"As scary as it gets, it's just turbulence..." - Pink, Turbulence

As the certainty of the 2024 election candidate choices have made themselves clear, I’ve reflected on how we got here, through the point of view of my Christian faith and as someone who has been a Republican my whole life.

In this post, I want to work out what's going on with the Republican party so I (and hopefully you) have a stronger foundation to stand on, as we navigate and reconcile the chaos.

America is in a rough spot, right now. We're polarized and bitter. We're broken and contemptuous. So, how have we Republicans (my party) orchestrated our role in this tragedy? And why do we Republicans further the plight of us and our fellow Americans?

Let us explore...

Too Much System Pressure To Handle

There are system-based reasons to make sense of the brokenness we’re now inside. The structure of our society is difficult to overcome.

In many ways, we submit to the pressures of the system. I'm reminded of this quote from Fleming Rutledge about the crushing weight of sin.

“Jesus' situation under the harsh judgment of Rome was analogous to our situation under Sin. He was condemned; he was rendered helpless and powerless; he was stripped of his humanity; he was reduced to the status of a beast, declared unfit to live and deserving of a death proper to slaves - and what, according to Paul, were we if not slaves?" - Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion 102-103

This is a good way to think about the weight of sin and darkness that embodies the Republican Party right now, and that no matter how much we might want to resist the system pressing on us to submit, our lack of power and dependencies make it feel almost impossible.

Abandoning Our Values

Ultimately, as a party, we have embraced tragedy, swallowing it whole.

Martin Scorsese's film, Silence, comes to mind. In the movie, Christian missionaries were tortured and coerced to renounce their faith. They held onto their religion as long as they could, but eventually, they were either killed or they relented.

So many Republicans, including Trump's Vice Presidential pick, JD Vance, were adamantly against Trump, because of his moral poverty and exploitation of others. And tragically so many of them have gotten on Trump's train to hell, abandoning their espoused principles — and from my point of view — Jesus' example for us.

Their fear and contempt have surpassed their faith. I can relate. I've been there myself.

I believe this tragedy is an opportunity to deepen our faith, as it was for me, but it will require facing our fear and embracing the wilderness experience needed to get there.

And note, that experience of facing our fears will come, whether we embrace it or not.

In this essay, I'm focusing on Republicans here because I am one. When we get our house in order (take the speck out of our eye before taking the log out of their eye), we can then explore how we help our political rivals and then, truly, make America great for everyone. As long as we're corrupted, we'll be of little use for this mission. 

But, before we dive in, I need to talk about how this disappointment is personal.

When Mentors & Leaders Fail Us

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden." - Jesus, Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

There is nothing more fundamentally important to me than my relationship with God. An extension of this foundation is my hope that the church would be a powerfully loving example to those not a part of it.

Growing up, my family was entrenched in teaching content from Focus on the Family, founded by Dr. James Dobson. Their content had a positive influence on us.

During the Clinton years, they emphasized character and particularly, why it mattered for our president. Here's what Dr. Dobson said about Bill Clinton in 1998.

"As it turns out, character DOES matter. You can't run a family, let alone a country, without it. How foolish to believe that a person who lacks honesty and moral integrity is qualified to lead a nation and the world. Nevertheless, our people continue to say that the President is doing a good job even if they don't respect him personally. Those two positions are fundamentally incompatible."

Here's another statement from him.

"I just don’t understand it. Why aren’t parents more concerned about what their children are hearing about the President’s behavior? Are moms and dads not embarrassed by what is occurring?" - James Dobson, 1998

The tragedy is that Dr. Dobson would later endorse Donald Trump for president, abandoning his concerns and claims, for short-term political gain.

Tragically, Dobson would be one of many pastors and Christian leaders who would follow suit. Christian leaders would split themselves to support a deceptive and corrupt man.

"Splitting is the phenomenon of distancing our conscious self from unacceptable feelings and experiences to such an extent that a fissure opens between the conscious self and the unconscious self.... Something bad happens and we wish it away, or hide it, or rationalize it...We take great pains to avoid painful truth and when we have no other choice but to stare it in the face, we still deny it, rationalize it, or contend against it. It served to create a hell..." - Paul Zahl, Who Will Deliver Us?

This is what has happened in the Republican Party and why I think they've gone so deep in villainizing Democrats. Unable to cope with their moral decline, they've had to make the Democrats seem worse, mitigate their moral anxiety, and justify their positions. The alternative before them was to generously understand and steelman (accurately represent their rival's arguments) their political rivals.

This situation is disappointing for me, and part of my grieving process is to lament the many people who have poured out their lives to me, teaching me many principles, values, and life lessons, many of which have compromised those same specific ideals in their politics.

It's a form of disillusionment I'm going through with these friends and family, many of which helped me in critical ways that are participating in stark contrast to their values.

Imagine someone telling you it's a good thing to tell the truth and then they go and tell someone else that it's not important. Or imagine a police officer friend telling you the rule of law matters, but then they justify the criminality of Trump. Or consider a friend who encourages taking responsibility and being accountable and then publicly supports someone who's doing the opposite.

Now. Not everyone who votes for Trump supports everything he's said or done. But, what's also personally disappointing is that when they provide reasons for their choices, they are usually not Christian reasons, but often are instead distorted, selfish, secular, or tribal justifications in contradiction with Christ's teachings.

It's disappointing. And it is costly.

"Some Christians sacrifice their principles to gain power to advance them. But when that power is gained, they lose all influence. When others fight to get their power back, these Christians say, "The world hates us because of our principles." No, it’s your hypocrisy they hate." - Alan Godwin

In the end, there is redemption, because we're all sinful, and it's good to have everyone we put on a pedestal knocked off (including ourselves), so we can make sure only God sits in that place.

It's an opportunity to update how we have integrated that person and relationship in our life of which we've been disappointed, and to see them the way God sees them.

And it's also an opportunity for some people to surprise us, in a good way. Billy Graham's granddaughter, in contrast to Franklin Graham's steadfast support of Trump, is one recent example.

This post is my way to work through this situation, so I can engage with others who are so different, in ways that are fruitful and not harmful (out of anger or contempt). Getting this out of me allows me to talk with and love others more effectively.

So, make America great again? It's more personal for me.... make all my friends and family great again. Make Christianity great again.

But, alas I'm not the one who can. And, I'm no saint either.

As a fallible human, I could be wrong.

What About....? A Reckoning

Now before I dive in, I want to clarify that I'm no virtuous exception. I've been the perpetrator of this hypocritical dynamic I'm emphasizing in this post, for the people I've hurt along my journey: friends, family, and employees.

For example, my wife thought I was one person when she met me, but after marrying me, she saw the real depraved broken version of me.

We often wear masks, where we try to be one person in part of our lives while we struggle to be that person in all of our lives.

Sometimes we're faced with circumstances that reveal aspects of our character that are deficient and we're not ready to work that out. It often harms others.

That is a reckoning for us to work through our respective deficiencies, at least for those who choose to do so.

In this sense, I believe it is good for the masks to fall off and for us to see each other all as who we are, even when it is not pretty.

At least then we have clarity, we have something to work with. As Jesus said, he didn't come for the healthy, but the sick. We have to own our sickness.

By getting publicly vocal on politics, I've disappointed and pleasantly surprised many people who know me. They'll have to work through their disillusionment and celebration respectively. I hear their feedback. For many, they believe I've sold my soul to the devil, have TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome), or have been brainwashed by the mainstream media. For others, they're grateful, encouraging, and supportive.

Part of the reason I want to convey my thoughts and ideas on this matter so transparently is to help them work through it (as I do the same). I've met and known so many people on my journey at so many different points along the way, I do want to bring them all along, as best as I can.

And this process of writing and sharing can also help reveal any of my blind spots that are distorting how I'm seeing things.

The good news is that through redemption, the ugly version of us can be made pretty.

And, I hope for the days when Christian Republicans reclaim the values and principles they taught me but (as I see it) compromised in this Trump era of politics.

"Until the Church consistently leads people to the wilderness (i.e. prayer, solitude, silence, reflection, repentance, etc.) to confront our own demons, we will project our demons back out into the world, and fail to see that some demons in the world are reflections of ourselves."  - Rich Villodas

We all have some wandering to do. When we reject our wilderness experience, we embrace the tyranny of Pharoah's Egypt. And we can't effectively see the tyranny outside of us because we don't want to see the tyranny in ourselves.

But, the tyranny comes for us all. In many ways, we're helpless to stop it.

My Goal With This Lengthy Essay: Processing Republican's Faith in Tragedy

As a Republican, I didn't vote for Trump in 2016, because of all the people he exploited before he became president and his corrupt character. I voted for Biden in 2020 out of my concern for Trump's mass deception about the election and expectation of political violence (which happened on January 6th).

In this post, I want to get down to the bedrock and go deep into these issues to discover what’s deeply driving Republicans, through the lens of my Christian faith.

It's an extension of my book about the evil Jesus came to overcome on the cross. It's a windy exploration of the good news in light of the very bad news before us.

The people of America make America what it is. And if we change for the better, we’ll make America better.

The core idea I will explore is the tragedy of how Trump has reshaped Christian Republicans — of which I’m both — in his image. We’ve been ensnared in his deep and dark jadedness. Instead of overcoming this cynicism, we've become that which we fight against.

The core issue, as I see it, is the difference between faith in tragedy and faith in redemption. There is no more fundamental way to evaluate than this, so I'm diving in at this level.

On the redemptive side, Imagine if instead of defending and downplaying Trump's sin, Christian Republicans held him and ourselves up to the ideal of our messiah.

So, in this post, we’re going down into the tragic cellar of us Republicans because as Amanda Palmer says, “If you don’t deal with your demons, they go into the cellar of your soul and lift weights.”

We Republicans must look in the mirror and recognize how deeply corrupt we’ve become.

Only then, can we change, and only then can we effectively help our rivals and country.

Let The Freakout About Republican's Moral Darkness Begin!

"But we should pay more attention to the fact that something is wrong with [Trump]. And I think we will, including millions of Republicans who are no more eager to face the truth about their nominee than Democrats were to face the truth about Joe Biden. We’ll have no choice: With Harris suddenly ahead in polling, in fundraising, and in enthusiasm, Trump’s confidence in his own popularity is being tested more severely than at any point since the aftermath of the 2020 election." - Nick Cattogio, Something is Wrong, The Dispatch

The Democrats freak out about Biden's physical degeneration is the freaking out Republicans should (and eventually will) be doing about Trump's moral depravity.

Democrats chose to move away from what held them back. When will Republicans do the same? Will they delay the inevitable, doubling down now, instead?

Before we explore how those demons have had their way with my political party, let me share the following quote from Hannah Arendt's book, The Origins of Totalitarianism, as a preview of these jaded demons (figuratively speaking, not literally), we'll be exorcizing.

“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.” - Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Here we go. Click... click...click...click.

Trump’s Story That Never Happened: Responsibility, Repentance and Rectification

"Speaker after speaker [at the 2024 Republican convention], said the Republican party is the party of Law and Order. And yet who is their presidential candidate that they are united behind? The only former for president, the only major party presidential candidate, to be convicted of felonies, in this case 34 felonies. He was found by a civil jury to have sexually assaulted, colloquially raped and defamed a woman. He was found by a civil jury to have engaged in massive financial fraud. His companies were found criminally to have engaged in massive financial fraud. He was twice impeached in the Senate trial for the second impeachment. It was the only time that a substantial number of the members of the impeached president's own party voted for conviction . [Trump] also faces criminal indictments for January 6th in D.C for violating our national security in Florida and trying to overturn the election in Georgia." - Alan Lichtman, Historian and Author

Trump's story is a chronic pattern of him ushering in cruel tragedy to those who come in contact with him and it's the basis of me never supporting him. He is utterly irresponsible, a stark contradiction to the espoused responsibility of the Republicanism I grew up with.

It's Trump's wake of brokenness that he has the opportunity to rectify (it's also an opportunity for us to see the Trumpyness in ourselves).

Zacchaeus: A Wee Little Man Was He

There's a story in the New Testament about a man named Zacchaeus. He was a selfish and corrupt man who exploited his position of power to steal from other people. He leveraged the power of Rome to get away with his wrongdoing and force compliance from his victims.

This wealthy tax collector heard about Jesus and wanted to see him. Jesus invited himself over for a meal. In response to their time together, Zacchaeus was changed, and he proceeded to give half of his wealth to the poor and committed to paying back anyone he had wronged, four-fold.

Jesus then proceeded to proclaim that salvation had come to Zacchaeus, someone who was lost, but now found.

It's a story in the New Testament that I connect with because it's something I mimicked on my own journey of reconciliation, righting the wrongs in my wake of brokenness, in the business world.

The tragedy here is that Trump did not embrace this story and that he instead chose the opposite, continuing every day to double down on exploiting others.

The tragedy is that his supporters also rejected this repentance story and enabled the continuance of his tragedy on others instead. They chose not to make things right and instead perpetuate what's wrong.

But the story is not over. There is still an opportunity. As much as Republicans have embraced tragedy, there is still hope for them to embrace redemption.

To love Trump and Republicans, is to hope and pray for their redemption and not to give up on their redemption by giving them power. It's to call for repentance and encourage them to receive forgiveness.

Imagine the impact Trump would have by making things right with all those he's wronged and repairing all the relationships he's broken along his journey. What if he took that approach instead of his campaign of retribution?

That repentance and rectification would change my perception of Trump. And, this is my prayer for him, that this Zacchaeus ending is the ending he and Republicans choose.

And even if he ultimately chooses to reject this way forward, it is my prayer that his supporters would follow this path of reconciliation anyway.

Some already have and I know more will follow when Trump's influence fades away. No man lives forever, as my wife regularly says. 

In retrospect, there will be deep regret from Christians for losing sight of the most important story and values of all.

"Likeness to Christ is not measured by external things but by the extent to which a person’s character bears fruit that resembles the fruit of the Spirit. Not by numbers, but by kindness. Not by fame but by humility and self-control." - Diane Langberg

Jadedness: Trump’s Deep Faith in Tragedy

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life." - Rocky Balboa

Life is tragic. This is something Trump and Republicans are right about. But, they're missing a major part of the story.

And, Trump's story could have been one of redemption, where he acknowledged his sin and made things right with everyone he had harmed. It still could be. But there is no salvation without repentance.

Why did this NOT happen?

And more broadly, why was Trump so easily and quickly able to force his Republican political rivals who stood strongly against him to become his strongest loyalists?

Why was it not the other way around?

In the last four years, it became clear to me that the problem wasn't simply Trump, rather it was the contempt in the hearts of those who wanted Trump and enabled his sinful ways.

Why did Trump reshape the Republican Party in his image, instead of the party reshaping him in their image?

My conclusion: Trump has a stronger faith — in tragedy.

This tragic faith is that people are selfish and broken and that the system is flawed. It's a faith that no one and nothing is perfect. For someone as selfish and exploitative as Trump, this tragic layer is a breeding ground for extracting the rewards earned by those he's exploiting.

If we know people are going to get scared by certain things, we can exploit that fear for selfish gain. If we know people are ideological in a certain way, we can espouse that ideology to get their support. If we know people lie and cheat, we can leverage their secrets to get them to do what we want.

This is how faith in tragedy works, and why, for the shameless, they can exploit it for personal gain.

The wolves are in the henhouse, and we let them in.

Here's a relevant quote from a movie review about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to The Hunger Games that tracks the rise to power by the main antagonist.

“The idea that anything in this world — happiness, wealth, freedom, survival — can be easily won is just another illusion. Buying into that idea means believing the system won’t screw you in the end. Winning is nothing but one of Panem’s many elegant lies. Watching Snow realize this, you don’t even need to see the other movies to know the man he’ll eventually become and what he’ll do to get there.”

I've met and known many people who have fallen into this type of cynicism. And in seasons, that's also been me.

Trump believes in tragedy so much, that he's willing to put all his chips on the idea that there is corruption everywhere (he's not wrong).

In the TV Show, the Walking Dead, everyone has the zombie virus. Everyone is corrupted. It's just a matter of time and circumstance that will determine when the virus takes over. If that is going to happen, why not just embrace it and ride that wave until it ends?

We can screw everyone else and just be as selfish as possible to get what we want regardless of the consequences to others. In supporting Trump, that's the part of us that comes out. That's the part of ourselves we embrace.

And where most people in our society cower in the face of this tragedy, Trump embraces it for gain. He doesn't need any evidence to believe the 2020 election was stolen. He just uses it because he has placed his faith in the tragedy. What's true is of little importance.

Everyone places their faith in something or someone. The difference is that Trump’s faith is in this tragic reality we inhabit and it crushed the faith of Christian Republicans who should have had faith in God’s redemption; God making a way when it seemed like there was none.

Trump's faith in tragedy is often used for selfish ambition. He doesn't trust others, only himself.

Trump and his supporters are correct, that life is a tragedy. But I believe they're missing part of the story, the redemptive ending. This is something their faith has taught them, yet they've forgotten it.

Christian Republicans thought they had faith, but they'd never faced the level of faith that Trump espoused. While the object of his faith was antithetical to Christians, they were helpless in their submission to the secular principles and powers of this world. Christians who support Trump — their orange jesus — fail to see how secular they've become in their support and defense of him. They've become the very thing (worldly) they say they are fighting against.

Republicans didn't know how to resist, and so they succumbed to defeat by giving up and then giving in. Despair overcame them as it did with the fearful disciples who saw their messiah (Jesus) arrested and crucified in the garden of Gethsemane.

A stoic defies tragedy by never giving in or giving up. He defies and spites tragedy by living well to the end when tragedy is inevitable. But even that is not enough to overcome tragedy because death eventually overcomes even the stoic.

Something more is needed.

Unlike Jesus, Trump is truly the false messiah we Christian Republicans ACTUALLY wanted. Trump gave us what our hearts desired.

We’re like Judas and Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane. We’ve embraced the way of the sword and secular kingdom-building. And we don't know how to stop.

A Faustian bargain (a deal with the devil) is a deal where "a person exchanges something of great moral or spiritual value for a material benefit." From my point of view, that's the story of the Republican Party.

Many will vote for Trump because of the perceived benefits they think they'll get from him. Want to make more money? Vote for Trump.

This is one of many simple examples where Trump is profiting from people's desires. This is the benefit of his faith in tragedy.

Shortcuts & Consequences

"For the debt I owe, gotta sell my soul

'Cause I can't say no, no, I can't say no" - Billie Eilish, bury a friend

When I first graduated high school and went to college, I handled the cost of it correctly, based on things my father taught me about finances. I had grants that covered my first year at the local University. Those grants were not available in my second year, so I transferred to the local community college since it was more affordable.

Then, I got married and we moved across the country. This was a new adventure, but my response was to toss my principles out the window. I selected an extremely expensive college (the Art Institute, now shut down in Atlanta), I borrowed a bunch of money I did not have, and I got a degree I no longer use (3D Animation). Between my wife and I, we borrowed almost $100k which ended up being $155k by the time we paid it off ten years later.

This debt was a cascading series of self-induced tragedies.

Looking back, I wish we had stayed the course of how I started out and not gotten diverted into the delusional territory that had detrimental consequences. It took paying back the debt to truly learn the lesson.

This part of my story connects with what I’ve seen happen in the Republican Party since Trump entered it.

As I did on my adventure, Republicans threw out all their principles to get what they wanted and became enslaved to an unrelenting Pharaoh. They then became the tyrannical Pharaoh they so despised (the logical conclusion of their faith in tragedy).

Republicans took the shortcut and it cost them everything that matters most. And the consequences have harmed so many people and will have cost us so much more than we will want to pay, as I discovered with my student loan debt.

In 2013, during my company’s Sabbath Year, I had some revelations about my journey.

The first epiphany was recognizing that I metaphorically jumped onto a zip line as a shortcut to get what I wanted. But by doing so, I quickly ended up at the wrong destination. That required me to backtrack to where the zip line started, just to get back to my starting point.

The second important lesson learned was how my eyes were distracting me. If my primary allegiance was to Jesus, it was his eyes that should and would direct my steps. That includes him guiding and protecting me from danger.

This is vital when there is a storm raging and what I want is slipping out of my hands, leading me to hold on more tightly.

We have to look below the surface to see what's going on with someone, a group, or a movement. Superficial layers can easily deceive us. But we have to want the truth to see below the surface. Often we're only willing to do this after we've been conned and don't want to be exploited anymore. Often we need help from outsiders.

Christian Republicans have jumped on the zip line to quickly get what they want, and they're going to realize how much of a mistake it was as they walk back to the starting line. I know this because I regularly talk with people who have walked away from Christianity, non-Christians, and people of other religions who have borne the consequences. And I know this because I've done the walk myself.

There's a steep cost in moral authority and inflicted pain because of Republican's choices. There will be consequences to sharing the good news of Jesus with people in the future. If they get on with their mission, they'll eventually see the consequences of their choices.

Lies about consequential things for us all will also require a sacrifice to rectify. The longer we wait, the bigger the sacrifice. And this is true for the inevitable wilderness experience ahead of them, of which they've resisted.

We, humans, get scared, especially when we lack faith in a savior that gives hope and peace in the most horrific of circumstances. Like all the religious leaders in Jesus' passion story, many Republicans have become the villain of the story — actively or by enabling (while believing they're the hero).

I know the regret will come about how they've conducted themselves, but I don’t know how long it’ll take and how severe things will get before it does.

My hope is a devastating Republican electoral loss in 2024 will trigger it. But that's unlikely to happen as we're more like the boiling frog.

Repeatedly Getting Stung

If you've never heard of the story of the Scorpion and the Frog, here's a quick synopsis.

A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to, pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence, to which the scorpion replies: "I am sorry, but I couldn't resist the urge. It's my character."

This story is a terrific metaphor for the Republican Party and their loyalty to Trump. One difference is that even after Trump stings them, they climb back on his back for another ride.

National politics is a reflection and projection of us, personally, and in our local life. What we tolerate nationally is what we tolerate locally.

Character matters. If every structural and systematic failure unfolds, we want a good person who does the true and good thing. The opposite person (the scorpion) will exploit this situation for selfish gain and control. So, the core issue, culturally, is the rule of law issue. In America, the rule of law is voluntarily participated in, and enforced by authorities (who volunteer to participate) within limits.

But if either the participants or the authorities choose not to participate, the system degrades and eventually crumbles. This is when nefarious actors have the most to gain, by exploiting the situation. This is when they come out of the woodwork.

On a moral front, this decay of normalizing morally wrong behavior can act the same way. If people accept morally wrong behavior in themselves and those around them, including their political leaders, they are normalizing that bad behavior as good.

At the core, we have to want good behavior and not bad behavior. This is the essence of corruption.

The end game of corruption is when bad behavior is good and good behavior is bad. This flipped paradigm justifies all wrongdoing and deception.

That is the type of world Trump and Republicans are creating. I want no part in creating that hell.

Diving Deeper Into Faith in Tragedy

"You're on your own kid...you always have been." - Taylor Swift

So how did I get to the conclusion that Trump has such a strong faith and that it’s anchored in tragedy?

Let me, more deeply, walk you through my thinking.

Trump chronically lies about almost everything. He says whatever he needs to say to give him what he wants.

This can be about small silly things like lying about his crowd size or claiming that his rival's crowd is AI-generated.

Why would he operate in such a deceptive way? And when he lies, why would he treat people so horribly?

Bill Clinton famously said, “When people are insecure, they’d rather have somebody strong and wrong than someone weak and right.”

Republicans are insecure and they've attached themselves to a strong and wrong person.

I can relate.

After moving to Atlanta in 2005 from Arizona, I was attracted to these types (strong and wrong) of toxic mentors and leaders (lessons from this season are part of the reason I was immune from the Trump virus before he arrived in 2016).

When we are in over our heads, we’ll compromise across so many spiritual and moral barriers to feel that security and push away our fear and anxiety.

Life is tragic and that makes it scary.

For me, deep down, I didn’t know what I was doing in this new world and these toxic leaders' bluster made me think they did. It stabilized my floundering in the sea of change and chaos. 

Unfortunately, it came at a cost.

People who understand this type of insecurity can exploit it for personal gain. The barrier to not exploiting and the resources needed for not being exploited is grounded in our moral framework. But when we sacrifice our morality to feel security, we’ve given up our resources (virtue) to resist tyranny.

If we’re the exploiter, we prioritize what we want over what’s true and good. If the goods are flowing, even if it comes from exploitation, why stop?

This tragic dynamic is a way to describe Machiavellianism where the ends justify the means. The idea here is that it doesn’t matter how you get what you want, it only matters that you get what you want and that you win.

Bending the Knee, Kissing the Ring, & The Dark Spiral Down Into The Abyss

Republicans have completely conformed to the relentless bluster of Trump because he gives much reassurance to their anxieties. 

"At the very root of someone who decides to not just vote for Donald Trump, but become full fledge MAGA is a sense of fear that the world is changing too quickly. A fear that they are losing power and their way of life is collapsing. And a fear of the rise of what they call the 'woke agenda.'"  - Tina Nguyen, Former MAGA Member,The Back Room

We often want to eliminate the tension we feel inside instead of letting it transform us.

Republicans have renominated Trump, even after he attempted to consolidate power and stay president unconstitutionally grounded in a mass deception campaign about the 2020 election results.

How did Republican leaders respond to this lying and wrongdoing?

With applause.

Sarah Longwell commented on this moment when Trump was welcomed back to the capitol years after January 6th, by Republicans. 

“Members of Congress who purport to be devout Christians, to back the blue, to stand for the rule of law, they’re there to cheer Trump, who was morally and temperamentally responsible for the [Jan 6] insurrection.”

Tragic. Disappointing.

It's a strong contrast to what ought to have happened.

The following tweet came in response to Franklin Graham (Billy Graham's son) writing a letter of support to Donald Trump after he was convicted of 34 felonies. The following comment is the ideal of how things should have unfolded but tragically did not.

"In obedience to God, Nathan boldly told David, who languished in unrepentant sin, that he had despised the command of the Lord and done what He considered evil. A true prophet of God calls to repentance. Graham is instead aiding and abetting evil, a grievous sin in and of itself." - Jennifer Valent

Instead of encouraging repentance and rectification, Franklin Graham abdicated responsibility. It was another disappointment in our Christian leaders.

People have an attachment to their political tribe that surpasses their Christian and American identities. The Republican Party now operates like a religion of tragedy, which overwhelmed their Christian faith.

"When we love our systems more than the Christ we say we serve, we must ask, who is our God?  Many worship lesser gods.  Some worship what we call evangelicalism – or a certain theological system. Many worship a particular leader." - Diane Langberg

At one of Trump's rallies in June 2024, one of the speakers spoke of their worship of Trump.

"What more can be said then, thank god we're here in sunset park, to worship and bring back the greatest president we've ever known in our generation." - Michael McDonald

An expert on authoritarianism over history, Ruth Ben-Ghait said the following in response.

See [my book] Strongmen on personality cults where I talk about how Trump is just the latest to be received as a figure sent by God to save his people. The reality: the more corrupt they are, the more they must wrap themselves in an aura of holiness.

Christian Republicans have become more and more entrenched in the idolization of Trump, and by extension, his corruption.

It's a tragic form of spiritual suicide. The pope, in May 2024, spoke of this idea.

"He spoke of a "conservative" in such instances as "one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that."

He added: "It is a suicidal attitude. Because one thing is to take tradition into account, to consider situations from the past, but quite another is to be closed up inside a dogmatic box."'

The spiral continues and so many entrenched fail to accept what's happening.

One of the most horrifying endings of a movie is the Stephen King adaption of the Myst. Without giving too much away, it ends with the group unable to cope with the horrors of their situation and no way out of it. They proceed with a suicidal approach to their crisis.

It's reminiscent of Judas losing hope and facing his crisis after he betrays Jesus. Whereas Peter eventually transforms from despair to hope, Judas succumbs to the tragedy and ends his life.

A commentary of the movie review about the Hunger Games prequel (The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) captures this spirit of despair.

“The idea that anything in this world — happiness, wealth, freedom, survival — can be easily won is just another illusion. Buying into that idea means believing the system won’t screw you in the end. Winning is nothing but one of Panem’s many elegant lies. Watching Snow realize this, you don’t even need to see the other movies to know the man he’ll eventually become and what he’ll do to get there.”

Republicans are ushering in a tragic lawless society. What they fear is already the case in what they are working to create, many with a form of voluntary blindness.

Trump and his loyalists call others communists and fascists but those that have studied both recognize that they are the ones who more accurately reflect those horrifying regimes of the past and present.

This is why a positive vision is vitally important. It's one way to test and clarify claims of extremism.

Why Trump Lies About Election Results That He Loses: Faith In Tragedy

“Populism has created a monster that’s feral by disposition, blindly loyal to a moral degenerate, and indifferent to whether its own beliefs are true so long as they’re useful in manufacturing political will. However much contempt you have for it, it’s not enough.” - Nick Cattogio, Murder Porn

To circle back around on this topic of tragic faith, a key question that brought me down this line of thinking was, why would Trump chronically lie, particularly about the 2020 election results?

Not only does he lie about it, but he confidently and persistently lies when all the evidence points to the opposite true conclusion. 

When people no longer believe their vote matters, we're moving dangerously into civil war territory. The risk is high for fundamentally breaking our Democratic Republic.

Unlike Trump, I have reservations about propagating lies, because I value truth. This is a core reason why Trump and I are diametrically opposed to each other.

Lies are easy and fast. Truth is hard and slow.

“Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it." - Jonathan Swift

Deception versus truth. Trump's former communications director highlights this dynamic. 

"He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, 'It doesn't matter what you say, Stephanie, say it enough, and people will believe you.'" - Stephanie Grisham, former Trump communications director

For Trump, it doesn’t matter whether the election was stolen or not. What matters is what the lie gives him. It’s about his selfish motives. If telling the truth serves him, he'll tell the truth. If lying serves him, he'll lie.

For me, it's about service to the truth not service to myself. This means what is true surpasses what I want in a situation.

The logical conclusion of lying about an election being stolen, like when Trump pressured Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to find 11,780 votes, is a directive to make the lie true and steal the election. The directive of Trump loyalists is to make all of his lies come true and create evidence to support it.

Hannah Arendt captures this dynamic powerfully in her book on totalitarianism.

“…totalitarian propaganda methods, is foolproof only after the movements have seized power. Then all debate about the truth or falsity of a totalitarian dictator's prediction is as weird as arguing with a potential murderer about whether his future victim is dead or alive-since by killing the person in question the murderer can promptly provide proof of the correctness of his statement. The only valid argument under such conditions is promptly to rescue the person whose death is predicted. Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it. The assertion that the Moscow subway is the only one in the world is a lie only so long as the Bolsheviks have not the power to destroy all the others. In other words, the method of infallible prediction, more than any other totalitarian propaganda device, betrays its ultimate goal of world conquest, since only in a world completely under his control could the totalitarian ruler possibly realize all his lies and make true all his prophecies.” - Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

We arrive at our moral poverty cellar when truth no longer matters.

Cruelty & Deception

“I’ve always believed that that’s where Trump ended up psychologically in 2020 on the question of whether or not the election was really rigged. Initially, he seemed to be lying about it; by January 6, he appeared to sincerely believe that he’d been robbed. The likely truth is that he wasn’t sure and concluded that it didn’t matter a whit to his purposes. He wanted to stay in power and to do so he needed to convince a critical mass of Americans that he’d been cheated. To ask “but was he cheated?” is beside the point.” - Nick Cattogio, Murder Porn

The true believers and loyalists cling to Trump because of what his confident bluster gives them; security. Truth is nominal.

Thus they tolerate all types of wretched behavior, like I did with all the toxic people in my early Atlanta years. What’s worse is that by tolerating these behaviors, they also see how satisfying they can be.

I remember a scene from the Hunger Games movie The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It was shortly after Snow rescued his friend from the arena and as a result killed one of the tributes. After killing the tribute, he persisted in beating them beyond death.

Here's what he says to his sister after.

Coriolanus Snow: I killed one of the tributes. A boy.

Tigris: It must have been awful.

Coriolanus Snow: It was. Then it felt powerful.

There is a dark distorting effect of building a community around deception and cruelty. And, it’s effective. It garners power and connection.

Adam Serwer wrote a book on the topic and in an interview on the Gray Zone, said the following. 

"We're all capable of cruelty. I've been cruel before. Everyone has. The way cruelty works, as a process of community formation is like, when you're a kid, there's a group of cool kids who are teasing the nerdy kid and if you're not part of either group, you might join in, because you want to be part of the cool kids or you might simply be silent because you don't want the cool kids to come after you. The kids who are teasing the nerdy kid are bonding with each other over this act of meanness and transgression.

And to some extent, this is what's happening on a political level at these rallies where Trump is attacking people who symbolize a political or cultural change that the Republican base finds threatening or menacing. It's an aspect of human nature that has been weaponized by a certain style of politics."

The cruelty is a fundamental layer of Trump's Republican Party who love to own the libs and terrorize Democrats. Republicans are quick to dismiss this feature, as not a big deal.

Sure, a level of rivalry is fun and okay, but the contempt lines, of this type of banter, have been crossed.

When Reagan famously said he was not going to hold age against his younger opponent because of a lack of experience, everyone laughed, including his opponent. There was a level of shared values that allowed for poking fun at each other.

Now, that type of joking has been grounded in a level of contempt, like a soon-to-be-divorced couple rolling their eyes at each other, talking sarcastically, and jabbing to hurt the other.

When Trump lies about the 2020 election being stolen, the most charitable argument is that he’s doing it as an act, as a reality TV show presentation. But reality does not work like TV. When we chronically deceive, and that’s the basis of our success, we become the lie and it’s the foundation of our community. Tied into Trump’s bluster, he confidently propagates the lies and builds a movement around it. Historically, this is how Fascism began in its early stages in a post-truth era.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

A house built on lies is like a house built on sand. It is not sustainable and will collapse. This collapse will happen for Republicans, but it’s not clear when that collapse will unfold. Cascading major losses will likely be the trigger, but cancer has no easy cure.

Trump tries to keep the lie going, often to divert attention one way or another.

Ultimately, he's trying to keep the con going for his loyalists. He has to reassure his followers and the only way to do so, when reality is not good for him, is to lie and create an illusion; in Trump's case a custom-made delusion.

Our pride makes it hard to accept the truth and break the illusion that would otherwise devastate us. But, Christians are supposed to embody truth and with Trump, tens of millions or more have embodied the lie. Ultimately, It's my Christian faith that drives me to speak up against the deception in my group; Republicans.

Embracing the Consequences of Our Actions

“We have the rule of law so as not to have a culture of revenge.“ - Timothy Snyder, Shamans and the Chieftan

For many years, I got pulled over for driving violations. But I would keep getting out of the situation without getting a ticket from the officer. After like a dozen times, I finally got a ticket, but a friend told me that if I contested it and went to court, and the officer didn’t show, the ticket would be dismissed. That worked out for me. I consistently found ways to skirt my responsibility.

The trend continued after I moved to Atlanta from Arizona in 2005, for a while, until finally it caught up with me and I couldn’t get out of the traffic violation penalty.

Eventually, through many lessons learned, I transformed from wanting to get out of the consequences of my decisions to having a desire to pay that ticket (a similar feeling I had when we paid off our $150k of student loans).

Yes, it’s frustrating and sucks to pay the consequences, but there is a level of peace that comes from accepting accountability right away, and paying the cost.

The alternative is an accruing debt of anxiety that eventually comes for you, as it did for me in 2013 when I shut down my company.

So, what are the consequences of lying about elections after we lose them? Where does it lead if we keep going?

Answer: The lie has to grow and the blame has to metastasize.

Trump's Temporary Antidote to His Moral Depravity: Revenge

There was a unique phenomenon that happened after the January 6th storming of the capital, for many Republicans. It gave many of them permission to see clearly and by doing so, they could identify all the previous red flags they saw with Trump but ignored, dismissed, or valorized in the years prior.

They could see the moral corruption of Trump clearly, for the first time.

Liz Cheney is one of these examples. She voted for Trump in 2020. After the election and January 6th, the scales fell from her eyes, and she saw things as they were.

This was part of the Republican sand castle collapsing, so Trump needed to prevent as much of this collapse as possible by keeping people in line.

He struggled with the right message but eventually, he'd land on it; revenge.

2023 is where the antidote to this collapse was embraced; retribution.

“...anger is good because it assumes that you want the other side to be better. Hatred and contempt are not easy to work with because it assumes that there is no redemption and annihilation is really the only logical solution. So there’s a difference between anger and contempt and hatred...“ - Amanda Ripley, Persuasion Podcast: How To Avoid High Conflict

Retribution: When Victims Become Killers

Frank Luntz: Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?

Donald Trump: That's a tough question. I'm not sure I have. I just go and try and do a better job. If I do something wrong, I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. When I take [communion], I guess that's a form of asking for forgiveness...

Retribution is the next logical step to keep the Trump illusion going (and a stark contrast to the forgiveness that is central to Christianity).

When there’s doubt in the tribe, the leaders want to shore it up, and a vengeance campaign against enemies is an effective and fast way to do it, at least in the short term for morally impoverished movements. This allows the leaders to avoid taking responsibility. Instead, they can put it on someone else. And who better to put it on than those Republicans hate the most? Democrats. 

Hannah Arendt captures this blame dynamic so eloquently.

“… in one form or another men must assume responsibility for all crimes committed by men, and that eventually all nations will be forced to answer for the evil committed by all others… Tribalism and racism are the very realistic, if very destructive, ways of escaping this predicament of common responsibility." - Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Revenge is the opposite of taking responsibility, a core Republican value growing up.

As part of the research for my current book project about the crucifixion of Jesus, I wanted to read a book called When Victims Become Killers, about the Rwanda genocide. The church was a vital component and location of the genocide and I wanted to understand how and why.

Imagine going to church one day, and half your congregation took out machetes and butchered the other half. That was the nature of the Rwandan genocide. The people we normally trust most in society (pastors, doctors, teachers, etc…) were the ones participating in the genocide. The genocide took place in churches, hospitals, and schools.

Many factors created the context for genocide to happen, as well as preventing intervention, and that also involved the role of the church. 

It's a horrifying historical event, illuminating the tragic nature of life. The following image effectively captures this reality.

For many of us who have not experienced war, entrepreneurship can be a helpful mental bridge. The following quote about entrepreneurship helps capture the intensity.

“My dad had the best line about entrepreneurship: "You aren't truly in the game unless you find yourself in the dead of the night, head in hands, sitting in the dark, with no idea what to do next.”’ - Codie Sanchez

While this great conception is of entrepreneurship, it also applies to democracy.

Life is hard, and when faced with tragedy, we can become resentful and fueled by contempt, perpetuating it onto others. Historian Timothy Snyder predicted Trump would choose JD Vance as his new vice president and he describes him in this vein.

"...Vance believes that his relatives were not helped by government assistance, and that we should all agree that government should do nothing to help people." - Felon Seeks Vice

Tragedy perpetuated.

We can perpetuate the tragedy or we can take responsibility for the tragedy and make things better.

Since we're not always in a position of authority to do something, we can also create tension by standing in the uncomfortable and often risky gap. Martin Luther King Jr. is a fellow Christian brother who did this so powerfully well in American history. He forced America to see what it did not want to look at.

Unfortunately, Republicans are not yet interested in that type of reflection right now, and instead, have double downed on tragedy.

A Theme of Retribution in the Republican Party and The Villainization of Democrats

Lady Jessica: Your father didn’t believe in revenge.

Paul: Well, I do.

- Dune: Part Two

This vengeful tragedy story is now moving to its next stage. Republicans have embraced revenge.

Here's what Trump said about revenge well before becoming president.

"For many years, I've said that if someone screws you, screw them back. When somebody hurts you, just go after them as viciously and violently as you can. As it says in the Bible, an eye for an eye."

This passage from Trump's book begins with him talking to priests about why he won't be going to heaven in a chapter titled, Sometimes You Still Have to Screw Them.

In Trump's other book, Think Big, here are a few excerpts showing a pattern of his vengeful disposition in a section called 'Don't Trust Anyone'.

"I value loyalty above everything else—more than brains, more than drive, more than energy...

...

This woman was very disloyal, and now I go out of my way to make her life miserable...

...

When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades." - Donald Trump

Trump's campaign for president was floundering, under threat of Ron DeSantis or another Republican candidate overtaking Trump.

And then two things happened that skyrocketed Trump's support in the party. The first was the criminal indictments and the second was Trump's message of Revenge.

"I am your retribution..." - Donald Trump

And this campaign theme of vengeance has only grown and escalated since.

"But first, let's talk more about “OF COURSE WE aren’t fucking bluffing.” That’s the message one close Trump adviser and former administration official — who requested anonymity to speak candidly — wants to get across to the press and public, when asked about Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign vows of “retribution,” unprecedented force, and militaristic action. 

Indeed, this sentiment is shared widely among the upper echelon of Trumpland and the MAGAfied Republican Party, with various officials and conservatives with a direct line to the former president insisting that so-called “moderates” or alleged “establishment” types will be tamed or purged, if Trump retakes power next year.

Yikes! There's more.

'“Yes, we do really want to burn it all down,” a Republican close to Trump tells Rolling Stone."

Echos of the Rwanda genocide.

And many supporters of Trump are astonished by his attachment to revenge. When Dr. Phil interviewed Trump, he asked him about retribution, expecting Trump to dismiss the idea and put it to bed. Instead, Trump embraces the idea and Dr. Phil jarringly tries to justify it.

And because of the worship of Trump, that he is the only one who can save America, his loss would be a catastrophic loss for his supporters.

This is sharply articulated by Ray Dalio.

"...it should be recognized that if a close Trump loss occurs the odds of a big fight happening are even higher because the Democrats denying Donald Trump the presidency would be, to many Republicans, akin to Democrats preventing the second coming of Christ." - Ray Dalio, The Changing Odds of a Great Conflict in America

Many Christians, like Peter and Judas, want Trump to fight their enemies in a worldly way instead of a Christlike way.

But it's not just Trump who wants this. Trump is fighting because his people want him to fight until the end.

"Republicans are not falling in line with Trump. They are not fearful of Trump.... Hope Hicks, days after the 2020 election was brought in the oval office by Trump and she asked, why don't you give up? Just go back to Palm Beach, live your life. You can always run again. Have a good life. Trump tells Hope, no. You don't understand me. I have to fight, because that's what my people, my base wants. They demand that of me, so I must do it." - Robert Costa, The Second Coming of Trump

They like that Trump fights because it conveys strength against Republican enemies; Democrats. The extension of this theme is glimpsed in Steve Bannon's comments before being sent to jail.

"Victory or death!"

The suicidal spiral continues.

In The Island Story, my parable of our journey in life, the survivor encounters the swordfish. This is someone who pushes us to go further and faster towards a mirage, which leads to the abyss.

Those who continue participating are going deeper into the abyss. But practically (thankfully), the strategy of revenge is a failing one, that has led to many losses with more to come.

"Whoever prioritises revenge over the victory, will get neither victory nor revenge." - Kamil Galeev

The Wrong Fantasy

"Believing that people who disagree with you must want you dead is destructive for your own well-being and mental health. I not only want you alive, I want you safe and happy." - JK Rowling

There is only one deeper level of reality that can overcome this tragic (jungle) reality we all inhabit, but have been shielded from, as we live in our protected metaphorically safe greenhouses in America. It is redemption  

So while I want accountability for Trump, I still hope for his redemption.

Embrace the reality of tragedy without redemption is to push the consequences of tragedy on others. Simply put it's about enabling the pillaging of others for the benefits they've earned.

Faith in tragedy alone is to say, it's better to steal and there is no point in honestly earning. So, that means stealing from the fool who believes in honestly earning. This allows the tragedy believer to skirt the tragedy, and gain the benefits. They get what they want without taking responsibility. It comes at the cost of others who did take responsibility. Scar, from The Lion King is a great example of this spirit and consequences.

Our fantasy as Christian Republicans should have been for Trump's repentance, but instead, it was for the destruction of Republican's enemies; Democrats. Republicans chose an object of their wrath instead of a cross to bear.

"When we feel like there needs to be Retribution... that is the opposite of challenging our own understanding and really trying to reflect on how we know ourself and the world in which we're operating.

The more violent the protesting becomes the more defensive we need to become. We have to defend our property or our way..." - Keith Eigel, On Retribution

Retribution is the opposite of responsibility. It's the logical outcome of not wanting to change and adapt. And it's the metaphorical sign of the end.

The Republican's spirit of retribution is not just aimed at the Democratic enemies but towards those inside the group who are not contributing towards victory inside the group.

"I never thought posting favorable/unfavorable numbers from polling about Trump-Vance-Harris-Walz would result in people calling me 'treasonous' - but evidently that's where we are." - Jamie Dupree, News Correspondent

Republicans who don't tow the party line, and be fully loyal to Trump are considered traitors. And traitors should be executed.

It's not just the fringes that say and believe this but it comes from Trump himself and is espoused by neighbors across my community.

More echoes from the Rwandan genocide.

What's personally disappointing is not only the villainization of Democrats and dissenting Republicans but a failure of obedience by Christian Republicans to Jesus' commands, to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

This spirit of Christ is not something I'm hearing from Republicans. Ironically it's coming from Democrats. Here's what Obama said at the DNC convention.

"To make progress on the things we care about, the things that really affect people's lives, we need to remember that we've all got our blind spots and contradictions and prejudices. And that if we want to win over those who aren't yet ready to support our candidates, we need to listen to their concerns and maybe learn something in the process.

After all, if a parent or grandparent occasionally says something that makes us cringe, we don't automatically assume they're bad people. We recognize that the world is moving fast, that they need time and maybe a little encouragement to catch up. Our fellow citizens deserve the same grace we hope they'll extend to us. That's how we can build a true Democratic majority, one that can get things done." - Barack Obama, 2024 DNC Convention Speech

It's sad and tragic that my party leaders could and would never say something as positive and meaningful as this right now.

Instead of bridge-building, republicans are fostering fear, cruelty, and retribution.

The Loss of Truth: The Despair Runneth Over In Fantasy Land

“The truth is what redeems the world from hell." - Jordan B Peterson

The truth is marching. It's also redeeming.

But deception is destructive as well.

"Self-deception works in concert with temptation so we can convince ourselves of the rightness of actions that are in fact wrong. We use deception to say that external circumstances justify reactions. Truth and lies become confused or even reversed."  - Diane Langberg, PhD

And, Jordan Peterson illuminates this connection between this deception of living the lie and retribution.

“If you practice violating your own conscience with a performative contradiction — a willingness to act out what runs contrary to your own sense of morality — then you become the embodiment of a lie. There is endless metaphorical speculation of the spirit of the lie, and if you allow it to take up residence with you, then you do that at your peril. The danger of being an actor is that you become the actor and then you lose you. You replace you with that falsehood, and that will make you bitter, which only leads to becoming vengeful — and worse. Therefore, you do not want to practice that.“ - Jordan B Peterson

When we embrace, accept, or tolerate the lie, we must either act from it or push back against it. It gets harder to push back the more we go along. One way to stall it is to live in fantasy land. But eventually, the truth marches, even into fantasyland.

Trump was indicted and convicted of felonies. Trump Loyalists either have to abandon Trump or believe the system's corruption is deeper than they thought. If they believe in deeper corruption falsely, they’re participating in a campaign to put more pressure on the system, and potentially breaking it, for the tyrant. This is how the tyrant manipulates his or her constituency to facilitate his lawlessness.

I've experienced living in a fantasy world, enabling tyranny, many times in my life, and it's wild to look back and think about how delusional I had been, even when I was not in other parts of my life. The scales fell from my eyes and I saw things as they were, not as I wanted them to be.

Truth Transforms Everything

I've thought about the fundamental idea of truth as it relates to our current political situation for years.

What is true, completely transforms the situation.

For example, whether someone sees the 2020 election as stolen, changes how one would see the January 6th storming of the capitol.

This is why bespoke (custom) shaped realities can be dangerous. We're shaping reality to the truth we want versus the truth that is. 

We end up living in different illusions across society, and our resistance to disillusionment makes things worse!

"Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life." - Oswald Chambers

Once we break free, we see clearly. But breaking free seems like the end of the world. It’s just the end (and a new beginning) of our (local) world.

But the illusion gets stronger as the revelation gets louder and closer.

And, that's not all. Deception is a sign that despair is afoot.

“What happens when you have hope is that you can learn to tell the truth.” - Kavin Rowe

I'll flip around Rowe's quote to help clarify the idea.

What happens when you have no hope, is that you master the lie.

Christian Republicans have learned to lie to themselves and others. They've mastered it. That's tragic because of the consequences of the lie, but also because of the despair that undergirds it.

The despair has run rampant like a cancer throughout the Republican Party.

This despair has revealed how so many Christian Republicans have placed their faith in tragedy. When they freaked out and falsely realized the gospel no longer was going to solve the societal problems and changes coming down the pike, they decided to embrace the ways of the world and the use of the sword instead.

But this is the core of why Christians are part of the perpetuation of tragedy.

Karl Barth articulates the following in the 1930s, during the rise of Nazi Germany, about the falling away of Christians to nationalism. 

“For what we have experienced in Germany during these latter days – this remarkable apostasy of the Church to nationalism, and I am sure that every one of you is horrified and says in his heart: I thank thee God that I am not a German Christian! I assure you that it will be the end of your road, too. It has its beginning with “Christian life” and ends in paganism.

For, if you once admit, “Not only God but I also,” and if your heart is with the latter – and friends, that’s where you have it! –there is no stopping it. Let me assure you that there are many sincere and very lovely people among the German Christians. But it did not save them falling a prey to this error.

You spoke of Christ. Let me emphasize only one fact. Christ believed He could not bring real and genuine help to man except by dying for him.

What does it mean? What shall we infer concerning man? Concerning ourselves? 

In the face of this fact, in the face of the cross and resurrection of Christ, what shall we assert of man except that man, as man and without Christ, is lost. And to be lost does not mean to have gone astray a little, it means to be wholly lost… are human beings, even very nice people.

But Christ was not able to help us in any other way than by dying for us. There is no other help for us than this.“

- Karl Barth, 1935

I cling to this insight, not just in my critique of Republicans but also as a reminder for myself about what matters most.

It's the essence of my book project about Jesus' passion spurred on by my desire to update my Christian faith on the understanding that Christians are just as much a part of the dark problem that Jesus came to rectify.

We think by lying, we can foster the results we want. But we only accrue debt that must be paid later.

"Every Lie We Tell Incurs a Debt to the Truth." - Valery Legasov. Chernobyl

Christian Republicans are not just given a choice as to whether they want freedom or tyranny, but rather a choice between what is truly freedom or simply a deceptive counterfeit.

This confusion, about what is and is not true, is primarily driven by the lies of Trump and Republican leadership which project their tyranny on their political rivals. It's enflamed by the cynicism of the masses in the party.

So fundamentally, it comes down to either trust in Trump or a deep-rooted jadedness that nothing is true and everything is possible — as Hannah Arendt famously said about the people of Nazi Germany.

“A lie ain’t a side of the story. It’s just a lie.” - Terry Hanning, the Wire (S5E8)

The way tyrants gain and stay in power is based on lies because it cultivates the illusion that they are a winner; that they are powerful and strong.

In the land of normal American politics, winners rise to the top and losers fall to the bottom.

The way tyrants get around losing is by confidently telling the lie that they are the winner like Trump has consistently done about the 2020 election he legitimately lost. 

Some believe the lie. Some are agnostic about the lie. Some know it's a lie, but they go along with it anyway.

When we give up on truth, we've placed our faith in tragedy.

I've been there and done that.

It never gets easier to embrace the truth and transform. Without intervention, we spiral further into the abyss.

"Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you maybe able to go on to victories you never dreamed of." - CS Lewis, Mere Christianity

Lies, Lies, and Their Consequences

This deception in the Republican Party is a leading indicator of what's to come.

“Post-truth is pre-fascism, and Trump has been our post-truth president. When we give up on truth, we concede power to those with the wealth and charisma to create spectacle in its place.“ - Timothy Snyder, The American Abyss

At the end of The Dark Knight movie by Christopher Nolan, the hero, Batman, and Commissioner Gordon conspire to save the city from knowing the truth about Harvey Dent. They base the foundation of their final actions on a lie, but that lie has consequences and they unravel in the final film; The Dark Knight Rises.

Lies will always collapse and with it, bring consequences. The lies are what hold the true believers in the group. As the lies grow, it becomes harder to escape.

"You set up a worldview in which the sort of true believers are pitted against the [wishy washy] fans. The way you sort them out is by increasingly extreme lies. And the lies you buy into have some social costs outside of the movement.

So if you are one of the people who said, yes, this was the biggest crowd on inauguration day back in January 20th, 2017, that was the first lie. And they got much, much crazier over time.

People make their identity part of this member only group and they signal it.

Because they've bought into so many crazy lies and so much outlandish behaviour, the breaking point becomes much higher. It becomes impossible for someone to jump ship. The cost is raised so high, it creates cohesion." - Brian Klaas on how the MAGA Movement operates like a cult

An intervention will be needed to liberate those ensnared by the lies.

In the Lord of the Rings: Two Towers, worm tongue and its Saruman have corrupted the king and put him under the spell of their direction. King Theodan and his family are helpless. Gandalf must intervene, overcome the guards, confront Worm Tongue and Saruman, and heal the king of this curse.

Trump and I are opposed because of truth. I care deeply about truth, the pursuit of truth, and the basis of truth. Truth is nothing to Trump, but sometimes a useful tool to bolster himself or bludgeon his rivals. Truth is an inconvenience when it stops him from getting what he wants or creates doubt in his loyalists.

Trump cannot handle the truth. Something is wrong.

"I can bark at you all day about not voting for coup-plotters, and David French can make endless elegant arguments about why conservatism is better off if Trump loses. But all anyone needs to know to prefer the Democrat this fall is that we shouldn’t risk having a president (again) who cannot cope with reality when it becomes emotionally difficult. Harris 2024: There’s something wrong with him." - Nick Cattogio, Something is Wrong

The possibility of something being true (fantasy) versus what is true is a common trap we fall into. Often we embrace the possibility when we can not handle the actual truth that counters it. Here’s how the thinking goes. I could see how my enemy might want to steal the election, therefore it must have been stolen. Therefore I'm justified in stealing it too. Otherwise, I have to push back on my tribe, the ones spreading the lie, and I don't want to do that because I don't want to face alienation.

“We’re seeing the falling away of the myth that we make decisions based on arguments… There is really good evidence that we come to our conclusions about things based on the relationships that we’re in, and the people that we trust, and the stories that make sense to us.” - Elizabeth Oldfield

An Escape Hatch: Our Christian Faith

As individuals, we must work towards making our relationship with God primary. It's in the community of God that we can be empowered to pursue and speak truth even when it means our earthly community will punish us.

And as individuals, we cannot fix everything. We have small local roles to play. But those roles do matter and we are called to play them.

"Paul warns us not to participate in the deeds of darkness but instead to expose them (Ephesians 5:11). Understand that you cannot singlehandedly change an entire system; you are not called to do so. Yet we are to speak truth about our systems." - Diane Langberg

And when we've seen the power of Truth, we realize how much power we can truly tap into.

"I've always thought that the most powerful weapon in the world was the bomb and that's why I gave it to my people, but I've come to the conclusion that the most powerful weapon in the world is not the bomb but it's the truth. - Andrei Sakharov, Soviet Scientist, Dissident, & Nobel Laureate

America has been in a series of cascading crises. It's revealing who we are. And we've got work to do. When we believe we’ve been abandoned, when we think we’re alone, when we feel unwanted, we move into isolated survivalism (the antithesis of my vision). 

"No one is ruined in a crisis whose moral fiber has not already been weakened in private and in the ordinary. Crisis will always reveal character." — Oswald Chambers

If Christianity is not holding us together in these difficult times, there is something wrong with our Christianity. And there have been and are things wrong with it. Tragedy helps us shed the broken parts, see what's missing, and embody the way of Jesus through his work on the cross enabled by the active work of the Holy Spirit.

This empowers us to become disillusioned, not in a cynical way, but in a realistic way that sees others and the world as they are so that we can love them where they are while also holding each other accountable. 

Good faith actions will lead us to help each other. Bad faith actions will lead to our exploitation of others.

Our loyalty must not be to a fellow person but to the truth. Or more fundamentally, the source of all truth.

Clarity in our ultimate loyalty is key.

“In a movement like Trump’s, everything is ultimately a question of loyalty, including elementary factual disputes. For a MAGA die-hard, whether the FBI truly had lethal designs at Mar-a-Lago will be less a matter of careful discernment of the available evidence than a test of credibility between Joe Biden and the Justice Department on the one hand and Donald Trump on the other, just as the allegations about cheating were in 2020. “Truth,” again, is determined by what’s useful, not what’s factually correct.” - Nick Cattogio, Murder Porn

Nick continues in another post, hitting on the dynamic of collective denial. This is hard stuff and our society has resisted facing it.

“Dwelling in denial is the default mode for millions who have taken our freedoms for granted and don’t want to think about how their lives would be altered by the advent of authoritarian governance in America.

Americans are not the first to live in a state of collective denial. Authoritarians have often told us what they are going to do, but people have rarely believed them, or they have felt that since they didn’t fit the profile of those the autocrat was targeting, they wouldn’t be affected. Later, when it came their turn to be harassed or persecuted, it was too late to do much about it."

It's a tragedy that Christians have thrown their principles away to support Trump. Some believe Trump is selfish and horrible, but they are voting for him anyway. They are using justification like we're not voting for a pastor as a way to justify their decision. This is a tragedy. The fact that Christians are wed to Trump instead of actively opposed to him, is a tragedy.

It's not a tragedy that God himself cannot redeem and rectify.

It's not a lie that truth can't help rectify.

Grief & Acceptance: Plus a Deeper More Powerful Hope (Redemption)

I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.

"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." - The Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien

Growing up, I had it good. America was in an era where there was commitment to what fundamentally makes America great; freedom based on responsibility. the rule of law, constitutional fidelity, and honest elections. We could debate policy because we had core values holding us together.

Things have changed, or the problems underneath the surface have reared their ugly heads and the fork in the road now is between choosing a rule-of-law world or a lawless world. It's a choice between a world of deception and a world of truth.

As the quote from JRR Tolkien above infers, most of us don't get to decide the larger story or that we have these choices to make, only how we're going to operate inside of it.

This means a key part of this journey is about acceptance. 

To better orient my perspective on our societal context, I've worked through my acceptance of the possibility of Trump becoming president and all the negative consequences that would unfold as a result.

My speaking out is not because the world will end entirely should Trump win, but rather that I think it's a major mistake with significant negative consequences that I don't want for me, my family, my community, and our country. Now is the best time to speak out before the consequences become more severe and harder to counter. 

But ultimately, I'm a Christian. The early church turned the cruel Roman world upside down with the good news of Jesus. So if things go bad, my hope is not in who is or is not the president.

On the flip side, with me and others intervening for what's best for our country, we can selflessly make America much, much better for everyone (not just selfishly for ourselves) while preventing many of the horrors that could make things much worse.

Acceptance of reality is key to responding to it. Acceptance that reality is a tragedy is the only way we can experience redemption because redemption is on the other side of the tragedy tunnel. It's not a tunnel we have to go through or that we'd want to go through again, but once we're in the tunnel, it's the only way forward. Otherwise, we choose to stay in the tunnel of tragedy perpetuating it for everyone by forcing them to stay as well.

For me, this journey is about letting go of the outcome, and remembering the kingdom of God we Christians operate, is what matters most.

And most importantly, it's to hold onto hope for redemption, even those who seem most unlikely to receive it.

“A life void of compassion slips into malice and utter ruin... In The Return of the King, the growth of Frodo’s compassion is revealed. When Saruman, the broken but still evil wizard, is discovered trying to take over the Shire. Frodo attempts to persuade the crowd of vengeful hobbits to not kill Saruman despite the great harm he has done. Frodo seeks healing and peace in the final conflict of the War of the Ring. He was great once, of a noble kind that we should not dare to raise our hands against,” Frodo says. “He is fallen, and his cure is beyond us; but I would still spare him, in the hope that he may find it.”' - Jackson Greer, Compassion in the Lord of the Rings

The Black Hole Bagel of Lost Hopes & Dreams

Jobu Tupaki : Do you know why I actually built the bagel? It wasn't to destroy everything. It was to destroy myself. I wanted to see if I went in, could I finally escape? Like, actually die. At least this way... I don't have to do it alone.

- Everything, Everywhere, All At Once

The peak of tragedy, is a loving God descending to earth, to help us, and we humans murder him instead of receiving his help. This is the height of human tragedy.

And that's where the story of Jesus comes in.

Life and reality = tragedy.

We see on the cross, an innocent man crucified for the crimes of others. And if that is where the story ended, tragedy would be the final word. But Jesus rose from the dead, three days later. And that unveils more of the story. The resurrection makes redemption a reality.

The person who helped me, in my pit of tragedy, didn't excuse my behavior away, but rather gave me a hand out of the hole I was in. Community and accountability were required for my redemption.

What if my friend justified my sinful behavior and said it was okay?

What if he gave me money and power while saying it was okay?

That'd be the opposite of the circumstances I needed for transformation to happen.

Acceptance was the starting point. Relationships and accountability kept it growing.

The Messy Work of Redemption

And redemption is not easy or clean. Redemption is messy and it isn't free.

"The work of redemption in broken places is a hard and dark place to go but it is also a place of great beauty and hope. Shackles fall away, crippled feet run, stooped backs stand straight, truth embraced and hopes bloom." - Diane Langberg

Christianity is about embracing this responsibility for others, in response to God doing so for us, as he took the burden of responsibility for the sins of the world upon Himself.

And we're called to love our enemies and lovingly hold them accountable as well!

It's not a matter of debate but of obedience to our God-given directive.

No Way Home

One of my favorite Marvel movies is Spider-Man: No Way Home. It powerfully encapsulates this story of redemption, even for our enemies.

The premise of the movie is that something happens to disrupt the universe and Spider-Man villains from other timelines show up. Instead of destroying them, Spider-Man tries to save and help them all. And for a time, they work together.

Even though they are his enemies, he wants their redemption. But, one of his enemies murders his aunt May and it changes Peter Parker.

It's now personal.

At the climax of the film, Peter is vengefully attacking the Green Goblin, who had killed his aunt midway through the story. Peter is about to kill the villain. Two other spider-mans from other universes meet him and show him that he's lost his way in pursuing retribution. They remind him of who he is and his vision of redemption. And with their intervention, he's able to give the villain mercy instead of death.

In a moment, the hero becomes the villain, but redemption is for all of us and often our redemption is used for the redemption of others, as we see in Spider-Man.

This redemption is the core of Western society. It's grounded in Christ himself. The greatest tragedy is God humiliatingly nailed to a cross. The greatest redemption is His resurrection and victory for those of us who do not deserve it. This is the grace of God.

When this Trump era is over Republicans will receive this mercy because, despite their lies and wrongdoing, they'll still get the opportunity that America provides. When they embrace this opportunity, and make things right for the wrong they've done, they'll help the next generation experience the mercy they'll have received.

I know this because this is my story. I've participated in the deception and wrongdoing. My journey since has been making things right and intervening for others in ways that others intervened for me.

This grace is ultimately embodied in the intervention of Christ to save me despite my antagonism towards Him.

My faith in writing about this topic publicly is because of my faith in redemption. On the other side of it, people will appreciate what I’ve said and I’ll have transformed through the process as well.

It'll become clear to us all, on the other side.

Real Lives Matter: Love AND Accountability

“People often seek power in an attempt to overcome deficiencies, but power only aggravates the nature of sin and does not palliate it. In other words, whatever sin tendencies or weakness we have, a position of power will make it worse, not better, as we seem to suppose.” - Diane Langberg, Suffering and The Heart of God

In 2005, I moved to Atlanta. It's wild how much Georgia has had so many major societal milestone moments in the last decade.

In 2022, we had a midterm election that would affect the Senate majority. Republicans supported a candidate, Hershel Walker, who was against abortion but paid his girlfriend to get one (possibly several). It's one of the ironic twists of Republicans trading their principles for whatever Trump wanted.

Bethel McGrew wrote about this and nails the point home in her article from 2022, about how this relates to tragedy and redemption. 

"[Republicans] should consider carefully what it would mean for Walker to win his seat while still cynically whistling past his own child’s graveyard. Winning hearts and minds is not a substitute for strong pro-life legislation. But neither is legislation a substitute for winning hearts and minds. Do conservatives want to be known as the people who believe in something, or not? Do we want to be known as the people who hold our leaders accountable, or not? And even for Walker’s own sake, if we believe in such things as souls, then how is this not enabling the further corruption of his soul, by rewarding lies with a Senate seat? Which is a greater evil: That an already hopelessly corrupt man gain power, or that a man who might yet be saved from full corruption gain power?" - Bethel McGrew, The Devil's Gone Down to Georgia: A bargain from Hell

Two years later, I'm still thinking about this insight.

It's a wild thing to consider how Republicans are using politicians for their gain, at the cost of their redemption. It's certainly a symbiotic relationship, but, tragically, neither side is rejecting the transactional nature that's divorced from the values that should transcend it.

Accounted For by Our Enemy

A core problem with Republicans is a lack of accountability with our own party’s leadership. They point to the moral corruption caricature of rivals to justify why it’s okay to not take responsibility or not hold themselves accountable.

I hope if I were acting like Trump, Republicans wouldn’t give me a pass and keep handing me power. That would destroy my soul.

So, while love sustains relationships, accountability creates opportunities for change.

This dynamic is captured wonderfully by Elizabeth Neumann whom I recently had on the podcast.

"...while the go-to answer [to extremism] is frequently “empathy” or “love” — which are true and powerful — what is often forgotten is the role accountability plays.

Usually something catches up with them, and causes them to reevaluate whether a life of hate and violence is really what they want.

Sometimes they lost a job because an employer discovers racist tattoos, or a loved one sets a boundary and they can no longer be in a relationship with them while they participate in the movement.

They are held to account for their behavior, and this leads to the openness to consider changing.

- Elizabeth Neumann

Opportunity follows accountability.

The grief of my Christian community compromising with sin in some disconcerting ways is a lot to process. And it is a series of missed opportunities.

Love + Accountability = An Opportunity to Change

That opportunity is still here and made possible by Jesus' resurrection.

Will the resurrection inform how we train and how we operate from that training? How are we going to treat each other? How are we going to live? Are we going to be Christ-like or worldly? Will we choose the power of Jesus or the power of the sword? And what are we doing daily to prepare for this vision?

A friend and I interviewed Daryl Davis. Daryl believes in redemption and is inspirational in his courage. Daryl is a black man who attends KKK events and reaches out to its members to help bring about their redemption. He steadfastly does it with love and accountability. He doesn't compromise on what's true and he responds to their hate with love.

His example, along with many others like him, are inspirational encouragement that I too could step into that arena of scary intercession. We all can.

In my journey, I've sought to deepen my Christian faith to account for the reality that Christians become part of the problem Jesus came to solve. As Pascal famously said, we can leave the problem and join in on the solution.

“Make religion attractive, make good men wish it were true, and then show that it is. Worthy of reverence because it really understands human nature. Attractive because it promises true good.” ― Blaise Pascal

Exploitation and Transformation

"You best start believing in ghost stories Miss Turner... you're in one." - Hector Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean

Republicans have been fooled and exploited. But they don't have to defend their exploiter themselves by going deeper into the hole.

Accept the loss, process the grief, and make a new choice.

The leader, Trump, in this case, is the most responsible person, and in a position of power. This means he has the responsibility to take care of those that follow him, not exploit those that support him. He's done the opposite.

When I've been exploited and taken advantage of, as an adult, there is often a part of the experience where I had the opportunity to resist the trap and its lure.

That's my opportunity to grow. At the end of the day, we can grow and learn, and hopefully from our growth, help hold these bad leaders accountable in the future.

The story of redemption means, we screwed up and/or someone else screwed up. But when we benefit from redemption it also means that someone else made a sacrifice to stand in the gap. And we can receive that gift.

And once we've received it, we can become the type of people who stand in the gap for others who go through hell, like we once had.

The alternative to this is for us to usher in tragedy. If we're all going to suffer and die, why not push down suffering and death for ourselves on the backs of others we don't care about? Why not build society on the hatred and contempt of those people, particularly our enemies who have wronged us?

Jordan Peterson talks about how the idea of a son traveling into the abyss to rescue his father, as a process of unlocking his true potential.

Set a Goal. Sacrifice to move towards it. Find meaning in pursuing it. Voluntarily Face out fear along the way. Get braver. Look at the dark abyss. Unlock our potential.

This political journey is my way of doing this very thing.

What Happens Next? Letting Go

"The reason Christians are disliked by the public today is because they are actively wicked. 

When the younger generation turns against religion, it's primarily because they believe organized religion is a racket, Christian leaders to be hypocrites and charlatans, and totally insincere about the message they are spreading. 

There's a whole body of social science to show that 30-40 years ago, unbelieving Americans still held a very, very high opinion of the church..." - Tim Alberta, 225: Evangelicals and Extremism

One of the problems I see with the most blusterous forms of Christian Nationalism is that they want to, in an unhealthy way, control things. As a recovering control freak, I can relate.

Those we cede control to must be worthy and trustworthy leaders, not just strong or boisterous.

We Christians should embrace the early church approach which is becoming the type of Christian church that needs no such control, that can endure and thrive in the most intense of societal upheaval, and brings hope to those in despair and deliver redemption, where it seems impossible. We have to want it before God can work it out in us.

Trump swept Republicans on their feet and in the fantasy, they lost sense of reality and all the things they knew to be true and good. It turned out to be an abusive relationship. Republicans need to recognize this toxicity and fire Trump.

Trump helped gut our Christianity. But we can turn back at any moment. A Japanese legend gives us some perspective on this idea.

"If you get on the wrong train, get off at the nearest station. The longer it takes you to get off, the more expensive the return trip will be."

Whenever this season does end, I hope like me, Republicans pay off all those relational debts. It'll be that process that transforms them the way paying off my student loans helped transform me.

And in the end, like my own experience of redemption, they'll have new opportunities too.

When God gets to work in us, things start happening.

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of - throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.” ― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

While I don't support the wretchedness of the Republican party, I do have faith in their redemption — which may look different than we might expect, as highlighted by Lewis above.

Perhaps enough Republicans can play the role of Samson for the Republican party, bringing the whole house down so that a new and better future can emerge.

The America many Republicans want is something they can help bring about, not by force and coercion, but rather by winning the hearts and minds of Americans through love, truth, goodness, and accountability.

Releasing the Outcome

For me, I've chosen to let go of the outcome. I've let go of the consequences Republicans could have prevented if we had chosen a different path as a party.

Even writing this essay is a way for me to put it in a box and move on. This is all a way for me to capture the last decade of society through my Christian faith as something to leave behind so others can benefit and I can see more clearly.

As Martin Luther King Jr famously said, we're all connected and interdependent.

"We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." - Martin Luther King Jr., Why We Can't Wait

Inevitable Endings: Confidence of What’s To Come

No one gets away with anything. Deception accrues debt that will be paid to the truth.

Here’s what Jordan Peterson says about the matter.

"In all my years as a clinical psychologist, and this is something that really does terrify me, is I have never seen anyone ever get away with anything at all, even once.

What I see instead is that the thing happens. Someone twists the fabric of reality and they do it successfully because it doesn't snap back at them that moment. And then, like two years later, something unravels and they get walloped. And they think, "this is so unfair!". And then we track it. What happened before that [unfair moment]... and then what? Oh, that's where it went wrong.

Because you can't twist the fabric of reality without having it snapped back. It doesn't work that way.

One of the things that tempts people is the idea that we can get away with it... you get away with nothing and that is the beginning of wisdom." - Jordan Peterson

Republican's reckoning is coming. I wanted it to happen after the 2020 election and January 6th. I hope it comes this year. I don't want it to happen any later, because of the interest that will accrue.

"Reality cannot be ignored except at a price; and the longer the ignorance is persisted in, the higher and more terrible becomes the price that must be paid." - Aldous Huxley

The longer it takes, the more severe the consequences. And when we don’t deal with it when it’s small, it comes back much stronger.

"A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. They then dwell in the house next door, and at any moment a flame may dart out and set fire to his own house. Whenever we give up, leave behind, and forget too much, there is always the danger that the things we have neglected will return with added force." - Carl Jung

Length and severity increase the more hard-hearted and prideful we've become. Let’s learn the lessons when it’s easier versus waiting until it gets much harder.

Two Worlds: What Happens Next?

“To my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.” - Liz Cheney, June 2022

When the revelation of truth does arrive, there is an opportunity for redemption.

We must accept tragedy, but we must place our faith in the redeemer that surpasses it. We can choose to resist the process or proactively lean in.

First, and foremost, our faith in redemption must be securely anchored in the work of Jesus on the cross. Our sin is taken upon him with his righteousness applied to us.

What we believe is what we're willing to live and die for. We are wagering our life on what we believe and act out accordingly. That which we live is that which we embody.

To overlook Trump's sin is not to believe in redemption, but rather to believe in tragedy because it asserts that we must allow the sin to continue, which further corrupts us.  

Faith in redemption compels us to sacrifice. Taking responsibility and making the sacrifice is how redemption is made possible. We stand in the gap for others as God has done for us.

Trump is a symbolic representation of what's happened inside the people of the Republican Party. But after Trump, the core problem of the fact that Republicans want Trump is still there. In that sense, the fever won't break and things won't go back to normal. Transformation is required.

We all have a choice. Do we contribute to this transformation, from a focus on tragedy to a focus on redemption? Do we place our faith in tragedy or the redeemer?

To get there, we must also figure out the following question: How does Christianity thrive in a country where is not favored? Or how does it flourish where it is looked at, as the enemy?

The early church in Ancient Rome gives us answers.

Christianity is facing an identity crisis. What's the identity we'll choose?

And, how will we let that form the future of our political party?

"Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." — James the apostle and brother of Jesus

Redemption is an interesting thing because it does not always happen how we expect.

Sometimes it looks quite different., even appearing like the opposite of what we expect.

Additional Resources   

• What Would Stop the Steal 2.0 Look Like?
• Trump scams the people who trust him
• American Autocracy Threat Tracker A Comprehensive Catalog Based on Donald Trump and His Associates’ Plans, Promises, and Propositions
• Trump's Truth Social Spree: QAnon, sexism, and threats of vengeance
• Video: The American Christian Obsession with Donald Trump Explained
• Video: Broken & Grateful by Andy Stanley
• Video: The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel
• Podcast: The Unseen Spiritual Powers Shaping Our World (with N.T. Wright)
• Video: What happened when these 6 dictators took over? - Stephanie Honchell Smith
• Brokenness Is Not The End Of The Story — Restorative Justice Is The End Game
• On Denethor From Lord of the Rings