If Not Now, When?

As we enter a fateful year, religious leaders are the last line of defense -- and need to be first responders -- whenever Donald Trump embraces a fascist trope. Why? We are the only group he fears.

In mid December, a leading presidenital candidate in the United States actually said that immigrants are "poisoning the blood" of the country. Then, the candidate, Donald J. Trump, repeated it. And it echoed other comments he has made. Trump has made such a habit of crossing racist red lines that we’ve become numb to it. He went so far beyond the pale that, frankly, what was most deeply disturbing about it was how few people were deeply disturbed. He not only now walks like a duck - a racist duck - he is fully submerged in the pond.

As the calendar turns to the fateful year of 2024, I'll say now and repeat as needed that Trump and Trumpism must never come to rule this country again.

When asked about his prior comments comparing immigrants to vermin, Trump upped the ante with his “poisoning the blood” of America diatribe, and in doing so, he used tropes right out of Mein Kampf. Anyone who ignores this threat, or whatabouts it to absurdity - all they're doing is "ducking" (sorry, Chris Christie, for using your Donald Duck line) the obvious conclusion and forestalling the remedy.

Let me state this clearly, for all you moral clarity fans:

Anyone who speaks of racial or ethnic contamination of blood, replacement theory or humans being a form of "vermin" has crossed the line. This goes beyond simple hate speech. We've crossed over into Nuremberg Laws territory. This is overt racism.

This means we need extraordinary measures that might seem counterintuitive. For instance, it is time to put a moratorium on Tremp based satire. James Austin Johnson of SNL’s Trump send-up is spot on, except that it's not. He gets the buffoon part right - but in doing so, he inadvertently downplays the true evil of what he is saying, much as Hollywood used to do with Hitler in the 1930s and 40s.

Speaking of Donald Duck, the 1943 anti-Nazi propaganda film, "Der Fuhrer's Face," comes to mind. It was very popular at the time, in part because it lampooned Hitler as a buffoon with funny hair, as was common back in the day. 

But funny hair on the face of evil does not render that face less evil. There's nothing clownish about 6 million dead.

The same is true with Trump and his funny hair and unmoored temperament. By making his rambling, stream of consciousness appear like garden-variety dementia, Johnson and other impersonators neutralize the venom, and in doing so, we laugh at what should appall us. We already know that he fancies the idea of injecting industrial cleaner into our veins. Trump’s a stickler on getting out those nasty stains wherever they are - even in the bloodstream. But what seems laughable as germophobia becomes diabolical when hygiene is conflated with race. We know that every word he speaks - every syllable of every word - MUST be taken seriously.

Late night comics should stop lampooning in and start sounding the alarm a lot more. When it comes to anti-Trump commentary, it’s time to stop going for the laughs and start aiming (metaphorically) for the jugular.

Clergy need to be sharpening their attacks as well - as I am doing here.

Persons of the cloth have a special role to play. You see, Trump fears us. It’s true. He has no respect for most of us, mind you. He uses us, much as he uses our buildings and Bibles, like props.

Worse, we’re like dead soldiers to him, people who have made enormous sacrifice for little personal gain, at least in theory (aside from some of his maga-mega church allies). He could never understand why people would make sacrifices at all, giving their lives in the service of others who aren’t even related.

But for some reason, for a man who spews so much venom, very little of it is expended on clergy, even progressive clergy. It’s distinctly possible that he is afraid that God will seek retribution, and heavenly courts cannot be so easily obstructed as earthy ones stocked with Trump-appointed judges. “Delay, delay, delay” won’t work so well when he arrives at the pearly gates (or wherever).

Whatever the reason, he almost never blows up at religious leaders and our moral obligation is to oppose him, and we have the means to do it, without having to cross over into partisan politicking.

There are many things to preach about right now, other than Trump. But all roads lead back to Trump this year, including concerns over Israel, NATO and Ukraine - most of all, it’s about democracy and the future of our country. Everything is at risk. There are no excuses for any person of the cloth opting for neutrality, whether during pirmary season or beyond. There are no Switzerlands to escape to this year.

Trump must be defeated and our pulpits must be the front line of that defense.

Any politician, journalist, influencer, entertainer or religious leader who is not screaming this to high heavens deserves the hellfire that will certainly consume this country if Donald Trump is elected.

I make this pledge: As we turn the page to 2024, even if I need to harp on this every week, I will not let a single abomination from his lips pass without comment.

As the great sage Hillel said, “If not now, when?”