To understand Trumpism without rancor or bitterness, one has to be able to appreciate the conundrum that America now finds herself in.
Now I know I’ve given my insecure Trumpian friends cause to unjustly accuse me of Trump bashing. Struggling with the incredulity, from my point of view, of that movement’s seemingly successful usurpation or recruitment (whichever you prefer) of the two groups I share such strong affinity with – Christians and Blacks; I’ll admit that much of my discontent emanated not so much from a preoccupation with Trump and his shenanigans, but the pain of a sense of betrayal….a longstanding historical tradition in both camps (Christianity and Blackness) that I should have milked for meaning by now and prepared my mind to enter into Gethsemane’s rest (i.e the picking up rather than chopping off of the ears of my enemies).
‘We the people’ is a sacred idea, and whenever it is breached, there will be pain….and emotional pain often gets most eloquently expressed in anger. What we say in Jamaica is “Sell out!” “Roast breadfruit!.” and such the like. Never helpful….except in releasing pent up anger on the nigger subject of our wrath, even if their actions or inactions cost us no more pain than the sting of envy.
And of course, the American conundrum truly is one that might elicit more of an empathetic prayer of forgiveness for ignorance, than Farakhanian fire and brimstone should we do the masterful thing and put ourselves in their shoes.
Can you even imagine an American president using the appellation ‘minority’ to represent White Anglo Saxon Protestant America, and the Man at the center of it all? What happens when you no longer have the consensus to maintain the institutions you shaped? The Isaiah 28:20 predicament of whether bed or covering is too short simply means that you have a restless night. You cant sleep!
And that is at the heart of both the political and religious contentions we see in our time. – Who gets to enter their rest….and who is cast out from it.
YeKengalé 