He's Guilty. Period.

A Black Eyed Call To Well-Meaning Christians

Marcie Alvis Walker

May 31, 2024

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Trump at Manhattan criminal court on April 23. Brendan McDermid. NBC News

Find an audio reading of this Black Eyed Call to Christians above.

Donald Trump was found guilty. His former presidency couldn’t save him. His money couldn’t save him. His maleness and his Whiteness couldn’t save him.

A New York jury of his peers found Donald Trump guilty to the 34th power and Trump Plaza couldn’t save him. Trump Tower couldn’t save him. Mar-a-Largo couldn’t save him. The entire Trump Organization couldn’t save him. Not even the RNC could save him.

The defendant, Donald J. Trump, was found guilty and MAGA couldn’t save him. Fox News couldn’t save him. Truth Social couldn’t save him.

The jury unanimously agreed he was guilty and his peanut-gallery-minions, costumed like fools in their navy suits and red ties, couldn’t save him.

Guilty is as guilty does and Trump’s threats against jurors and the judge and the prosecutors and the whole of New York couldn’t save him. His “press rants” outside the courtroom couldn’t save him, no more than his scowls and his naps inside the courtroom could save him.

He’s guilty and no one can change that - not even an appeal in his favor. He will always be, first and foremost, found guilty of all 34 charges. No matter what happens next, nothing is changing that – not even good old Christian “charity”.

Trump at Manhattan criminal court on April 26. Dave Sanders. NBC News

Christian charity is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. It’s a loudmouth false prophet who just wants to love everyone the way Jesus did. It wants to forgive and forget and let bygones be bygones. It’s White Saviorism out to save itself. It loves the sinner and completely forgets all sins. It’s a tent revivalist snake handler who forgives the snake because “it does not know what it is doing.” It serves up platters of benevolence and compassion and mercy to folks who don’t even like the taste of them. It gives out repeat second chances to folks who’ve lost count of how many they’ve received.

Trump—a serial sexual assaulter, rapist, fraudster, Nazi-sympathizer, insurrectionist, thief, defamer, chronic liar—was found guilty of covering up hush money payments while he was the president, from the Oval Office, in order to cover up his sexual assault of Stormy Daniels (y’all, I refuse to call it an affair because, according to her testimony, it was anything but) and Americans, particularly the ones who consider themselves good Christians, are already doing spiritual gymnastics to wash away the sin and erase history.

If you’re following the news, you’ve already heard several newscasters call the verdict “a dark day in history” – and no, not just on Fox News. You may have already seen heartfelt social media posts professing deep sadness because the country now has a US president who is also a felon – and no, not just from super conservative, MAGA devotees but from people who aren’t fans of Trump (however, they are fans of “being the bigger person”). All this behavior is nothing more than White supremacy and patriarchy incognito, dressed in hooded cloaks and wigs and Groucho Marx glasses. It seems harmless, even though it’s an odorless and poisonous gas that will kill us all.

Trump on May 28. The handwritten note reads: "This case should be dismissed by the judge." Julia Nikhinson. NBC News

For centuries, America—led by the church—has forgiven and forgotten the terrible deeds of rich, wealthy, incredibly privileged men because America loves the pomp and circumstance of honor more than the grit and reality of truth.

America is so much in love with the ideal of our charitable selves that we will hire a man deeply affiliated with the KKK to desecrate the sacred land of indigenous people with the 60-foot-tall faces of four presidents, two who were enslavers (one who was also a rapist though we won’t admit it), one president who massacred hundreds (and also was a segregationist – though we won’t admit that either), and one who was just an out-and-out racist who used his office to create policies upholding eugenics and White supremacy – and claim their flat-out atrocious crimes-against-humanity were due to their being “men of their time.” We will claim that their greatness far outweighed their body counts. We will christen schools with their names. We will designate holidays to memorialize them. We will write plays, movies, books, TV shows, highlighting their achievements while downplaying their offenses. We will call them founders and fathers but never what they truly were: felons who got away it.

Manhattan criminal court on April 15. Jabin Botsford. NBC News

From here on out, first and foremost, Donald Trump is a felon. He’s a felon who was also our president – our rapist, fraudulent, racist, misogynist, lying, frankly dumb, extremely cowardly, violent insurrectionist president. So it’s not a dark day but an embarrassing day in history. It’s not a sad day for democracy but a triumphant day because our democratic system of justice held him accountable for his actions.

And therein lies the difference between him and Jesus: Jesus didn’t commit a felony – and, for the record, Jesus was never tried by a jury of his peers. He didn’t have a legal defense team. There was no court case because he wasn’t convicted of a crime. Jesus was inhumanely, unjustly lynched by the government.

Trump on May 20. Mark Peterson. NBC News

Donald Trump is not Jesus. He’s not contrite. He has no remorse. He doesn’t wish to take it back. In fact, if he had it all to do again he has said he would’ve hired more loyal people – people willing to rewrite history for him and then name a school after him, assign a holiday to celebrate him, and build a gigantic monument in his image.