This is What We Get

March 30^th 1981. Exactly six years before I was born. The last time a President or Presidential Candidate was the victim of an attempted assassination. Then President Ronald Reagan was leaving the Hilton Hotel after a rally when John Hinckley Jr. shot him at near point-blank range. Reagan was rushed to the hospital. Multiple staffers were seriously injured. Upon arriving at the hospital, it is said that as Reagan was rushed into surgery he quipped to the surgeons, “I hope you’re Republicans,” to which the doctor, an avowed Democrat replied, “Mr. President, today we’re all Republicans.” Political violence is not new to the United States of America. Multiple presidents have been assassinated, two, now three, have been shot but survived. But for some reason this one felt different. Perhaps it’s because I was not alive the last time something like this occurred. Perhaps it’s because I could not imagine a person saying, “today, we’re all republicans” to Donald Trump. Perhaps it is because in the world of social media, conspiracy theories start the second something happens. Whatever the reason, a question we must ask as Christians is: what now? After the shooting I posted the following on Facebook:

“When you call someone literally Hitler for 7 years and ratchet up that rhetoric when they start leading in the polls... This is bound to happen. Trump getting shot at (and, from the looks of it, hit in his ear) is a sad day in America. Who's the threat to democracy?”

I stand by most of this. For years the left has promulgated the view that Donald Trump is “Literally Hitler.” And the never Trump right has often followed suit. This is why the fact that the shooter was

a registered Republican is neither unheard of nor shocking. In a Newsweek opinion peace released only four days prior to the assassination attempt a writer said this:

“Adolf Hitler was a fascist strongman in Germany. Benito Mussolini was in Italy. Francisco Franco in Spain. They 

were dictators

 who broadly controlled their governments, and did so through fear and force. Oh, and they murdered huge numbers of innocent people along the way. If Trump wins in November, we'll have big problems.”

In the same vein the New Republic had this as a cover photo on their most recent release in June:

Liberal publications were not the only places we found this rhetoric either. In the attached videos we can find over two minutes of clips from major political figures and news outlets calling for violence against Trump and Trump supporters. And another: Not to be outdone the current President of the United States participated in similar rhetoric. Saying, just days ago that Trump will be a dictator.

During the debate Biden also said this:

Jake Tapper:

"There are 10s of millions of people who are going to vote for your opponent, you say he's a threat to Democracy, are the 10s of millions of people who are going to vote for your opponent threats to Democracy?"

Biden

: "The more they know about him, yes."

The question then becomes how in the world are we surprised a mentally ill individual tried to kill Donald Trump? Politics has always been a messy business. Gross even. But the vitriol, angst, and anger since 2015 has been palpable. And lest you think we can blame only one side for this sort of vitriolic pressure cooker recall that January 6

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DID happen. That Trump used violent rhetoric himself during political discourse and that he has been loath to repent of such actions. His famous statement that he could shoot a person in the middle of 5

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Avenue and not lose any supporters comes to mind, and his hesitancy to address the rioters on January 6

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(184 minutes) is all too memorialized. This is what we get. Even now, those that are more disposed to disliking Trump might be asking,

“why did you spend so many words on the left’s rhetoric and only a few sentences on Trumps? That’s not fair!”

Simple. Trump was shot, had Biden been shot perhaps the focus would be different. Thank God he wasn't. But might I suggest that this sort of thought, this sort of response, is exactly why we got into this situation? It used to be that horror would encapsulate both sides if someone tried to take the life of a presidential candidate. Sure, there would be extreme people applauding on either side, but they wouldn’t be amplified. The phrase, “how did he miss” trended on X. Multiple people lamented that the shooter didn’t kill Trump on TikTok.

Progressive Christian activist Mason Mennenga likened Donald Trump to the Anti-Christ.

This is what we get. This is what we get when we elevate political ideology to the place of God. And I’m not just poking those on the left. The right, in the aftermath of the attempted assassination took to twitter to lionize and messiah-nize former President Trump. I praise God that Trump is okay but I refuse to make more of Donald Trump than he is. And refuse to turn a blind eye to his obvious character defects just because political opponents demonize him and inspire hate towards him often based on falsehood and innuendo.

If it makes you uneasy that I am calling out these sorts of posts perhaps that is part of the problem. Trump, miraculously, DID survive, and perhaps God IS doing something through that. But might I suggest that the something He is doing is for HIS glory not for our nation’s glory and especially not for Trump’s glory. After all, God has elevated evil men as judgement before, (Romans 9:17) who are we to say exactly what he is doing in this moment? Maybe God did save Trump's life, but he didn't save Corey Comperatore's life. Seeking to read into such instances as divine intervention for my preferred ideology is not only dangerous, it's wrong, and it's unbiblical. The gross misuse of Ephesians 6:11 highlights this fact. Why not Genesis 6:11, Jeremiah 6:11, Hosea 6:11, Matthew 6:11, or Romans 6:11? The answer: Because their messages aren’t nearly as convenient to the cause. It is true that FreeThinking Ministries has thrown its hat in the ring during this election cycle. In our very own article we bring up Stalin and Hitler, I will not hide from that. It is worth noting that we made sure to say that our choices were not between Trump or Hitler/Stalin but that it was merely a thought experiment. I personally regret the use of that example, it's low hanging fruit and not helpful to discourse, but we most definitely did not say that Biden was *literally* Hitler or Stalin. Pointing to Marxist inspired governance or fascistic style governance is not the same as calling the person *literally* Hitler. I, personally, have told many people this (though they may not believe, it is the truth): My hope does NOT lie in who is elected for president this coming election or in any election. I do have my preferred candidate, and I have not been silent on that fact but my allegiance is to King Jesus, not any American political figure. The problem, as far as I can tell, on both sides of the aisle is that we make presidential figures out to be four-year messiahs. They will save us from the death of the country as if this country is the only thing worth saving rather than our neighbors who need the gospel. We’ve bought into the rhetoric that if the other side wins, we won’t have a country anymore (Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have intimated this). I have never been to a political rally. I will never go to a political rally. I condemned January 6

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when it happened, I've condemned Trump’s ridiculous rhetoric when he’s used it (this often gets overlooked simply because I said I would still vote for the man, but I digress). I will however, vote, and I will pray for our current president and for the president that I hope will be elected in November because I do believe loving my neighbors compels me to choose the lesser of two bad options. That calculus hasn’t changed in my mind. I have received angry direct messages, even some wishing death on myself for my stances on things like abortion and my commitment to voting for Trump. I’m sure more will come after the publishing of this article. But the problem in our discourse is this very thing. The win at all costs values promulgated by our political system has seeped its way into he Church. The anger, the vitriol, the vigor for Trump or Biden rather than Christ has led us down this path. A cultural Christianity more closely tied to political ideology than the gospel has infused the Church. And even as I type those words I know that progressives will nod in agreement thinking I am speaking of conservative Churches and conservatives will nod in agreement assuming I am speaking of progressive Churches. But perhaps that’s the point. It is no secret that I believe progressive theology is not only wrong but dangerous

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but there is this sort of dogmatic patriotism (of which I have written years ago) that uses politics to interpret scripture (like in the examples above) that is worth addressing and putting an end to as well. We are not citizens of America alone. We are first and foremost citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20-21). And to whatever end we have participated in the type of political discourse that would heat up to this level we must repent. What if our political stances looked more like Matthew 5:43-48

⁴³ 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 

⁴⁴ 

But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 

⁴⁵ 

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on 

the

 evil and 

the

 good, and sends rain on 

the

 righteous and 

the

 unrighteous. 

⁴⁶ 

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 

⁴⁷ 

If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing 

than others

? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 

⁴⁸ 

Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

This is not to say that Truth should not play a factor. I believe we do need to be forthright and unapologetic concerning the truth on all matters, but it does mean we need to carefully consider what love looks like in these situations in conjunction with the truth. Something we have often lost sight of in our current cultural moment. I see many conservatives feeling righteous indignation about what happened on Saturday. Feeling the impulse to lash out because they would be justified in the response. I would be lying if I said that I did not feel the same impulse. And, if one peruses my X feed they might think I have, indeed, yielded to that impulse. I am not a perfect man but I do hope that any statements I make are leading people towards truth rather than falsehood. This is what we get when the political supersedes the spiritual. A country that has displaced the true God with the god of the zeitgeist should not be surprised that this is where we ended up. As gut wrenching as July 13

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was, as maddening as it was, and has justified as the anger may seem (and perhaps, is) the question we should be asking is how do we allow the spiritual to supersede the political in this moment? Here are a few thoughts:

• Pray – pray for Trump, pray for the family of the individual that was killed. I read his daughter’s post recently and wept.

• Pray for the shooter’s family (an often forgotten piece of the puzzle).

• Pray for our country and that this would be a wake up call for all people.

• Seek truth amidst it all and do not blindly follow conspiracy theories

• Seek understanding not self-righteousness

• Pray for your heart and mine

• Pray for the unity of the Church

• Even when tempting do not let go of truth in favor of love

• Even when tempting do not let go of live in favor of truth

• Do not seek to be offensive for online plaudits or clicks

• Do not apologize if someone is offended merely because you spoke truth

• As always, seek to stay reasonable

Pray, come Lord Jesus… Come For more, check out our recent discussion with a government agent on the topic on YouTube:

Notes

https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/permanent-exhibits/assassination-attempthttp://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hospital.htm#:~:text=Nurses%20wheeled%20him%20into%20surgery,we're%20all%20Republicans.%22https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/03/donald-trump-hitler-similaritieshttps://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/16/its-not-wrong-to-compare-trumps-america-to-the-holocaust-heres-why/https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-immigrant-comments-hitler-mein-kampf-poisoning-blood-rcna130251https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/clinton-trump-hitler-view-1.7024887https://www.newsweek.com/fascism-coming-america-opinion-1922417https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/blame-abc-news-finds-17-cases-invoking-trump/story?id=58912889https://www.cnn.com/2016/01/23/politics/donald-trump-shoot-somebody-support/index.htmlhttps://freethinkingministries.com/a-moral-obligation-to-vote-for-an-immoral-candidate/