See Trump for Who He Is

My dad has been deceased for a decade. He is still my favorite example of standing firm for principles. Back in 2015, when we knew Dad was dying, we asked him if he was afraid of anything. He nodded. “Donald Trump,” he said.

His foresight was keen.

This is one of our family’s stories–a story of how we were deceived, and what we did when we realized the truth. The story starts when Dad was the chairman of the board for a foundation in Guatemala, run by Dale Peterson. We Blairs were Dale Peterson’s disciples.  In some ways we were more Dale’s disciples than Christ’s. We saw Dale as a holy man who surrendered every American luxury to consecrate all of his energies (and his family’s) to helping hundreds of Mayan Indians in Guatemala.  It was visible consecration, not something imagined in hymns or paintings.  We could see the people he was helping.  When we visited him in 1975, we could see the dairy.  We could hear the rabbits’ shrieks as they were skinned for the rabbit meat business.  Dale was giving the q’ekchi people “the good life.” 

When Dale told us about how easily the LDS Church had dismissed his noble projects, we were astounded.  We were line-toting Mormons, and could not imagine that the church leaders could be so blind. Dale wanted to be in partnership with the Church in all the good he was doing; his vision was not complete without that partnership.  The LDS group at Valparaiso would donate all they could and would be brought to an even higher level of prosperity as the foundation donated to the fast offering fund. However, when the group sent a financial report to the Church, the response was less than enthusiastic. As Dale summarized the message, it was “We just don’t do those kinds of things in the church.” Dale’s reaction, which he shared freely with us, was, “What!? The Church doesn’t help widows and orphans? Nor take care of the sick? Nor educate the ignorant, nor work cooperatively to feed the hungry?”

At the time, I did not recognize the leap he was making.  He had casually compressed the Church’s decision to not partner with his foundation into evidence that the Church did no humanitarian work.  In other words, any true church or faithful church leaders would necessarily recognize his noble work for what it was.  Their failure to do so indicated an abandonment of the fundamental mandates of Christianity. 

In 1978, I was at one place in Guatemala, and Dad was with Dale at another place. I took a bus to spend some time with my dad. I let him know that I was considering joining him at Dale’s finca (ranch).

Dad said, “Margaret, you are not to come here.” He then began to weep.. He told me about Dale’s last blessing to his wife (Angela). She was seven months pregnant. He had given her a hands-on-head blessing and informed her that her that she must prepare to die. She would die with the birth of the child she was carrying. Not only would she die, but Dale already had her replacement picked out. Laura. He had even broug Laura to the finca so that his children could get acquainted with her.

Dad had asked Angela, “Has he talked about polygamy?”

“Yes.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“Oh, Bob–I can’t!” she said.

Dad then asked her if she would like a blessing from him. She said she would. He laid his hands on her head and blessed her that she would survive her child’s birth, and that the baby would also survive. (We later learned that a missionary had discovered the same information and had also given Angela a blessing that she would survive.) Dad had confronted Dale with the information, and then had resigned as Chairman of the Board. 

HE RESIGNED AS CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD.  What a brave thing! Some have seen me stand up for what I believe in, and often at great sacrifice. I get that from my dad’s example.

The specter of polygamy, long since disavowed by Latter-day Saints, haunted the finca as we came to understand the implications of what we had ignored. From what my father had learned, it appeared that the little paradise was becoming a Fundamentalist Mormon organization. In a dark epiphany, a frightening side of Dale had been revealed,, Dale was the centerpiece of a fantasy in which he was the exception to the most basic commandments.  And Dale was spreading a gospel which featured him and his projects as a super-hero on a quest. He easily dismissed any who did not support his work–including his wife.

So, Dale was living a double life, and had persuaded himself that his illicit relationship with another woman was justifiable because she would replace Angela–who did not die.  Both she and the baby lived, and she divorced Dale a few years thereafter.

My primary thought after these awful discoveries was, “How did I let myself be deceived?” Dad had similar thoughts, but his were mingled with guilt and a crushing sense of betrayal.  As chairman of the board, Dad had raised  thousands of dollars for the foundation.  Of course, the foundation itself was not a bad thing. The issue was the fact that Dale insisted on merging his Mormonism (including amendments) with his foundation, and that he persisted in doing this in opposition to counsel given by those with ecclesiastical authority over him.  So, when he transported missionaries to Chulac, the name of his foundation was on his truck.  That might not have been important, except that he also reported the missionaries’ conversions and their other successes as though he were responsible for them, and these stories appeared in the foundation’s mailings–even long after Dale had left Mormonism. He had a target audience of Latter-day Saints, and presented himself as a loyal Mormon. (Sadly, there have been many who have used their church standing to get fellow-Mormons into scams.)

How had such a good man become a deceiver?  How deeply had his projects been marred by the fact that he was the centerpiece? We had cheered him on!  We saw the good that he was doing and blinded ourselves to any narrative but his.

And therein lies the warning–and the reason that my father feared Donald Trump. Money, ego, lack of accountability, obsession with power, the habit of accusing others.

You may have felt that Donald Trump would champion your most deeply-held beliefs–like the sanctity of life, or the Proclamation on the Family. But what if you blinded yourself to things you must notice?

These are my warning signs of anyone who is a danger to self and others:

1. Do they value money more than humanity? Do their conversations tend to center on money, including ways to get more of it? I knew a woman involved in a pyramid scheme who said, “I need to pay more tithing so the bishop will see how rich I’m getting.”
2. When you separate yourself from the passion of any talking heads or of what the person himself/herself says, do you see that their narratives are centered around their own heroism, or around their unique ability to save the world–or even just a neighborhood?
3. Are there messages included in their narratives which suggest an agenda you disagree with? Hold on to that. Before he was president, Trump wanted the Central Park 4 to be executed–and never took that back, even after they were exonerated. Do you hear the racism in Trump’s speeches and in those of his supporters? Don’t excuse it with sentences like, “I don’t agree with him on that or on a lot of things.” Or “I didn’t say I like him, just that I like what he’s doing as president” or “What about Biden/Obama/Harris and their crimes?” Any sentence that starts, “I don’t like Trump, but…” is dangerous.
4. Do they mix religion and politics in such a way as to suggest that one party is more righteous than the other? Do they suggest that Trump is like “Captain Moroni”, or even like Jesus, and that the war in Iran is the prophesied prelude to the Second Coming, and it must be fought “for Jesus” (as Vance suggested)?
5. Do you find yourself grouping his opponents into categories not of dissent but of evil? If you now see your Democratic neighbor as “subversive” and eager to perform late-term abortions and sex change in middle school, you have “othered” your neighbor rather than serving him/her. (Obviously, the same applies to Democrats who now view their Republican neighbors as racists, fascists, and people-haters.)
6. How do they handle power? This is the biggie. Think of who you know who handles power with equanimity and even humility. That’s your standard.
7. Can you trust them to do what they say they’ll do?

That’s enough for now. Just remember to observe how they handle:

Money

Ego

Power

Accountability

Judgement

Honesty

Notice things. Pay attention. Verify EVERYTHING, because everything is at stake.

Also, the Second Coming is not your immediate concern. Your treatment of others is. Your only obligation right now is to love as generously and widely as possible.