Every time another policy is implemented or there is a rhetoric out there from America’s political right with a unique purpose to dehumanize people and strip them of their dignity, what angers me the most is that these people do it in the name of the Lord. It angers me to measures I can’t possibly describe.
When I woke up in Nairobi on November 6, 2024, and saw this man won the election again, I was in disbelief. I was terrified. I knew of the impending danger. And yet, even I didn’t think it would be this despicable. In less than three weeks, they have unleashed terror like never before imagined. He has made himself king. He has put such cracks on the foundations of our democratic institutions that sometimes I pinch myself to ask if this is still America. All of this is done with an intention. So much so that I’ve seen people just give up. I’ve watched colleagues live with fear. I’ve seen people lose hope. Our Democratic elected leaders also took too much time to lick their wounds. Too many lives will be impacted. Too many people are confused. I didn’t understand either, why it seemed like evil was winning. Why it seemed like the wicked was prospering. Why it seemed like the wicked enjoyed a life of ease while the marginalized, the oppressed, the voiceless continued to suffer.
Then I read Numbers 13 recently. It’s the story of the twelve spies Moses sent to get intel on the land God was sending them. Ten of those twelve folks, oh boy; they saw the people of God as no match for this new land. “We are like grasshoppers next to them,” they projected. “The people of the land thought of us as grasshoppers,” they said. Except, it was not actually true. The people of the land didn’t say jack to or about them. It was all perception. Because somehow Caleb, one of the spies, BELIEVED they could take that land. He was like, “let’s do it now!” What set the ten apart from Caleb and Joshua? Faith. They literally all objectively saw the same circumstances. Here is the thing: beliefs are very limiting. We have to stop seeing ourselves as small, as losers.
We must stop seeing ourselves as defeated or as powerless. “Trump has all the power.” No he doesn’t. As Ezra Klein said in written and verbal forms, he wants you to believe that he does. In so far as you do, then he assumes more power. The flood is the point. It wasn’t just deporting everyone that isn’t Caucasian. It wasn’t just the dismantling of USAID. It wasn’t just removing DEI initiatives. It wasn’t just firing civil servants. It’s the cumulative effect of all it. It’s letting you know that if you mess with them, they can come for you. He wants you to think this is his country now, that he can do and undo as he likes. It’s not true. He has never wanted to be president. He wants to be king because he is too weak to govern like a president, Klein said. Don’t let him.
Trump knows the power of marketing. If you make people believe something is true, you make it likelier that it becomes true. Trump clawed his way back to great wealth by playing a fearsome billionaire on TV; he remade himself as a winner by refusing to admit he had ever lost. The American presidency is a limited office. But Trump has never wanted to be president, at least not as defined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution. He has always wanted to be king. His plan this time is to first play king on TV. If we believe he is already king, we will be likelier to let him govern as a king. Don’t believe him.
Here is what you need to know: they want you to be afraid. The real tactic is psychological warfare and to demoralize us and to inflict terror as much as possible. They will be successful in many ways because fear and depression are natural responses. But in some ways, we can still fight back. How? You ask. Always resist. Even if that resistance is joy.
So first and foremost, be joyful. Choose to be joyful. But also be engaged. Fight. To use his own words, Fight, fight, fight. Don’t take this gently. Call your representatives. I heard an alarming statistics last week: on single issues that voters pay attention to, Republicans outnumber Democrats callers at a ratio of 11:1. ELEVEN TO ONE. Unbelievable. So get off Twitter (if a cent of my money goes to Elon Musk, God will literally strike him so I’m doing him a favor not going on his site) and BE ENGAGED. Go to townhalls. I called three of my Congress Reps last week and will do so again this week. I WILL KEEP calling them. Is it maybe awkward to be ranting to a poor staffer? Maybe. But awkward can’t kill you. It’s only awkward if you make it so. I have a perfect script for calling so if you need this script, I will provide it! (In fact, I might make another blogpost just on the script so it’s available. If I do, I will link here). I saw an article by Tom Malinowski that I thought was just brilliant. In it, he told us all the ways Democrats can fight back so don’t let your reps get away with inaction. Whatever you do, fight!
I said to a couple of colleagues who wondered how, in the face of all this, I was still so upbeat. I attributed it to three things (though I only mentioned one to them).
One: I know who I am in Christ. Either way, I win. Romans 8 says NOTHING can ever separate us from God’s love. Not suffering, not persecution, not calamity, not danger can ever separate us. Paul, in his usual dramatic self, goes on to say, “no power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God.”
Two: I am very loved by the people in my life. Enough said.
Three: as a Black person in America, I know what it is to choose joy as resistance. Black people have seen worse, have lived through worse, have survived worse.
Whatever you do, don’t let this man steal your joy. Yes, happiness is a bit more touch and go, so fine, we surrender that. But joy, hope, faith, cling on to that desperately.
I wrote all the above last week and just didn’t get the time to hit publish. This week was easily the toughest of my professional life. I won’t lie to you, I gave into despair and defeat. I saw a massive attack on my professional community and I sank. All of it based on lies. Lies fabricated by a cruel, little man and his band of oligarchs. As I saw people I care about experience anguish, as I saw all we’ve worked for crumble, as communities suffered, I thought of those that dared say to us during the election, “its just politics” or “look we can all have dinner together even if we supported different candidates”… and listen, BUT FOR GOD I would pray they experience even just a fraction of the misery this man has caused. I won’t though. I just pray for all the people that supported this man or worse, that were neutral, that God judges them—all of us, really—according to their hearts.
Here what I will say to you all, as you see all those lies about USAID or federal workers or all the other institutions designed to protect everyday Americans, remember that lies speed, they hop, jump, fly, travel fast, but truth? Goodness, truth crawls behind, taking forever to catch up.
Remember to continue to stay engaged and never ever accept defeat even when it feels like it’s all that’s left.
Love,
I
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