Donald Trump Supporters Do Not Care About Character
Donald Trump supporters do not care. He knows it, they know it, you know it, I know it – we all know it.
Infidelity? Perversion? Fraud? Abusive language? Lack of specificity? A decades-long track record of buying the most liberal politicians in America, politicians he now claims to be the complete opposite of? Doesn’t matter. Donald Trump even brags on national TV that his supporters are so loyal that they would still back him if he pulled out a gun and murdered someone in cold blood on a crowded street. Believe it or not, Donald Trump supporters absolutely do not care about any of it.
And neither does Donald Trump, for that matter. But let’s be honest. That’s the biggest thing all these Trumpeteers love about their fearless leader. They love that he’s mean and rude and sensational, yes. But what they love most of all is that he is unrepentant about it! And why do his followers love that Donald Trump is both a scoundrel and unrepentant? Because his unrepentance gives his supporters permission to also be vile and unrepentant.
Write or say anything critical of Donald Trump and then publicize it. I dare you. Then watch wave after wave of hate and abuse roll in like so much turbulent ocean hoping to break you on the rocks.
Not only are Trump supporters ignorant, they are fiercely ignorant, as I experienced first-hand when I published an article last week expressing my concern at Donald Trump praising Planned Parenthood for doing “wonderful things” for women. You name it, his commenting supporters threw it at me in hopes that one of their slanderous claims would stick and dissuade me from continuing to pull the curtain back on their Great and Powerful Oz. I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or groan when I was accused repeatedly, and in the vilest language, of being a stooge for the GOP establishment, Zionists, and the status quo.
Yet from comparing the amount of traffic on our blog’s website for the actual article with the number of comments on the link shared to Facebook, I know for a fact that the majority of Trump supporters commenting did not read any more of my article than its headline before dishing out their passionate denunciations. Go figure!
Donald Trump Supporters Only Care That He’s Rich
Those Trumpeteers who show the closest approximation of rationality and good judgment consistently point to one quality which they regard as the trump card. All objections to Donald’s candidacy pale in their minds beside one simple fact: Donald Trump is rich.
That was the foot Donald Trump led with when he first announced he was running for the Republican nomination. “I am really rich” is supposed to be taken as proof that this man deserves not only our vote, but also our deference and even reverence. In Donald’s mind and the minds of those who back him, Trump has been the presumptive nominee since he entered the race for the crude, simple, tasteless fact that he is a flaming billionaire.
His slogan “Make America Great Again” may as well actually read “Make America Rich Again.” That’s what he’s promising: wealth and prosperity. But is that all we need, more money? More jobs? More wealth? Does nothing else matter to America but money?
Don’t get me wrong. Jobs and money are great. I work over 12 hours a day at my job to bring home money for my wife and our six kids. Jobs and money pay for my mortgage and utilities, the food we put on our table, the clothes we wear. Jobs and money service the loan for our family van and just put gas in the tank of that van when we drove four hours one way to Billings for dentist appointments this week. Jobs and money paid the bill when three of my kids needed fillings at that dentist.
Jobs and money are great, but wealth isn’t everything. Shame on American Christians for voting Trump with their wallet while overlooking the many glaring character defects this arrogant, self-absorbed man brazenly and unrepentantly flaunts at every possible opportunity.
Real Christians Care About Character More Than Wealth
It is to men and women just like these Trump voters that James wrote:
“My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?”
If only Trump supporters would consider the wisdom of the Proverbs:
“Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.”
Seriously, Christians – what are you thinking? We must be better than this! If you’ve put Donald Trump on a pedestal because of his wealth, is money all we care about? No! It should not, it cannot, it must not be. Please, I implore you to consider the perfect wisdom of God’s Word as you weigh the candidates:
“…Godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.”
And if you will not listen to the Apostle Paul, Christians, you must listen to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
No, money is not the root of all kinds of evil, but greed and the love of money is. We would do well also to remember that Jesus taught clearly:
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Godly Character Must Trump Wealth
When it comes to the Republican primaries, when we have multiple other candidates to choose from who are much much better, it is inexcusable for anyone, but Christians especially, to vote for a man who is flamboyantly corrupt, wicked, and abusive. Obvious to anyone paying attention, Donald Trump is only pretending at the least semblances of virtue and good judgment to get the vote, and then he’s going to go and do with the office of POTUS what he’s consistently done in his personal life: whatever pleases Donald Trump.
Donald Trump supporters do not care about that because they think the trade-off will be worth it if the Donald makes them rich in the process. But Christians must be different. Christians must care about good character and judgment. We must elect a man who is God-fearing and just, who lives out the words of the prophet Micah:
“He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does Yahweh require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?”
Donald Trump has given us no evidence to believe he has ever been or will ever be that man, at least not when there’s a buck to be made in compromising character or good taste.
