Mr. President, that is not a helpful suggestion
There was a synagogue shooting today in Pittsburgh. Eight people are dead.
There is no question but that anti-Semitism was the motive. President Trump acknowledged that and condemned anti-Semitism. He also had a suggestion for preventing such incidents in the future: he said that it wouldn't have happened if there had been armed guards at the synagogue.
Armed guards- at a synagogue. Let that sink in.
Donald Trump never ceases to amaze me. So do his supporters. A place of worship gets shot up, and his solution is that it should have been protected by armed guards.
Where do I begin? Is that the best solution he can come up with? Is he OK with our being in a country in which houses of worship need armed guards? Are we, as a people?
Does he really believe the lunatic rhetoric that says that a society in which as many people are pointing guns at each other as possible is safer than one in which they are not? Ok. Guns are not the whole problem. The people who wield them are responsible for the use they make of them. But is Mr. Trump unaware of the degree to which the lunatic fringe of his own base includes by far a larger percentage of people who think that it's OK to shoot up synagogues and that "all Jews must die," to use the shooter's expression, than does the American population in general?
Mr. Trump condemned anti-Semitism today. Again, let me acknowledge that. In the most direct sense, I do not hold him responsible for those Internet memes during the last campaign showing him in a Nazi uniform and in the act of gassing Ben Shapiro or Bernie Sanders or showing Shapiro in World War II concentration camp garb at "Camp Trump." He did not post them. But especially at this particular moment, he needs to ponder the fact that he is the hero of the people who did- and of so many people who share their sentiments, and those of today's shooter.
The noble title "conservative" has always provided shelter for despicable elements whose ideology is centered on hatred toward Jews or African-Americans or gays or other minorities. As a rule, such people lack even the integrity to admit what they are and what they really believe. Yes, the terms "racist" and "homophobe" are over-used (though I'm not sure about "anti-Semite.") But one of the worst things about that is the shelter it provides for people who actually do hate blacks or Hispanics or gays and who are able to use it to deflect legitimate attempts to call them out on their prejudice.
Today's shooting will doubtless cause another round of tired and frankly insane rhetoric about guns not being even a part of the problem. Of course, the number of guns floating around in America is a large part of the reason why such things happen, and everybody knows it; I find it difficult to believe that even the most vocal pro-gun elements in our society are so clueless that deep down they don't realize that fact. Yet, even so, we remain a society in which a large percentage of the public no doubt think that it's perfectly appropriate that the President of the United States thinks that the most appropriate response to today's tragedy is for houses of worship to employ armed guards.
The only more frightening thing than that statement is that there are so many Americans who will not only find the president's suggestion frightening, but who will actually agree with him.
Despite having supported two Bushes, a Dole, a McCain, and a Romney, I could not support Donald Trump. His ignorance, his personal immaturity, his emotional instability, and his utter unfitness for the presidency were part of the reason. But so was the validation his campaign gave to all those folks who crawled out from under society's rocks to rally behind his banner. In the current atmosphere of bi-partisan paranoia, most Trump opponents believe that Mr. Trump was either elected because of Russia's interference in our political process (which is absurd) or at last that the FSB's meddling materially helped. But the real reason is the number of haters, fanatics, tinfoil-hatters and assorted nut cases who generally don't vote, but did in 2016 because they felt that they had somebody to vote for this time. Trump supporters bore Hillary Clinton's label "deplorables," which was perfectly accurate at least as a description of the very substantial percentage of Mr. Trump's base who had previously hidden, invisible, under those metaphorical rocks and remained invisible to the pollsters because they hadn't voted before, as a badge of honor.
They shouldn't have. Nor do I expect them, or the president himself, to awaken to the danger to our way of life and our very status as a civilized people they pose. We saw how much of a threat they are today.
But I have no doubt that a great many people who are not extreme or crazy and are not even particularly hate-filled are going to at least profess comfort at the idea of living in a society in which houses of worship need to employ not only clergy and office and janitorial staff, but armed guards. It is a measure of how sick American society has become at this hour that the very fact that our president could say what Mr. Trump said today can be heard without universal consternation.
But far more frightening than the fact that we have become a country in which the topic of armed guards for places of worship could even arise is the fact that so many of us are likely to respond to the president's remarks with approval, unable or unwilling to come to terms with the notion of what it is to be a nation in which people can publicly worship only if they're protected by armed guards.
And even fewer are willing to acknowledge that the NRA and their supporters are by no means the supporters of President Trump who are most directly to blame for the fact we have become a nation whose president can suggest that even before giving at least some attention to the point that it would be a lot better if we, you know, kind of maybe stopped hating each other so much.
Guns are part of the problem, but not the whole problem. An even bigger part of the problem- and again, Mr. Trump acknowledged that fact- is hate. And Mr. Trump would do well to ponder the reason why he is personally so popular among the haters.
Meanwhile, I, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, cannot help but wonder what my fellow LCMS members, who are overwhelmingly both pro-gun and pro-Trump, will make of today's tragedy and the president's reaction to it. Doubtless, most will profess to find nothing wrong with Mr. Trump's remarks.
But will be really be holding special Voters' Assemblies to approve the hiring of armed guards for the Divine Service?
ADDENDUM: At last count, at least eleven are dead in Pittsburgh. The Anti-Defamation League thinks that this is the most casualties ever in an anti-Semitic hate crime in the United States.
There is no question but that anti-Semitism was the motive. President Trump acknowledged that and condemned anti-Semitism. He also had a suggestion for preventing such incidents in the future: he said that it wouldn't have happened if there had been armed guards at the synagogue.
Armed guards- at a synagogue. Let that sink in.
Donald Trump never ceases to amaze me. So do his supporters. A place of worship gets shot up, and his solution is that it should have been protected by armed guards.
Where do I begin? Is that the best solution he can come up with? Is he OK with our being in a country in which houses of worship need armed guards? Are we, as a people?
Does he really believe the lunatic rhetoric that says that a society in which as many people are pointing guns at each other as possible is safer than one in which they are not? Ok. Guns are not the whole problem. The people who wield them are responsible for the use they make of them. But is Mr. Trump unaware of the degree to which the lunatic fringe of his own base includes by far a larger percentage of people who think that it's OK to shoot up synagogues and that "all Jews must die," to use the shooter's expression, than does the American population in general?
Mr. Trump condemned anti-Semitism today. Again, let me acknowledge that. In the most direct sense, I do not hold him responsible for those Internet memes during the last campaign showing him in a Nazi uniform and in the act of gassing Ben Shapiro or Bernie Sanders or showing Shapiro in World War II concentration camp garb at "Camp Trump." He did not post them. But especially at this particular moment, he needs to ponder the fact that he is the hero of the people who did- and of so many people who share their sentiments, and those of today's shooter.
The noble title "conservative" has always provided shelter for despicable elements whose ideology is centered on hatred toward Jews or African-Americans or gays or other minorities. As a rule, such people lack even the integrity to admit what they are and what they really believe. Yes, the terms "racist" and "homophobe" are over-used (though I'm not sure about "anti-Semite.") But one of the worst things about that is the shelter it provides for people who actually do hate blacks or Hispanics or gays and who are able to use it to deflect legitimate attempts to call them out on their prejudice.
Today's shooting will doubtless cause another round of tired and frankly insane rhetoric about guns not being even a part of the problem. Of course, the number of guns floating around in America is a large part of the reason why such things happen, and everybody knows it; I find it difficult to believe that even the most vocal pro-gun elements in our society are so clueless that deep down they don't realize that fact. Yet, even so, we remain a society in which a large percentage of the public no doubt think that it's perfectly appropriate that the President of the United States thinks that the most appropriate response to today's tragedy is for houses of worship to employ armed guards.
The only more frightening thing than that statement is that there are so many Americans who will not only find the president's suggestion frightening, but who will actually agree with him.
Despite having supported two Bushes, a Dole, a McCain, and a Romney, I could not support Donald Trump. His ignorance, his personal immaturity, his emotional instability, and his utter unfitness for the presidency were part of the reason. But so was the validation his campaign gave to all those folks who crawled out from under society's rocks to rally behind his banner. In the current atmosphere of bi-partisan paranoia, most Trump opponents believe that Mr. Trump was either elected because of Russia's interference in our political process (which is absurd) or at last that the FSB's meddling materially helped. But the real reason is the number of haters, fanatics, tinfoil-hatters and assorted nut cases who generally don't vote, but did in 2016 because they felt that they had somebody to vote for this time. Trump supporters bore Hillary Clinton's label "deplorables," which was perfectly accurate at least as a description of the very substantial percentage of Mr. Trump's base who had previously hidden, invisible, under those metaphorical rocks and remained invisible to the pollsters because they hadn't voted before, as a badge of honor.
They shouldn't have. Nor do I expect them, or the president himself, to awaken to the danger to our way of life and our very status as a civilized people they pose. We saw how much of a threat they are today.
But I have no doubt that a great many people who are not extreme or crazy and are not even particularly hate-filled are going to at least profess comfort at the idea of living in a society in which houses of worship need to employ not only clergy and office and janitorial staff, but armed guards. It is a measure of how sick American society has become at this hour that the very fact that our president could say what Mr. Trump said today can be heard without universal consternation.
But far more frightening than the fact that we have become a country in which the topic of armed guards for places of worship could even arise is the fact that so many of us are likely to respond to the president's remarks with approval, unable or unwilling to come to terms with the notion of what it is to be a nation in which people can publicly worship only if they're protected by armed guards.
And even fewer are willing to acknowledge that the NRA and their supporters are by no means the supporters of President Trump who are most directly to blame for the fact we have become a nation whose president can suggest that even before giving at least some attention to the point that it would be a lot better if we, you know, kind of maybe stopped hating each other so much.
Guns are part of the problem, but not the whole problem. An even bigger part of the problem- and again, Mr. Trump acknowledged that fact- is hate. And Mr. Trump would do well to ponder the reason why he is personally so popular among the haters.
Meanwhile, I, a Missouri Synod Lutheran, cannot help but wonder what my fellow LCMS members, who are overwhelmingly both pro-gun and pro-Trump, will make of today's tragedy and the president's reaction to it. Doubtless, most will profess to find nothing wrong with Mr. Trump's remarks.
But will be really be holding special Voters' Assemblies to approve the hiring of armed guards for the Divine Service?
ADDENDUM: At last count, at least eleven are dead in Pittsburgh. The Anti-Defamation League thinks that this is the most casualties ever in an anti-Semitic hate crime in the United States.
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