Barney Wiget's Blog, page 9

The Healthiest President in History?

This may not be even in the top 100 of Trump’s ridiculous claims, but sometimes I just can’t stand it anymore. Over the weekend in a Detroit rally he said this as he boasted that he had “aced” a cognitive test given him by White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson.  

“Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much.”

OK, anyone can flub a name. We all do it. But it’s sorta ironic, don’t you think, he does it while bragging about his perfect cognitive test. Be that as it may, you gotta love the hyperbole of his claim that the “good doctor” said he was the healthiest president in history. Well, have you looked at a picture of him lately? OK, what can we tell from pix anyway? But the healthiest in history? Teddy Roosevelt for instance. Obama still looks pretty fit even after 8 years of being out of office… Anyway, what I wanted most was to hone in on the doctor who he claimed gave him such a perfect bill of health.

In 2018, after complaints about Jackson’s conduct, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General (OIG) opened an investigation. It was stalled until 2019 by the Trump White House until 2021, when the OIG issued its report. It documented Jackson’s inappropriate interactions with subordinates and heavy drinking while on duty and said Jackson “made sexual and denigrating statements about one of his female medical subordinates to another of his subordinates”; he got drunk with his staff in Manilla and “disparaged, belittled, bullied, and humiliated subordinates.”

This is the “doctor” that claimed Trump was the healthiest president in US history. I guess it takes one to know one. Just sayin’

Why post this kind of stuff? Because I’m sick and tired of letting him get away with outright lying and conning his way back into the White House. And because I agree with Peter Wehner, former speech writer for three Republican presidents, when he wrote this week that Trump supporters “have talked themselves into supporting arguably the most comprehensively corrupt man in the history of American politics, certainly in presidential politics.” I personally don’t consider this hyperbole. And we’ve had a few pretty awful presidents over our storied history!

Do I really care about how many facts he can remember in order or how many push ups he can do? Nope. What I care about is that’s he’s a menace to the United States and poisonous to our society. Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio once referred to Trump as “cultural heroin,” but that was before he decided to seek power in the Republican Party and now is one of his sycophantic Vice-Presidential candidates. I guess, as many Americans have, he shot up a pretty big dose of the smack!

Trump on Trial

“His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, ‘Nothing will ever shake me.’ He swears, ‘No one will ever do me harm.’ His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue.” (Psalm 10:5-7)

It’s no secret that I consider Donald Trump one of our country’s greatest threats, especially if he were to get a second presidential term. (It makes me nauseous to think about it.) Yet, regarding his being found guilty of 34 federal crimes, I refuse to gloat. Sure, I’m glad that justice seems to be served, but this first in American history of a former president is nothing to celebrate, but grieve.

I grieve not only how his crimes besmirch the office of President, but what his continued celebrity among millions of Americans, many of which are self-purported “Christians,” says about American voters. To me, it says we’ve lost our minds!

I wear a lot of T-shirts (not all at once). Most of them display text, the bulk of which were gifts from a ministry in San Francisco of which I’m a part. I wear them proudly. But one that I actually purchased on purpose says “MAKE AMERICA THINK AGAIN.” It’s this one for which I get the most comments while out in public, most of which are positive. (No surprise there. I live in a very left leaning coastal California town.) I wear it proudly also, mostly to illicit some response, either positive or negative. I just think people ought to think about thinking more often. Don’t you? And if there’s anything that could make America great it would be partially due to better thinking.

Back to Donald Trump. Did you track with his trial and guilty conviction about his paying a porn star to keep quiet about the time he hired her for sex in order to keep it out of the press while he was running for president? Here are a few things he said in between court appearances out in the hall. Most of them, he repeated over and over in case we didn’t hear him the first 25 times:

“Witch Hunt!”“A scam”“I’m a very innocent man.”“Political theater” (By the next day his campaign raised $34 million! So, the production paid well.)“This is all done by Biden and his people.” (No. It was brought by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. The trial did not take place in federal court, but rather within the court system in New York. There’s no evidence that the White House had anything to do with the indictment or verdict.)“This is election interference” (On January 2, 2021, during an hour-long conference call, he pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the state’s election results from the 2020 presidential election. And that’s not election interference?!)“There’s never been a more conflicted judge.” (Judge Merchan was randomly selected for the case and a separate panel of judges denied Trump’s request to have him recuse himself.)“I’m not allowed to testify” because of a gag order. (The gag order didn’t prevent him from taking the stand in court. A judge cannot deny someone their constitutional right to testify. The gag order barred him from talking about witnesses, court staff, and jurors. BTW, it was his lawyer who kept him from testifying.)“We’re going to vanquish the evil forces that are destroying our country!” (By evil forces, did he mean demons or anyone disloyal to him or his political rivals or all of the above? Russell Moore said, “A dentist who screams profanities at opponents and promises a practice built around “revenge and retribution” and the tearing down of all the norms of modern dentistry is not someone you should trust with a drill in your mouth. How much more so when it comes to entrusting a person with nuclear codes.”)“THOSE WHO RIGGED AND STOLE THE ELECTION ARE THE SLIME THAT SHOULD BE PROSECUTED!” (He said this on his Truth Social. I retained his characteristic all caps.)

“Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.” (1 Samuel 2:3)

Here are some things his avid supporters claimed about the trial:

“This is the most high profile politically charged case…”“The judge donated to Trump’s political rival!” (That’s true. He donated $15 in 2020 to Biden’s campaign and $20 to two progressive groups. The judge is obviously a far-left agitator!)“The judge has an anti-Trump bias” (It’s important to point out that it wasn’t the judge, but a twelve-member jury of Trump’s peers, who were chosen by both the defense and the prosecutor, that arrived at the guilty verdict. One of the jurors said she gets her news exclusively from Truth Social, the social media company owned principally by Trump. And one of the potential jurors, who got her news from the left-leaning NY Times asked to be removed from the jury as she was being bullied by Trump supporters after her information got out.)

Remember that Trump said he could shoot someone on 5th Ave in New York City without losing any voters. Unfortunately, that seems to be one of the only true things he’s said!

The Numbing of the Nation

If the truth frees us (John 8:32), it follows that lies enslave us. Maybe even more dangerous, they anesthetize us.

Peter Sagal said that “President Trump is to lying what Charles Lindbergh was to flying. Nobody else would dare go that far!” He’s a world class fibber. Everybody knows it. Some proceed as though they don’t. Others just don’t care anymore. But we’re all just numb to it. We’re walking around with Novocained brains.

Joseph Goebbels, the chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, famously said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it…the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” Trump is not a Nazi. But he sure lies like one.

Let’s go on a very brief tour of a small sampling of his recents.

Just the other day he claimed that during their search for classified documents, the FBI, under orders of President Biden, attempted to assassinate him at his Mar-a-Lago estate. “Biden’s DOJ was authorized to shoot me!” (I won’t even dignify this one with a remark.) “I’m not allowed to testify because of a gag order.” (Nope. The order has nothing to do with him testifying. It’s about him intimidating witnesses, the prosecutor, and the judge.) “Crime is down in Venezuela by 67% because they’re taking their gangs and their criminals and depositing them very nicely into the United States.” (No, no, no evidence to that effect.)Democrats support abortion measures that result in the “execution of babies after birth.” (Maybe he dreamed this one? More likely, dreamed it up!) “Your Social Security will be destroyed by the people coming in. There’s too many of them. It’s not sustainable.” (Not really, no. If they come in and work and contribute to it like native borns, they’ll receive the same benefits and not drain the pool.) “Eighty-two percent of the country understands that (the 2020 election) was a rigged election.” (Maybe 82% of his family members, but I doubt it.) “They are trying to make it illegal to question the results of a bad election.” (Hmm, never heard that from anybody anywhere. It’s called the 1st Amendment.)It’s an oldie but a goodie, but one of my all-time favorites: “I love women. Believe me, I love women. I love women. And you know what else, I have great respect for women, believe me.” (First of all, “respect for women.” What? And when someone says “Believe me,” what is your first reaction? When they say it over and over, that should be your first clue.)

As Jimmy Durante used to say, “I gotta million of ‘em!” But let’s leave it at that for now.

Some people are better liars than others. They’re not better people, but better at being bad than other people. Their lies are more believable and can be difficult to track down and prove faulty. Then there are those who claim things that everyone with half a tea spoon of brain cells knows is unmitigated malarkey. That’s the kind of liar Donald Trump is.

He has a “tell” (you know, like in poker) when he’s lying. He shows it every time he opens his mouth. We either automatically shove all our chips to his side of the table or call his bluff. Unfortunately, millions of Americans let him run off with their rent money every time.

Have we become numbed by his incessant lying, not to mention his cruelty, weirdness, and egomaniacal speech, that it doesn’t even register anymore? We swallow it without the least thought of its toxicity. What he says is like a tapeworm, which left untreated can live in a host body for up to 30 years! (Wow, is that a disgusting thought or what?) Is that how long it will take for us to have all his balderdashes work their way out of our system?

I know some of you will pull a “whataboutism” on me. What about Biden or the Libs? Really? That’s like comparing a tee-ball player with Shohei Ohtani. Some are just more accomplished liars than others. Trump is in a category all by himself. Admittedly, some of his bootlicking lackies are improving with practice.

Lastly (for now), what disturbs me most is the horde of folk who identify as “Christian” that don’t seem to be bothered by the truth decay that is more than a little bit instigated by the pervasive post-presidential bunk. Of all people, shouldn’t we who claim to follow the One who identifies himself as “The Truth” (John 14:6), be first in line to tell the truth about lies? Shouldn’t we be the most disgusted by post-truth politics and the moral danger that tears into the fabric of our culture?

You probably heard there’s an election coming. If you hate the thought of either one of the two as president for a second term and can’t find it in yourself to vote for the current office holder, I implore you to stay home on election day and pray for mercy for our great nation.

Proximity Breeds Empathy

Disease and divorce have given me more than a greater sense of mortality and frailty. They’ve taught me more about my solidarity with the human race than I ever learned in my former life. Up until recently I spent most of my white middle class male life with people that look and act pretty much like me. In these last few years I’m finding myself in greater proximity with people who walk a path quite unlike mine. Now that I have a much wider range of friends than I’ve ever had it’s incredibly sanctifying for me, that is, if your definition of sanctification is to be more well-rounded and less prickly.

Prickly people are more judgmental than those whose sharp edges have been rounded through their own pain and through proximity with others who are in pain. Proximity, I’m told, breeds empathy. Getting to know people who are different than me helps me criticize them less and empathize with them more.

[Excerpted from my book––yes, it’s on Amazon––The Other End of the Dark.]

Contemptible Communication

“Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.” (Matthew 5:22 // The Message Bible)

You’re nothing to me! You are worthless and beneath my consideration! This is the message we convey when we call others a derogatory name. The contempt contained in labeling others seeks to diminish their inherent value. It views them as subhuman, unworthy of respect or dignity. Dallas Willard said, “Contempt is inherently poisonous . . . it is withering to the human soul.”

Branding people like cattle, placing everyone in a category is one of our more popular pastimes and most effective ways of unraveling our social fabric. Labels are often libels and unworthy of the meek follower of Jesus.

When they can’t find a reason to speak well of someone, the meek venture below their exterior and look for even the tiniest evidence of the Imago Dei.

[An excerpt from my booK: WHAT ON EARTH? Considering the Social Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.]

Trump, the Bible Salesman

Have you seen the video of Donald Trump that racked up millions of views and depicts him as the vessel of God sent to save the nation? It begins with a Paul Harvey sound-alike bellowing out: “On June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said: ‘I need a caretaker.’ So God gave us Trump.” From there it only gets more hideous.

Some my friends might have noticed that I haven’t weighed in on Trump’s sociopathic antics at nearly the frequency as before. It’s not because he hasn’t been as weird as ever at his rallies or on his social media posts. I’ve just been too exhausted to keep up with the mania and trying to focus on my own writing. (The manuscript of my current project, a book on Luke 10, has come back from the editor full of red marks, so full that I may never write anything again as long as I have feeling in my typing fingers!)

Anyway, why comment now?

Because, when Trump, not to mention his many MAGA minions, use the Bible and Christianity as a prop for their absurd ideology (if you can call it an ideology at all) I take serious umbrage. It offends me down to my soul! Here I stand. I can do no other.

If you’re a follower of Jesus and this, plus the multitude of his other asinine antics, doesn’t offend you to nausea, I would quote Paul (the apostle, not Harvey): “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) Just a suggestion, not a judgment.

If that weren’t enough, Trump has gone to peddle wares to help him pay his legal bills. And he’s got a bunch of them. How about his golden Trump sneakers for the low low price of $400 and the Victory47 cologne for $99. If those aren’t sufficiently ridiculous, he’s now hawking the “God Bless the USA Bible” for $60! This one is special as it contains the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the pledge of allegiance to the flag. If that’s not the definition of “Christian Nationalism” I don’t know what is.

I love how he claims he has “many” Bibles of his own and yet when asked on air what his favorite Bible verse is, he obfuscated, claiming, “That’s too personal.” How is it too personal to have a favorite passage from what he claims is his favorite book, unless he hasn’t cracked it open since he was kid in boarding school searching for a Proverb to serve as a passage to avoid flunking out? It was there (in his first Bible) that he discovered his infamous “Art of the Deal.”

BTW, you gotta love the irony. The guy on trial for paying hush money to a porn star is selling Bibles to pay the fine!

If you have any inclination toward defending or voting for Trump, I plead with you to rethink it and avoid the inevitable embarrassment. If you can’t get yourself to support Biden, then write in Donald Duck or some other Donald. We simply can’t be expected to endure another four years of Donald Trump.

Love My Enemies. Any Way I Can Get Out of That?

If I could I’d invent a loophole to get me off the hook of loving my enemies, believe me I would­­––maybe something along the lines of pleading insanity. I’ve made a few failed attempts at the “unrealistic-for-postmodern-times” excuse for not following him in enemy-love. If nothing else, I could hide behind the popular alibi that only spiritual superheroes like Mother Teresa and Bishop Tutu can do it.

When all else fails, I’m left with facing my failings, pinning down my flesh for a count of ten (eleven just to be sure), and devoting myself to living beyond human means.

These enemy-love ethics can only be cultivated by internalizing the blessed attitudes, especially this one on meekness. Only inwardly governed meek people can live into the kind of goodness that’s beyond the goodness of Pharisees. Only they are able to express unconditional love to people above them, below them, and against them.

[An excerpt from my book: WHAT ON EARTH? Considering the Social Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.]

Single-minded Seers

“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.” (Matthew 5:8 // The Message)

Pure-hearted and clear-seeing are symbiotic. The pure in heart see God, and those who see God purify their hearts.

They see him because their vision is not impaired by idols competing for their attention. Trying to maintain two masters at the same time is inadvisable and, according to Jesus (Matthew 6:24), impossible. Focusing on two objects simultaneously blurs them both and makes us cross-eyed, double-minded, and unstable.

“When the heart is right, seeing will be right. All we need do is keep the lens clean. If your heart is cold, your vision is distorted.” Richard Rohr

While it’s true that we only “see a poor reflection [of him] as in a mirror,” the purer our heart, the better the reflection we’ll see today until one day we see him “face to face.”

[An excerpt from WHAT ON EARTH? Considering the Social Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount]

I wrote this over decade ago… Still making adjustments everyday!

Making Adjustments (part one)

Justice or “Just Us”?

Justice restores the community to the way God envisioned it in the beginning. For those who aren’t allergic to the phrase, let’s call it “social justice.” (Before you slam the book closed or throw your Kindle against the wall, “social” is simply a modifier to clarify that we’re not talking about justice for “just us,” as in you and me.) The justice that God calls for is for “Us” (the universal “Us,” i.e., all of us).

Mercy-filled people not only feel the pain of others but are moved to action in an effort to relieve their suffering. They work to renew the world in keeping with the model bequeathed to us by Jesus. Our work will be complete when he returns to join heaven and earth. In the meantime, our mercy-filled lives are previews of coming attractions!

[An excerpt from my book WHAT ON EARTH? Considering the Social Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount]

Here’s where you get the book. If you have read it, please leave a comment here and a review on Amazon! Thanks.