There Are Some Things for Which I Need to Publicly Thank Donald Trump

Dear President Trump,

In the last few years, I’ve written a lot about you. I’m sure you’ve never read a word of it, but quite a few people have. I’ve got to be honest, Donald, most of it has been less than flattering. I’m not a fan of your policies, nor the way you comport yourself or treat others. I don’t think you’ve been good for this country at all. But, I must admit, you’ve been pretty good for me, personally, in several ways. I wan’t to take this time to publicly thank you for those things.

I want to thank you, Donald, for moving me from my comfortable and complacent spot in the political center. For years, I used that position as my safe place. I didn’t talk much about politics because, as far as I was concerned, there was no winning side. I had friends far to the right and left of me and I just let them talk and nodded my head. I could see both sides and nothing really fazed me too much. I can still see both sides, but since you’ve come along, lots of things faze me. I’ve left my cozy, noncommittal foxhole and moved to the left considerably in recent years, in large part, because I don’t want to be associated with you and your side whatsoever. It took you to embolden me to take a political stand for the first time in my life. I thank you for that.

I thank you for what you’ve already done and continue to do for my faith. I’ve seen the religious right hold you up as a hand-picked servant of God. It is beyond me how they could ever believe that to be true but, apparently, they do. Consequently, I searched my soul long and hard and came to the cathartic conclusion that I don’t have to mix my political beliefs with my faith-based beliefs. In fact, I’ve committed myself to avoiding that at all cost. I’ve come to realize, thanks to you, Donald, that using religious convictions to vote will inevitably infringe on the Constitutional rights of people who don’t share my faith. I’ve come to rely on the basic truth that our founding fathers set this government up on the foundational principal that religion is to be kept totally separate from politics. I’ve also come to understand that Christ himself saw it very much the same. I’ve come to understand that the way to attract others to my faith is to reflect the love of Christ, not by forcing them to live in a society run on discriminatory, cherry-picked principles from the Bible. In the process of this fundamental shift in my life, I’ve been blessed to be welcomed into a large and growing community of others who see that Progressive Christianity is more in line with the example Jesus left us while Conservative Christianity sometimes looks more similar to the Pharisees whom Jesus often publicly called out. Thank you for moving me in this direction, Donald.

Lastly, Donald, I’d like to thank you for providing me with this side gig I have as a political writer. When I started my personal blog about 5 years ago, I never dreamed it would turn into what it has become. My first attempts at blogging were about all manner of random things, anything but politics. But thanks to you and Mike Pence, the door was opened to my writing for Patheos Politics Blue channel. This all feels strange in a way because I’m not sure what’s going to happen when you’re gone, Donald. I often worry that I won’t have much to write about when you aren’t president anymore. Despite the damage you’re trying to do to our nation, you’re a veritable gold mine for political commentators. You provide a steady stream of fodder for us on a daily basis. I’m sure we’ll find something else to write about when the time comes, but right now, it’s hard to imagine what that will look like.

Thanks for the material.

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Thank you!