Today, the Planned Parenthood in New York at Margaret Sanger Square had extra security. I try to pray outside it frequently, and it’s distressing how active it is. I bring this up because there is real evil in the world, and I know our challenges are going to grow greater with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House. From the early days, I am bracing for all kinds of ideological orders. Pleasing ideological consistencies in such a way are a bipartisan problem.
I could get mad at Planned Parenthood for acting as if they are under threat when there are babies dying inside and women who have no idea what they are really getting into. Or I could take a minute for an examination of conscience of our side. Who has been the leading voice against abortion in recent years? Well, the president of the United States. He largely stayed to script at the March for Life last year. But does anyone believe he thinks Nancy Pelosi is made in the image and likeness of God? Or even Mike Pence today?
The reason I bring this up is because there are a lot of good people who supported Donald Trump’s campaign for president this time and/or last time. They did it in some cases out of a prudent calculation and no better choice. Some are new to voting, and they liked that he wasn’t a politician because government had failed them. Others were happy to vote for him because he had picked up some causes close to their hearts.
Then some went out of their way to say that he was a man of character, buying into his claims that he has been the greatest president for Christianity. And many pro-life activists have said he is the most pro-life president ever.
Yes, there are the Supreme Court justices. But we have Leonard Leo and a team of good Americans who worked with the president because the courts are important and someone needed to lead him in the right direction.
But what has happened to the pro-life movement long term? People who never knew there was a March for Life now associate it with Trump. And that is now an association with what happened at the Capitol yesterday. It’s not just the violence, however. The president of the United States has been contending the election has been stolen, but he can’t prove it. His own appointed justices couldn’t entertain the challenges. Aren’t those the very people the Left expected were going to flip the election for Trump if need be? Of course, they aren’t. Because they care about the Constitution. It is wrong to go along with his insistence that he won in a landslide because we don’t trust the Left. There are good people in the Democratic Party, people with whom we disagree, and we used to use a little thing called persuasion to try to convince people. These days, things become about personalities and not human connection and conviction, based on some shared values. There was a rallying around something yesterday on Capitol Hill: the Constitution. There’s still hope for this country, and it’s still worth fighting for.
Part of the reason I started this post with Planned Parenthood is because I know there is evil in the world. And when I focus on it day in and day out, it can be overwhelming. There is so much evil in the world. Yes, there is corruption and unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles and indifference and so much else, which is why we must be vigilant against lies and conspiracy theories and also the urge to look for a temporal savior.
Christians believe the Incarnation is real. We have a Savior and He is not of this world. We are supposed to show Him to others through how we live our lives.
The truth is that there are things that are more important than Donald Trump being president. He seems to not to know that. But people who supported him or worked with him need to make that clear. These next four years are going to be difficult, but could we all agree that things went further than any reasonable person intended? I know many pro-life people who endorsed Trump and worked with him and praised him for Supreme Court justices and other things. They didn’t want yesterday to happen.
I understand that some people I respect wonder if those were really Trump supporters. The woman who died in the Capitol building certainly seemed to be.
If the president of the United States has been telling you that the election has been stolen and to go to the Capitol filled with Congress and Mike Pence — the man who in one motion of fidelity to the Constitution over Donald Trump became an enemy — is it a shock that this could get out of control? People who traveled the country to be there?
I know it’s infuriating that while that violence was out in the open, the violence of abortion is hidden under shades of Planned Parenthood pink. Yes, there were rioters — in addition to legitimate protesters this summer — that seemed to be encouraged by many Democratic politicians. And people certainly had the right to be at Trump’s rally and listen. But we are people of life and truth and our victory is already won. That always needs to be clear.
Donald Trump is not worth losing our country or souls over. We have to be clear about that in the coming two weeks and beyond.