Tag Archives: Politics

January 22, 2026 · 10:58 am

1984

The Party told you to ignore the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command. George Orwell, from the novel,1984.

1984 is here and we’re in grave trouble, America. The reasons why or how no longer matter. We’re nearing a crucial tipping point from which there could be no return. Historians, assuming there will be any, will long debate how we got here. Right now, it’s too late for that. Time necessitates we state the obvious and courageously chart a new course.

President Trump’s modus operandi, imbued with his narcissism and fanned by his faithful followers, has succeeded in eroding our basic freedoms as spelled out in the First Amendment to our U S Constitution. Gone is “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Far-right religious leaders, like the Rev. Franklin Graham repeatedly points to unrest, like the recent shooting of Renee Good, as largely the result of Godless secular values antithetical to Christian doctrine and calls for our nation to return to the true Word. Trouble is the First Amendment doesn’t call for us to be a Christian nation. Quite the opposite. Such rhetoric is actually antithetical to our democratic belief in religious freedom and only fuels further division.

2026: Ignore what the Constitution says.

Gone is “there shall be no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.” Here, Trump assures us he knows our true history, conveniently disconnected from the uncomfortable parts including the quests for equality by many disenfranchised groups. And freedom of the press? For some time now any news that does not validate Trump’s views is quickly dismissed as fake.

Voices have gone silent in our classrooms and universities. Media newscasters, reporters and journalists are increasingly bowing to censorship. Many law makers now fear for their political, or sometimes, actual lives. The tragic irony is that they, along with the U S Supreme Court, have become complicit, cowering in silence and eliminating guardrails leaving only one functioning branch of government, the Executive.

2026: Ignore all except for what I tell you.

Gone is “there shall be no law prohibiting the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” And here we are today. Regardless of how you view the many videos of the shooting of Renee Good, the bottom line remains. She was not posing an imminent threat. She was attacking no one. She was trying to get away from a volatile situation. If detainment had been the goal, shooting the tires on her vehicle would have sufficed. But that was not the goal.

2026: Ignore what you think you see or it could cost you your life.

It would be bad enough if his pathology only impacted our country. Perhaps, we could live with his illusion that if he says something, no matter how unsubstantiated, it’s true. For example, the 2020 election was stolen or the January 6^th insurrection was simply a peaceful protest.

Perhaps we could tolerate his delusional belief that the White House is his personal property, permanently marring its glory by destroying an entire wing, or proudly denigrating the walls with disparaging comments under the portraits of former Presidents.

Perhaps we could even try and ignore that, for the first time in our history, people are being rounded up off the streets and hauled away without any due process. Perhaps we could try hard to silence the cries of all those in hiding, a chilling reminder of the Jews in Nazi Germany. Families being torn apart.

But now it’s not just our country.

Many of us watched in abject disbelief as Putin invaded Ukraine. Now, it’s us. In what universe has it become okay to invade and take over a sovereign nation because we want their oil or believe it’s in our national security interests? Only in Trump’s universe. Gratefully, in response to Mr. Trump’s claim on Greenland, our NATO allies had the courage to stand up and support the many Greenlanders wearing red hats that read, “Make America Go Away.”

2026: Ignore what our allies are saying. I know what’s best for the world.

But perhaps the most disturbing, the final red flag that should jar anyone still sleeping awake was his recent vengeful remarks and declaration, after not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, “No one deserves the Nobel Peace Prize more than me.” This reveals something even more troubling than narcissism, more dangerous than an inherent sense of invincibility. It reveals a school-yard pathology disconnected from any true sense of self or reality.

And this man thinks his power is only limited by his own mind.

Americans, will we ignore the evidence of our eyes and ears or will we stand up, speak out, and show up as if our very lives depended upon it?

Because now, it does.

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November 17, 2025 · 11:23 am

The Office of the First Lady

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Eleanor Roosevelt

I believe if Eleanor Roosevelt were here, she’d have a word or two to say about President Trump demolishing the East Wing of the White House. Built in 1902, it served as the official office for First Ladies. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32^nd president of the United States, was the first to professionalize the East Wing using it as a base of operations for her activism. She used the East Wing to expand the role of the first lady specifically to highlight women’s issues and organizations from the Girl Scouts to the Women’s Trade Union League. Her first news conference, March 6, 1933, featured 35 reporters, all of them women helping to elevate the role of women in national and political life as well as in journalism. (The 19^th, Haines, Becker, October 22, 2025)

Since then, all of our first ladies have gifted the American public with initiatives in support of causes they championed. Following Roosevelt, First Ladies Bess Turman, Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy were deeply involved in White House restoration with Jacqueline Kennedy founding the White House Historical Association in 1961. First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, championed the “War on Poverty” initiative and programs like Head Start. First Lady Pat Nixon engaged in much volunteerism visiting schools, orphanages, and hospitals.

First Lady Betty Ford reportedly said, “If the White House West Wing is the ‘mind’ of the nation, then the East Wing, the traditional power center for First Ladies, is the ‘Heart.’” (4NBCWashington, Darlene Superville, October 26, 2025) She and First Lady Roselyn Carter were strong advocates for mental health reform. First Lady Nancy Regan is remembered for her “Just Say No’’ antidrug abuse program. First Ladies Barbara Bush focused on literacy, Hillary Clinton on healthcare reform, Laura Bush also on literacy and women’s health. Michele Obama is known for her “Let’s Move!” initiative to combat childhood obesity, Melania Trump for her BE BEST program focusing on child welfare, and Jill Biden for her advocacy for military families.

Anita McBride, chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush, described the East Wing as a place of “purpose and service” and “tearing down those walls doesn’t diminish the significance of the work we accomplished there.” Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, policy director for first lady Michelle Obama, said the demolition was a “symbolic blow” to the East Wing’s legacy as a place where women made history. In an interview she said, “The East Wing was this physical space that had seen the role of the first lady evolve from a social hostess into a powerful advocate on a range of issues.” (4NBCWashington, Darlene Superville, October 26, 2025)

And here we come to the key issue. It’s not hard to understand why the very place the wives of presidents have used to create and foster their own initiatives, dreams, indeed, exercise some measure of power unique to them, would be the very place demolished. The Trump administration is primarily focused on the implementing Project 2025, created by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation along with many Trump loyalists, aiming to restructure and concentrate power in the executive branch to execute policy strongly influenced by Christian Nationalism ideals. They seek, “to impose a hierarchical, gendered, patriarchal vision of society.” (National Women’s Law Center, “Project 2025 and What it Means for Women, Families and Gender Justice,” September 17, 2024)

This increasing concentration of power in the executive branch, a hallmark of authoritarian regimes, is Trump’s modus operandi. With an overly compliant judicial branch and a majority yes-man legislative branch, he says it and it happens, even when it comes to demolishing a wing of the historic People’s House — even when over half of those very people don’t approve. And for women, the symbolism is clear. Go home. Fall in line with the traditional role we conservatives envision for you. You are not here to make history. You are here to create children and support your family. Trouble is women have dreams too, of course, and need our democratic republic, free from homogenization and the imposition of religious tyranny, to thrive and serve just as men always have.

So, I write today to highlight all the first ladies and the dreams they pursued in the East Wing of the White House in service to our great nation. Though their space has been so ruthlessly and disrespectfully demolished, the historical imprint each has made on our nation, the many lives they touched through their efforts, cannot be so easily dismissed, erased and forgotten. Thank you.

And to all girls and women going forward, I say: Be brave. Follow in the footsteps of Eleanor Roosevelt. Dare to create your own space for the beauty of your dreams and, in doing so, make a future that belongs to you, our nation, and the world.

Image by EyeEm@freepik.com
(a representation of demolition – not the East Wing)

Gun Violence, Christian Nationalism, and the Unraveling of Democracy

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank

People are scared. Political violence is spiraling out of control. What we need in this moment is a leader who recognizes the importance of bringing all peoples together as Americans and who is able to strongly condemn gun violence across the political spectrum.

We don’t have it.

Take the two shootings of national figures in the last three months. On June 14th, 2025, Melissa Hortman, a senior Democratic assemblywoman in the Minnesota House, and her husband Mark, were killed by a gunman posing as a police officer. While President Trump condemned the violence, he didn’t order flags to be flown at half-staff. He didn’t attend the funeral, reportedly choosing to play golf instead.

However, on September 11, 2025, when right-wing activist and a fierce loyalist to Trump, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated, Trump praised Kirk, ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and assured the family he’d be attending the funeral. And the “radical left” was blamed.

Trump is, indeed, the first President in American history who has not understood, or perhaps does but disagrees, that the President’s primary job is to be the leader of all Americans. Instead, the litmus test for his support is to show proper deference, praise and loyalty. If you do, you can’t go wrong. Incite violence, destroy property, harm police officers, as in the January 6^th insurrection, no problem. If it’s done in his name, you’ll be pardoned.

However, any protest not deemed to be supportive of the President’s agenda is quickly dismissed as radical and those participating are accused of trying to destroy the country. Clearly, it’s important to name here that we’re no longer a country subject to the rule of law. We’re now subjects of Trump and his law.

Given that Charlie Kirk is being mourned by the President and many Republicans as an almost prophetic figure, let’s explore what this self-professed Christian believed. Kirk, as many Trump loyalists, imagined a country based on Christian Nationalism which is clearly antithetical to democracy. It’s fueled largely by white supremacy, encourages the dominance of men over women, shuns LGBTQ+ persons, and above all, believes a narrow interpretation of Christian scripture should rule Congress, state governments and the court system. (*see below)

How did Kirk’s beliefs promote this ideology?

He blamed Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it had been an anti-white weapon and called King an “awful” person. In 2021, delivering a speech in Mankato, Minn., he called George Floyd, the Black man whose murder by a Minneapolis police officer sparked a national movement, a “scumbag” who wasn’t worthy of the attention. (**see below)

When hearing about Travis Kelcy and Taylor Swift’s engagement, Kirk stated that he hoped it would make Swift more conservative and told her to, “Submit to your husband,” because, “You’re not in charge.” (August 27, 2025, The Economic Times by Aastha Raj) And in regards to our African American sisters, in the July 13, 2023 episode of The Charlie Kirk Show, he suggested that prominent Black women, like Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, were successful largely due to affirmative action and did not have the “brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously.”

He was critical of gay and transgender rights and promoted a fierce campaign against teaching gender ideology. While a staunch supporter of Israel, he made many disparaging comments against Jews including, “The philosophical foundation of anti-whiteness has been largely financed by Jewish donors in the country.” (**see below) And, fundamentally, he was critical of the separation of church and state.

Sadly, he did fiercely support gun rights. “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” (**see below)

Those who study history will recognize the parallels of Trump and the rise of Christian Nationalism in this country to the rise of Hitler in Germany before World War II. Primarily, Hitler was masterful at building loyalty and support within the German churches, eventually making his government and religion one. And we all know the result. The final solution for the Jews. Systemic persecution of Blacks, the disabled, gays to name a few. (*see below)

Still, even as I watch out my window and see ICE agents gathering up all the undesirables and see Trump targeting only Democratic cities with military control, all in support of this Christian Nationalist agenda, I remember Anne Frank and I refuse to allow my spirit to be broken.

Like her, I will continue to believe in what is possible in the face of overwhelming despair. I will fight hate by speaking out. And I will continue to look for the good in the hearts of all my brothers and sisters.

* April 27, 2024, “Christian Nationalism: A Grave Threat to America,” Daily Montanan
**Sept. 11, 2025, New York Times, “Where Charlie Kirk Stood on Key Political Issues”

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July 11, 2025 · 9:51 am

“Give me your tired, your poor . . .”

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

The images flickered. Faces. Smiling. Flashing across the screen and then gone too soon. The children just arriving on Ellis Island, a part of the Ken Burns’ PBS documentary, the Statue of Liberty. I wanted to replay the images, pause them. Take them in. “THIS is what we once were,” I whispered silently.

No more. When I saw the mural of the Statue of Liberty created by Judith de Leeuw and revealed in France just before the 4^th of July, I fully understood. Our great lady ashamed, covering her face, grieves her loss.

And so, she should. How starkly different those faces were just a few years ago after crossing our southern border. In Trump’s America, we showed zero-tolerance. Instead of laughter, cries pierced the stale air, raw and shrill, from the shock of being taken from loved ones and put in makeshift cages. Children. In cages. Roughly 4,600 of them separated.

The Biden administration instituted a task force to reunite the children with their parents or relatives but Trump rescinded it, even with hundreds still searching, as part of his first executive order. Today, the policy continues. In June of this year, CNN reported that approximately 500 migrant children had already been taken from their homes and put in government custody. The cries resume now though largely hushed from the public ear.

And our grieving great lady reminds us, “This is NOT who we once were.”

Designed by Frederic Auguste Barthold, the statue was a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence and dedicated by President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886. However, it may surprise some to learn that the well-known words on the statue welcoming immigrants, taken from “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, were not added until 1903, nearly two decades after the statue was unveiled.

The original inspiration for the monument was not immigration but emancipation, notably symbolized by the broken shackle and chains laying at our lady’s feet. Just after the Civil War, they were a visual representation of the end of slavery in the United States. Of course, this ideal has been slow to find a living space where our African American brothers and sisters may breathe free.

Courageously, in the words of the late Congressman John Lewis, the “good trouble” continues for the tempest-tost in search of a home in this land where each “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The broken shackle and chains echo across time the great dream herald by the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

But in Trump’s America, these echoes are fading, almost silent now, in what can only be called a targeted attempt to white-wash history. Juneteenth Day was snubbed. Federal agencies continue to eliminate or obscure the contributions of Black heroes such as the Tuskegee Airman and Harriet Tubman. Diversity, equity, inclusion are dirty words now needing to be eradicated in order to create a more perfect, colorblind, union. Trump even had the bronze bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. removed from the Oval Office which had been there since 2009.

And again, our grieving great lady reminds us, “This is NOT what we once aspired to be.”

And the broken shackle and chains, which have come to speak for all forms of oppression, also represented the hope of women who, at the time, were fighting for the right to vote. Only two women were invited to the unveiling of the statue which sparked protests by suffragists. American abolitionist Matilda Joslyn Gage, cursing the irony of a female figure representing liberty, described the whole affair as “the sarcasm of the 19^th century.”

But, undaunted, the suffragists chartered a boat to sail around the harbor to protest. And our lady must have smiled as she knew that soon, on the teeming shore, she would become the focal point for discussions on gender equality.

Today in Trump’s America, many older women, in particular, are desperately trying to lift the lamp and shine a light on what is quickly being lost – some of the very freedoms those suffragists, and many others since, so courageously fought to obtain for us. Their efforts left all women with the greatest of gifts: most notably, choice. Choice to live a life of our choosing.

And so, we see it’s no accident that the Statue of Liberty is a woman, a depiction of Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, offering her torch to guide all who flee oppression.

Americans, will we choose freedom or Trump’s American autocracy? Will we help our great lady to lift her torch high once again and light the way for all of us and for those to come?

I pray so for in all her glory, welcoming those children of long ago, our great lady reminds us, “THIS is what we once were.”

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January 24, 2025 · 11:49 am

“I pledge allegiance . . .”

It was like we were there that afternoon of January 6, 2021 as we watched in disbelief the violence erupting at our nation’s Capital. We kept checking across various news outlets from MSNBC to Fox News to make sure what we were seeing was really happening. And, sadly, we were confronted again and again by the same violent images. In the days that followed, many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle would forcibly, and rightfully, condemn the violence.

But soon the tide was recalibrated as allegiance to our flag and Republic went silent, drowned out by the growing vocal allegiance to Trump instead. Memories began to morph as Republican lawmakers tried to convince us that, essentially, we hadn’t really seen what we’d seen. Desperate to remain in good stead, strengthen the alliance, and court favor with their emerging autocratic leader, spines went soft. Most troubling, the ability to stand for the true heroes of the day, the Capitol Police officers, waned.

And today this morphing has culminated in a full reversal of the facts of what actually happened on January 6^th. Now we’re told not only did we not see what we saw but, in reality, just the opposite happened. By continuing to describe the insurrectionists as “hostages,” Trump and his top guard have been reprogramming us to see what they want us to see: the violent mob that attacked the Capitol that day were simply true, unarmed, patriots.

This, of course, was predictable and unsurprising. After all, the so-called hostages had done their due diligence by showing clear and proper allegiance to Trump before they tried to destroy all constitutional vestiges of power. And we, having been duly programmed, were now primed to at least consider that it was really the rioters who were the true victims of that day. In this way, Trump could pardon them all with minimum fear of political backlash.

“I pledge allegiance to President Trump, and to the Republic which he has formed . . .”

It just may have worked—“if” we hadn’t seen with our own eyes what we saw. But we did. We did, in fact, see many of the rioters come armed with a variety of weapons such as stun guns, pepper spray, baseball bats and flagpoles wielded as clubs. We saw the violent attacks on police officers just doing their sworn duty that day. 140+ of them were injured, some seriously. Others would die in the days and weeks following including Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, an Iraq War veteran, who died the next day from wounds caused by a fire extinguisher to the head. We saw the lynching noose and heard the cries, “Hang Mike Pence.” And we watched, horrified, as the Confederate Flag was proudly carried through the Capitol.

Those of us who witnessed the events of January 6^th must now not remain silent, lest we appear to be following along like imprinting ducklings to Trump’s self-serving propaganda. We must stand with the National Association of Police Officers and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, along with many US citizens, Republican and Democrat, who’ve condemned Trump’s decision to pardon those involved in the insurrection.

We must not cower and avoid dialogue as Trump’s top guard is doing. This should show us all that they’re unwilling to engage in any discussion that may potentially displease or threaten their leader. They’re clearly fearful and rightly should be. After all, autocrats get even particularly when they believe they’ve been touched by the providential hand of God and now have a Supreme Court willing to shelter and protect all actions done under the cloak of the office.

“I pledge allegiance to President Trump, and to the Republic which he has formed, one nation duly governed by him, God’s chosen servant . . .”

Sadly, Trump told us who he was in 2016 when he said, “I could stand in the middle of 5^th Ave. and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” At the time, most of us dismissed it as simply a grossly inappropriate display of chest-thumping. Today, we know it’s absolutely true. Trump could stand out in front of the Capitol building, kill someone while many watched, and by the evening news the channels supporting Trump would be assuring us that we really hadn’t seen what we’d seen—that what we’d really witnessed was, in fact, a most courageous and patriotic act carried out by our illustrious, divinely appointed, leader.

And, we’d all be encouraged to pray for him, placing our hands over our hearts as we remembered our Pledge of Allegiance:

“We pledge allegiance to President Trump, and to the Republic which he has formed, one nation duly governed by him, God’s chosen servant, to offer liberty and justice as decreed.”

To all who treasure democracy, let’s not falter at this critical moment! Let’s fight for the country our forefathers dared to envision, now on life support, so, just maybe, our children and grandchildren might one day still be able to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag and to our great Republic for which it stands.

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January 24, 2017 · 7:57 am

If Not, What’s the Point?

How we treat our critics is the clearest indication of our theology. From “If God is Love.”
Last Saturday two friends and I went to the Women’s March in Concord, NH. It was glorious, inspiring and heartwarming to see so many women, as well as men and children, with messages on signs as diverse as the people. Many issues, yet, one hope.

At one point, I noticed several women standing quietly with their signs on the outskirts of the crowd close to the street. From their signage, one saying ‘Pray to End Abortion,’ one could infer they were evangelical social conservatives. It gave me pause to see them there. Then, I knew clearly what I needed to do. Simply, welcome them.

So, I approached, extended my hand, smiled and introduced myself. “I’m Rev. Stephanie Rutt. I’m an interfaith minister and just wanted to say I’m glad you came today. I feel it is so important that women with all different points of view can stand together.”

The first woman remained silent but looked at me with what seemed a mix of surprise, slight suspicion and even a bit of fear. The next one I approached seemed genuinely glad and open. She smiled and I instantly felt we could have gone for a cup of tea. The last woman seemed slightly preoccupied with her cell phone but was courteous. Hummmmmm, I thought. Just like us. As the morning went on, I imagined how good it would have been if one of the speakers had acknowledged and welcomed them. If not, I thought, what’s the point?

I am not naïve. I am fully aware that, given the opportunity, many on the religious right would institute a theocracy based on their religious beliefs instead of supporting a democracy encouraging the freedom of expression of all religions. Yet, if we hunker down on our side of the line and portray them as the enemy, how is progress toward a one America, indeed a one humanity, ever to be made? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that someone has to be willing to stop the cycle of hate – and there is plenty of hate, prejudice and fear on both sides.

And so, I extended my hand, and heart, to my evangelical sisters with the prayer that, in doing so, we might just open some possibility of finding, together, that which we have in common – a fierce, passionate, uncompromising love for God.

And, for me, I’d let God take it from there.

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Tagged as Donald Trump, equality, Force for Good, Hope, Interfaith, Listen, Love, Politics, pray