“BE WARNED — IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!”
— President Donald Trump
What’s illegal are the drugs that were on the boat, and the drugs that are being sent into our country, and the fact that 300 million people died last year from drugs. That’s what’s illegal.
— President Donald Trump
This is not a war. U.S. forces went out and committed murder. There was no armed attack on the United States that would allow for the U.S. to use force in self-defense. There is no armed conflict between the United States and any cartel group or any Latin American country. A foreign terrorist designation of any of these groups does not change that. It does not authorize force against those groups. The killing of all 11 of these men was illegal. This was a premeditated murder of suspected criminals — by definition, civilians — based on the facts provided by the administration themselves,
— Sarah Harrison, former Pentagon legal expert
The Trump administration is now murdering suspected drug traffickers without due process. It should trouble all of us that Trump is using the military to blow up boats suspected of carrying drugs, killing everyone on board. These unilateral actions against alleged traffickers are illegal and immoral. Yes, I know that Trump has declared “war” on drug traffickers, but this is not an official declaration of war. Only Congress has the power to declare war. What we currently have is a rogue state doing what it wants to kill an alleged enemy. Evidently, the rules of war do not apply to this rogue state; Trump believes might makes right.
There’s little that can be done to combat Trump’s murderous ways. It is up to a Republican-led congress to reel Trump in, but by all accounts, they have no intention of doing so. Sadly, many Republicans love Trump’s bravado. They want to see him use even more violence to advance the MAGA agenda, not less. Lest you doubt this to be true, consider the fact that a Fox News host said that the answer to our homeless problem is to euthanize them. Yep, he wants the government to commit the mass murder of homeless people. The MAGA crowd claims Christianity as their chosen faith, but there’s little in their behavior that suggests they know anything about the life and teachings of the Prince of Peace.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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Listen to the Trump Administration and MAGA talking heads, and you might conclude that Charlie Kirk was a “good man.” President Trump would have us believe that leftists are to blame for Kirk’s murder, but extant evidence suggests that Kirk’s rhetoric and bigotry likely played a big part in his death. After carefully examining what Kirk said and did, it is hard not to conclude that he was a Christian Nationalist; a man willing to say anything — even if it is a lie — to advance his agenda. A good man, he is not.
Podcaster Stephen Woodford recently released a video detailing Charlie Kirk’s character and beliefs:
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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If there’s one thing most Americans can agree on, it is this: President Donald Trump is a pathological liar. There’s not a day that goes by without Trump uttering multiple lies. MAGA supporters dismiss his lying, saying, “Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump.” Maybe, but his lies can and do cause material harm to the United States and its people. I am at a loss to understand why millions of Americans still support Pinocchio. He’s lied so many times that his nose extends into outer space. Sure, all politicians lie, but Trump is in a class all his own. On this, Donald, you are, indeed, #1.
What, exactly, has Trump done for the working class and poor people? Not much. He has, in every way, made their lives harder. Trump says gas prices are down to $1.99, yet most of us are paying at least $3 a gallon. Supposedly, groceries cost less thanks to Trump, yet most of us are paying substantially more to put food on the table. My partner and I recently ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. Entrée prices are up $2 each. Everywhere I look, I see increasing costs. I put the blame for increased prices solely on President Trump and his enablers in Congress.
Worse, Trump is neck deep in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Trump denies ever being on Epstein’s island. Does anyone believe him? I know I don’t. Trump’s behavior suggests he has a “thing” for young, perhaps underage, women. He and Epstein were best buds at one time. Trump says that he broke with Epstein because he was poaching his employees — mainly young, attractive women. This is Trump’s red line, and not the fact that Epstein was a pedophile, a sexual predator.
Recently, MAGA politicians have suggested that Trump’s visage be carved on Mount Rushmore. He is — just ask the humble man — the best president in the history. This, of course, is another lie. Historians years from now will likely conclude that Trump was a lot more like Herbert Hoover than Abraham Lincoln or George Washington. He is one of the worst presidents to ever sit in the Oval Office. I can’t think of anything Trump has done to merit him being added to Mount Rushmore. The same goes for naming buildings, roads, waterways, and airports after Trump or giving him the Nobel Peace Prize. I thought Trump thinks the United States should be a meritocracy. If so, what has he done to merit having his face forever chiseled into stone on Mount Rushmore?
The only place I want to see Trump’s face is on urinal cakes. Take aim, men, and let’s show Trump what we really think of him.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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Woe to those [politicians] who make iniquitous decrees, who write oppressive statutes, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, to make widows their spoil and to plunder orphans! What will [politicians] you do on the day of punishment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will [politicians] you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth…
— Isaiah 10:1-3 NRSV
Does this not describe Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and some Democrats?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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U.S.Attorney General Pam Bondi recently released a statement saying that the man in the following picture with Donald Trump is none other than former President Barack Obama. When questioned about the photo, Bondi said that it is the Trump Administration’s policy to blame everything on Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and the Democrats. When asked about the missing Epstein Client List, Bondi told reporters that Biden and Obama broke into her office in the dead of night and stole the list. When asked by MSNBC for evidence for her claim, Bondi replied, FAKE NEWS!
This is satire for Republicans too stupid to know the difference between fact and fiction.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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Hmm . . . I thought President Donald Trump was a capitalist, a free-market libertarian. However, the man who lives in a gold-plated monument to architectural debauchery and absurdity thinks it’s okay to limit American access to consumer goods. When asked whether his insane tariffs will raise prices, Trump acted like his hemorrhoids were raging before admitting it might cost a couple of dollars more to buy a babydoll for a baby — aged eleven. Trump then asked, How many baby dolls does a child need? The same goes for pencils. Trump’s position is clear. He wants to use the government to control what people can buy and for how much. This sure sounds like communism to me.
Communist regimes are noted for using central planning. Google describes communist central planning thusly:
Communist central planning, a core feature of planned economies, is a system where a central authority, typically the government, makes major economic decisions, including what to produce, how to produce it, and who gets what. This contrasts with market economies, where decisions are largely driven by individual consumers and private firms.
Note what this definition says: the government makes major economic decisions, including what to produce, how to produce it, and who gets what. In the United States, Trump and his merry band of robber barons make major economic decisions, including what companies can produce (using tariffs to price businesses out of markets), how it can be produced, and who gets what — say, baby dolls and pencils. This is communism.
What’s next? Baby doll and pencil ration cards?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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Project 2025 (also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project) is a political initiative to reshape the federal government of the United States and consolidate executive power in favor of right-wing policies. The plan was published in April 2023 by The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, in anticipation of Donald Trump winning the 2024 presidential election.
The ninth iteration of the Heritage Foundation’s Mandate for Leadership series, Project 2025 is based on a controversial interpretation of the unitary executive theory that states that the entire executive branch is under the complete control of the president. The project’s proponents say it would dismantle a government bureaucracy that is unaccountable and mostly liberal. Critics have called it an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan that would steer the U.S. toward autocracy. Some legal experts say it would undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers, the separation of church and state, and civil liberties.
The project calls for the replacement of merit-based federal civil service workers by people loyal to Trump and to take partisan control of key government agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Commerce(DOC), and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Other agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security(DHS) and the Department of Education (ED), would be dismantled. It calls for reducing environmental regulations to favor fossil fuels and proposes making the National Institutes of Health (NIH) less independent while defunding its stem cell research. The blueprint seeks to reduce taxes on corporations, institute a flat income tax on individuals, cut Medicare and Medicaid, and reverse as many of President Joe Biden’s policies as possible. It proposes criminalizing pornography, removing legal protections against anti-LGBT discrimination, and ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs while having the DOJ prosecute anti-white racism instead. The project recommends the arrest, detention, and mass deportation of illegal immigrants, and deploying the U.S. Armed Forces for domestic law enforcement. The plan also proposes enacting laws supported by the Christian right, such as criminalizing those who send and receive abortion and birth control medications and eliminating coverage of emergency contraception.
Most of Project 2025’s writers and contributors worked in either Trump’s first administration (2017−2021) or his 2024 election campaign. Several Trump campaign officials maintained contact with Project 2025, seeing its goals as aligned with their Agenda 47 program. Trump later attempted to distance himself from the plan. After he won the 2024 election, he nominated several of the plan’s architects and supporters to positions in his second administration. Four days into his second term, analysis by Time found that nearly two-thirds of Trump’s executive actions “mirror or partially mirror” proposals from Project 2025.
Trump denies knowing anything about Project 2025. He, of course, is lying. Same goes for Trump’s cabinet members. They know, and have always known, about Project 2025. It’s official, libertarian theocrats have taken over the country. Their goal is to dismantle the federal government and cause untold harm to state and local governments.
If you want to keep abreast of Project 2025, please check out the Project 2025 Tracker.
The MAGA Trojan horse has been wheeled through the front door of the federal government. I am left to wonder if there is anyone left in Washington to defend our Republic from invasion and destruction.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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Where art thou, Democrats? Instead of sitting on the sidelines whimpering and whining about lost elections, how about standing up to Trump and fighting back?
Trump is no genius. His plan is simple: give tax cuts to the wealthy, punish those who oppose him, and wholesale cut spending to cripple the Federal government and give the appearance of finding money to pay for tax cuts.
Marco Rubio is the only Trump cabinet member fit to hold office. The rest of them have no business being around the levers of power.
Trump is not wrong about excessive government spending. He is, however, dead wrong about how to cut spending. A congress-mandated Department of Government Efficiency is a good idea; an autocratic DOGE operated by multibillionaire Elon Musk and his cronies is not.
All spending reductions must start with defense and security spending. Instead, Trump cuts insignificant spending while ignoring large ticket items such as defense and homeland security. It’s like cutting out Netflix to pay for your mortgage. It doesn’t work.
Trump is not wrong about our borders. He is, however, wrong about how to address the issue. Using ICE, the Border Patrol, and state/local law enforcement to terrorize undocumented immigrants is not the answer. We need immigrants for jobs Americans cannot or will not work.
ICE raided several restaurants not far from my home, deporting numerous gainfully employed Mexicans. I can’t wait to eat Mexican food made by Gringos. No more authentic Mexican food — Taco Bell for everyone.
Memo to Trump and his MAGA supporters: Ukraine did not start their war with Russia, Vladimir Putin did.
I hope the United States’ allies are paying attention. You can no longer count on America to stand with you when your adversaries threaten or attack you. Taiwan, for example, should not expect us to protect them if China invades them. All Trump cares about is making deals; deals that personally benefit him and his fellow oligarchs.
A democracy such as ours requires all citizens to agree to play according to the same rules. Once Trump ignores the law and lawful court orders and does what he wants without penalty, our democracy is gone.
Bonus: Elon Musk is the proverbial fox in the chicken house; the door of the coop swung wide open by Trump and his fellow Republicans. We shouldn’t be surprised by the bloodshed and slaughter that takes place as a result.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
As President Donald Trump, Co-President Elon Musk, and MAGA Republicans run roughshod over the government, causing chaos, heartache, and harm, there’s little being done in opposition by those who are in positions of power to fight back. Instead, Democratic politicians, corporate CEOs, and others once known for progressive values have abandoned past diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) and other “woke” policies, revealing that they never really were committed to these things. All that matters to these turncoat politicians and executives is remaining in power, improving corporate profits, and increasing shareholder value. Who cares if people of color, working-class people and other marginalized people are hurt in the process. When my partner lost her job last year due to downsizing, I reminded her that, to the company, she was just a line entry on a spread sheet. It’s hard to come to terms with the fact that most workers are just a means to an end; that when choosing between profits and what’s best for employees, companies will almost always choose the bottom line.
In the United States, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability. These three notions (diversity, equity, and inclusion) together represent “three closely linked values” which organizations seek to institutionalize through DEI frameworks. The concepts predate this terminology and other variations sometimes include terms such as belonging, justice, and accessibility.
I, for the life of me, don’t understand why a politician or corporation wouldn’t, on principle, embrace DEI. Sure, much like you, I find some DEI policies to either be ineffective or nonsensical, but that doesn’t mean the core values represented by the DEI acronym should be done away with.
The same goes for the term “woke.” The MAGA proud-loud-and-stupid-as-a-brick-crowd are against all things “woke” even though most of them couldn’t define the word if their lives depended on it.
Elaine Richardson, a professor of literacy studies at Ohio State University, defines “woke” this way: “In simple terms, it just means being politically conscious and aware, like stay woke.” [The word woke] “comes out of the experience of Black people of knowing that you have to be conscious of the politics of race, class, gender, systemic racism, ways that society is stratified and not equal.”
Again, setting extremes such as “defund the police” aside, it seems, at least to me, that being woke is desirable in a progressive society; and that progress requires an alert, awake citizenry. While I certainly roll my eyes at some of the extremes found within DEI and woke groups, in the main I fully embrace the values expressed by these words. It is doubtful that one can be a humanist, socialist, and progressive without embracing DEI and woke values. I take that back. It is rationally impossible for someone to be a humanist, socialist, and progressive without, in general, embracing DEI and woke values. We can, must, and should argue, debate, and fight about specific DEI/woke positions, but abandoning a century of progress for the rabid libertarianism promoted by Trump and his fellow MAGA followers is not the path forward for the United States. Drunk on Christian nationalism, racism, jingoism, xenophobia, imperialism, militarism, and capitalism, Trump and his merry band of uber-rich libertarians will not rest until they bring on the collapse of federal/state governments and our society as a whole. The goal is to return the United States to a time before government regulations and progressive social programs. All that matters is unrestrained personal freedom for white Christians and record profits for American oligarchs. Once you buy into the lie that the United States is a white capitalistic Christian nation; a nation divinely chosen by the God of the Bible to rule and reign over all the earth (under Jesus, of course, though what Jesus wants and MAGA wants seems to be one and the same). Evangelicals and conservative Roman Catholics now control key positions within the Trump administration, and with an atheist president pretending to be Christian sitting in the White House, it’s clear that this true-to-life telling of George Orwell’s “1984” will continue unabated for at least the next two years. And here’s the thing: much of what Trump is doing is perfectly legal, the spoils of winning the 2024 presidential election. Democrats can scream all they want, but Trump won the election fair and square. We must now face the consequences of a woefully uneducated populous electing a man who is a pathological liar; a man who doesn’t care one bit about their lives; a contemptuous man who only cares about power and wealth. I can’t think of one thing Trump has done since 2015 that reflects compassion for others.
Trump’s recent comments about the Palestinian people reveals the kind of man he really is. Trump only sees a business opportunity, one that will make him look good at the expense of millions of Palestinian men, women, and children. In some ways, Trump is no different from other American presidents; men who used violence and bloodshed to advance personal and political agendas. Trump wants to use bulldozers to turn Gaza into a canvas upon which he and his fellow billionaires can paint a beautiful picture of real estate development — the Riviera of the Middle East. No thought is given to the Palestinian people; the poor, marginalized, and disadvantaged; people who have lost everything because of Israel’s genocidal war against them.
Here’s what Trump had to say at a White House news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as reported in Al Jazeera::
Today I’m delighted to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu back to the White House. It’s a wonderful feeling and a wonderful event. We had fantastic talks, and thank you very much, with your staff.
I want to say it’s an honour to have you with us. Over the past four years, the US and the Israeli alliance has been tested more than any time in history, but the bonds of friendship and affection between the American and Israeli people have endured for generations and they are absolutely unbreakable.
I’m confident that, under our leadership, the cherished alliance between our two countries will soon be stronger than ever. We had a great relationship. We had great victories together four years ago, not so many victories over the past four years, however. In my first term, prime minister and I forged a tremendously successful partnership that brought peace and stability to the Middle East like it hadn’t seen in decades.
Together, we defeated ISIS [ISIL], we ended the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, one of the worst deals ever made, and imposed the toughest ever sanctions on the Iranian regime. We starved Hamas and Iran’s other terrorist proxies, and we starved them like they had never seen before, resources and support disappeared for them.
I recognised Israel’s capital, opened the American embassy in Jerusalem and got it built. We got it built. It’s beautiful, all Jerusalem stone right from nearby and it was – it’s something that’s very special.
And recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, something that they talked about for 70 years and they weren’t able to get it. And I got it. And with the historic Abraham Accords, something that was really an achievement that was, I think, going to become more and more important because we achieved the most significant Middle East peace agreements in half a century.
And I really believe that many countries will soon be joining this amazing peace and economic development transaction. It really is a big economic development transaction. I think we’re going to have a lot of people signing up very quickly. Unfortunately, for four years, nobody signed up. Nobody did anything for four years except in the negative.
Unfortunately, the weakness and incompetence of those past four years, the grave damage around the globe that was done, including in the Middle East, grave damage all over the globe. The horrors of October 7th would never have happened if I were president, the Ukraine and Russia disaster would never have happened if I were president.
Over the past 16 months, Israel has endured a sustained aggressive and murderous assault on every front, but they fought back bravely. You see that and you know that. What we have witnessed is an all-out attack on the very existence of a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland. The Israelis have stood strong and united in the face of an enemy that has kidnapped, tortured, raped and slaughtered innocent men, women, children and even little babies.
I want to salute the Israeli people for meeting this trial with courage and determination and unflinching resolve. They have been strong. In our meetings today, the prime minister and I focused on the future, discussing how we can work together to ensure Hamas is eliminated and ultimately restore peace to a very troubled region.
It’s been troubled, but what has happened in the last four years has not been good.
I also strongly believe that the Gaza Strip, which has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live there and frankly who’s been really very unlucky. It’s been very unlucky. It’s been an unlucky place for a long time.
Being in its presence just has not been good and it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there. Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts, and there are many of them that want to do this and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck.
This can be paid for by neighbouring countries of great wealth. It could be one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, 12. It could be numerous sites, or it could be one large site. But the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and we’ll make sure something really spectacular is done.
They’re going to have peace. They’re not going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this civilisation of wonderful people has had to endure. The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site. This is just a demolition site. Virtually every building is down.
They’re living under fallen concrete that’s very dangerous and very precarious. They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again.
The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area … do a real job, do something different.
Just can’t go back. If you go back, it’s going to end up the same way it has for 100 years. I’m hopeful that this ceasefire could be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all. With the same goal in mind, my administration has been moving quickly to restore trust in the alliance and rebuild American strength throughout the region and we’ve really done that.
I ended the last administration’s de facto arms embargo on over $1bn, in military assistance for Israel. And I’m also pleased to announce that this afternoon, the United States withdrew from the anti-Semitic UN Human Rights Council and ended all of the support for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which funnelled money to Hamas, and which was very disloyal to humanity.
Trump’s bulldozer approach to Gaza is a common tactic used by the United States. Remember when the first Europeans landed on the shores of what is now the eastern United States? Who met them there? Indigenous people. This was their land; their home. Did we respect their geographical boundaries and property rights? Of course not, silly boy. We are a nation divinely chosen by God; a brightly lit city on a hill. We used proverbial bulldozers and destroyed countless indigenous cultures and communities. From sea to shining sea, our forefathers claimed land for their own that belonged to others, killing anyone who got in their way. Learning nothing over the past 400 years, the United States continues to use threats of economic strangulation, violence, and death to force countries to do what they want them to do. Trump has been in office all of three weeks, yet he has already threatened to invade Panama, turn Canada into an American state, appropriate Greenland, and attack Mexican drug cartels. From tariffs to military threats, Trump intends to get his way even if it means destroying our economy and killing scores of people.
Elections have consequences. What do we do now? We either fight back or give up. We are quickly learning that many corporations who promoted DEI values only did so because it made them look good or benefitted their bottom line. Now that Trump is in office, many companies are doing away with their DEI programs, embracing Trump’s racist bigotry. Gone are courage and conviction. Where are CEOs and political leaders willing to stand up to Trump, even if it costs them financially or politically? Is no one willing to stand up to Trump and the MAGA horde? Have we given up, convincing ourselves that there’s no hope? And maybe there’s not. Maybe Trump 2024 is the gasping breath of a dying republic. Does this mean we give up? I know I can’t, even though I have been quite depressed over the past three weeks, and I suspect Trump still has a lot more harm he intends to inflict on the American people. Do we just give in? If we can’t beat them, join them?
To my progressive readers, what do we do going forward? Is our political system broken beyond repair? Voting doesn’t seem to matter much these days. We routinely elect people who say all the right things when running for office, but once elected these very same people develop amnesia, serving not their constituents, but corporate overlords. I used to disparage people who didn’t vote, but I’m beginning to understand why they don’t. Vote, don’t vote, money buys elections. Rare is the politician who has courage and conviction. This past election, I watched both Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and Representative Marcy Kaptur morph into quasi-Republican-sounding politicians hoping to win Republicans to their side. I found their mealy-mouth cowardice disgusting. Better to lose standing courageously on your convictions, than lying just to get elected.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
Throughout the history of the United States, federal, state, and local governments have singled out specific groups of people for persecution. Indigenous people. People of Asian descent. People of German descent. Blacks. Muslims. European immigrants. Gay people. And now transgender people. Over our nation’s almost 250-year history, political leaders have used the power of the state to condemn, marginalize, and persecute people deemed a threat to the United States. We have locked up such people in internment camps, reservations, and prisons, and when the persecuted pushed back against their persecutors, they faced state-sanctioned violence, including beatings, rapes, and murders.
Thanks to Donald Trump and his MAGA mob, along with millions of Evangelical, Mormon, and Roman Catholic Christians, transgender people — who make up less than one percent (3 million) of our population — are targeted for persecution. Some Christians think transgender people should be arrested and incarcerated in internment camps, reminiscent of the days when Japanese and German Americans were torn from their homes and incarcerated during World War II. The goal, of course, is to drive transgender people back into the closet — out of sight, out of mind, never to be seen again.
It is easy for people with privilege such as heterosexual whites to say to transgender people, “Stand up for your rights!” However, demographically, transgender people are such a small part of our population that it is unlikely that they have the political and cultural power to stand their ground (without risking physical harm or death). Transgender readers of this blog have repeatedly told me that all they want is to be left alone. They want to live without being singled out for who and what they are. They want the same rights and protections as their non-transgender neighbors.
Sadly, bad times lie ahead for transgender people. Donald Trump and his merry band of bigots fully intend to erase transgender people not only from the government, but society in general. They will not rest until we return to the days when people didn’t understand the difference between biological sex and gender; back to a day when LGBTQ people were labeled deviants and child molesters.
So what are transgender people to do? They have little to no political power. I fear many of them will withdraw from our society out of fear of what could happen to them if they publicly lived openly and authentically as transgender people (no different from what heterosexual people do). Their small numbers are no match for angry mobs of transphobes who want to destroy their lives. It is up to non-transgender Americans to join with them if there is any hope for transgender people to ever have the peaceable lives they desperately wish to have.
Transgender people aren’t asking for special rights or to be treated differently from others. All they want is to be left alone so they can live lives free of persecution, harassment, and violence. Is that not all any of us wants?
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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.
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