Speaking Truth To Power

“Was anyone going to say anything about the turn the country’s taking?” -- Bishop Mariann E. Budde

In 2006, at the height of George W. Bush's popularity, Stephen Colbert was invited to speak at the White House Correspondent's Dinner. Staying in his Colbert Report character, he literally spoke truth (or "truthiness") to power, courageously and hilariously skewering the President and mocking the all-too-compliant national press (e.g., "I believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least. And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq.") And the beauty was that it was done in such a deadpan manner that a clueless Bush didn't get that he was the joke and lamely laughed along while the reporters squirmed uncomfortably.    

But not even a dotard like Donald Trump could miss that he was being called out by Bishop Budde, the spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, while he slumped in the front row at the Washington National Cathedral this week. Here's how she closed her sermon:

Let me make one final plea. Mr. President, millions have put their trust in you. And as you told the nation yesterday, you have felt the providential hand of a loving God. In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives. And the people, the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals, they — they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurdwara and temples.

I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here. Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we were all once strangers in this land. May God grant us the strength and courage to honor the dignity of every human being, to speak the truth to one another in love and walk humbly with each other and our God for the good of all people, the good of all people in this nation and the world.

Calling out the President of the United States, especially when he is sitting right in front of you, is not for the faint of heart. And when that President is as vindictive and emotionally fragile as the current one, and has just pardoned the entire swath of Brownshirts, doing so is particularly fraught. But Bishop Budde felt compelled to appeal to the President to show mercy and compassion to those who are vulnerable rather than demonize broad categories of people. Now, I can't imagine she thought this would spur some spark of humanity and change his rancid mind. She was speaking to all of us. She was reminding us how important it is to not acquiesce, to not normalize, to rebut the false narratives that Trump and his cult are so adept at creating.

Indeed, in these early days of the regime it is especially critical to push back on the notion that Trump's narrowly-won election victory created a mandate for his Nazi-inspired agenda. Speaking truth to power shows that the opposition does not believe in the autocrat's invincibility or infallibility. But, unfortunately, the Democratic leadership has decided that voters care more about decorum and bipartisanship, and that it is better to sip tea with the President-elect than sound the fucking alarm.

In November 2016, M. Gessen wrote a remarkably prescient piece entitled "Autocracy: Rules for Survival." Gessen criticized Democratic leaders for their far too conciliatory post-election reactions that pretended Trump was a "normal" politician to be given the benefit of the doubt. Gessen sharply observed that their magnanimous responses may have been meant to ensure a peaceful transfer of power but effectively closed off any alternative to despair and acquiescence by implying that there was no daylight between acceptable, indeed necessary, peaceful protest and a violent insurgency. 

And here we are again. Nothing has been as dispiriting as the defeatist attitude of the Democratic Party while Trump enriches himself and his family, shreds the Constitution, pardons seditionists, undermines civil and human rights, and destroys that administrative state. With rare exceptions, such as AOC (who the geriatrics of the Party stubbornly denied a leadership position) and Bernie Sanders (who isn't even a Democrat), the Silent Minority says nothing and does nothing, except when it comes to going along with a MAGA-inspired immigration bill. 

This is not a time for compromise; it is a time for outrage. The Democrats should be railing every day about the pardons, the corruption, and the myriad abuses of power. Move for censure or, dare I say, impeachment. Force votes. Call for investigations into Trump's corruption and his apparently impulsive decision to pardon violent and non-violent January 6 rioters alike. Act with a sense of urgency regardless of the likelihood of success. Show the American People that the alarmist rhetoric about Project 2025 and Trump's fascism was not simply a campaign tactic.

If a 65-year old grandmother and spiritual leader can speak truth to power, can't the Democrats?