When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
~ Maya Angelou

On January 18, 2016, Donald Trump was in Lynchburg, Virginia to deliver the opening convocation at Liberty University, that bastion of Christian fundamentalism founded by the televangelist Reverend Jerry Falwell. It just so happened that it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day—which is a bit like inviting a jerrycan of gasoline to a marsh mellow roast—and the presidential candidate Trump did take a moment at the end of his speech to honor Dr. King by saying, “It’s an honor, in terms of Martin Luther King, to have broken the [attendance] record. We’re dedicating the record to the late, great (Hannibal Lecter) Martin Luther King, OK? But it’s an honor.” Apparently, Mr. Trump did not get the memo that student attendance at the thrice-weekly convocations was mandatory.

But I digress because what I wanted to recall was less about Trump and more about self-identified Christians—whether fundamentalists, evangelicals, mainline Protestants, Catholics, or Orthodox—who have dealt with Trump’s lack of character and moral rectitude either by simply brushing it off (University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. did so by reminding us that “we’re all sinners” and Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family justified Trump’s vindictive malevolence by calling Trump a “baby” Christian which upset the babies of the world so much they wouldn’t nurse for weeks and who could blame them) OR by engaging in biblical and theological contortionism by saying essentially God—being God—can write straight with even the most crooked miscreants. So much for all those hours we spent on the Palmer Method of penmanship in grade school (Gens XYZ and ellaminnowpea Google penmanship). But I digress from my digression.

I wanted to recall what I found back then and still do today as tragic and telling and sad and extremely dangerous and part of the malignancy that allows self-identifying Christians to be gung-ho supporters of Donald Trump.1

You may recall that Trump back then was trying to rewrite his bio by suddenly and expediently identifying himself as a Christian—in fact, more specifically as a Presbyterian—though the particular Presbyterian Church in New York City he claimed to be his church said this was a lie and disowned him without ever owning him. So, when Donald Trump wanted to curry favor early on in his speech with the evangelical Christian student body at Liberty University he referred to a verse from St. Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth that he learned was etched in stone in various places on campus saying, “that’s the whole ballgame. . . Is that the one you like?” Trump asked. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” Only the response he thought he’d get was muted and anything but raucous.

It turned out that Trump had identified the verse as “Two Corinthians 3:17 instead of the more commonly worded “Second Corinthians 3:17.” God forbid!!! Yes, I admit, it is not typical since it refers to the second of two letters sent to the Corinthians. Anyway, it was enough for students to realize this was a man who, unlike them, was UNfamiliar with the bible and caused them to question whether or not he was truly a Christian. And this is what I find tragic, telling, and troubling. That THIS would be the kicker, THIS would be what would cause them to question Donald Trump’s religious character, invalidate his spiritual integrity and sincerity, and discredit his Christian street-cred and legitimacy. THIS is what ruffled their feathers and caused them to question if Trump was genuinely committed to living the Christ-life?

THIS, not the daily litany of conscious, purposeful, arrogant, reprehensible, demeaning, mocking, vulgar, sexist, racist, classist, narcissistic, self-serving, insecure, petty, infantile (with apologies to infants), mendacious, dishonorable, careless, cheating, unfaithful, immoral, dangerous, and destructive behavior that threatens not only democracy but also the well-being and lives of other persons, the environment, our country, and the world. This surely will be the legacy of this deeply unformed and profoundly wounded human being. This is not merely a man who is a sinner like the rest of us. This is a man whose unapologetic motto, by all appearances, is “I am first. It’s all about me.” This is someone who seems to be constitutionally incapable of and equally disinterested in putting the interests of anyone else—ANYONE ELSE—above his own. This is a (physically) grown man, a purported leader, who wakes each morning before and goes to bed each night after consciously and deliberately dehumanizing and desecrating other persons. He shows us not occasionally but daily who he is. To say he is a repeat offender is the understatement of understatements.

This out-of-kilter response by self-identifying Christians reminds me of something that Tony Campolo, the American sociologist, Baptist pastor, author, public speaker and spiritual advisor once said at a Christian gathering:

“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

How sad that so many who claim to be followers of Christ would be unnerved by Trump’s eentsy weentsy bible-referencing faux pa and have no problem looking past his blatantly and inexcusably deficient character, self-knowledge, moral compass, integrity, leadership qualities, compassion or concern for anything or anyone beyond himself and his own self-interests. It is hard for me to imagine—and I am serious—that a person with his qualities and track record who continuously and flippantly shows us who he is would be allowed by the school administration to run for junior high president let alone for the presidency of the United States of America.

In the months running up to the 2016 Presidential election, many Christians justified their support of Donald Trump by saying, “We’re not electing a pastor. We’re electing a President.” Au contraire, fellow Americans. A president, that is, someone who presides among not presides or lords over a people, must have pastoral qualities. The word pastor, as you know, comes from the Latin word for shepherd or shepherdess and refers to those persons who walk with, lead, guide, accompany, tend to, feed, protect, care for, comfort, and put their life on the line for the safety and well-being of the flock. In St. Paul’s letter to Titus he lays out the qualities of a pastoral leader who

as God’s steward, must be above reproach, not arrogant, not quick tempered, not a drunkard, not aggressive, not greedy for personal gain, but hospitable, a lover of goodness, temperate, just, holy, and self-controlled. ~ Titus 1: 7-8

You be the judge.

1 Why not someone like John Kasich, Liz Cheney, Susan Collins, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowsky, Will Hurd, or Adam Kinzinger? Is it simply because you think “they can’t win?”

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