can think of real life examples of this I have seen on social media.

Again I don’t care who you voted for. You might think he is really going to clean up America and Make it Great Again. But to berate people for not voting for him and who have legit concerns is not charitable.

But wait…

There is another type of Trump Voter.

Take my friend Marshall for this example.

He voted for Trump because he thought he was the better choice and thought Kamala way too liberal and didn’t reflect Catholic moral teaching.

He drove down to the inauguration to have an experience.

He actually dialogues about things other the how awesome Trump is.

He actually does not berate others who didn’t vote for him.

He actually has had dialogues about him with people he disagrees with.

He liked Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde sermon and thought it adequately reflected Catholic social teaching.

This is the example of how we should act towards others who disagree with us.

Like it or not we Catholics are all brother and sisters baptized into Christ. Even if your brother writes slander about how your not really Catholic doesn’t mean you have to do it back with the same intensity. –Using The Kind Gaze To Look Past Splinters | Mark Wilson

Conclusion

Don’t be like the Catholic Anti-Trumpers and look down on those who like Trump.

Don’ be like the Catholic Pro-Trumpers and look down on those who don’t like Trump.

Don’t be like the Anti-Francis folk and heap ridicule on Pope Francis.

Be Like Marshall and respect others and treat them with Charity.

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