Editor’s Note: The following first appeared on Judge Wendell Griffen’s Substack.
The signs that democracy in the United States is dysfunctional are no longer doubtful.
Last week, a federal judge in California issued a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after Trump federalized 2000 members of the California National Guard and ordered them to protect federal immigration agents. The federal judge ruled that Trump’s action was illegal. The Trump administration has appealed the order.
Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, California, from Camp Pendleton, their assigned post, and the Marines engaged in a tactical military offensive against civilians engaged in peaceful protest against oppressive actions by the Trump administration against immigrant workers in Los Angeles.
Last week, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California was physically assaulted by armed security agents when he tried to pose a question to Secretary Kristi Noem of the Department of Homeland Security at a press briefing held in a federal office building.
Last week, the Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and her husband were shot and killed at their home. It appears that their assailant also shot and seriously wounded another Minnesota state legislator and her spouse in their home. The assailant appears to have been determined to attack Democratic politicians in Minnesota.
Since the shootings, U.S. Senator Mike Lee of Utah has joked about the murderous attacks in Minnesota, and President Trump has demeaned Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are seizing and detaining people they claim to be undocumented immigrants across the United States without judicial arrest warrants.
Last weekend, Trump gloated as U.S. soldiers marched and military equipment was rolled into Washington, D.C., to observe the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. Coincidentally, the parade happened on Trump’s 79th birthday.
U.S. Marines were physically active against civilians in California last weekend. U.S. Army soldiers and equipment rolled into Washington last weekend.
Never mind due process of law.
Never mind federalism and respect for state sovereignty enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
Never mind the First Amendment. The Trump administration is seizing and deporting people who protest Trump’s unlawful practices.
Never mind the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. A Wisconsin state court judge who did not detain an immigrant in her courtroom has been arrested by federal agents and is now facing federal charges.
Never mind the constitutional prohibition against U.S. Presidents receiving gifts or using their office for personal gain, Trump, his wife, and his children are profiting financially from cryptocurrency trading. Trump granted presidential pardons to people after he received financial donations.
Never mind the First Amendment, the Trump administration is threatening international academic programs at U.S. universities that allow peaceful protests against Israeli apartheid, genocide, land theft, and other oppression against Palestinians.
Trump’s diplomatic efforts are also producing harm. Palestinians in Gaza are dying every day from starvation and Israeli military actions against their population. Israeli military forces and vigilante settlers are attacking Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank Territories.
Donald Trump supports Israel’s aggression against Palestinians.
Trump wants to depopulate Gaza and turn it into a Mediterranean version of the French Riviera.
Never mind that Palestinians are being starved, poisoned, shot, and bombed to death in Gaza.
Never mind that Palestinians will again lose their ancestral homeland.
Never mind that genocide is an international war crime.
Remember that white so-called “evangelical Christians” were Trump’s most loyal voting constituency when he was elected in 2016 and 2024.
This group, part of what I call “the Hateful Faithful,” praises Trump’s bigotry towards immigrants who are not white. They have not criticized Trump’s obscene greed, lust for violence, and his pathological narcissistic behavior.
They have not condemned Trump’s bigotry towards people who are LGBTQIA.
In direct violation of the teachings and life of Jesus, the Hateful Faithful are cheering a vicious politician and regime.
People see the rot and dysfunction. They know that Hateful Faithful religionists are blessing it. They know how badly the divine imperatives of love and justice are being violated by agents of U.S. imperialism.
They see how the religion of Jesus has been corrupted, perverted, and turned into a weapon against marginalized people.
The U.S. empire is sinking deeper into the grip of fascism – cheered, counseled, and coached by Hateful Faithful religionists – day by day.
What are you doing about it?
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Pastor at New Millennium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, a retired state court trial judge, a trustee of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, author of two books and three blogs, a consultant on cultural competency and inclusion, and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.
