I thought I could appeal to you with reason, especially those who are believers. If we share the same faith and hope, I hope we too can distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and reformation from destruction.
Let me start by saying this: You need to see Trump for who he is.
Yes, he was elected by the electoral college system. He is, well, the 45th President for the next 14 days. He is also a Christian and claims to lead under God’s hand. Yet, by one’s fruit, you shall know a person right?
Now, no one is perfect. What’s more a leader managing very complex situations. But that‘s not the point. It never was to start with. And we all know that.
If perfection was your measuring rod, and anything that falls short of that automatically invites rebuke, then we may as well get ourselves all arraigned with the usual charges of hypocrisy read to us, take the plea of guilt without the pretentious denial, and just accept the sentence meted out to us. No point hiring defence lawyers for that right? They only waste time and money that are better spent elsewhere.
We must also accept that bearing fruit is seasonal. And the harvest takes a lifetime. Some seasons, we will fail miserably. Other seasons, we take a stand for what is right courageously. So, we indeed contain multitude. We contradict ourselves. But when it truly counts, when the rubber meets the road, we stand out to be counted. That is what fruit-bearing means, right?
Mind you, that is not beyond our capacity to do. And if we reap what we sow, I admit that we do sow bad seeds at times. But, we also sow good ones too.
Seasonal bad harvest doesn’t need to be for a lifetime, unchanged. No life is ever condemned. And no one is exempt from making u-turns.
That is also why Christ, in trembling fear and pain, took up the Cross and finished the call, never looking back. He made his choice, and made it all the way. He should be our marker of faith and hope, not man, no matter how rich and/or powerful.
Another meaning of a fruit-bearing life is when we turn from our wrong ways or thoughts. This is the hardest to do. It’s in fact herculean in effort and consistency. It takes more than just courage or bravery. It takes self-confrontation. Because if you do not see in the mirror the errors of your ways, then you will never be convicted to change.
And to use former mayor Rudy’s own words, but with a total change of its intent and meaning, it is no less a “trial by combat,” that is, a battle with oneself, putting no one else but ourselves through the furnace of self-examination and change.
So, to summarise, it is not about perfection but a fruit-bearing life, over a lifetime. The fruit we bear is about the courage to call a spade a spade and to confront ourselves first before we persuade others to make that change.
Bear this in mind, your greatest enemy is often not out there, but inside you. I know this doesn’t surprise you, but be aware with heightened sensitivity that such knowledge can be a conspiracy of selves to deny the truth or a conviction of self to abide with and by the truth. And yes, such discernment would require no less than a ruthless self-confrontation, or well, a trial by combat.
So, going back to Trump, we have to call a spade a spade. He is no doubt redeemable, as everybody is. And he is of course not perfect, as everybody is not. But, putting aside what he had done in the past, the good and the bad, we must put before us what he had done on Wednesday, or is directly responsible for.
He can’t wash his hands from what had happened at the Capitol on Wednesday, which he called it the “save democracy” march. If anything, it was a desperate march to save his presidency, which had sadly resulted in deaths, injuries, damage to property and a historic scar to the constitution and democracy.
For more than 200 years (since 1814), there has never been such a mindless siege on Congress and democracy, and what America stands for, like the one the world had witnessed on Wednesday.
By now, we must all accept, even McConnell and Pence did, that the election win for Biden is sealed. The inauguration will therefore be for a new President of America, her 46th. And even Trump himself finally conceded that yesterday.
But here’s what is most devious about Trump, the man who would do anything to win, or not lose, and to do anything at the expense of the people he had used to do the dirty work for him. If you are his supporters, and still are, you can’t possibly with a straight face deny this - he is the direct cause of the insurrection at the Capitol.
Now, you are at liberty to blame antifa or the radical left wing or the mercenary democrats all you want, but, if you are looking for the last straw that broke the camel’s back, it is Trump’s rally call to “never concede”. He is the one who said, “our country has had enough. We won’t take it anymore. We will stop the steal. We will not let them silence your voices. It will never happened.”
If that is not clear enough for you, he also hollered this: “We want to go back and we want to get it right...We have to fight much harder. You have to get your people to fight.”
Then he ended with this Jericho shout: -
“We will not be intimidated in accepting the hoaxes and the lies...we have come to demand that congress do the right thing, to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. You gonna walk down and I will be there for you (no, he was not; he stood by in a tent to watch with gleeful pride).”
“And I am gonna be watching because history is going to be made...We going to get rid of the weak congress people, the ones that aren’t any good...let the weak ones get out. This is the time for strength. Make no mistake this election was stolen from you, from me, and from the country (which he conceded a day after). As this enormous crowd shows, we have truth and justice on our side. We have overwhelming pride in this great country. We have deep in our souls and we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
At this juncture, you can’t help but notice that, Instead of calling it a “saving democracy” march, it would be more apt to just call it a “fight like hell” storm into the Capitol. And fought like hell his supporters did, as they rushed in to make a global mockery of a nation that claims to lead the world in what enduring democracy stands for.
In any event, Trump even called the insurrectors “special” and reminded them that he loved them.
But, in about a day later, he unsurprisingly turned his back on them. That is the true Trump that unravelled when his interest, name and skin are all at stake. He blatantly threw those he had encouraged to do his bidding under the self-campaign bus. This is what the President has to say to save himself: -
“I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.”
Bewildering right? More so, deeply scary. And here’s where he released the Cavalry on his own people, his most fervent supporters.
“I immediately deployed the National Guard and the federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order.”
“The demonstrators (mind you, his sworned supporters) who infiltrated the capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country (but they do represent who Trump is).
“And to those who broke the law, you will pay (but not her instigator?). We have just been through an intense election, and the emotions are high. But now tempers must be cooled and calm restored...”
And here comes the 360-degree change overnight...
“And a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power (this glaringly contradicted what he had called for a day before to “fight like hell”). This moment calls for healing and reconciliation. 2020 has been a challenging time for our people.”
And here comes the most confounding denial made by a president who has led a country ravaged by the pandemic...
“A menacing pandemic has upended the lives of our citizens, isolated millions in their homes, damaged our economy and claimed countless lives. Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together.”
And all this just makes his call for unity rings empty and hollow with this statement...
“It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family. We must revitalize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bind us together as one national family.”
“To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honor of my lifetime. And to all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”
“Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America.”
Let me thus bring this appeal to a close.
In this post, I am not here to judge what Trump has done in the past. And please, as his ardent supporters, do not mention about how he is the protector of Conservative and Christian values, about how he is an anti-abortionist, he’s against same-sex marriages and so on. That’s wholly irrelevant here, and that’s for another day of discussion anyway.
But, in this post, my focus is strictly on the deplorable event on Wednesday, where even the people’s representatives in Congress had to seek refuge for fear of their lives.
This is the problem with Trump and Trumpism, or the cult of personality. He is the match, and all it takes is a rushing river of kerosene-like religiosity and naivety to set the country on fire.
And what happened after the insurrection on Wednesday is an about-turn by a leader who is supposed to take full responsibility, bear the first bullet, and stay in the foxhole with his people, instead of hiding in the comfort of a warm tent, away from the frontline battle.
For sure he’s no Uriah the Hittite who stood by his men at the battle front and lost his life at the battle front. When the time calls for him to stand up to be counted, Trump pushed his people to the front to be slaughtered, while he escaped from it.
That is no leader. That’s a coward. That is an impenitent coward. That’s one leader who riled up the crowd to serve his own ends and then send the dogs to hunt them down to serve his own ends. When the tide turns, Trump unsurprisingly turns too.
So, let me appeal to you, Trump supporters, to call it as it is, because it is indeed what it is. Let’s put aside the 350,000 deaths from covid-19 under his watch, and let’s judge him (yes, judge him) for what he had created by design and intent on Wednesday. And let’s stand up to be counted and do the right thing as believers - that is, let’s call a spade a spade.
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