Written by Mark S. Singel
The American people were quickly subjected to the new president’s will.
The rioters who broke into the Capitol on January 6 were pardoned by him. All of the people who had received sentences had been found guilty of violent crimes. These were thuggish collaborators in Donald Trump’s attempt to rig a presidential election, not naive demonstrators.
President Trump pulled out of the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization. These organizations present a unified front for everyone’s safety on the planet. With four exceptions—Iran, Libya, Yemen, and the United States of America—all nations are supporting the climate change initiatives of the Paris Agreements, according to the latter group.
Trump acted swiftly to fire hundreds of federal employees who have been engaged in civil rights and racial equality activism since 1965. He has erased the hard-won victories minority have made over the past 60 years.
In a terrible move that will encourage reciprocity from our neighbors and raise the cost of goods and services for all American consumers, he has pledged tariffs against Canada and Mexico.
A crackdown on immigration is arguably the most heinous attack on America. When he accused Mexican immigrants of rape and murder, candidate Trump ferociously stoked racial prejudices.
It is obvious that he plans to take advantage of those prejudices and use mass deportations to purify our gene pool now that he is president. We all agree that international drug cartels should be destroyed and criminal elements should be eliminated, but it is tragic when families are purposefully split apart and when immigrants who have worked hard to provide a better life for their children are treated with such smug contempt.
In addition, it is unconstitutional. Citizens who are born in this nation are protected by the 14th Amendment. In addition to being cruel, calling for the abolition of birthright citizenship is illegal.
Does anyone have the courage to stand out for immigrants who have been exploited as political pawns for far too long? An incident that happened at the Washington Cathedral during an interfaith ceremony intended to seek heavenly guidance for our new leaders was, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the inaugural celebrations.
The Episcopal Diocese of Washington’s bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, was thinking about immigration. Since 2011, the renowned Bishop Budde has served as the Diocese’s spiritual leader.
“Millions have trusted you,” she continued, meeting the incoming president’s eyes. You have also experienced the providential hand of a loving God, as you informed the country yesterday. In the name of our God, I beseech you to show mercy to those who are currently afraid in our nation.
Budde was unafraid to speak her truth to authority and stood out for millions of immigrants and their families. The individuals who harvest our crops, clean our office buildings, work in meatpacking plants and poultry farms, clean the dishes after our meals at restaurants, and work night shifts in hospitals could not be citizens or possess the required paperwork. However, the great majority of immigrants do not commit crimes.
She stated they are excellent neighbors and pay taxes. Since we were all once foreigners in this country, our God instructs us to show mercy to strangers.
You would be mistaken to believe that Donald Trump would be affected by the bishop’s compassion and eloquence. Rather, he referred to her as a hard-line Trump opponent on the radical left whose comments were imprudent. A Republican lawmaker proposed adding Dr. Budde to the list of people who should be deported.
We’re at this point. Our president is so thin-skinned that a gentle and wise leader of the f hurch cannot grant him even a request for mercy.
Our president blatantly disregards the Constitution and the customs that have made America a model democracy for all others. Our leader’s faith is confined to his belief that God spared him in order to force his will on the rest of us.
Bishop Budde, you deserve praise for upholding your moral convictions. We appreciate you utilizing your platform to demonstrate to us that we are capable of escaping the cruelty that has been perverted into political campaign tactics and, more recently, into laws. Above all, you demonstrated to us the importance of free speech as a national right.
Even if a restless president doesn’t agree with what he hears in church, we still have to protect that right.
Mark S. Singel has served as Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor and acting governor.