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Reject Trump's politics of grievance, revenge

By: Alexander M. Santora
Your Turn
Guest Columnist

..... Our country was born out of protest. Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago next year, [2026] we declared independence from the king of England and soon approved the bill of Rights. That said, it applied mostly to White men, because women had no agency and Black people were not even considered fully human. It took some 200 years before the protests of the 1960s onward brought civil rights and equality for Black citizens, women;s equality on the verge of becoming an amendment to the Constitution, and recognizing the rights of LGBTQ+ citizens.
..... Our democracy was the envy of the world - until this year, [2025] when President Donald Trump, declared hat "there is an enemy within."
..... Typically, Trump's crude and erroneous pronouncements remind me of an admonition of my eighth-grade nun, Sister Mary Zucca, who said, "When you point a finger at someone else, three fingers point right back at you."

Vengeance at the White House

..... Since January, [2025] Trump and the most incompetent Cabinet ever in modern times are executing what can only recalled the politics of grievance and revenge. All on behalf of the mostly uneducated White males who see Trump advocating solely for them. Trump doesn't have the smarts or stamina to put the toothpaste back into what he calls "the woke" tube. But he is trying to eliminate DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - by removing any people or programs that support women, Black people and LGBTQ+ individuals.
..... Look at all the qualified Black people, especially women, he had fired or tried to, including Lisa Cook of the Federal Reserve board, on a false charge stayed by the Supreme Court; Dr. Carla Hayden as librarian of Congress; and Gwynne Wilcox on the National Labor Relations Board. All are the first Black women to serve in these respective posts.
..... Pete Hegseth, the InCopy-over-his-pomoadour head of the Department of War, gathered 800 military brass recently to declare that the U.S. military is a men's cave where women are not wanted or appreciated even when they are victims of sexual abuse. And he also rejected 'dudes in dresses." This phony christian fails to see the beam in his won eye while calling for a "warrior ethos."

Lessons from charlie Kirk

..... Multiple times every day, Trump and his sycophant Cabinet create chaos in the federal government, causing enormous hurt and harm to so many Americans. And he has unleashed so many to become Trump-lite, like the late Charlie Kirk, who came of age when in 2015 Trump descended the golden escalator, and called Mexican migrants, "rapists." Trump litany of woes emboldened Kirk to go public. As an entrepreneur, he got an "A." His beliefs, though, were abhorrent and needed to be rebutted. The debated with words, not bullets. The freedom of speech he heralded allowed him to spew hate; none justified the loss of his life.
..... More than 6,000 people backed a petition urging Utah Valley University to cancel Kirk's appearance on September 10. [2025] The university defended its decision, citing its duty to protect free speech and open debate.
..... I wish they had canceled him, as he would be alive today. Now his children will learn, when grown up, that their father believed it would be impossible to avoid gun deaths in a society with an armed citizenry, but he believed the benefits of gun rights outweighed the costs. Little solace to them and their grieving mother, Erika, who offered the most Christian sentiment at his funeral, " forgive him [the alleged killer] because it was what Christ did and is what Charlie would do," she said. "The answer to hate is not hate."
..... She articulated the most profound antidote to the politics of grievance and revenge. Let go of hate. And it's the hardest Christian teaching to live out. In her moment of grief, she would have been justified to strike out against his alleged killer. She allowed her better angels to guide her.
..... Trump never does.
..... "Hate my opponent and I don't want the best for them. I'm sorry," he uttered at the same funeral.
..... Yes, you are a sorry individual. And his words of hate are uttered daily in many contexts hat enable other haters to be bold Online, in life, with guns killing children in church, worshipers in prayer and normal people just out for a wharf-side dinner.

We must call out hate, autocracy

..... Words can heal or hurt. this administration chooses the latter, from dubious claims on autism to demonizing any migrant with brown skin.
..... Pope Leo chimed in.
..... "Someone who says I'm against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro-life," the pontiff said. "And someone who says I'm against abortion but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants in the United States, I don't know if that's pro-life.
..... Calling out the hate is vital to begin to deescalate the cycle of violence. Jesus never minced words but always related them to the opportunity to bring God's Kingdom into the world. It;s like saying that all Christians must begin to live the heavenly life here on Earth. It is important to offer a hopeful visions of life and utter what can be.
..... Lately, many people feel powerless to change the descent into autocracy in the U.S. Recall that Elie Wiesel, the late Holocaust survivor and author, warned us that there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
..... Peacefully. Take the example of the Most Rev. Michael Pham, the first episcopal appointment of Pope Leo as bishop of San Diego.
..... He brings other clergy and volunteers to mitigation court hearings accompanying and advocating for migrants and their families. he also publicly criticized current immigration policies, emphasizing the need for compassion and dignity, sharing his own story as a former Vietnam child refugee. We have shining historical role models i Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and the Rev. Martin Luther Kin Jr.
..... And today, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa offers valuable lessons in her book, "How to Stand Up to a dictator: The fight for Our Future," She documents how she built up Rappler, the largest Online journalistic organization in the Philippines. And all of that prepared her to stand up and survive Rodrigo Duterte, who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He and his cronies threated to arrest her and destroy her movement numerous times.
..... I met this diminutive powerhouse when she was the keynote speaker at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She noted that she grew up in Toms River [NJ] and graduated from Princeton University before working for CNN in Asia.
..... She has been outspoken about the destructive forces of disinformation and misinformation.
..... "What I have witnessed and documented over the past decade is technology's godlike power to insect each of us with a virus of lies, pitting us against one another, igniting, even creating, our fears, rise of authoritarianism and dictator aorta the world," she said.
..... To reform Filipino journalism, she coined the mission statement "I am the beginning. change begins with me. Be the change you want to be."
..... And that advice may come in handy next year [2026] when our country marks 250 years. There's an irony in having Trump as the White House occupant when he's trying so hard to become America's first king. We can't become added to his machinations, slowly and deliberately destroying the American experience.
..... By forging our enemies, leaving space for dialogue, calling our injustice, peacefully protesting and embodying the change we want to see in our world, we can transform the politics of grievance and revenge into one of unity and justice. And that, too, will be born of speaking troth to power, as we did almost 250 years ago.

..... The Very Rev Alexander M Santora is the pastor of the Church of Our lady of Grace & St. Joseph, Hoboken, [NJ] and dean of the area's Catholic churches.

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