Lev Radin/Shutterstock
A pro-Trump protester carries a cross during the January 6, 2021 rally at the Capitol building.
When I shared on social media outlets that I was intending to present a case to Christians against voting for former President Donald Trump, one person commented, “It’s crazy that you even have to write it.” I wholeheartedly agree. However, it is very necessary that I do so.
In the Gospels, Jesus is shown to be loving, humble, selfless, forgiving, and to have compassion for the “least of these” in society. Trump, on the other hand, is the antithesis of a Christ-like person. Yet, since his first presidential campaign, Trump has received overwhelming support from white Christians, regardless of faith tradition.
I contend there are four reasons why Christians should not vote for Trump:
He’s a racist. I do not have the space to elucidate the numerous examples of Trump’s racism and white supremacy over the decades. I need only highlight one recent example: Trump propagated the racist lie that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating their neighbors’ pets. It was a lie he repeated even after it was debunked. Trump has always sought to vilify the “others.” In this case, the others are dark-skinned immigrants of the African diaspora.
Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us.’” Inherent in this declaration is that all persons regardless of race or ethnicity are created in God’s image and should be treated with equity. Clearly Trump does not believe or practice this truth.
He’s a misogynist. Jesus affirmed women as valuable, equal partners in the creation and redemption stories. In the context of a highly patriarchal society where women were treated as property, Jesus addressed them directly in public as he did men.
Trump’s history indicates he believes women only exist to please men. He infamously boasted about grabbing women by the genitals. He has been accused by twenty-seven women of sexual misconduct, and found liable by a jury in a civil case last year of sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.
He’s a narcissist. Ultimately, narcissists are only concerned with their own interests. There are mounds of evidence that Trump is a narcissist. In fact, many of my fellow mental health clinicians have broken with the Goldwater rule—the convention against diagnosing someone in the public eye who they have not personally evaluated—and asserted that Trump has “malignant narcissism.”
I firmly believe that someone with malignant narcissism is unfit to be a role model for my children, let alone the President of the United States. Further, narcissistic behavior is contrary to what the Scriptures indicate is commendable. So, there is no justifiable reason for a Christian to vote for a narcissist like Trump.
He’s a fascist. Fascism is an authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, often associated with the far right and characterized by a dictatorial leader who uses military forces to help suppress political and civil opposition. Christians who honestly examine Trump’s rhetoric will hear echoes of fascist leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
For instance, Trump has recently doubled down on referring to his political opponents as “the enemy within,” and has said he would deploy military forces against them. Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired General Mark Milley, has called Trump “dangerous” and a “fascist to the core.”
In sum, Trump embodies racism, misogyny, narcissism, and fascism—all of which are antithetical to the Way of Jesus and the principles found in Scripture. Even at that, some Christians have erroneously claimed that Trump has been uniquely “chosen by God” to lead our nation. In my estimation, such a claim is not only wrong, it is heretical.
American Christians are faced with a day of decision on November 5. Either we will choose Kamala Harris, who is committed to democracy and the rule of law, or we will choose Donald Trump, who has an unquenchable thirst for power.
Let those who have ears to hear make the only sensible choice.
This column was produced for Progressive Perspectives, a project of The Progressive magazine, and distributed by Tribune News Service.