On Losing Patriotically

Last updated on: August 3, 2016 at 10:36 am by Mark Shea

On Losing Patriotically 2016-08-03T10:36:38-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

People ask me what I will do if Trump wins. I think the best prayer of benediction from a loser in an election I know is the one offered by John Wayne after the 1960 election. Of John Kennedy, whom he has voted against, Wayne said, “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my President and I hope he does a good job.” That is how every American should respond to the outcome of an election.

It is not, however, how right wing culture warriors have responded to their losses over the past eight years:

This enormously popular bit of piety among Good Conservative Christians is an allusion to the single most bitter imprecatory psalm in the psalter. The passage says “Let his days be few and let another take his office.” It is, not to put too fine a point on it, a prayer for Obama’s death.

So much for All Lives Matter from the “prolife” Right.

And now we have Trump already pre-emptively ginning up his mob of revanchists with the completely baseless claim (which they will believe along with every other baseless lie he tells tell them) that the election is “rigged“. This paranoid prattle from a man who alleged Ted Cruz’s father was somehow complicit in the assassination of JFK and who thinks the National Enquirer deserves a Pulitzer is an invitation to every nut in the GOP base to commit violence if they don’t get their way.

Trump knows that his chances of winning are slim. He would not be calling the election rigged if he believed he was going to win. So he is poisoning his fact-averse base against the entire democratic process itself in order to maintain the lie of a win when he loses. It is a fundamentally treasonous attack on the Constitutional order itself. And it could well lead to bloodshed when his pack of fools in the Party of Personal Responsibility are faced with yet another loss.

When will the GOP renounce this guy and admit that he is profoundly unworthy of office and a menace?

On a related note, I had a really beautiful conversation with friend yesterday who was troubled by my contention that, given the binary nature of our system, the manifest unworthiness of Trump means that Hillary, bad as she is, *must* win. He asked for my reasons and I gave them:

Me: It’s one or the other and it must not be Trump. If I lived in a swing state I would feel moraly bound to vote for her under Ratzinger’s “proportionate reason” caveat in order to stop him. I regard him as *the* most dangerous human being ever put within reach of the White House without any exception whatsoever. Hillary is, in the words of PJ O’Rourke, “wrong within normal parameters”. There are a host of dangers he presents, up to and including, a constitutional crisis, a major chain of command crisis for our military,the destruction of the prolife movement’s already shredded credibility, an assault on the first amendment that will dwarf Christian jitters about Hillary, jailing of media and other Americans critical of him, as well as nuclear war. He represents a *colossal* threat at the helm of the mightiest military power in the history of the world.

Happily, I don’t live in a state where I have to vote in order for her to win the electoral vote and so can vote a third party protest vote. But if there were a doubt she could carry Washington, I’d vote for her to help stop him. As to abortion, he’s functionally the same as her. He supports it and will do nothing to change Roe. But on a host of other issues, he is immensely worse. I’ve never feared the outcome of an election before. With Trump, I am fearful of the irreparable damage he will do the US and the world.

Friend: Can’t see how he’s functionally the same. Picked a pro-life VP, while Hillary had Cecile Richards speak at the convention. They are miles apart. I think you’ve bought into the mainstream hype. I’ve never seen a candidate demonized like this one. He’s not as bad as Hillary, not by a very long shot.

Me: VPs do nothing. He’s there to sucker prolifers. That’s all. Trump’s not been demonized. He’s been quoted. What he says is appalling. What he will do will be catastrophic. He must be stopped.

Friend: OK, Mark. End of discussion. Sorry I weighed in. This election may destroy the country, but not our friendship.

Me: You’re a good egg, Mike. 🙂 Jan and I have to get across the mountains again one of these days and sponge off you again. You’re welcome here anytime you visit Seattle!

Me: And pray for me too. This is a hard election. Forgive me if I’ve hurt you (any of you) in any way.

Friend: Not offended. Just confused how two individuals (you and me) can arrive at different conclusions. I respect your intelligence and discernment. I agree with your views 99.9% of the time. So this season will pass and we can get on with praying for our poor country, the world and humanity in general, together.

That’s how things should go as we strive to order the common good. Lincoln was right:

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Uncategorized

Never Trump

Previous Post

August 3, 2016

Noah Millman on the Incoherence of the Religious Conservative Case for Donald Trump

Next Post

August 3, 2016 Had an interesting conversation with a friend about prolife utopianism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz