As much as possible I want to avoid involvement in foolish arguments about President Donald Trump. I have responded to friends who are very anti-Trump and tried to bring considerations that could moderate their position, but to no avail. I am glad to answer those with sincere questions but at this point this is rare. Here are some reasons why this is so difficult in this. First, I learned as a philosophy student in epistemology (the study of how we come to know, indeed as well to know that something is real or true) that decisions about the truth that are not mundane and trivial and commitments that follow therefrom are not based on the right processing of information in the mind which then comes out with the right conclusion. Rather, the whole person weighs evidence and makes decisions. The person is influenced by deeply held values, orientations to life, and psychological factors. Some of these factors are not conscious. I think voters, including my friends who are followers of Yeshua, break down into five categories. After the first year of the Trump Presidency, the stand of most people in four of these five categories is not likely to change. Those who engage in arguments among people in the different categories go round and round and get nowhere. The reason for the categories is that in the deep consciousness of people, various things are given very different weight. It is almost on a religious level for some. And we know how hard that is!! Only the Spirit can bring conversion. Of course, there are those on the border lines of these categories and there is always a continuum but generally, people fit into one of these five. Though there are some friends who are liberal Evangelicals, conservatives are included in all five of these categories.
- The Never Trumpers. For these people, President Trump’s egregious bad behavior outweighs all other considerations. The personal demeaning, the past life of sin, the exaggeration, and lies about some situations, have caused untold damage to the country. He is probably a racist. He is not a true conservative but is acting so for political power. He is probably a sociopath-narcissist. Any professed follower of Yeshua who supports President Trump is discrediting their faith and is a hypocrite. Any good that Trump has done is far surpassed by the evil he does. As their heart weights his tweets and his blatantly sinful language against others, they weigh the stand against the President as a ten and compared almost to a zero for anything good. In addition, Trump has been inconsistent in policy to North Korea, to Russia, and has undercut international trust. Some say he is not concerned about the environment. Those in this category will point to new outlandish statements, but they are really nothing new but just an example of the pattern well established. They are aghast that believers in Yeshua can support him.
- The Always Trumpers. All the bad that Trump has done is downplayed by the always Trumpers. The good things he has done and is doing makes the negatives to almost be of no consequence. They wonder why the negatives should be a concern. The negatives may even have a positive effect. Yes, maybe he should not tweet somethings, but so what? He has appointed scores conservative judges and two conservative Supreme Court justices, has moved the embassy to Jerusalem, created enterprise zones in the cities to life the poor, has had judicial reform for the sake of non-violent criminals that mostly affects blacks, is working to make immigration legal, has released states from funding planned parenthood, has removed the pressure from the nations re: U. S. aid to foster homosexual marriage and abortion while supporting the decriminalization of homosexuality, has restored religious liberty that was being eroded, has removed standards for accommodating pregnant men in the men’s barracks in the army (transgender) has confronted North Korea while negotiating, has confronted China, has rebuilt the military, pulled out of the disastrous Iran deal, is shaking up a corrupt bureaucracy, and more. He is bringing jobs back to the United States. To even bring up Trump’s sins is looked at as such hypocritical foolishness and shows that these people are majoring in the minors. Besides, those in this category who believe in the prophetic gift point to amazing prophetic predictions of the Trump presidency and what it would be like. Some of these people even enjoy Trump’s bad-boy behavior. They are the most enthusiastic at his rallies.
- The Qualified Trump Supporters. This is a much larger group than most realize. I am in this group. Many of us did not support Trump in the primaries. He was our last choice. Our vote for him was more a vote against Hillary Clinton. Those in this group usually agree with the list of good things that Trump has done, but we are concerned that his bombastic style and gross sin in speech and vilification of others undercut him and loses him support that he would otherwise have. There was much division before Trump, but those of us in this category really believe that he has unnecessarily exacerbated the division in the country and that despite the gains of his presidency, this could be very dangerous to the country. We are concerned that the backlash after Trump could be terrible and would that even if division can’t be overcome, that our President would speak in the most unifying way possible to the nation. We do not believe Trump is a racist but think his sometimes terrible rhetoric gives credibility to people think he is. Of course, Democrats accuse all white Republicans of being racists. Some of us credit the prophecy of those who have this gift at a high level, and this has helped us. We do also see policies that we do not support. Trump speaks of our enemies as ones with whom he has a good relationship. Little Rocket Man is one with whom he now has a good relationship. We pray for Trump to have an encounter with Yeshua so that he might repent of his sins and change. However, when we compare Trump to Hillary Clinton and what she would have done with the courts, religious freedom, and Israel we are still glad she lost to Trump. The greatest writer in this category that I know is Dr. Mike Brown, a very incisive social critic, who says we are not hypocrites if we support what is right but prophetically speak out on the wrong. If we do not speak out when he is wrong then we sell our souls for his defense. His book Donald Trump is not my Savior is an excellent read on this approach. In addition, it is most alarming to us to think about what today’s Democrats would do if they were in power. We might have preferred Nikki Haley or Mike Pence, but we did not have this choice. It seems that this is God’s doing. On a one to ten scale, they give being a supporter on the basis of the good maybe an 8 and the negatives maybe a 4.
- Category four is the Trump opponents who credit the good things he has done but believe that the harm from his over the top vilification of others and sinful rhetoric outweighs the good. Some of them think it would have been better to have taken our lumps with Hillary Clinton and at least not to be seen supporting such a vein and vile man. In their view, this has undercut the Gospel. These people are conflicted because they do know that Trump does good things and they generally are alarmed at the thought of a Hillary Clinton presidency. However, they still cannot bring themselves to vote for Trump.
- Category five is undecided. These are the people who go back and forth. When Trump is acting bad, they lean to category 4. When he is doing good, they lead to # 3. They are a key to Trump’s approval going between 44% to 49%. They may determine the next election. They are probably about 5%. They keep quiet and do not get into the arguments.
The next election will be determined by who can best bring out their base and the 5% that go back and forth. The category people are in is quite fixed now. It will not be changed by fruitless Facebook arguments back and forth. Mike Brown makes all the right points in my view, but I am not sure if he has convinced anyone who is a Never-Trumper. Maybe some on the edge of being a non-supporter could change his or her view. The deepest inner values and psychology is partly why people come out where they do. It is how things hit people at a visceral level. This is why I want to opt-out of Facebook arguments on this. It is not getting us anywhere. We have repeated ourselves again and again like a broken record. I have tried to argue with my never-Trump friends that the danger of the left to believers is terrible but to no avail.