A sermon for Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church, Adelphi, Maryland
January 15, 2017
The Rev. Evan Keely, Interim Minister
It is painful to note how Martin Luther King Day in 2017 coincides with the final weekend of Barack Obama’s presidency.
No one should believe, nor should anyone ever have been so irresponsible as to even have suspected that the ascension of an African-American man to the presidency, and his re-election to a second term, signaled the end of racism in this country. This preposterous canard of a “post- racial America” was not only wildly inaccurate, but dangerous. A facile complacency is the last thing we need in the face of the enormous work that remains to heal the wounds of this nation. At the same time, we should not fail to recognize, and to celebrate, that Obama’s role is a sign — one of many — that progress has been made in the long journey of redemption from our nation’s original sin. We know, as we look at our country and its history, that strides forward have been made, just as we recognize that there is still so much more work to do. We should be neither complacent nor discouraged by what a two-term African-American president tells us about where we are.
There are many things that President Obama has done these past years that I have supported, appreciated, and even cheered, and many things he has done that I have disagreed with or found disappointing. In other words, he has been a human being. I believe that he did his best, and he leaves office with my respect and appreciation, even though I could also readily list what I wish might have been different about the past eight years. My view, one shared by many (though by no means universally embraced), is that Mr. Obama, in his service to our country, showed dignity, integrity, thoughtfulness, intelligence, decency, good will and good humor. I cannot help but add that I can scarcely think of another living American who embodies grace, self-respect, thoughtfulness, intelligence, high-mindedness, self-confidence, compassion, joie de vivre and genuine class than Michelle Obama.
I have made no secret, from this pulpit and elsewhere, of my disdain for the next president, and I do not intend to remain silent as we bear witness to the presidency of a man whom I consider to be utterly unprepared, unfit, and unworthy of the highest elected office in the land. At a time of year when we pause to pay tribute to Dr. King, one of the great champions of freedom and human dignity in our nation’s history, I think it is nothing less than a religious duty for us to consider the cultural, moral, psychological and spiritual implications of the rise of Trumpism.
My anguish and anxiety about what Trump represents is not partisan. My concerns about Trump outweigh any considerations of party affiliation. If we are to get through the challenges of our time, both major parties and Americans of all political persuasions will need to work together to undo whatever damage may be done and to find a better way forward.
It is horrifying to see the enthusiasm that extremist white supremacist groups have shown for Trump. We should certainly remain vigilant, but as much as their loathsome views and their fanaticism disgusts and horrifies people of conscience, I wonder if the bigger threat is something that is far less shocking and probably far more commonplace. It is the kind of casual, coded racism that Trump promotes. Trump does not goose-step or talk about gas chambers; indeed, he
doesn’t often talk about race explicitly at all. Even that stupid fraud, the “birther” movement that Trump so tenaciously championed for years, was a racism thinly-veiled (though very thin indeed), but I have never heard of Trump saying “white people are the master race” or using the n-word. He doesn’t need to — and I wonder if that is precisely why he is such a menace to democracy and human decency. He speaks in code. “The good old days.” “You are going to see great things, like you haven’t seen in decades.” His supporters say things like, “He says things that I’ve been thinking for years.” The incessant excoriating of “political correctness” is part of the code, and if we decode it, we probably find that “political correctness” refers to a social stigma on utterances and actions that denigrate whole classes of people. With a significant portion of our citizenry — a large enough portion to carry him to victory in the Electoral College — Trump has succeeded in making it okay to disparage “political correctness,” and what does that mean? I fear that what it means is that Trump has made it socially acceptable, at least more so than it had been immediately prior to his political ascendancy, to push back against a conscionable resistance of racism and other forms of narrow-minded bias.
Do not be fooled, my beloved people, by the absurdities that seep into our national discourse. Again and again we have heard that some who voted for Trump couldn’t possibly be racist, since they voted for Obama in previous elections. Beware this soothing but dangerous lie that someone who votes for a black person couldn’t possibly be in any way racist. If we understand racism as a seething hatred for entire groups of people based on physical characteristics, and if we expect that hatred to be manifested in threats or actual violence, then we are deceiving ourselves about what racism is. Certainly people who spray-paint swastikas or routinely blurt out venomous racial slurs represent a kind of racism, but one need not be guilty of such egregious enormities to be racist. We have all heard the familiar protests; perhaps we’ve even made them at some point: “I’m not racist! Why, I’ll have you know that some of my very best friends are dyslexic Welsh- speaking Zoroastrians!” or whatever group for whom one swears to having absolutely nothing but the most benign feelings. Adamant and overt hatred is only one manifestation of racism. More common and more insidious is the racism that quietly asserts that “they” (whoever “they” are) are just not quite as responsible, not quite as hard-working, not quite as honest, and therefore not quite as deserving, as “we” are (whoever “we” imagine ourselves to be). More insidiously still, what is truly chilling and appalling about Trumpism is the possibility — how I pray I am wrong about this! — that it has proved intellectually and spiritually seductive: I cannot dismiss the possibility that Trump has changed minds and hearts, that some people have become more biased under Trump’s influence. I am well aware that some African-Americans, some Muslims, some Hispanics, and many women have voted for Trump and support him. I am not in the business of telling black people how to be black, or telling Muslims whom they should fear and whom they should trust, or lecturing women on what their attitudes ought to be. I simply find it impossible at the present time to be optimistic about the consequences of a Trump presidency not only for those groups, but for all of us, and my pessimism is rooted in observation of what Trump has said and done. I still see no reason to believe, as much as I want to, that he now has or has ever had any goal in life other than self-aggrandizement. I pray to the immortal and eternal God, whom I fear and adore, that I turn out to be completely wrong. Regardless of that, when I see him promoting policies and programs that I believe will be harmful to anyone, I intend to resist in whatever way I can.
The thought that this reckless, cruel, childish, thoughtless man will very soon have the nuclear codes is deeply unsettling, but in the lengthy catalogue (lengthening daily) of things that terrify me about Trump in the Oval Office, that is actually fairly low on the list. No, much higher on the list of things I fear are thoughts entwined with my stumbling efforts to understand how and why this malicious, crass, foolish man is as popular as he is, why he has any supporters at all. Many who are far wiser and smarter than I have pondered this question. Among the answers we hear are explanations that have to do with economics: we’re told again and again that Trump appealed to the plight of white, working-class voters in a way that no one else seemed to, and they support him because they believe that he can make their lives better. We might therefore think that Trump supporters will feel betrayed if his promises of economic advancement don’t pan out. That could be. But one of the most frightening and heartbreaking possibilities — and how I pray to the living God that I will turn out to be wrong about this! — is that continued economic decline for Trump supporters won’t dim their enthusiasm for Trump because their support for him, at heart, isn’t actually about economics. What I fear is that Trump’s appeal has little or perhaps even nothing to do with hopes for job creation and rising wages, and more or perhaps even everything to do with the sweet, alluring poison of being given permission by the President of the United States to look down on some other groups as inferior and worthy of scorn. It is this very thing that many a tyrant has used to sustain power: Follow me, and I will salve your wounded souls again and again with a noxious balm: the assurance that no matter how difficult your circumstances, you ought to feel that someone else out there is lower and baser than you, and that your suffering is their fault. That is the kind of racism that horrifies me far more than the loathsome antics of ultra-far-right lunatics who don white hoods or swastika arm-bands, because that kind of racism is far, far more likely to be influential in our society than the lunacy of genocidal extremists. No one needs to burn crosses on anybody’s lawn in order to keep the evils of truly destructive racism aflame. Trump has done something far subtler, and therefore far more dangerous and hurtful. If this alone were what he were doing wrong, that alone would be sufficient reason for people of conscience everywhere to oppose his agenda and to do everything we can to ensure that his tenure in that office is as brief as possible, that we do everything we can to see to it that he accomplishes as little of what he has set out to do, and that we fight as if our lives depend upon it for those things which represent a better way.
However, Trump’s divide-and-conquer racism is not the only problem with Trumpism. We will be aided in our struggle against Trumpism by our efforts to understand Trump himself. At this point I find quite convincing the hypothesis that he suffers from narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). It’s important in this instance to say “suffers from,” because this is probably a terrible thing to have to live with. Recognizing that I am neither qualified nor able to diagnose him, I nevertheless find that this theory quite cogently explains pretty much everything he does. There can be little doubt that he has demonstrated through his entire life a bottomless desire for attention and for being viewed with awe and envy by others, that he lacks empathy, and that he sees all others as either extensions of himself or as adversaries. It is hard to imagine the misery of what must be a joyless, loveless existence driven by endless, insatiable craving. So we are now faced with the horrifying probability that our next president suffers from a serious mental illness which causes him to care about nothing but himself: about being admired, getting attention, being envied, and using other people to achieve those objectives — or punishing and humiliating those who stand in the way of achieving them. While we should feel compassion for Trump and what is probably an unendurably anxious, lonesome and empty existence, theorizing that he is afflicted with NPD in no way excuses his numerous wrongs. What it might do for those of us who oppose his agenda is help us strategize about how best to accomplish our goals. For one thing, being continually shocked and outraged at his buffoonery and his innumerable lies may not be the best use of our energies. We should expect that someone with NPD will lie flagrantly and frequently; what does such a person care about truth or falsehood? Either is merely a means to ends, the ends being attention and adulation. So of course Trump is going to lie and contradict himself and say whatever he wants in the impulsive moment, as long as it fulfills his goal of getting attention. Those of us who do not have NPD are likely to be embarrassed if we are caught lying; we should not be waiting for Trump to experience that kind of embarrassment.
Another psychological phenomenon we must keep in mind in the struggle against Trumpism is gaslighting. A great deal has been said and written about this by persons wiser and more knowledgeable than myself, including a noteworthy piece by Lauren Duca, published in Teen Vogue on December 101 which called out Trump’s gaslighting in no uncertain terms. (I am not a Teen Vogue reader; I doubt many middle-aged men like myself are, but I can hardly think of a more suitable forum for education about gaslighting than a periodical aimed at teenage girls. Good for Teen Vogue, and God bless them for empowering young women with knowledge that will help them make healthy and positive choices in their relationships — not to mention helping them cope with having a contemptible misogynist as their president.) Gaslighting is a common technique used by abusive persons and often occurs in domestic violence situations. It is a means of controlling another person or persons by using deliberate manipulation, deceit and cruelty in order to cause others to doubt their perceptions of reality. The gaslighting abuser will often accuse another of doing the very things that he himself is doing and pelt the abused with confusing, contradictory statements and lies. In this manner, the abuser undermines the self- confidence those being abused, whittling away at their sense of reality. This is a key tool in Donald Trump’s personal arsenal, and resistance to his agenda will necessitate our collective psychological resistance to this incessant gaslighting. “Build the wall!” is about racism, but it is also about gaslighting, about blaming someone else, about making problems about anybody or everybody else but oneself. In Trumpworld, every problem is somehow someone else’s fault. His entire worldview, his ideology (to the extent that he even has one) is all about blaming others, very often for one’s own shortcomings or wrongdoing. That is a cornerstone of Trumpism, and I can foresee no circumstances in which the political and cultural ascendancy of that immature and destructive mindset will result in anything other than harm and suffering for all of us.
This manufactured conflict between “coastal elites” (I guess that’s us?) and disaffected white, working-class voters is also a form of gaslighting. If ever there were a bald effort to “divide and conquer,” this is it, y’all. Well, I for one am not going to play along with that game. Many in this church are reading the book The Third Reconstruction by the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, chair of the North Carolina NAACP and a leader in the Moral Mondays movement. In this church we’ve had some discussion groups about Dr. Barber’s book; I’ve read it too, and I am working with this church’s Diversity and Antiracism Transformation Team to organize a new discussion group. Y’all come, because Dr. Barber has a lot to teach us about fusion coalitions: people of different backgrounds, different faiths, different races, different communities coming together and working together to dismantle the divisive power structures that turn us against each other to our own detriment. There will be more on this from this pulpit and in other aspects of this church’s ministries in the coming weeks and months, but for now, the summary of the lesson is: don’t be fooled. Don’t be bamboozled by Trumpism and its high priest, the greatest flim-flam man who ever lived. Trump wants us to be fighting with one another because that drains our energy and attention from fighting his agenda. I choose not to participate. I will gladly join with any fellow American of conscience who wants to join the fight against racism, sexism, xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, environmental degradation, or any other form of injustice. But our work isn’t just about being against something; even more important is what we’re for. We are striving to be for fairness, human dignity and human rights; we are for giving as many people a crack at stability and prosperity, justice; we are for freedom of speech and conscience and religion; we are for relations between our country and other nations that are founded on mutual respect and a desire for a lasting peace; we are for responsible human stewardship of the planet earth. I believe that that is what most Americans want, and with all due respect and recognizing with that not everyone will agree with me, I will go to my grave believing that that is what President Obama wanted and strove for in his presidency. Whether or not he went about it in the best way, whether or not he could have or should have done more — those are perfectly valid questions, and we could have many an interesting conversation in response. I will also go to my grave believing that Hillary Clinton wanted that, recognizing that there also we could ask many a question about whether or not she went about in the most effective way. I believe that Jill Stein and even Gary “What is Aleppo?” Johnson probably sought a common good as well. Indeed, as I look at presidential contenders in my lifetime, I can find many places where I agree or disagree with this or that person or policy, but I don’t see any reason to doubt a fundamental civic-mindedness in any of them. With each of them I could make lists of things I admire and agree with, and things that trouble me and that I disagree with. With not a one of them do I doubt that they ran for president because they wanted to do something good for our country and for humanity, in whatever flawed, complex human way each of them strove to do so. Donald Trump is different. Trumpism is not connected in any way that I can discern to any sense of civic duty. Though I desperately wish it were otherwise and have frantically sought some reason, some minute glimmer of hope to believe otherwise, I have found thus far no reason to believe anything other than that the goal of Donald Trump’s life has been solely to gratify his selfish and boundless cravings for luxury and power, sex, glamor and fame. How I yearn to be wrong about this! How I pray ceaselessly to find some reason to believe that this man has some good in him! What possible reason could any of us have to derive any satisfaction from perceiving Trump as a remorseless vampire? What ludicrous, idiotic benefit could anyone possibly attain from looking at him and seeing not even the faintest glimmer of compassion or kindness or altruism or duty or honor? Yet everything Trump has ever done points to the unendurable heartbreak that tens of millions of our fellow citizens have handed to an irresponsible, merciless, twisted, soul-wounded man the greatest responsibility on earth.
Around the world, democracy is in trouble. The brutal thugocracy of Duterte in the Philippines, the vile xenophobia of Viktor Orbán in Hungary, the chilling ascendancy of Marine Le Pen in France, the heavy-handedness of Recep Erdoğan in Turkey; Polish legislators occupying their Parliament in protest of diminishing press freedoms; angry demonstrations in the streets of Seoul and Mexico City; and on and on. Who will defend democracy? We must. Trump supporters, taking their cue from their vindictive leader, want us all to “get over it”: “We won, you lost; get over it!” This brutish triumphalism is also a hallmark of Trumpism. We must never “get over it,” never. Dr. King taught us that there are certain things to which we should all be maladjusted. We must never “get over” the empowerment of division and hate. Trump didn’t invent any of the evils he has promoted; they have been with us as a people always. What he has done is newly embolden intolerance, mutual suspicion, divisiveness, self-centeredness, short- sightedness, and fear-mongering. Compassion, curiosity, open-mindedness, courage, decency, hospitality, generosity and love also aren’t new, but our task is to newly embolden them. If Dr. King were with us today, we know which side of history he would be on now: the same of all those who strive for freedom and fairness and human dignity, on the side of a faith in a unity of all that lives and all that is, a faith in the sanctity of shared responsibility and mutual love. Trumpism is on the rise. Our duty, and our sacred calling, is to tear it down, and to build and rebuild and rebuild again a nation and a world blessed by freedom and peace, justice and love.
1 http://www.teenvogue.com/story/donald-trump-is-gaslighting-america