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Sept. 9, 2019
Donald J. Farber
San Rafael
It’s everywhere – Trump’s a white supremacist, Trump’s a hater, Trump’s anti-Semitic, Trump’s crazy. The archbishop of Washington, D.C., Wilton Gregory, joined the chorus, calling President Trump “racist and divisive.” He follows other Catholic bishops who have labeled Trump similarly. The loaded term “racist” is for another day, but “divisiveness” requires challenge now.
If any group of sages is expected to understand the core necessities of leadership, it should be the Catholic bishops. Their lives dedicated to following Jesus Christ and his teachings, the brethren of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops learned probably as little boys that Christ told his disciples early on: “Do you think that I came to give peace upon the earth? No, I tell you, but division.” (Luke 12: 51-52). One knows theologians grapple over Scripture with a fine-tooth comb, but what they cannot do is rescue the USCCB from their aghast view that Donald Trump is unworthy to lead the nation because he is “divisive.”
Love or hate Trump, what should be discouraging to the faithful Catholic is the apparent ignorance among the USCCB that what Christ forewarned 2,000 years ago has no application in modern civilization. Of course it does. As the “deep state” and entrenched political system that the American voters hired businessman and man of action Donald Trump to clean up requires a housecleaning of unprecedented boldness, Trump’s “divisiveness” is not only tolerable as a leadership trait in 2019 America, but the necessary price of transformation.
Yes, we know that Donald Trump is not Jesus Christ. However that in no way negates – indeed it validates – that the “division” and “chaos” Trump is bringing to Washington is exactly the recipe needed to restore a broken system of corrupt politics, debt, unfair trade, out-of-control borders and evil regimes that threaten their neighbors.
I’ll give Archbishop Gregory and the other Catholic bishops a break, and assume they really don’t understand the leadership principle of “cleaning house” when that is required.
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