Have we Lost our Minds?

Note: This was written in March 2025, just three months into Trump’s presidency. There is even more to be concerned about now than there was then.

For several years now, I have been shaking my head almost daily upon reading the news, wondering how it is that most American evangelicals have supported and continue to support Donald Trump. Although about 80% of evangelicals voted for him in each of the last three elections, I am among a minority who did not vote for him during any of those elections. I was especially concerned this time around about the consequences for American democracy if Trump won, but I must admit that I was still not prepared for the dizzying flurry of presidential actions   from day one that have ramped up my level of concern severalfold. There are so many things to be upset about all at once, which is very disconcerting, to the point that if someone were to ask me what I am upset about I would hardly know where to begin. So, that is my starting point for writing—to sort out in my own mind what it is that I am so upset about. 

            What am I so upset about?  Let me count the ways.  First, I am upset because justice is being turned upside down.  No justice has been done in holding Trump accountable for all the crimes he has committed.  Special counsel Jack Smith dropped the federal election interference case after Trump was re-elected because of the Justice Department prohibition against prosecuting a sitting president.  But did we not hear with our own ears his provocative speech on the White House lawn and see with our own eyes the mob breaking into the Capitol building in an attempt to keep the election result from being finalized?  Did we not wonder why for hours he watched and did nothing to dial this back, even after the crowd was shouting “Hang Pence”?  The related Georgia election interference case is in limbo, initially sidetracked due to allegations against the prosecutor.  But did we not hear with our own ears how Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find a few votes so the Georgia result could be overturned?  Then there is the classified documents case, which a pro-Trump judge dismissed, not on the weakness of the evidence, but because she said that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unconstitutional, even though the appointment of special counsels has been the norm for decades and provides a higher degree of accountability for government leaders.  The one case where Trump was finally convicted was the Hush money case. Finally, it seemed, he was being held accountable for something!  But sentencing was delayed and after he won the election, Judge Merchan gave him a no-penalty sentence.  Again, there was no punishment for the wrongs he did.  Since Trump’s goal has been to evade justice for himself, he is also disposed to pardon other powerful men who are guilty. Meanwhile, he has fired many government officials who were just doing their job and replaced them with Trump loyalists.  Anyone who has the integrity and courage to speak out against him, like Liz Cheney or Mike Pence, have been targeted and their political careers set back or ruined.  Those who do right are punished and those who do wrong, especially Trump himself, evade punishment.  And to make things worse, the Supreme Court ruled that the president has absolute immunity for any official actions done as president. Is it not the point of a democracy that no one is above the law?  The Trump appointed Supreme Court justices did not think so.  So much for “liberty and justice for all.” 

            Second, I am upset because truth has been eroded.  According to the Washington Post factchecker team, Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims during his first term in office.  Now in his second term, to curry favor with the President, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has done away with factchecking altogether.  Why does this curry favor with Trump?  Obviously, Trump doesn’t like being fact-checked because the facts will show that he is lying.  Here is one recent and obvious example of a Trump lie. During his recent campaign, Trump said that he had nothing to do with Project 2025.  Yet after becoming president, he appointed Russell Vought, the co-author of Project 2025 to be the director of the Office of Management and Budget. Clearly, Trump was lying when he said he had “nothing to do” with the project.  Another recent lie is that Ukraine is responsible for starting the war with Russia.  We all followed the events for ourselves and know that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine.  Since the war started, the U.S. Congress, including Republicans who are now silent, regarded Russia as the aggressor and Ukraine as the target. 

Of course, Trump’s “Big Lie” was his repeated insistence that he had won the 2020 election, but it had been stolen from him.  In fact, it was he who was trying to steal a free and fair election. Trump’s many lawsuits challenging the election results were dismissed or defeated for lack of evidence.  Even two of the most loyal members of his administration, Bill Barr and Mike Pence, refused to support his claim to have won the election, and incurred Trump’s wrath as a result.  In the end, although Trump failed in overturning the 2020 election, he deceived enough of the American public and intimidated enough politicians to go along with his lie that he was able to be re-elected in 2024.  Now that Trump has succeeded with his “Big Lie,” he knows that his followers will believe anything he says.  For those who care about the truth, that is a disturbing and terrifying reality.

            Third, I am upset because democracy in our country is in danger.  People have been warning us about this for a while, and many thought them to be alarmists.  Now it is clear that the warnings were warranted.  Balance of power is central to democracy, but Trump is relentlessly trying to undermine it so that he can establish an authoritarian regime with himself as the dictator.  He claimed he was joking when he said that he would be a dictator on day 1, but it is now clear that he was not joking. Congress has become almost irrelevant due to his barrage of executive orders that bypass its authority, and members of Congress are intimidated into supporting even his most outrageous cabinet picks or policies because if they don’t, they know they will incur Trump’s wrath and the wrath of his supporters, who could vote them out of office next time. Regarding the Courts, Vice President Vance is already justifying in advance the idea that if Trump doesn’t agree with the courts’ rulings, they can be ignored.  The court has no ability to enforce its rulings, seeing that Trump also controls the military. Another pillar of democratic societies is a free press, but Trump has long considered the press to be the enemy of the people and has unleashed lawsuits against unfriendly media outlets to intimidate them into not speaking against him.  Trump and his supporters want to make America great again, but ironically, if he succeeds the America that results will be decidedly un-American, considering that America from its inception has been synonymous with democracy. Trump has long shown disdain for America’s democratic allies and admiration for dictators, such as Putin in Russia or Kim in North Korea, because he aspires to be like them.  He is aggressively pursuing authoritarianism and remarkably has convinced his supporters that this is a good thing, as though democracy itself was the enemy.  Democracy is not simply a tool of the liberal left—it is a system of government that has served our country well for many generations, a system of government that has been the envy of the world, a beacon for those oppressed by authoritarian governments, a place where those deprived of it elsewhere can find “liberty and justice for all.”  I am afraid that such an America is quickly disappearing, and that is a cause of great sadness and concern.

            Fourth, I am upset because of corruption and flagrant conflict of interest in government.  Trump has made a point of pardoning or dismissing the charges of corrupt politicians, such as Mayor Adams of New York City or Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois, while at the same time seeking to dismantle anti-corruption safeguards in government that would hold people like him accountable.  He has also disregarded the norm of disengaging as much as possible from conflicts of interest before taking office.  Trump refused to do this in his first term and has been even bolder and more flagrant in his second, releasing a Trump cryptocurrency coin just three days before taking office. Already, it has made him hundreds of millions of dollars.  Trump also has a myriad of business interests around the world which could influence his foreign policy but has made no attempt to disentangle himself from these.  Moreover, he has appointed Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, with a wide variety of business interests, to oversee the slashing of government agencies.  Clearly, there are many potential conflicts of interest, but both Trump and Musk sweep this concern aside.  And seemingly no one can do anything about it. 

            Fifth, I am upset because the political climate engendered by Trump is giving rise to increased racism and discrimination.  He is aggressively promoting an anti-wokeness and anti-diversity campaign.  While Christians have been legitimately concerned about the excesses of the liberal left in promoting the LGBTQ+ agenda, including in the education of our young children, Trump’s campaign goes well beyond that to attack even the hint of diversity friendly policies of any kind.  By his orders, West Point Military Academy has cancelled any clubs suggestive of diversity, including the Society of Woman Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers.  Although Trump did not cancel Black History month as rumored, the Department of Defense and Military departments are no longer promoting diversity emphasis months such as Black History Month or Women’s History Month.  After the recent plane crash in D.C., instead of bringing unity and comfort as presidents typically try to do after such disasters, Trump immediately blamed diversity hiring practices for the crash, insinuating that diversity hires (women, minorities, handicapped, etc.) were inherently less qualified or capable than white men. And recently both Elon Musk and JD Vance, without any disavowal from the president, shockingly spoke out in favor of AfD, the far-right Nazi-leaning political party in Germany. If we ignore these things, we do so to our own peril.       

            Sixth, I am upset because Trump and his billionaire friend Elon Musk are enriching themselves while showing utter disregard for the poor.  I have already addressed the first part with respect to their conflicts of interest but coupled with that is a lack of compassion for the poor. One of the most upsetting things that Trump and Musk have done early in this second term is to do away with USAID and its billions of dollars of aid that helped the poor around the world.  Among other things, it has saved more than 3 million lives a year through immunization programs and expanded education for 15 million children in conflict environments.  It is true that some funding was used to support programs that evangelicals would not approve of, but those who highlight these things never mention the many lives saved by aid programs.  To gut the whole agency with no alternative plans to help those impacted shows a shocking lack of compassion and disregard for the poor around the world.

            Seventh, I am upset because Trump’s actions are impacting many people in significant ways—federal employees, scientists, immigrants, blacks, disabled, transgendered, Palestinians, Ukrainians, Canadians, etc.  As Christians who are called upon to love our neighbors as ourselves, we should care about these impacts, whether anxiety and fear, lost jobs, lost funding, marginalization, deportation, etc. Trump seems to take pleasure in disrupting peoples’ lives and causing fear and anxiety and has conditioned his supporters to take pleasure in it too. Many of those supporters are evangelical Christians.  But are we not called upon to love our neighbors and show compassion to those who are hurting?  For the most part, middle to upper class white evangelicals have not been directly impacted in a negative way by Trump’s actions, except those who are government employees or scientists, but we should be reaching out to those who are impacted to show them the care and love of Christ. But where are the evangelicals who are talking about this or doing it?

            Eighth, I am upset because Trump’s actions are endangering the whole planet by accelerating the already critical impacts of climate change. He immediately withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.  Meanwhile, our country remains one of the greatest emitters of carbon dioxide, behind only China, and this situation will only worsen with Trump’s prioritizing of fossil fuels over alternative energy sources. Although Trump denies the impacts of climate change, can we not see it for ourselves in the increasing intensity of climate related disasters in our own country, whether the fires in California or the hurricanes in the southeast?  Of course, we have always had fires and hurricanes, but not to the extent that the very viability of the insurance industry is challenged as it is challenged now. If we ignore climate change, the situation both in our country and the world is only going to get worse.  Moreover, we will also endanger future generations by leaving them with a precarious ecological condition that cannot be reversed, all because we would not acknowledge the climate reality and respond appropriately.  The command to love our neighbor as ourselves, when applied to future generations, requires us to be good stewards of the world God has given us so that future generations can enjoy it as well.

            Ninth, I am upset because America’s reputation around the world is being damaged.  America’s use of power and influence in the world has not always been commendable, but at least the ideals it stood for, such as freedom and justice, were ones that people around the world wished to experience for themselves.  But now, what is America to be known for around the world?  It is to be known as the country that cares only about itself, as the country with no compassion, as the country that cannot be trusted to keep its alliances or commitments, as a country that refuses to do its part to address climate change, as a bully aggressor that threatens to make Canada our 51^st state and to take over Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Gaza. As one who loves my country, this is all very disheartening.

            Tenth, and still more importantly, I am upset that the reputation of Christ and his church is at stake.  American evangelicals make up a key component of Trump’s support base, with about 80% having voted for him in each of the last three elections.  Since about one quarter of Americans identify as evangelical, the evangelical vote is significant.  Although the election was not as close as anticipated, Trump still won the popular vote by only about 2.3 million.  Even if only 70% of evangelicals had voted for Trump, he would have lost the popular vote by almost 2 million.  If 50% of evangelicals had not voted for Trump, he would have lost in a landslide, by about 10 million popular votes. So, it is fair to say that evangelicals put Trump in the White House and therefore what he does and what he stands for reflects on the evangelical church. How could evangelicals support such a man as Trump in such overwhelming fashion?  Have we lost our minds?