As a conservative, white, Christian American, you would probably guess that I am immensely patriotic. You might assume that I truly believe America is and has been one of the best nations since it was founded 250 years ago. You’d be right.
What will probably shock you is that, as a patriotic Christian, I definitely do not support Donald Trump. I hate what he is doing to the nation I love. He says “make America great again” as he does the exact opposite. I hate how he twists the ideals of the founders while pretending to represent them. Trump claims to uphold the same values as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and other great founders to appeal to my exact demographic group of fellow white, Christian Americans, but I don’t fall for it.
As a Christian myself, I am dumbfounded by Trump’s belief that Christianity should be the dominant force in the American government. The New York Times reported that in 2016, Trump said “Christianity will have power” and that he’d allow Christianity “directly into the Oval Office.”
Trump believes that by bringing Christianity into the government, he is upholding an ideal of the American founders, but he’s not. While it is true that the founders were religious and represented
Christian ideals in their work, they firmly believed in the separation of church and state. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom declaring the official separation of the Christian church and the state of Virginia. Jefferson was so proud of this declaration that it was one of the three items he wanted on his grave marker.
Additionally, nowhere in the foundational American documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or Federalist #10 or #51 is there any mention that America should
have an established religion. In fact, we see the opposite. The first amendment to the Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Trump is going against these foundational statements as he brings Christianity “into the Oval Office.”
Beyond Christianity, Trump continues to ignore the Constitution during his current presidency. Trump has issued 145 executive orders in just the first four months of his second term. Nowhere in the Constitution is an executive order justified. Trump is expanding the power of the presidency. He is not advocating for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” nor is he establishing a
government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” His incredible use of executive orders make it clear he is establishing a government “of the Trump, by the Trump, for the Trump.”
Yet, Trump still claims to believe in following the Constitution. In a speech given to the National Archives, Trump said that “no political document has done more to advance the human condition or propel the engine of progress.”
It seems rather hypocritical to me that the same individual who organized the January 6th riots and seeks a third term as president is representing the Constitution at all. These two actions represent two of the grossest infringements on our Constitution in American history. By these two actions alone, Trump proves that his claims to represent the Constitution are false.
As a conservative, I find it impossible to support Trump because he so often goes directly against everything our founding fathers believed and fought for. Such an encroachment of power is inexcusable and frankly, terrifying.
What makes it worse, though, is that I am proud of the founding fathers, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the core values that make up America. Freedom, independence,
morality, diligence–these are values that define who we are as a nation. Our current president represents none of those ideals.
As a nation, therefore, we must be educated about these values. Ignorance is a part of the problem that got Trump re-elected in the first place, but we don’t have to choose ignorance. Learn about the founding fathers and the values they actually had. Learn about a candidate before voting for them simply because they are from the same political party as you. Research who they are, what
choices they have made, and what choices they will make. Fixing the problems Trump has created will take a long time. Let’s do our part by choosing not to live in ignorance.
