What Will It Take?

I’ve often wondered what terrible thing the forty-seventh president has to do to have some of his seventy-eight million supporters say, “Enough!”

I need to make this very clear: I have never liked him. I watched his television show The Apprentice (2004–2014) once. I thought he was cruel and crude.

Some people said he was an excellent businessman. When I heard that he abruptly shut down Trump University and walked away from any responsibility to anyone, he sounded more like a con artist. He’s done the same with nine other businesses. He takes your money and makes it disappear.

Growing up, I visited Atlantic City every summer, so when Trump bankrupted three casinos in the city, I was interested. He seems to have limited business sense and, with some six bankruptcies, he has a lot of nonsense.

When he ran for president in 2016, I thought it was a joke. Then, when he was elected, it was a very bad joke, and I still see it that way. I don’t need to explain in detail his background: he used funds to hide his affair with Stormy Daniels, cheated on everything for years, was ranked by historians as the third-worst president, got sued over three thousand times, sexually assaulted several women, led the insurrection on January 6, 2021, and is currently facing thirty-four felonies. These facts are well known.

This list is by no means complete, but here is the worst part of this story. The Christian Evangelicals (code word for Fundamentalists) were instrumental in having him elected the first and second time. How did that happen? Here’s my take:

1. He uses his Evangelical voter base, and they use him both for nefarious reasons. He’s going to take them to the Promised Land (see Project 2025), and they’re going to take him to his dictatorship.
2. Their supporting Trump presents a moral dilemma. Their hero lacks a moral compass, and he’s a narcissist. The Fundamentalists get around this by invoking their god, and suddenly this morally corrupt, heinous individual becomes “anointed by God” and claims a “divine mandate.” Instantaneously, he goes from a sociopath to the fourth member of the Trinity with just one word: “god.”
3. It’s a good bet that the forty-seventh president is on the Epstein file list. Trump is a pedophile. Will that move his voter base? Probably not. Their god will be invoked again. Maybe a few women and family men will say, “Enough!” but I suspect the chaos, divisions, divisiveness, and his usual confusions will continue.

My suggestions for what it will take for change comes down to you and me.

1. Don’t count on any change from the MAGA base. Perhaps a few of his voters will jump sides but not enough to make a difference.
2. Don’t allow the Trumper party’s chaotic and divisive ways to kill your spirit.
3. It is only through nonviolent, constant protesting that big changes can be made. The process will be slow. But we need to remember: Violence never wins friends. It destroys progress!
4. Aside from protests and mass gatherings, messaging is crucial. Every day, we must remind the world that Trump is a pathological liar, a cheat (on everything), a narcissist, a sociopath, a traitor to our country, a pedophile (if the Epstein files are finally made public), a wannabe dictator, and more. Consistent messaging is a highly effective tool.
5. We need to share constant negative messaging about the gestapo tactics of ICE, the total incompetence of the present administration, the terrorizing of immigrants and Americans, the un–Supreme Court, Project 2025, and so many more.
6. Constant persistence in demonstrating is much more helpful than sitting at home whining.

This is what I think it will take to bring our great country back on track. Do you have any more ideas?

PeaceLoveJoyHopeKindness

Bil

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P.S. People often ask me provocative questions about current events, both religious and secular. I have found that some of these questions are being asked universally. I’ll be periodically alternating regular articles with one of those questions and my answer. I invite you to send me your question to bilaulenbach@yahoo.com.

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