The Angry Jesus Freak: On Trump the Baby Christian

Last updated on: June 26, 2016 at 8:27 am by Kerry Connelly

The Angry Jesus Freak: On Trump the Baby Christian 2016-06-26T08:27:11-04:00 Kerry Connelly

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I have a confession to make.

Probably, I have many confessions to make. But the one I’m making today is that I’m a big, fat, judge-y cynic.

I’ve been disgusted by the seemingly-obvious-and-yet-successful manipulation by Donald Drumpf of the Evangelical-slash-political engine, this camp that purports to want a Christian in the White House, but seems so intent on getting a Republican in the White House that they could ignore some pretty horrific and hateful behavior in their candidate. Behavior that, quite frankly, is pretty anti-Jesus. The hubris of Drumpf — the hate + fear mongering — none of it is representative of the Jesus I know, or the faith walk that my Jesus calls me to.

I’ve been so disappointed as one Christian leader after another have endorsed him, wondering when the insanity would stop. Wondering where are all the Christian leaders who will be brave enough to speak out against what could very well be another huge human rights abomination right here in this beautiful, beautiful country of ours.

Where are all the Jesus followers saying, “No — not this! This is not Jesus! This is not us!”?

I confess to wondering how much these Christian leaders’ pockets were being lined by Drumpf. I may not be wrong about this. But I know it’s also possible that somewhere in there is someone who truly does have a heart for Jesus, and maybe that person is better than I am at caring for the soul of The Donald.

There is nothing — and I do mean nothing — about Donald Drumpf that impresses me. All his bluster, all his gold plated money, all his so-called success — I am unimpressed. He is not a leader I want to follow, and there is nothing about him I want to emulate. There is nothing about him that makes me confident he would make a great president.

In fact, he scares me. And his willingness to capitalize upon and manipulate the basest of human emotions — our fear, our ugliness, our hatred, our willingness to other and objectify our fellow human beings — disgusts me. I don’t believe for a moment that he truly cares about a single constituent. I think he cares for himself, and that his candidacy is all about his own narcissism, his megalomania, his desire for as much power as he can possible squeeze into his little orange self.

And there’s nothing that makes me think he cares about Jesus, or that he is walking out a Christian faith. My Jesus calls me to walk out a faith of brokenness, of humility, of service, of loving people who annoy the shit out of me.

Which means, unfortunately, I even have to love Donald Drumpf.

I don’t have to like him. Thank God for favors, small and large, I don’t have to vote for him. But I do have to love him. With that Jesus kind of love that’s bigger than me.

Damn it.

So now ultra-conservative James Dobson says that Drumpf is a new baby Christian. I’m taking a very “I’ll believe it when I see some fruit of the Spirit” kind of attitude about this. I tread carefully here, because in the comments on my last post about gay marriage, someone said I am not a true follower of Jesus. And my response (in no where but my own head) was, “Okay, Judgey McJudgerson, what the hell do you know about my heart and its love for Jesus?” So I’m careful — by sheer will power, but still — to not judge whether Drumpf is truly a fellow Jesus Freak now. Only God knows.

But the cynic in me can’t help but wonder if this is just some folks fooling ourselves, soothing ourselves into some kind of okay-ness with what could be a terrifying presidency.

I know that’s very un-Christian of me. I never claimed to be good at this. In fact, I’ve more often said I’m a pretty sucky Christian, and this is no exception. The only thing I know is I’m mad in love with Jesus, and I try to work that out in my life day by day, authentically.

I’ll do my best to love Drumpf in a Jesus kind of way. But I’ll also do everything in my tiny little world of power to keep him from being elected. I’ll pray for him, and for our country. But I won’t vote for him. I won’t endorse him and his big walls and his Islamaphobia, his disgusting misogyny, and I won’t say, “Oh, he’s a Christian now, so that makes it all okay.”

And I confess to one more thing: if he truly did become a Christian, I praise God for his awakening to what will certainly be the ride of his life. But I also ask God for a favor: in that really, really big home that God is preparing for us, can my room please be on one side and The Donald’s room be way, way, WAY on the other?

Because, I mean, we’re talking about an eternity.

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