Recently, a woman wrote a letter to the editor of the West Bend News — a weekly publication. In the letter, the woman quotes Psalm 58:1-11 — implying that Democrats are wicked, evil liars and snakes — and then proceeds to rail against the Democrats for their slights against one President Donald J. Trump, also known as the Orange Menace.
Here’s the non-Bible part of her letter:
God has the last word, that’s why Donald Trump is in office. Put protection around the President. No weapons against the President Donald Trump will prosper. In Jesus’ name thank you Lord. Protect the security guards that lay their lives down for the President. A divided house won’t stand. You’re trying to get dirt on the president and wasting tax payers’ money (why) maybe you should look in your closet. If you’re without sin you can cast the first stone. Democrats are using the hatred act against our President Donald J. Trump. God’s still on the throne, “Avenges is mine,” said the Lord (not yours).
I am hesitant to say much about this letter due to the fact that its writer is almost 80 years old and a lifelong Republican. On the other hand, her letter is a perfect example of the Christian-Republican union that is prominent among older residents of rural northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana. In 2016, Donald Trump easily won the counties surrounding my home in Ney. Come November he will carry these counties again, likely by a higher margin than he did in 2016. The same will happen with the elections of local and state Republican candidates. Democratic candidates, if they run at all, will likely be thrashed, leaving them to wonder why they bothered running at all. When over seventy percent of locals vote Republican, it is impossible for Democrats to win elections. Locals of The Great Generation and Baby Boomers overwhelmingly vote Republican. While the future rests with younger residents, many of them are indifferent to politics, don’t vote, and those who are politically active find that local Democratic party officials are often clueless about the issues affecting younger Americans. I don’t know of one local active Democratic outreach to younger voters. Sadly, the people running local Democratic offices are generally in their 50s and up.
The aforementioned letter writer doesn’t say anything that I don’t hear locals say at ballgames, restaurants, or other public places, or write in letters to the editors of local papers or post on social media. I shoot upwards of a hundred local basketball/baseball/football games, volleyball matches, and track meets every year. I am retired, so I do this as a way to give back to our local school district and provide student-athletes and their families with quality photographs. Keeps me busy, allows me to meet new people, and takes my mind off the unrelenting chronic pain I battle each and every day. Doing so, however, exposes me to far more Trumpist Christian bullshit than I care to see or hear.
As I mentioned above, most locals vote Republican. Those I meet in public often “assume” that I am part of the Trump tribe. This is especially true on social media. I can count on two hands local Democrats I have met. And those who are as liberal as I am? One is the loneliest number, Three Dog Night sang in 1969, and I find that to be true when it comes to locals who line up with me politically. I’ve learned to accept that I am a vampire-like outlier. Even among Democrats, my view on abortion is a minority viewpoint. This is due, of course, to the pervasiveness of conservative Christianity. The overwhelming majority of the letters to the editors of the Defiance Crescent-News over the past decade advocating pro-choice positions were written by yours truly. I love living in rural Ohio, but politically I find it impossible to feel at home.
If locals want to read my pointed viewpoint on American politics, Donald Trump, the culture war, and Evangelical Christianity, they have to go to this blog, Twitter, or my Facebook page. On my personal Facebook wall, I am decidedly a-political and a-religious. Many of my Facebook friends are not so inclined, especially local Republicans I am “friends” with. Trump worship is common, and libtards and evil commie socialists — also known as Bruce “Santa Claus” Gerencser — are routinely savaged, abused, and slandered. I have no doubt that many of these people think the West Bend News letter writer is spot on with her God- and Bible-inspired attack of her Democratic neighbors and the Party in general (though I am sure many of them would wince at her atrocious grammar).
Later this week, I will plant in my front yard campaign signs for Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg. I am hoping one of the three will be the Democratic candidate for president. I hope one of the other two will be the chosen candidate’s vice president. In 2016, you may remember, I prominently displayed my support for Sanders. I only knew of a handful of other locals who were willing to show their support for Bernie. To do so is socially and economically risky. My sign “disappeared” before the election. It was, best to my knowledge, stolen by a Trump supporter who could no longer stand looking at my sign as he or she drove by my house. Here’s a screenshot of a discussion Trump supporters had about my Bernie sign in February 2016:
(Please see The First Bernie Sanders Sighting in Defiance County, Ohio, Encouraged by a Young Bernie Sanders Supporter, and Local Residents Threaten to Steal or Destroy Our Bernie Sanders Sign.)
I decided not to file a theft report, but this time around, if my signs come up missing, I plan to file a police report. Or beat the shit out of the thief with my cane. 🙂
Such is life in rural northwest Ohio. There’s much I love about the place of my birth, home to my parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren. When we returned to this area and bought a home in 2007, we decided that there would be no more moves in our future. There are days, however, when I am so discouraged over the local and national political climate and the shenanigans of the most unfit man to ever sit in the Oval Office, that I want to move to a remote area and live off the grid. President Trump and his supporters have literally worn me out emotionally. The constant lies, distortions, and mixing of church and state makes me sick. Just today, Trump released his budget. More money for the military, Trump’s anti-Mexicans wall, and severe cuts to social programs and regulatory agencies. No surprises. Trump and the Republican Party will not rest until they destroy every vestige of FDR’s New Deal and the social progress the United States has made since the Great Depression. What’s a thoughtful liberal to do? Vote. What else can I do, but cast my votes for people who, at the very least, promise to stem the tide of the Republican/immoral capitalistic/theocratic Christian horde? I know my vote locally is little more than pissing in the face of a hurricane. There’s no chance for local Democratic candidates to win elections. I’m not being pessimistic or fatalistic. It’s just the facts of life here in northwest Ohio. I do, however, believe that on the state and federal level, my vote can make a difference. Will Democrats unseat President Pussy-Grabber in November? Maybe. My greater hope is for Democrats to retake the Senate and strengthen their hold on the House of Representatives. If Democrats fail on every front, I am headed to the wilderness with a bottle of whiskey in each hand and a backpack of weed. I feel as if liberal/progressive Democrats have one last opportunity to turn back and repair the social and economic damage done to our Republic by Trump, Republicans, and spineless, money-grubbing corporate Democrats. (And even if they succeed, the damage done to our judicial system by Trump will take decades to undo.)
In 2008, Barack Obama called for hope and change. In 2016, Bernie Sanders called for a revolution. What will be our rallying cry for 2020?
About Bruce Gerencser
Bruce Gerencser, 62, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 41 years. He and his wife have six grown children and twelve grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist. For more information about Bruce, please read the About page.
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U sound a little depressed. Some days, Bruce, U get the bear …. some days the bear gets U. The Republicans are very, very confident of a landslide in 2020. In fact, I would say …. over confident. Good people R slow 2 anger. On our side of the fence, it is the calm before the storm. A lightning bolt out of the blue is still possible. One that could set the entire “Trump Party” into chaos. His love of good ole American hamburger and fries, lack of exercise and unrelenting stress (for a narcissist) might just send him under, permanently. At that point, evangelicals would have to face the possibility that their “god” has had enough. Just a possible scenario that few R contemplating.
Nah. They’ll just change up their story a bit. Maybe suggest it was the democrats who killed him, not the fries, exercise or stress. Or one of the Maga preachers will suddenly get a word from the Lord saying, ‘The Lord told me Satan got him. Let’s fight even harder now. Pence, you’re up next.’ They’ll even start to blame one another. ‘You didn’t pray enough. You didn’t speak out enough. You didn’t campaign enough. You didn’t give enough.’
:/
I hear you, Bruce. Actually Bob and I are pretty darn liberal and close to the same views. But we liberals and progressives have to slink around if we want to exist here. I know of people who were threatened and intimidated for their liberal views here, with a possible threat of gun violence. Bob had a friend visit who, knowing Bob’s political views, had to start going off about Nancy. Pelosi. Tore. Up. Paper! As if Trump hasn’t torn up the constitution, along with the GOP. I have coping methods but there is still an undercurrent of anxiety at the best of times.
For the first time in my life, I fear that my rights may be taken away – that’s not an exaggeration. One of the reasons I am staying in NJ, which is one of the most liberal states, is because NJ does, for the most part, try to protect its citizens’ rights. We have a diverse population, unlike some states we have considered moving to for better weather. I am obsessed with understanding how the F%%# did this happen?????
First time that II fear humans, My big question is how can anyone that is a Christian support a man that is so evil? We are facing some of the worst times in American history.
U question this because U think that Christianity is so pure, white as snow, God’s chosen …. Try to put away these childish notions to see things as they really, truly are. Then it’ll make sense to you. Have U not listened or read anything of Bruce’s experiences. This guy was in the lions den at one time. Remember that!
A member of my family professes to love me and his willingness to fight (literally and figuratively) for my right to exist. Yet he is a Trump fanboy (an old one, but a fanboy nonetheless).
I have explained to him that if Trump is re-elected, my life will literally be in danger and, as a result, I may have to leave this country. He doesn’t get it.
It’s nice to know I’m not alone. I live in a deep red state (Nebraska). I have to keep my mouth shut around here unless I want to be a recluse. I have lost every friend I had in the past three years, it’s that bad. Also the stuff about yard signs; after 2016 we stopped putting them out. That year they kept getting stolen. One of our neighbors caught the culprits red handed.. A bunch of kids operating out of a van with church logo- the largest mega church in out area. Police wouldn’t even take a report, news media wouldn’t touch it. It’s worse than anyone thinks.
Bruce, I live in a backwater area of Michigan like you do in Ohio. Just to give you an idea, I went trick-or-treating with my nephew just before the 2016 election. One of his friends was dressed as Hillary in a prison jump suit. I was never a Hillary fan and thought it was funny, but what really alarmed me was how popular it was to the local yokel residents. They got out their camera, they wanted to shake hands. I should have known then and there that Trump was going to win Michigan, because a lot of Michigan is like this. And contrary to Hillary’s book she didn’t lose because of the Comey press release, she just isn’t pleasant and part of winning the election is to be likeable.
Fortunately whoever is President doesn’t matter much for the day-to-day experience for most people. It really doesn’t. Yes, Trump could blow the whole thing up, yes we’ll get conservatives on the Supreme Court whose sole mission is to make abortion illegal and to make sure Roy Moore can put 10 commandments in the court house lobby. But really except for more eye-rolling nothing much has changed at the personal level because of Trump.
As an observer of human culture, it is interesting how humans blindly follow leaders. Trump followers are astonishing in how obtuse they are to the man’s flaws.
I don’t do lawn signs, I had someone run down a NYSNA union sign, someone (else?) made s stupid comment to my husband about it, his snark failed him, sadly, but I mentally cursed him with being one of 20 patients to a single RN who should really have only 6-8 patients!
If you are silly enough to resent a nurse’s union that works to keep you safe while you are in the hospital by supporting the nurses who care for you I don’t even know where to start.