Donald Trump

There’s been plenty of coverage of what Trump and his administration have done in their first 100 days. In the conservative media ecosystem, this coverage appears as disinformation-riddled praise for how Trump has restored America’s greatness and created renewed prosperity. In mainstream media outlets, this coverage is often focused on cataloguing the harms of policies that often felt chaotic or cruel. And while I’m grateful for those who ensure the public has an accurate understanding of the impact of Trump’s decisions, there’s another set of stories beneath those headlines that rarely get as much attention: how people have consistently been taking courageous action to counter these harms.

Reading these passages today, Jesus’ trial is a striking example of the interplay between the political power brokers who condemn Jesus to death and the crowds who cried out to Jesus days earlier for deliverance. While Pilate is responsible, he uses the crowd’s actions as cover, absolving himself of responsibility for deciding Jesus’ fate. Reading this story amid the deeply concerning judicial drama playing out in real time between the Trump administration and courts, I’m reminded of the role we all can play when we collectively act — or fail to act — in support of justice.

In these tumultuous moments, I’m tempted to worry about my own retirement savings — a threat that is especially acute for those nearing retirement. These are real fears. Yet, as Christians, we also must pay attention to those who will feel the most severe impacts of this economic malpractice. And the sad truth is that these reckless tariffs will be especially harmful for people who don’t even have a 401(k), let alone any way to seek redress for U.S. government policies likely to increase inflation and spark a recession.

In the halls of empire, men sit at gleaming tables untouched by war, they speak of peace as though it is theirs to grant. But they have never gathered their children into one room to sleep at night so that if death comes, it takes them together. They have never watched the sky split open with fire, felt the air convulse after the blast, felt the wind howl past — hot, violent, and thick with the dust and scent of obliteration. And yet, they sign their names to ceasefires, shake hands, and expect the world to applaud. They do not blush as they bankroll the demolition of homes, the bombing of hospitals, and the erasure of entire families .

During the first week of February, U.S. President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whois the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. This meeting took place as the fragile ceasefire agreement between the Israeli occupying forces and the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, hung in the balance. Trump, never one to concern himself with the nuances of international law (or any law, really), originally floated the idea of the U.S. “owning Gaza” on Feb. 4 and then has since doubled down on this colonial fantasy, one so crude and reckless that his own administration scrambled to downplay it.

Autocracies begin at the ballot box. Donald Trump is the legitimately elected president of the United States who, in his first weeks in office, has used illegitimate and illegal actions to solidify his power. He has brazenly declared, “He who saves his country does not violate any Law.”

But while he is the first U.S. president to display such public contempt for the structures, institutions, and civil servants he has been elected to lead, his tactics aren’t unique. 

The fight to save the planet isn't over yet, but it will look different under Trump. Can Christians lead the charge? 

Trump's barrage of executive orders, policy decisions and campaign appointments is overwhelming in its extremism. It is designed to provoke a feeling of panicked helplessness among those who oppose his plans for immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and other targets of his vision for our country. But we do not have to give Trump what he wants and, by staying rooted in our faith, can undermine his campaign of shock and awe.

As countless Christians have expressed their disappointment with the results of the presidential election, many have heard in response platitudes such as “God is still on the throne” or “God is not Republican or Democrat.” Zach Lambert has heard those messages before. But as lead pastor of Restore Austin, he and his Texas team took a different approach. Instead of trying to “turn eyes heavenward,” his team worked to remind their church that God was with them in their grief and struggle.

TRUE CONFESSIONS: WE hoped this issue of Sojourners might be commenting on the first woman U.S. president. It would have felt like progress to see Kamala Harris, a woman of Black and South Asian heritage, in conversation with other female heads of governments, such as those in Mexico, Peru, Italy, Thailand, and Tanzania. We also planned for election results that would take time to finalize. Then, just days before our deadline, Donald J. Trump won the election — and by Electoral College votes it wasn’t even close. We feel weary and defeated. Like many of you, we worked hard to protect voters’ rights to a free and fair election. We trust that’s what we got. But the results have also moved a well-funded authoritarian movement closer to its goals, as journalist Katherine Stewart explains in our interview with her. This anti-democratic movement has hijacked parts of our Christian faith. We say it here plainly: The principles, methods, and policies of white supremacy and authoritarianism are incompatible with the message of Christ. As senior editor Rose Marie Berger writes, “The new authoritarians amassing around Trump see themselves as Nietzsche’s ‘supermen’” — superior to all others and with an immoral drive to dominate, not democratize. We will undermine them with revolutionary love every step of the way.