There are many facts about Trump that most people seem eager to ignore or not consider. Let me list a few.

1)Donald Trump spent many years as a real estate developer in New York. He was fairly successful at it.
2)If you want to build a building in New York, he you have to negotiate, or “make deals,” with a variety of different people: politicians, unions, the media, rival real estate developers, contractors, construction companies, etc.
3)These are difficult negotiations and very complex. All of the involved parties — including Trump but certainly the politicians — are morally suspect in one way or another. These are all rough people.
4)These negotiations are about “making a deal.” Think about how often Trump uses the word “deal” in his public talks.
5)For a deal to get done, there will be winners and losers. The losers will be rival real estate tycoons. The winner will be Trump, if we are talking about a building being built with Trump’s name on it. But others will win. Some politicians will win because they are providing jobs to key groups. Union leaders will win for the same reason. Contractors and construction companies will win business. The media will win if they can break the story about the new deal (this is why Trump had such a good relationship with the media until he became the Republican nominee, and then suddenly, inexplicably, he became Hitler. It would seem strange if not for the fact that the same thing happened to Bush, McCain, Romney, etc).
6)Trump has spent most of his life doing this. His experiences will inform how he approaches his job as president.
7)Trump understands marketing. He puts his name on buildings. He says memorable, catchy things. He had a very popular reality show all about him. He understands modern media and entertainment better than just about anybody. He knows how to capture the attention of key groups and tell people what they want to hear. But most of all, he is an entertainer. If you have never done so, take a half-hour to watch a Trump rally. It really is quite entertaining.
8)So, let’s review: Trump will approach politics, both domestic and foreign, the same way he approached his job as a real estate developer. Trump wins if he builds something. All of his life, he won if he got a big shiny building with his name on it. How does this translate into politics? It should be obvious: Trump wins if he looks good, if he gets reelected and if the U.S. economy improves (ie, he “built” something). But note: in Trump’s world, other people win when he wins. In real estate, jobs are created and certain pressure groups win — bigly. So, the deal is not just about Trump winning — it is about most people winning (in Trump’s mind).

Dear reader, have you internalized these eight points? If not, please read them again, because U.S. politics with Trump as president will never make sense to you if you don’t internalize those eight points.

Now, let’s look at some questions about Trump’s behavior.

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Have you ever read a post like this on Facebook or other social media:

My server at the restaurant today had a bunch of tattoos. I told her how wonderful she looked and how beautiful she is. I am not like all of the other Mormons who are judgmental and intolerant about tattoos — we are all part of the human family, and we should honor and celebrate the choices of others.

OR

I saw two men holding hands today at Church. Some people in my ward were very nice to them, but I could just tell that many other people were in shock and very intolerant of them. But I made a point to go tell them that I honored their choices — even if all of the other judgmental people in the chapel did not.

I have seen literally hundreds of posts like these over the years. Can you tell what is wrong with them? Luckily, the scriptures make it clear:

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This is a guest post by Mormontarian, who describes himself as “a radical free choice advocate and otherwise chill dude living in flyover country. He’s ready for the current Sunday School program to follow home teaching and High Priests’ Group into history.”

Oklahoma just legalized weed.

On 26 June the state of Oklahoma, where I live, held a primary election. As with any primary, there were different ballots printed based on party affiliation. The Republican primary ballot my wife got handed was pretty busy, as one might expect in a state sometimes called “the buckle of the bible belt”. Lots of action there. My own Libertarian ballot only had three names on it, as the party is only contesting the Governor’s race this go-round.

But every Oklahoma voter also got a bonus ballot this time, to vote on State Question 788 regarding medical marijuana. The question passed with 57% of the vote statewide. This passage came in spite of a huge push from a law enforcement and medical coalition that spent half a million dollars on ads demonizing the measure in the most furrowed-brow we-know-better manner possible.
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I don’t have cable TV access, so I don’t usually watch MSNBC, CNN and Fox. I also don’t really watch the traditional networks. But for a variety of reasons I spent the last few days viewing some traditional cable and network TV. I also spent some time on the Facebook pages of many of my progressive friends. I wanted to see what their priorities were coming up to July 4, and I wanted to try, and I emphasize the word *try* to understand their worldview better.

It was very unsettling. There appear to be millions of people who are convinced, or at least they say they are convinced, that President Trump is the next coming of Hitler. They also seem to be convinced that the Mueller investigation will turn up evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians to get elected. They are convinced Trump is the only reason that children are being separated from their parents on the border. They are convinced that because of Trump’s Supreme Court picks women will soon not be able to get an abortion in the United States, and some of them even seem to believe that Trump wants to take away women’s access to birth control.

The purpose of this post is not to refute or mock these beliefs. The purpose is simply to point out that the people who believe the above things live in a completely different reality from me and most of my friends. I see the above list of beliefs as so far from my reality that I cannot even begin to see how I could have a discussion on these issues because we are living in different worlds. If you have seen the movie “The Matrix,” it is as if the people above are living inside the Matrix and the rest of us are not. Or, to use another example, it is as if the people above truly believe the world is flat while the rest of of know it is a sphere.

But I also recognize that my paradigm seems equally strange to these people. If you are a progressive, you probably feel like trying to dialogue with me is like talking to a flat earther (or somebody who is in the Matrix) as well.

So, if there is one thing we should be able to agree on, it is that our beliefs make it difficult to communicate.

The purpose of this post is to convince progressives of another thing we should be able to agree on: if the federal government, specifically the executive and the judicial branches, had less power, you would not have to be as worried about the Hitlerian Trump. A less powerful Trump — and a less powerful Supreme Court — means fewer threats to you and your beliefs.

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Civility is dead, many say, as each side points fingers at the other as to who is responsible. Words that condemn the incivility are often uncharitable themselves. No real solutions are put forward how it might be returned because the underlying reasons are ignored. Some push back with the argument that “civility” was a social nicety lie and the truth of American (even human) feelings are expressing themselves. One side says civility is for losers and the other for the privileged. The Gospel comes strongly on the side of civility, but at a cost and with a few exceptions.

The life of Jesus Christ was a series of giving the enemy the benefit of the doubt. His death might have been brutal and inhuman as was often the case anciently, but his response to it all is reported to have been mild. There was one instance when he called the Jewish ruler a name and only a few non-defensive statements to the rest of his accusers and judges. On the other hand, he did not completely ignore his antagonists. Sometimes he questioned the premise of the arguments with his own inquires. At other times he quoted and interpreted Scriptures that seemed to be more authoritative than the original quotes of those against him. His teachings, as he warned, had the seeds of social and family division as he sought to uproot the current social order. Of course, he refused to do this by fomenting rebellion and incivility; declaring them both antithetical to his purposes. And yet, offhandedly, he hinted that the traveling elders would need to defend themselves on the road against robbers. He was a man of peace who had a few complications often ignored because of the whole of his message.

Years later the followers of Jesus Christ often didn’t fare any better. They didn’t rise up with an army or rebel against local authority, but they were treated as criminals at times. Not one of his Apostles, if the recorded history is correct, survived to die of natural or accidental causes. A whole generation, again if the history is to be believed as more than overblown propaganda, became known as martyrs. None are recorded to have fought back against their deaths at the hand of the government or hateful people. Obviously it wasn’t a full religious extermination or no one of such a small group would have survived. Christianity, no matter what condition it is today, would have died with the other now extinct religions. If they had fought back maybe things could have been worse. Continue reading →