Donald the Revelator

The meditation\discussion group I sit with on Thursday evenings is going through the mind-training (lojong) sayings of Atisha, a 9th century Indian teacher who was influential to Tibetan Buddhism.

Last week’s saying was quite simple:  Be grateful to everyone.

As we began to discuss it we realized that although the saying is simple, it is not easy.  Grateful?  Sure, can do.  To everyone?!  Hmmm…  As a group we all immediately went to the same place:  Can I be grateful to Donald Trump?  I don’t mean snarky, sarcastic “grateful” but genuinely grateful?

Suffice it to say I do not have a positive view–in any way, shape or form–of Donald Trump.  I think his election to the office of President was a disaster which may lead to a catastrophe.  And daily, it seems, I am confronted with awful and idiotic statements and actions from the man.  How can I be grateful for that?!

I really had to struggle with this.  I wasn’t the only one.

As I’ve sat with this in subsequent days, what I’ve come up with is this: I’m grateful to Donald Trump for the role he has played in revealing things.  I think this is Donald’s greatest service to the U.S.  Here are a few of the things Trump’s election has revealed:

1. Many Americans–especially in the rust-belt Midwest–are suffering greatly.  Just how beleaguered and abandoned these folks have felt has been underappreciated.  They were desperate enough (and perhaps conditioned enough by Fox News and talk radio) to cast their votes (and hopes) upon a reality television star running a populist schtick.  These people need to be heard.  Their concerns need to be addressed.

2. Despite his complete lack of experience, qualifications and temperament for the job–and despite his long track record of being crude and graceless; a serial adulterer, a sexual predator, a congenital liar, a business fraud, a thin-skinned revenge-driven narcissist prone to casting insults (often very publicly via Twitter)–despite his being a promoter of greed, racism, torture, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, religious discrimination, and mob violence–despite all that, 81% of white conservative evangelical Christians voted for Trump.  They chose to align with a man who promised to take away people’s medical coverage, to punish women who have abortions, to cast out immigrants on a massive scale, to ban people entry into the U.S. based upon their religion, to force members of certain religions to register with the government, to take his critics and rivals to court, etc.  Moreover, most of those who voted for Trump say they are pleased so far with his presidency.  Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, recently said that evangelicals “have found their dream President.”  What has been revealed is the degree to which white conservative evangelicalism is morally bankrupt, obsessed with temporal power, and devoid of discernment.  Falwell and company have exemplified Gandhi’s critique that “Western Christianity in its practical working [is] a negation of Christ’s Christianity.”  Or as Franciscan friar Richard Rohr stated, “The evangelical support of Trump will be an indictment against its validity as a Christian movement for generations to come.”

3. Beginning with the Women’s Marches all over the world, an historic groundswell of comradery and activism has occurred.  Progressives–old and young–are engaged and involved like nothing we’ve seen since the Vietnam war era.  We progressives are seeing each other and realizing how powerful and connected we are.  Women and minorities are becoming inspired like never before to enter politics and run for public office.  The power of women is front and center.

4. Trump’s rise has revealed how quickly a crowd can devolve into a mob and a nation can devolve into an oppressive state.  I’m not saying Trump is a tyrant–I believe the checks and balances in our governmental system will prevent that–but I do believe he would be a tyrant if he could; that’s just his natural inclination.  A few years ago I visited the Dachau concentration camp outside of Munich.  One of the lessons that was seared into my soul from that visit is how rapidly and dramatically an advanced, cultured, urbane, Christian, “First World” nation can regress into hellish depravity and destruction.

5. Something that was revealed to me personally was how much more work I need to do on maintaining equanimity, grace and non-attachment.  There is a Zen teaching that difficult people and/or situations are our greatest teachers.  “The obstacle is the path.”  I think of those war movies where a submarine is forced to dive to a greater depth than it has ever gone.  It groans and strains under the external pressure while the occupants hope it can hold together and not collapse in upon itself.  Donald Trump’s presidency has been a “stress test” of my ability to stay engaged while also maintaining calm detachment and a modicum of objectivity; to not allow external circumstances to screw with my inner serenity; and to practice lovingkindness and grace and gratitude–even toward someone I find despicable and dangerous.

I don’t know if I have succeeded yet at being genuinely grateful to Donald Trump.  Despite my efforts I have a feeling Atisha would say, “Nice try kid, but keep working at it.”