The moral high ground?
“Sinful,” “shameful,” “amoral,” “immoral.” Those are just a few of the things some of you folks have called me in print, on the telephone or online over my 27 or so years of writing this column and supporting equal rights for homosexuals and for those of all religions (or no religion), for stating that people have the right to express themselves in whatever form and manner they choose, for poking fun at those who take themselves and their beliefs ever-so-seriously.
I usually rolled with the punches when you questioned my morality and insisted your beliefs were the only righteous ones. “You have the right to your beliefs and I have the right to my beliefs. That’s what makes America great,” I would say, which, strangely enough, tended to infuriate some of you.
Now, though, I’m going to fight back. I’m going to tell you that you have forfeited the moral high ground by allowing Donald “Caligula” Trump to be the leader of your crusade to restore right and righteousness to our country. If that nasty man is going to be the flag-bearer of your movement, you have no standing to question the morality of anyone.
Let’s examine the case:
Trump is a serial philanderer, having publicly fooled around on all of his wives, doing so on his latest wife with at least one pornographic actress and, it also appears, a Playboy Playmate, all while his wife was at home with their newborn. Yes, their newborn.
Trump is an unrepentant, unceasing liar. He’ll lie about anything. He’ll lie about his golf scores, his sexual conquests, his acquaintances, his wealth, his accomplishments, his tax status. He recently admitted to purposely lying to the Canadian prime minister about trade facts. He lies and lies, then he lies some more.
Trump is just plain mean, simply because he can be. He’s mean to his opponents, he’s mean to his family, he’s mean to his employees, he’s beyond vindictive to anyone he perceives as having crossed him. Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek. If you turned your other cheek to Trump, he would have his bodyguard punch you in the face and break your orbital bone, then stomp you after you fell.
Yet you’ve attached your ideological wagon to this jackass, believing he will do your bidding on issues such as repealing gay rights/gay marriage and making abortion a crime. By getting a socially conservative justice appointed to the Supreme Court, and with more such justices possibly coming, he already is making headway on such matters.
But here’s my question to my friends, and I do mean friends, on the religious right: Is it worth it? Is it worth compromising your beliefs on proper behavior? Is it worth having this crude, hateful, lying, philandering ogre as an example for a generation or two of young people? Is it worth humiliating yourselves after all those years of trying to find true grace?
I believe the only chance to for redemption, to regain that grace, is to abandon this hedonistic narcissist and find someone who walks the walk to lead your crusade. Vice President Mike Pence, though he’s often cloyingly sanctimonious and has been complicit with Trump on many questionable matters, is at least a man who tries to live up to his strong religious ideals in his personal life.
Of course, we’re solely talking about moral matters here. If and when it’s found out Trump sold out our country to Russia for money and/or to protect his lard-laden hide, all you folks who have called me a “commie,” a “pinko,” and “un-American” over the years are going to have to concede you gave up the patriotic high ground when you supported a venal traitor. Bret Kofford teaches writing at San Diego State University-Imperial Valley. His opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of SDSU or its employees. Kofford can be reached at kofford@ roadrunner.com