The ‘Cost of Discipleship’ and to Be the Boss Are Not the Same

We’ve heard it said, “It costs to be the boss.” Unfortunately, this phrase has been confused with “the cost of discipleship.” It might also be part of the reason for the political ascension of Donald Trump and the rise of white Christian nationalism, helped in large part by American evangelicals racialized as white.

Considered a good businessman, these supporters falsely equated his wealth with receiving financial blessings from God. In their minds, God had rewarded Trump based on a faith that is transactional, though it is well-documented that he inherited millions of dollars from his father. Either way, it was taken as a sign that Trump must have done something right and/or was a good person—even though he has never shared an experience of spiritual transformation or being “born again.”

“White evangelicals’ embrace of white supremacy, lies, conspiracy theories, and hypocritical Bible-thumping has solidified their allegiance to Donald Trump and his allies’ racist, nativist vision of America,” Anthea Butler wrote in White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America.

In the preface to the second edition, Butler wrote: “I made a deliberate choice not to focus solely on Donald Trump and the politics of Trumpism but instead to write a history of how evangelicals embraced racism in their quest for a righteous nation and personal salvation. In retrospect, perhaps that decision was not the right one, because it is clear to me that evangelicals’ embrace of Trump has taken them down a collision course with American democracy, one from which they cannot seem to escape.”

More than a play on words, I’m convinced many Christians have forgotten the power of the tongue and, as Americans, the danger of silencing journalists, considered the voice of the people. The wisdom writer said there is life and death in this small member of the body (Proverbs 18:21); likewise, democracy dies when certain people are forced to be quiet.

This is why the discernment of Katharine Graham, the former publisher of The Washington Post, is critical. She said, “News is what someone wants suppressed. Everything else is advertising.” 

Trump is known and often praised for his abusive, degrading and insulting speech patterns. Because that’s just the way he is or the way a powerful man talks. 

Trump said the Constitution says, “Then I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as President.” You don’t say?

Many of us learned as children, “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.” American writer Susan Andersen said, “If you can’t say anything nice, at least have the decency to be vague.” I read a sign that said, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all and don’t write it on Facebook either.” 

Instead, zip your lips. Lock your jaw and throw away the key. Bite your tongue until it bleeds.  

Walk away. Leave the room, lest you say some “fighting words.” Your word against mine, we are now in a “war of words,” which sums up American politics.

Children of the South are warned not to talk back or to go “word for word” with our parents. We share secrets and tell people not to “breathe a word of it.”

Because our words can cost us a relationship, and for most of us, people are only as good as their word. When people are nearing death, we place great value on their last words. 

What we say and don’t say matters. And if it doesn’t matter to us, then it certainly matters to Jesus, who, according to the gospel of Matthew, called it like he saw it.  

Jesus said. “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil?” 

He continued, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.  I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words, you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:33-37, NRSV).

Consequently, once I witness a person who identifies as a Christian talking out of both sides of their mouth, they’ve lost me. I don’t even attempt to follow their logic. 

What do you mean he’s a Christian? But he sounds like a member of the brood of vipers! 

Money doesn’t grow on trees. Instead, check his fruit, not the amount in his bank accounts. Watch his mouth. 

Most recently, Trump snapped at Catherine Lucey, a Bloomberg White House correspondent, saying, “Quiet. Quiet, piggy” after she asked him a question about the Jeffrey Epstein files. He also berated ABC reporter Mary Bruce after she asked him a question about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist. 

So, we no longer ask, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” More plainly, Donald Trump needs to watch his mouth. 

Because as a person who was confirmed at First Presbyterian Church in Queens, New York and now identifies as a non-denominational Christian, Trump will have to give an account—not as a boss, who talks to reporters as if they work for him, but as a disciple of Jesus. That is, unless he is only the former, who “adopted a quid pro quo approach” with faith leaders and not the latter, which is why evangelicals racialized as white voted for him anyway.