Opinion: Time to turn back toward civility

For my pro-Trump friends and acquaintances, this column is for you. I want to appeal to your better nature.

I know some intelligent people who support Trump. They like what he’s accomplished, even if they sometimes cringe at his boorish behavior. They like his pro-gun, anti-abortion, business-friendly position on things, and they love the fact that he’s packing the judicial system with conservative judges.

OK, I get it. You like what he’s done for the issues you care most about. Maybe I’d feel the same way with a boorish progressive president advancing what I care most about.

But our national circumstances have changed over the past three months, and now we’re facing a national crisis, twice over.

We’ve got a pandemic on our hands, which just about derailed that well-oiled economy Trump was so proud of, and that’s Crisis No. 1. Then came the cruel killing of yet another black man in the hands of the police, and people have taken to the streets nationwide, demanding reforms. That’s Crisis No. 2.

How has Trump addressed these crises? With No. 1, he initially soft-peddled the novel coronavirus, then got temporarily serious about it, all the while contradicting the science, sometimes to the point of absurdity. He failed in leading a national response, choosing instead to politicize the emergency and spreading false information about the situation we’re in.

As for Crisis 2, Trump has been anything but presidential in his response to the demonstrations ignited by George Floyd’s death. Instead, he’s working hard to divide us further by citing a “law and order” mantra for his base, despite how it’s hurting the nation even more. His stand against peaceful demonstrations is autocratic and un-American, as it tears at the fabric of our First Amendment right to peaceably assemble and call for a redress of grievances.

As for that photo op of him holding up a Bible in front of a nearby church, it was an embarrassment for Christianity.

There he was, awkwardly holding the Bible in front of a church that didn’t even want him there, turning his “faith” into a shameless publicity stunt.

Do the Trump-supporting evangelical Christians out there really believe he’s on God’s side? Seems more like Trump declaring God to be on his side instead.

It’s time for thinking conservatives to place this nation above their partisan interests, for the sake of saving this nation from an immoral and narcissistic leader.

Joe Biden isn’t the perfect alternative, but he’s the better alternative, and he’s right in saying that we’re in a battle for the soul of America. Our national divisions won’t magically disappear under new leadership, but at least some healing could begin.

Under Trump’s leadership, the divisions will only grow deeper. It’s time to take a turn back toward reasoned civility.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

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