CLEVELAND — On the day after Election Day, a person not sharing my long-standing opposition to Donald J. Trump asked me how I was feeling about the results of Trump’s election as president. The person’s question was voiced out of his genuine concern for me.
I responded by expressing my great disappointment in the outcome of the election. I admitted to feeling a sense of despair that Trump would once again take up residence in the White House. I admitted great regret that a MAGA transition team was already at work vetting Trump sycophants for high-ranking cabinet positions.
At that point, my caring but Trump-supporting questioner put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Ken, I know you are feeling bad right now. But believe me, our country has dodged a bullet by electing Donald Trump as our next president.”
In those moments, it was not the time or place to debate the outcome of the election. In those moments, my disappointment was too great and my appreciation for my questioner’s genuine concern for me mattered far more.
Since that time, I have been thinking about his comment that, as a result of Trump’s election, our country has dodged a bullet. I may have moments of wishful thinking that my caring friend is correct. However, I fear we have not dodged a bullet but instead suffered a grave, self-inflicted bullet wound.
President-elect Trump has said that he resonates with key supporters who have told him that God spared his life from an assassin’s bullet in order for him to save America and make it great again. Having decisively won the election, it would appear that Trump thinks that nearly 77 million voters have sounded a resounding “AMEN” and elevated Trump’s campaign promises to a national crusade.
It would appear that our soon-to-be-sworn-in 47th president will initiate his method of national redemption on day one in office and in all the days following in his four-year term.
If he follows through on his campaign rhetoric, Trump will begin our salvation by deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants. He will work with a supportive Congress to remove what many MAGA supporters believe are false notions of separation of church and state. Evangelical Christian Nationalists comprising his base support likely will work to carry out, among other things, their Project 2025 social cleansing of our libraries, efforts to establish religious rule, and by banning reproductive rights.
Mr. Trump’s salvation plan and initially announced appointments and proposals seem to be moving in the direction of making the Justice Department and our military services’ leadership partisan instruments.
With Trump’s proposal of an Elon Musk/Vivek Ramaswamy-led “Department of Governmental Efficiency,” our salvation will take place, perhaps, by eliminating the U.S. Civil Service in place since 1883 and replacing millions of government employees with smaller numbers loyal to Mr. Trump.
Our American salvation seems on track to include presidentially mandated investigations and punishment of people who Trump thinks have betrayed or opposed him. He will curtail the vaccine science of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pardon Jan. 6 insurrectionists, and, with a sense of being God’s messiah, act as president in any way he thinks best. Now with presidential immunity from any legal action, in his own words, our 47th president will do these things, “whether we like it or not.”
Have we really dodged a bullet in electing Donald J. Trump as the president of the United States?
I fear that what we have done is not to have dodged a bullet but instead willfully shot ourselves, causing a grave, self-inflicted wound full of all manner of yet undiagnosed infections.
I pray that this bullet will not prove fatal.
The Rev. Dr. Kenneth W. Chalker is retired senior pastor of University Circle United Methodist Church. He currently serves on the Citizens Advisory Council on Equity for Cuyahoga County and on the board of Children and Family Advocates of Cuyahoga County.
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