Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, has said to the media multiple times this year that she prays for the well being of President Donald Trump and that of his family. At the same time, she believes the president is guilty of obstructing justice and committing other crimes while in office.
This summer, even though a majority of Pelosi’s Democratic caucus was pressuring her to start impeachment proceedings in the House, she refused, saying there was not enough evidence for it. But when the whistleblower came forth alleging that Trump had committed a crime on the July 25th phone call with Ukraine’s President Zelensky, and the White House produced its summary of that phone call, plus Trump acknowledged its contents, that moved Pelosi to announce impeachment proceedings in the House.
Two days ago, on Tuesday, the House voted on two articles of impeachment: (1) abuse of power and (2) obstruction of justice. The vote overwhelmingly favored impeaching the president. It was 230 to 197 for the former and 229 to 198 for the latter. But the evening before, on Monday, President Trump, our 45th president, sent Speaker Nancy Pelosi a scathing, six-page letter. I think it reveals a man who is desperate. After all, in 243 years of this republic, the House had now only impeached three presidents.
In this letter, President Trump said to Speaker Pelosi, “you are offending Americans of faith by continually saying you pray for the President when you know this statement is not true, unless it is meant in a negative sense.” I think it’s pretty clear what he meant by “negative sense”–that she prays against him if not his removal from office.
How does Donald Trump know what Nancy Pelosi prays about to her God? This is an example of a constant pattern that Trump practices–proclaiming things that are outright lies or misleading without supporting them with evidence. And it is so obvious in so many of these cases that Trump is merely uttering a lie, or call it merely a bunch of BS, about something he doesn’t know anything about.
Nancy Pelosi often tells the media that she is a Catholic Christian, that she was raised that way, and she sometimes mentions her prayer life. I think it is extremely likely that Ms. Pelosi is not lying about praying for Donald Trump’s well being and that of his family even though she believes he has committed crimes as president.
Doesn’t Donald Trump know what Jesus taught about praying for your enemies? In the most famous sermon ever, Jesus taught his fellow Jews in his so-called Sermon on the Mount, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; . . . For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, who more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matthew 5.43-47 NRSV).
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