3 October

One Man’s Truth: “Why I Can’t Pray For Donald Trump.”

by Jon Katz

“It’s the power to believe that you can see that you visualize that sense of community, that sense of family, that sense of one house.” – John Lewis.

John Lewis said he was working all of his life to helping us become one family and live in one house. Donald Trump has been living his whole life for all of us to live in his house and divide ours.

I suppose it is true that we should pray for him, but not for the reasons his blinded followers demand.

To me, there is only one thing lower than a hypocrite, and that is a hypocrite that whines. Trump is both, and when I think of praying for him, it is about praying for help in forgiving him, not in his getting well.

When Donald Trump ignited his angry populist movement, I frequently wrote about the very legitimate grievances of the battered working-class people who flocked to him.

They had been ignored and lied to and left behind for decades, and it was only a matter of time before a charismatic demagogue popped up to set them on fire.

For two days now, people have been angrily e-mailing me, complaining that I am not praying for Donald Trump to get well. That, they tell me, is shameful.

Such hypocrisy, I think, too much for me to bear.

My responsibility as a human being is not to pray when ordered, but to honor truth and compassion. And who would I pray to? I have no idea who God is, or why he might have put us all in this position.

Trump should be on his knees when he can get there, and pray for the souls of the many people who have suffered and died for his selfishness and ignorance.

A hypocrite is a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

In one sense, it is too late to pray for a hypocrite or be persuaded by one; in a moral or human sense, a part of them is already dead. I admit to being flawed, but will never knowingly be a hypocrite. That’s why I can’t pray for Trump.

In the past couple of years, the Trumpism movement has changed radically and, led by our President; it whines rather than speaks to persuade.

Imagine a child who does that.

Everyone is picking on them, nobody understands them, every outrage against love and compassion, every lie is justified, glorified, and deserved. Another injury, another grievance/

His movement is now, and sadly,  mostly about the hypocrisy of grievance.

As a result, his followers are at risk of losing the ability to be taken seriously and keeping their important movement alive.  Hate is not inspiring.

No movement can succeed if no one else can join or is welcome to join. Everyone else becomes the enemy. The point isn’t that Trump will do us all good; the point is that he will keep us angry, frightened, and discouraged. That will never happen.

The point of his presidency is to keep some people hating him to love him all the more.

I think I’ll pray for us tonight, not our broken President. When I read messages from people telling me how to pray and who to pray for, my mind keeps going to John Lewis and his fight for his Beloved Community, including everyone.

Imagine a world in which he was our leader today.

Trump speaks the language of the wronged, even as he leads his movement of wrong, and hides behind his false embrace and corruption of Christianity.

True Christianity is not about hating people, hurting people, hating the poor, or banning people or breaking up people’s families. It’s not about greed and sex parties.

John Lewis and his life were all about true Christianity.

And Lewis had far better reasons for grievance than Trump.

“We say we are a believing nation,” wrote Lewis, “yet when we are wronged, the people demand revenge. If we truly believe, then what is the role of forgiveness, mercy, and compassion in public life?”

What a wonderful question for a President to be asking.

I could sure pray for that.

Christianity’s work for eons has been to seek deliverance from evil, seek light in the darkness, and establish justice amid injustice.

Human souls dwell in what St. Augustine called the “City of Man, and they live in the hope of bringing about the “City Of God,” what Lewis called the “Beloved Community,” Jesus Christ’s long-awaited “Kingdom of God.”

Love and hate are both choices. Trump is a hater. History tells us love wins out in the end. Lewis and his movement won.

When I think of Donald Trump in the hospital, struggling to breathe easily, I feel for him. I’ve been there. What an awful feeling. But my mind often goes to Lewis in recent days, as our country fights for its soul.

He was our better angel. Our Presidents calls out the worst in us.

Lewis’s faith brought him to join a movement based on love and never vengeance or grievance.

What did Donald Trump’s faith lead him to do?

When we were sitting in, it was love in action,” Lewis told a reporter.
When we went on the freedom ride, it was love in action. The march from Selma to Montgomery was love in action. We do it not simply because it’s the right thing to do, but it’s love in action. That we love our country, we love a democratic society, and so we have to move our feet.”

Think about what Lewis did for his people, and for our national souls. Look at what Trump has done to us. His proud legacy is to divide our courts in the same way he has divided our people.

John Lewis was beaten, kicked, stabbed with lit cigarettes, clubbed a dozen times into concussions, arrested scores of times, jailed, and threatened. But he was never humiliated. He wouldn’t permit it.

Lewis suffered more abuse in the 1960s then Donald Trump has suffered in his life. You will never find one word of complaint in the record of his life.

Nowhere has he whined, been violent, or failed to respect the dignity of every human being who tormented him.

The only President he couldn’t respect was Donald Trump. Lewis knows a hater when he sees one; he’s seen them all of his life.

I prayed for him when he got sick; I pray for him still.

I am not yet so pure than I can see what John Lewis himself saw – that he and Trump are both human beings and deserve our love.

I want to get there. I’m not there.

That is why John Lewis is a true saint, and I will never be one.

“.. attending church and Sunday school, reading the Bible,” said Lewis, “the teaching of the great teacher, and being deeply influenced by what I saw all around me, it was this belief that somehow and someway things were going to get better, that you have this sense of hope, a sense of optimism and have faith. And people would say to me; my mother would repeatedly say, “Work hard.

He never once lied, was cruel to another human, committed an act of violence,  stole or misled, or complained about his brutal mistreatment.

During this last week’s debate, I saw a human being seething with hatred and cruelty. He endangered trusting people who came to support him and who trusted him. It was a grotesque and revealing betrayal.

And it was unforgivable.

I can pray for those people, but not for him. In a few days, his fancy doctors will send him home to brag about how loved, strong he is, and how this awful plague is no big deal. Maybe it isn’t if you have a whole hospital waiting to help you.

This is a free country; anybody should pray for him if they wish.

I can pray for the poor people who trust and love him, but not for him.

What I wonder, gives anyone the right to demand my goodwill and prayer of me and everyone else?

John Lewis never demanded that anyone pray for him, and he prayed for everyone else every day.

For now, I can pray for truth and compassion. But not for him.

As Lewis and the civil rights movement showed us, love is the most powerful force in the political universe; it wins every time. Just ask Dr. King, Gandhi, and Mandela. Trumpism is rotting away, nibbled to pieces by grievance and hypocrisy.

The moral philosopher Hannah Arendt might have had Trump and his movement in mind when she wrote about hypocrisy after she fled Nazism and came to America.

“The hypocrite’s crime is that he bears false witness against himself,” she wrote. “What makes it so plausible to assume that hypocrisy is the vice of vices is that integrity can indeed exist under cover of all other vices except this one. Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to the core.”

I can pray for authenticity, not for false witness.

I can’t bow to the demand that I pray for this privileged and amoral man who was so irresponsible that he has nearly killed himself and his trusted aides and friends and threatened the lives of countless people.

Those he hasn’t lied to or threatened he has frightened, even terrified.

I can pray for them, but not for him.

My apologies to Jesus; I’m not there.

 “Be ready!” says the Bible (Ephesians 6:10-20). “Let the truth be like a belt around your waist, and let God’s justice protect you like armor.  Your desire to tell the good news about peace should be like shoes on your feet.”

No one can love him enough, so too many people now love him too much.

I wrote about Trump this week and my own struggle to feel sorry for him as he tested positive for the coronavirus, a Biblical turn if ever there was one.

Like most other people, I don’t wish death on anyone; he’s my President too, God help me.

But I wasn’t as empathetic on his behalf as I wished to be. I’m not as good as I want to be.

I wish I could lie about it, as some people are demanding that I do. But I can’t.

I hope he suffers some to understand how much suffering and pain he has caused so many other people and how indifferent he has been to that suffering.

He makes no pretense of caring for the welfare of anyone but himself, but he and his followers are outraged that more people are not caring for him. But wait, he is already pretending that everyone cares about him.

Hatred is a poison; it will rot the spirit. I don’t hate him; I don’t pity him.  The prophets say hatred will always turn on the haters, turn their souls, and into the burnt soup.

When he does something stupid, outrageous, or blatantly reckless, the first thing that happens is that his ardent followers look for something to complain about.

The idea is simple and obvious: it draws attention from what he has done and puts his critics defensive.

Until this year, it was working.

After the pandemic, not so much.

This man knew well before it was announced that he had been exposed to the virus. He tried to hide it and lie about it. As a result, many people who support him and care about him the most are sick or at risk and for no reason.

Yesterday, some of my messages were almost all the same verbatim, which suggests they were not spontaneous. “Shame on you. You should be praying for our president, not criticizing him.”

If you can’t respect him, they seem to be saying; you can at least feel sorry for him.

A lot of people are struggling over how to respond to so selfish and dangerous a man. I will not pray for him; that would defile my idea of justice and truth. And it would make me a hypocrite just like the people trying to shame me for being honest.

I understand this is not what Jesus would do, but then again, I am no Jesus.

Donald Trump deserves our good wishes and hopes for recovery.

Does he deserve the prayers of people whose religions call for love and mercy, since he is incapable of showing either? That seems like blasphemy to me.

I’ve seen and learned of too many victims of his awful regime – children separated from their parents, people dying from the pandemic because their government won’t protect them, immigrants dying in their apartments because they fear going to the hospital where Trump’s private police squads are waiting in hiding to grab them in their hospital beds and send them off to immigrant jail;  poor and dying health care aides, service workers with no health insurance,  school children with no federal food programs so they can eat one healthy meal a day.

The suffering of the undocumenteds, living in terror, afraid to drive, shop, or see a doctor, is a crime against humanity.

Best wishes to you, President Trump. I sincerely hope you recover and return home to face the humiliation and rejection you so richly deserve and seem unable to bear.

I am praying for that.

Standing in Selma in 2020, commemorating his famous march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama 50 years ago, Lewis thanked the people who have prayed for him all of his life:

“We took a little walk,” he said, “to try to dramatize the need for the rights of all of our people to be able to participate in the democratic process. In an orderly, peaceful, non-violent fashion, we were walking, not saying a word. We were beaten. Tear-gassed. Bullwhipped. On this bridge, some of us gave a little blood to help redeem the soul of America. Our country is better, we are better people, but we still have a distance to travel, to go, before we get there.”

Tonight, as Trump is given medical treatment few Americans can get or pay for, I will ask these questions when people demand that I pray for Donald Trump.

What cause has he marched for? What sacrifices has he made? How can we love him when his soul is full of hate, not love?

29 Comments

  1. I totally agree with you about Trump. And I think I could be wrong but I think he is looking for people to feel sorry for him. Because he is losing to Joe Biden. And I could be wrong but he wants to be a winner. He is losing right now to Joe Biden. He might be looking for a way to quit and will use this as his excuse. Poor health. And that way he will go out a winner instead of the loser that he is.

  2. Thank you for your honesty. I believe God would much rather have our honesty than a forced prayer. As a Christian I do pray for Trump because Jesus teaches us to pray for our enemies. I admit it is not an easy thing to do. But i don’t expect or demand others to do what I do.

    I enjoy reading your thoughts every day. I feel like you and Maria are my neighbors!

  3. I agree with you Jon, it would be hypocritical to respond to Donald Trump’s apparent Covid attack. He brought it onto himself, he pushed the envelope, he disregarded the seriousness of this horrible virus, he exposed others to the possibility of the virus through his rallies, which were ego-driven for re-election in complete disregard to the serious issue of contamination among those attending. He put temptation in front of people, yes, they could make a choice to attend or not. His fund raising supper this past Thursday night, he was ill and he exposed himself to others. It is unconscionable his actions in regard to the virus, both personally and politically. I personally do not wish anyone to suffer from this virus, I’m grateful so far to have avoided it, but it has been with careful consideration to isolating ourselves at home as much as is possible given our needs, grocery and medical, dental, only. The debate was one big clusterf*ck, this whole election is a nightmare. But I do not believe in applauding, supporting anyone such as Donald Trump in blatantly ignoring the safety rules around Covid-19 and his maskless, gathering of people together, exposing not only himself but others to the corona virus. And there he sits, in medical luxury, the best of doctors, a staged appearance getting into the helicopter, while others who suffer and die of this virus are left in hospitals, hallways, suffering and dying, and there he lies in state in a hospital bed in Maryland, the presidential suite available to him as president of the United States. Drama right to the end.
    Sandy Proudfoot

  4. I agree with every single word you wrote. My sympathies lie with the over 200,000 dead – with so many others suffering becausd of this hateful regime, but I do not and cannot feel sympathy for Trump. He wouldn’t have tested positive for COVID had he listened to scientists and doctors and simply worn a mask. Instead, he refused and encouraged his followers to refuse to wear masks and only a few days ago delighted in calling Joe Biden “weak” for wearing a mask. How can anyone gin up sympathy for anyone who behaves like this! I feel like I’m showing great restraint everything considered and I happen to think God is just fine with not praying in this particular instance.

  5. Today I am meditating to unclutter my mind from the bile he continues to bestow on the people he was elected to protect. Then I will pray for their souls. I’m leaving Trump out of it. He’s on his own in my book.

  6. Jon,
    I agree with you. I won’t pray for Donald Trump, but I did for pray John Lewis’ soul. If Trump actually followed the teachings of the book he claims to guide his life, it would be a different story. But I will give no respect to a heathen who makes it his mission to ridicule, slander, abuse, bully, hate and divide humanity on a daily basis. This whole LIFE experience is about humanity. To be HUMAN. Learn from our faults, accept our mistakes and grow, to become authentic and true to yourself, to embrace the life process and the rest of humanity that is going through the same thing. Not to wake up every day and cuss somebody out and call them names because they don’t agree with you. The one thing this life isn’t about is PLAYING politics.

    I follow the teachings of the New Testament, but I am not on par with Jesus. I can’t forgive this man for anything. In fact, we ALL know what his real agenda is and you have stated it many times in your writings. Given that, those of your readers who shamed you for not praying for our President, are really the same ones who want to roll the clock back to 1950 in this country. I urge people just to take a look at the video of Conformation Announcement for SCOTUS where it is believed Trump may have got sick. Look at the entire crowd. Look at the video after the speech and ask yourself what you see. That certainly isn’t the America I live in, or Jon, or a couple hundred million other people in this country.

    Jon has worked tirelessly to help immigrants and refugees to this country who are humans of a different culture, color and language. He is holding up the Christian ethic and He is not even Christian ! These are the same people that Trump wants to stop coming and deport the ones that are. I offer no apology, but I won’t get on my knees for someone who is truly shameful. Nor do I ask the same for those who evidently believe Trump.

  7. Hi Jon, What do you make of the hidden impact Malania has on Donald? I just purchased this book, and it appears (from its initial pages) that she has a huge impact, but pretends to be uninvolved.
    The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump
    by Mary Jordan (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
    3.8 out of 5 stars 1,159 ratings
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0868TGNM9

  8. Years ago I was in an airplane, on a business trip with a man who had made my life hell. I had wished for many very bad things to happen to him. The plane started dumping fuel. I was not overly concerned since I had been through a few critical flights before — including dumped fuel and an emergency landing. But I had young children and decided that maybe, if I was going to be forced to travel with him, my wish or prayer should be that he get a different job.

  9. I’m with you 100% Jon. You’ve described my feelings perfectly. Thank you for your honesty and truth.

  10. Jon, I was just asking my friend how I could manage to get through my feelings. My comment was how do I get rid of my resentment for Trump’s preferential treatment for COVID when I still weep for the 200,000 +people that lost their lives? I believe he is responsible for many because of his irresponsible, careless lack of action for this country. My friend’s answer was, “It’s not who you are.” She suggested I start with that kernel of thought. From there, I attempt to follow the mindset of not being judgmental and fill myself with gratitude. I don’t know who or what God is either, but I do believe that what you put out into the world is what you get back. So I remain humble and know it’s not up to me what the future holds, I can only have control over who I am.

  11. amen

    he’ll need google translate, but these are the last words he’ll see:

    “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate”

  12. I’m not very religious, but I’ve begun praying: Praying for my children (one with asthma) that God is watching over them. That Covid will disappear. For all the families that have lost loved ones to Covid. And every single night I pray that Trump will not be re-elected. Last night I couldn’t sleep. I saw on the news how so many people were exposed to Covid at the White House: no masks, kissing, hugging and shaking hands. Now some of these people are sick and some hospitalized. I can’t pray for them. They should have been leading by example. Instead they are so arrogant they think the virus won’t touch them. Governor Chris Christie who was among this party at the White House checked himself into a hospital. He’ll survive as will Trump because of great medical care while almost 1,000 Americans die each damn day.

  13. Hi Jon,
    I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this topic. It’s been something that I have given more thought to over the past few days. And I appreciate the comments that were written in response.

    My prayer is that Trump will have a close encounter with God over his fear of dying that will change his heart, taking his “heart of stone” and exchanging it for “a heart of flesh.” I am praying that but I am not holding my breath; God will do what He will do.

    Having said that, I want to comment that it is my opinion that “respect” can be divided into segments. I respect the “office” of President, I respect the human being that Donald Trump is, but I do not respect the many horrendous decisions he has made over the course of his life, policy decisions that cost lives, decisions to lie and name-call people, decisions to cheat and be dishonest on his taxes, these are all conscious decisions that deserve accountability. And when man’s judicial system can’t address them all, I am willing to bet that God’s judgment won’t miss any!

  14. Too bad your followers are mostly a truck load of liberal cry babies (middle aged lonely females) …. your empathy is a fraud and makes you out to be a hypocrite.. Don’t waste any more of my time when you’re looking for empathy for the Mansion or Bishop McGinn. Why don’t you review previous books and see what you had to say about empathy and who deserves it.

    1. Robert, how dare you mention refugees and empathy in the same breathe with Trump, who persecutes the refugees, abandoned them, denies them refuge, separates them from their families, sends his private police to pull them out of work, jails them, condemn them to horrid camps in Mexico, takes away their benefits.

      While he gets his free care at one of the world’s best hospitals after a year of denying the pandemic is even real, thousands of refugees and immigrants die at home because they are afraid to go to doctors or hospitals where ICE agents wait to pull them out of emergency rooms and deport them.

      Your message is disgusting, you have no idea what empathy is or what you are talking about. Please stay away from my site, I don’t want people like you here. If you post again I will be proud to ban you. Your message is both ignorant and disgusting, take it somewhere else. I have never asked you for a nickel, and wouldn’t accept one if you send it.

  15. For his followers who still have a soul that need a release, I pray for their release. For those who will drink the Koolaide after they first feed it to their children, those souls are and will be lost to impenetrable darkness. It’s a choice and remember there are empty souls among us that need identifying for a safer society.

  16. What an outstanding piece…..There are many of us struggling with our thoughts, our prayers, and what to think of the craziness that is surrounding us. It truly helps to know we are not alone, and I thank you for your honesty, and for sharing your inner struggles.
    I do not wish illness or death on any other human being. That’s about as far as I can go with it. I never prayed for him to get the Corona Virus, never even wished it out loud, or to myself. In fact, sadly, I really didn’t think he would ever get it, as there never seem to be consequences for any of his actions.
    I pray that those around him are safe, especially after watching him take his ‘limo cruise’ around the hospital this evening, putting many more people in jeopardy. This, after releasing a quick video announcing he gets it’ now.
    My best friend was unable to be with her father during his illness (unrelated to Covid), unable to be there when he passed, & unable to be with her Mom now, a widow grieving in a nursing home. I pray for my friend & her family. I pray for our nation. And I pray to God to bestow some of John Lewis’ grace, love, & ability to forgive on me. My sin is not that of wishing horrendous things on others, but that of not being able to completely forgive. With DT, it just never ends. Each week there is some new type of incident that I have to comprehend, have to try to forgive. He has allowed 210,000 Americans to die, most of them without the healthcare he is receiving. The rest of us pay for that medical care, through our taxes, yet Trump won’t pay those same tax dollars to support us. In fact, he’s gone to court to remove healthcare for millions of Americans.
    I will continue to ask that God provide me with the ability to forgive this man. In the meantime, it was comforting to read your post & know that there are others attempting to do the same. Thank you.

  17. I say to anyone who flings their hatred at you, try to find enough self respect to stop reading this blog. These are the words of one strong, vulnerable, moral man sharing his inner thoughts. Take yours to those who share your anger and hatred. And pray for whoever you wish to.

  18. “One Man’s Truth” is just that. I wonder why people feel entitled to attack you. It shouldn’t surprise me anymore after the last 4 years.
    Thank you for being strong enough to share in such a vulnerable way with us. I have recently started reading your blog. I have learned some new perceptions and gained some insights. Whether I agree entirely or not, I respect you for your complex honesty. Cheering you on with your cardiac rehab!

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