“I just can’t!”
This has been my sentiment for the past 2 months.
I just can’t . . . believe . . . what so many Americans have done. I can’t believe the hypocrisy of so many people I love, so many people I once respected, so many people I thought were better than this. And I especially can’t believe the ignorance of those in the church: those who claim to be people of faith, but who in their pursuit of power were so willing to compromise the way of Jesus.
I just can’t . . . listen . . . to him speak. Few people as ignorant as our new president have been given a microphone as often as he has. And his addiction to attention is only dwarfed by his inability to say anything worth hearing. His vulgar, condescending, and demeaning ‘weavings’ only reveal his penchant for misinformation, his deliberate perpetuation of lies, his age!, AND . . . the “fool’s ability to fool the fools!”
And I just can’t . . . respond . . . the way I did eight years ago! Not because there was anything wrong with the way I sought to resist the evils of Trumpism; but because my health and well-being, and the health and well-being of my neighbors, depends on so much more. Surely all of the marches, and protests, and candlelight vigils kept my heart from being corrupted by the debauchery of the first Trump presidency, but this time around I am doing things differently.
So as our country prepares for another four-year circus, this time I am going to focus my attention on my immigrant and LGBTQ neighbors who are fearful and wondering where they fit in this nation that has yet again, failed to live up to the ideals of our founders. I am going to devote myself to lifting up the beauty and the joy of all those things that MAGA Republicans fear: that being anything that threatens their privileged, racist, misogynistic, and homo- and xeno- phobic worldview. I’m going to use an even louder voice when it comes to challenging and resisting policies that hurt the marginalized. And I will continue to do anything and everything I can to shame all who defend a ‘purple’ church, who preach a gospel that is more about making an American empire great, than walking in the footsteps of Jesus, and who make the naïve claim that we just need to sit down, listen to one another, and learn to get-along!
And here’s one thing I am NOT going to do! I am NOT going to give this president, or any nut-job in his administration, so much space in my head, or my day, that I am unable to know the peace of God that is so central to my faith. And while the media’s ‘breaking news’ and ‘headline news’ will try to force me to focus on the all the broken parts of this new administration – and there will be many! – I am going to choose to fill my days with love and light. A new day is indeed dawning; and we have a choice as to whether or not it will be a day of hatred or hope.
So beginning right now, I will no longer say “I just can’t . . .”! Because I can! WE can! Today, and for the next 4 years!
Bob's Blog 
You’re so right. Even more outrageous and deplorable than King Donald and the damage he’s doing to our democracy, is exactly your point — what shoebox have all those voters been living in throughout this decade that allows them to vote for all the evil he has promised to do? I’m totally untethered. And today he pardoned all his fellow conspirators from January 6th!! You’re right about what we can and have to do to survive the next four years. I’m just not sure I’m up to the huge challenge. Keep your voice alive, Bob. You speak for many others if us.
Amen, Bob!