With Great Power Comes [No] Responsibility
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”
This week, America remembers—and works to move past—one of the darkest moments in our nation’s history. While that might sound hyperbolic, it is important to note that the events of January 6th, 2021 mark one of the most substantial threats to the peaceful transition of power the United States has ever faced. Despite our president-elect’s efforts to rewrite the story of this event, it was not a “day of love.” Just ask the families of those who died as a result of the violence committed by Donald Trump’s supporters, or the police officers who barely survived this assault on our democracy.
What saddens me the most—and what I also find the least surprising—is that our forty-fifth president refuses to take any responsibility for his actions on that day. In interviews and debates alike, President-elect Trump continually insists he had nothing to do with triggering this attack, instead laying the blame on then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Muriel Bowser, the mayor of the District of Columbia. According to Trump, if those two had “done their jobs”, none of the violence of January 6th would have transpired. Much of Trump’s eagerness to shift blame onto Pelosi seems to stem from her actually admitting she could have done more in advance of that fateful day in 2021. In Pelosi’s mature willingness to accept responsibility, Trump sees weakness he can exploit.
The American people—followers of Jesus among them—seem to be big fans of this style of leadership. This aligns with our actions in 2016, when we elected Trump to a first term even after—among a host of generally ungodly behavior—he claimed he could shoot someone in the middle of New York and not lose supporters. Donald Trump has been at his most politically successful when he has most aggressively refused to accept any correction or accountability for his actions.
It shouldn’t surprise us that this stands in stark contrast to the teachings of Scripture. We don’t even have to rely on the poetic wisdom of Proverbs (mentioned above) to see this as true. We can directly compare Donald Trump’s defiance with a ruler chosen by God as “a man after his own heart”: King David.
As I’ve made clear before, David was far from perfect. Any discussion of his efforts to follow and worship God must also acknowledge his deep failings. Fittingly, however, it is in how David responded when confronted with those failings that we find the clearest distinction between godly leadership, and that modeled by the man set to be our forty-seventh president.
In 2 Samuel, Scripture records the prophet Nathan’s efforts to hold King David accountable for his adulterous, murderous actions. After using a parable to get David to condemn behavior very similar to his own, Nathan explicitly declared the King of Israel’s guilt. When faced with his transgressions, David did not equivocate; he didn’t try to blame others; he didn’t seek to defend himself. His response: “I have sinned against the Lord.” David publicly owned what he did, and accepted the consequences of his actions.
Nothing I have seen or heard from Donald Trump leads me to believe he will ever follow King David’s example. Because I follow Jesus, I have to maintain hope that Trump might choose to repent. Yet the fact that the American people keep rewarding him for explicitly, stubbornly rejecting any responsibility or correction makes this extremely unlikely.
While I could contrive a hopeful way to end this post, I just don’t think that’s the word I’ve been given to speak. Instead, I’m trying to follow the example of Nathan: pointing out our sin in supporting—for a second time—a deeply ungodly man to lead our nation instead of declaring and modeling our allegiance to Jesus. With the election results now officially certified, American Christians now find ourselves in the same place as David: forced to face the consequences of our actions.