in Politics, Self-Reflection, Things I've Learned, US History 1,028 Words

How are you?

I have followed John Pavlovitz’s blog for years. He is a pastor whose church left him. Notice my phrasing. In these times of evangelicals blurring the lines between church and state and morphing into what resembles a political party, Mr. Pavlovitz found himself out of step with his congregation.

Mr. Pavlovitz now writes on Substack. Like me, he is worried about the state of things in America and is baffled over how people who profess to be Christians think all the chaos, name-calling, lying, and destruction of our democracy that have taken place since January 20 are just fine. They say they would vote for it again, if given the opportunity.

On April 25, Mr. Pavlovitz wrote an excellent piece on Substack titled, “Do You Miss Who You Were Before All This? I Do.” Reading that article prompted me to write today’s blog post.

I wanted to address this on April 26 or April 28, 29, or 30, or May 1, 2, or 6, but I had already started writing my posts for those days. I was just trying to keep up with all the craziness going on in the US Government, so I had to plug today’s topic into my first available day… Friday, May 9.

Mr. Pavlovitz wrote eloquently in his April 25 piece about how he misses his former self. He realizes he has been dealing with the growing intolerance for others in our society and in our world for a decade now.

He misses his former self who laughed more easily, who naively thought most people around him had the same worldview, who more easily gave people the benefit of the doubt than he does today.

I can identify with everything he said, and I miss my former self. In fact, I miss the person I was before November 5, 2024.

The me I was before the election was a hopeful me. That me thought that surely there were enough good people in America that Donald Trump would not be reelected.

As the election results came in on the night of November 5, I realized how I had misjudged my fellow Americans.

The night that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in November 2016 was a huge disappointment.

The night Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris was a gut punch.

In the ensuing weeks, I tried to convince myself that even though the next four years would be bad, we would weather the storm. America was strong. Ultimately, good would prevail.

Then Inauguration Day came and whiplash set in. The Project 2025 playbook we had been warned about, was put into place at warp speed.

I have lost some things, like my sense of humor, joy to greet each new day, anticipating that day will be a good one.

But I have learned a lot about myself.

I have learned that I can speak up for democracy when it is no longer a safe thing to do.

I can speak out against injustice.

Photo of a woman speaking into a megaphone
Photo by Juliana Romão on Unsplash

I can put myself out there on the internet with my blog and say things that I know some people won’t like. Some of those people are my friends, relatives, and fellow church members.

I have found what I am willing to fight for. It was easy to be patriotic my first 72 years. It is not so easy now to be patriotic in America if you love democracy. The MAGA people have blurred the meaning of patriotism. In their eyes, if you don’t blindly and angrily support Trump, you are not patriotic. It is not so easy when you know that speaking up against the United States President can land you in harm’s way.

The MAGA people have blurred what it means to be a Christian. They seem to have a convoluted belief that God favors America and God wants America to be rich and turn its back on poor people here at home and around the world. They seem to believe that God wants America to wield such a fierce and powerful military that the rest of the world will cower in fear. The fact that they conflate that worldview with believing in Jesus Christ just doesn’t add up in my mind.

Coming to grips with this new Christian Nationalism movement is the most frightening part of our current situation in the United States. So many people who profess faith in Jesus Christ appear to have lost sight of his teachings. Instead of clinging to “Love thy neighbor,” they cling to “An eye for an eye.” Or, at best, they only consider people who are just like they are as their neighbors.

I am momentarily encouraged when I hear things like a US District Court for the District of Columbia granting a temporary restraining order to block Trump’s dismantling of the Institute of Museums and Library Services.

I am momentarily encouraged when I hear that the Voice of America shutdown is moving its way through the court system.

I am temporarily encouraged when I hear that there was enough public outcry and pressure put on by a journalist that the Guatemalan woman who was eight months pregnant and walked through an Arizona desert for two days with just one bottle of water is going to get a chance to tell a judge why she sought safety in the United States because she was scared to remain in Guatemala. If not for the press, though, she would have been deported as soon as her baby was born.

I cringe when Trump says the press is “the enemy of the people.”

It should not take a judge or a reporter to stop the injustices. The injustices should not be happening, but they are happening in such numbers and with such rapidity that there’s no way for the judiciary or the press to catch them all.

When I ask, “How are you?” please don’t say, “Fine.” If you are truly “Fine” right now in America, you’re obviously not paying attention.

Until my next blog post

I hope you have a nice, relaxing weekend.

I hope you have a good book to read.

Remember the people of Ukraine and western North Carolina.

Janet

 

50 thoughts on “How are you?”

  1. Wonderful post that truly explains (to whoever is out there that does not know about the caos this man has released upon the whole world) the situation. I would say not to let it capture and defeat your spirit. We know that ultimately God is in charge and no matter how bad things may be, there is always the possibility that they will change for the better. Goodness has a way, like nature, to creep into even the most toxic of environments. Think of how nature has recaptured the areas that the Chernobyl disaster destroyed. I do hope you have a lovely weekend Janet. You are doing a phenomenal job of trying to awaken sleepy minds and of trying to make sheep less sheep-like and I applaud it and respect it. All the best.

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  2. I hope you have a good book to read Janet and have a nice peaceful weekend the more of your posts I read and I do read them all I don’t comment on them all as I am often just lost for something positive to say but I do keep the decent law abiding real Christians in my heart and prayers x

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  5. Thank you, Carol. I keep hoping I’ll be able to cut back on how many days a week I blog, but there seems to be no letup in the material I feel like I need to speak out about. I appreciate your support and prayers! I hope you have a nice, restful weekend, too.

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  7. Thank you for your constant encouragement, Francis. I just hope some of what I’m saying in my blog will reach some people who need to hear it. I’ll probably never know. Trump’s sheep are just as sure they are right as I am sure that I am right. It boggles the mind! Yes, the area around Chernobyl is coming back, and in a few centuries America’s national forests and national parks will recover. It seems like such a waste for mankind to be so hellbent to destroy God’s beautiful world! And the American democracy might recover. If I’m not here to see that, perhaps my great-nieces will. I hear what you are saying, and I’m trying to be optimistic. There are definitely lessons to learn from our present state of affairs. One of them is patience, and another one is faith.

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  9. Yes! I read about it this afternoon and immediately added it to my blog post I’ve drafted for next Wednesday. Shame on her for (1) being a professional librarian; (2) for being appointed by President Obama; (3) for making an effort to make sure published materials by minorities were getting into the collection; (4) for pushing for the digitalization of materials so they will be accessible to more people; (5) for being a black; and (6) for being a woman. We’ll have none of that in the Trump Administration!

    Last night he also fired the FEMA Administration he appointed because he testified before a Congressional committee on Wednesday that he didn’t think a agency designed to help citizens after a disaster should be dismantled.

    All this the same day he appointed Jeanine Pirro to the District Court in DC.

    It just too much to digest, Liz. How much more destruction can we stand?

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  11. As you know, I’m an outsider looking in with horror. And I know that sometimes I must sound like Pollyanna, though I really don’t mean to – I certainly don’t feel overly optimistic, for sure! But a few things are happening to make me think that Trump has recognised that what he’s doing is losing him popularity. The polls, for a start, show that a considerable majority of Americans don’t like what he’s doing in terms of deportation without due process, even though they like the hard line on the border. There’s also a majority who think he’s going too far in ignoring the constitution. He’s toned down the anti-Zelenskyy rhetoric and also the pro-Putin rhetoric, and apparently the US is going to actively participate in tomorrow’s meeting on next steps for Ukraine if Russia doesn’t agree to a ceasefire, According to Macron the US has agreed to join other countries in putting even tighter sanctions in place – we’ll see if that’s true. He is so desperate to find an off-ramp on the tariffs issue that he’s practically begging China to come to the table even as he denies it. I know none of that makes up for all the horrible things he’s doing, but they give a small gleam of hope that the regime isn’t feeling as secure as they pretend to be.

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  12. I just wish I knew who that is. He’s like a runaway bulldozer with no driver, no conscience, no functioning brain… unable to even verbalize what he’s thinking or doing.

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  13. Thank you for pointing out the glimmers of hope. As someone looking at the horror show from the outside, you are better informed than a lot of Americans, and I value your perspective and what you are hearing on the news over there. I hope you are right on all counts. All our news networks have been obsessed with Pope Leo. It is as if the network executives think we are all Roman Catholics! Most Roman Catholics I know aren’t even interested, but we have been bombarded all week with the Pope. I need to just start watching the BBC! I would love to think Trump is finally seeing Putin for what he is, but Trump admires dictators and definitely aspires to be one. He is not to be trusted. His declarations change every five minutes. He has already done irreparable damage to every facet of our society. He is a fascist, a racist, and a liar who has a cult following. That aside, LOL, there might be some cracks in his armor. It’s just so hard to see a way out of this any time soon. I truly value your comments.

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  14. Unless someone pulls the plug on him or he’s certified insane you are going to have material for a while yet , Janet as he shows no sign of running out of steam all we can hope is he does so much damage to the idiots who surround him that they call it a day as effect them and their standing in communities it will come home to roost x

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  15. That’s true, Carol. I used to struggle sometimes to find something to blog about just once a week! That’s hard to believe now! Our only hope might be what you said about the idiots wo surround him. Can you imagine going to a job every day in which all you get to do is think evil thoughts and take evil actions against innocent people? What a miserable existence for everyone who currently works in the White House! I keep thinking enough US Senators and Representatives will hear from their constituents that they want all this to stop. I just don’t know what it’s going to take for that to happen. His pardoning the insurrectionists who trashed the US Capitol should have been a deal breaker. I’ve never been so baffled over anything in my entire life. Thanks for reading my dismal blog posts and taking the time and being interested enough in our horror show to leave comments. It means more than you can imagine. Enjoy your weekend!

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  17. Hi Janet I can feel your angst try to have a good weekend with good thoughts everyone needs some respite from the horrors that are being unleashed day by day xx

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  18. I truly do appreciate your posts and I learn many things from them Janet. It is a service that you are doing that is most important but more importantly is to keep the faith, the positive projection and the spirit alive of hope and happiness no matter what. You are disciplined and know what hard work is and you use that knowledge and ability to create. I am wishing you have a blessed and peaceful weekend. All the best Janet.

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  19. We can only hope, Liz.

    Here I am, discovering your comment at 3:20 a.m. on Saturday. After going to bed, I made the mistake of scrolling through Facebook and I landed on a Time magazine story I had completely missed in March. Did you know that CIVICUS Monitor put the USA on its civil liberties Watchlist on March 10th? How did I miss that? So I returned to my computer to research it and drafted my blog post for Monday. I’d already written and scheduled “What I read in April 2025,” but somehow that no longer seemed important. It’s just something I’m in the habit of blogging about every month. This month it is more of an explanation of why I haven’t read any fiction since February and his initials are DJT. So here I am, getting ready to un-schedule that post and reschedule it for Thursday and hope for the best. Already drafted other pressing things for Tuesday and Wednesday. I am at once flabbergasted and relieved to see the US on that Watchlist. Never expected to see it on such a list, but relieved that the world is indeed paying attention even though 77 million Americans are not or don’t care. I’ve given up figuring them out. We have too much to do now to waste time trying to figure them out! I can’t believe this is where we are, Liz. Ironically, at 11:00 this morning I’m attending a Valley Forge Society ceremony to honor my gggg-grandfather’s brother. The ceremony will be at the old graveyard out in the country where a number of Revolutionary War soldiers and patriots are buried. And here we are 249 years later in as dire straits as they were! They would be so disappointed in us.

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  20. I can feel for both you and the Pastor. I wonder how people of good will, intelligence, faith, or any positive attribute can possibly think that the Orange One’s behavior is acceptable or even tolerable. Somebody commented on my post about firing of the Librarian of Congress, which Fox News Host would succeed her. It is alarming how likely that possibility is, unless he decides to make it Marco Rubio’s 4th collateral position. “Gloom, despair and agony on (us), Deep dark depression, excessive misery, if it weren’t for bad luck we’d have no luck at all. Gloom, despair and agony on (us).” from a Hee-Haw skit, which is unfortunately accurate today.

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  21. You are doing a wonderful job, Janet, but I don’t want you to lose your joy. Take some time off from all the chaos and choose to be happy because the joy of the Lord is your strength. Excellent post as usual.

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  23. That Hee-Haw skit is apropos, for sure! Add to the Librarian of Congress… today he fired Shira Perlmutter, the US Copyright Register! All her information has been removed from the Copyright Office website tonight, but I’ve read about her elsewhere and it sounds like it would be hard to find anyone more qualified for the position. But Fox News, here we come. It’s deduced that she was fired because her office gave a third report this week trying to put up guardrails between copyrighted material and AI. It seems Musk had requested a whole bunch of copyright materials from her to train AI and she refused. I cringe to think what AI nerd/idiot Trump will put in her place! These morons may as well just burn down the Library of Congress and the US Copyright Office. This is tragic.

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  24. Hi Carol. I sort of took a break from politics and the news all day today, but then did some catching up tonight. If I get a day behind, I cannot catch up. Trump is firing qualified people every day. It just doesn’t end. I’ve pretty much finished writing blog posts for Monday through Friday unless something else happens that I need to add to one of them. I’m sure it will. We will never have several consecutive days of peace as long as Trump is in office. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and we’ll see what next week holds!

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  25. Thank you, Francis. I am taking some time off this weekend. I had to track down a couple of news stories tonight, but that’s all. Light always defeats the dark. We just have to keep the faith, like you said. I am doing another read-though of my devotional booklet. It is doing me good to reread things that I wrote months ago when life was less stressful. I need to take some of the advice I offer in the booklet! For one thing, I need to warn out of love, not out of anger.

    It is very cool and damp here. A big rain last night, with clouds and some rain predicted every day for the next week. Strange weather for May. There was a 4.1 magnitude earthquake this morning in Tennessee near the border with North Carolina in the Great Smoky Mountains. Our earthquakes in this region rarely exceed 2.5, so this was quite unusual. We did not feel it here, but it was felt as close as 20 miles to our west.

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  26. I think you are on a good path towards working on your devotional booklet and on your historical novel. I truly hope you have a beautiful and blessed Sunday!

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  31. Had not heard that one yet. He is killing this country faster than I thought anyone could. Some day it will hopefully get better. No idea when. Maybe when he gets his fancy new plane from Qatar which he is allegedly going to continue to use when/if he ever leaves office.

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  32. Yes! That plane! To heck with the emoluments clause! Will the US get all the listening devices out of it? Will they even try? There are no rules anymore for anything. We are doomed. I guess the new person who will probably come from Fox News will trash the copyright office. And here I was, trying to figure out how best to handle my copyrights in my will. I guess that’s no longer necessary. And why are white Afrikaners being brought to the US at taxpayers’ expense when refugees from no other country in the world are being allowed in? It is Sunday night, and I’ve already written blog posts for Monday through Friday. I didn’t know until this weekend that the US was put on the CIVICUS Monitor Watchlist for a narrowing of civil liberties. Isn’t it wonderful that we’re now on the same list as Serbia and the Congo? That’s my blog topic tomorrow. I don’t have to worry about running out of blog topics until or if Trump is out of office or dies. Then, I’ll still have the aftermath to write about. This is not what I wanted for my little blog!

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  36. Pat, I just learned an hour ago about Trump’s May 9th Proclamation: Establishing Project Homecoming. I just spent the last hour writing about it for my Monday morning blog post, moving Monday’s blog to Tuesday, etc. I now have posts written for every day through next Saturday. Ugh! Too bad I don’t get paid for this! https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/establishing-project-homecoming/ Read section 3(b). Homeland Security already has 80k officers and this proclamation calls for an increase of at least 20,000. Every thug on the streets with a beef against immigrants is going to sign up for this! Never thought I’d be living in a police state.

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  37. The institutional or largely fake Christians who still vocally and politically support Donald Trump tend to see him as literally Godsent. Many also publicly state that Trump’s presidency is divinely-intended punishment against liberals.

    On Nov.6, Trump publicly stated: “Many people have told me that God spared my life [from two assassination attempts] for a reason. And that reason was to save our country and to restore America to greatness.” (Then again, Adolf Hitler also escaped assassination attempts made against him, most notably that foiled effort called the July Plot or Operation Valkyrie, and may have also mused that something supernatural spared his life.)

    At the same time, many people/voters, including numerous Christlike Christians, actually find Trump to be the very unstable, vengefully angry and self-centered/-serving type willing to take the world for a most brutal spin, perhaps even for the sake of him making it into the historical-‘greatness’ books. If anything, he’s evidence of a great evil being unleashed onto a largely powerless world.

    … Sadly, some of the best humanitarians I, as a big fan of Christ’s unmistakable miracles and fundamental message, have met or heard about were/are atheists or agnostics who, quite ironically, would make better examples of many of Christ’s teachings/practices than too many ‘Christians’. Conversely, some of the worst human(e) beings I’ve met or heard about are the most devout believers/preachers of fundamental Biblical theology.

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  38. I’m afraid you are correct. Thank you for reading my blog and for taking the time to leave a detailed comment about your views and experience.

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  39. God bless you! I really appreciate your words because I’ve been confused since Mr T first showed up. The Church strongly urged us to go with the Conservative party…and I cringe to admit, I went along with the “herd mentality”…and I regret it.

    I don’t know how this will sit with you, but the only comfort I take is from the Bible–I’m speaking about how more than once or twice God allowed a not-good/not-Godly person to rule because it served HIS purpose and greater plan.

    I have just enough faith to trust and believe that HE will sort it all out, and have HIS way. His heart is and always has been for the poor, downtrodden, abused, hurting, oppressed…so I’m counting on Him to do what He always does best–BE GOD. I have to, He’s all I’ve got.

    But in no way do I like Anything about Mr T, not one smidgen bit…and I’ve no clue why he’s so popular, but it makes my head ache to think about it too much. Thank you for this post, I’m glad I stumbled upon it. Have a blessed weekend, God bless you.

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  40. Thank you so much for reaching out to me, Rene. It’s been a busy day, so I apologize for being this long in responding to your comments. I waited until I wouldn’t be rushed. I am touched that what I wrote in my blog helped you. I have been blessed my entire life to belong to a church in a denomination that does not try to dictate people’s political beliefs and alliances. I know there are churches that do that and I am so sorry that your church influenced you in a negative way. I thank God that you have emerged from that experience in a position to make political choices and decisions for yourself.

    It seems to me that there is a vast disconnect between some Christians’ religious beliefs and their political thinking. I do not understand how a person can believe in Jesus Christ and at the same time support the hatred proclaimed by Mr. T and his ilk day in and day out. I know some Christians voted for him because he said he was against abortion. Frankly, I don’t think he cares either way about abortion. I think he just said what he needed to say to get elected. Even so, I never understood how any Christians or women voted for him. the disdain he holds for non-white people and his complete lack of compassion for anyone but himself is mind-boggling.

    Like you, I know God has allowed rulers who were less than desirable from a Christian point of view to rule, and I know God will work all this out. Unfortunately, sometimes it has taken hundreds of years for the influence those un-Godly rulers had to run their course. On the other hand, God gave humans free will and He allows us to mess up. I think the American voters messed up big time by electing Mr. T. the first time and they messed up colossally (If that’s a word!) when they reelected him. I don’t know the mind of God, but I do not believe it was God’s will that Trump ascended to power a second time. He is causing too much harm to poor people around the world. I will never understand the Christians who say Trump was sent by God to be our President. Never!

    Thank you again for finding my blog and taking the time to leave such an honest comment about your own struggles. We must hold fast to our faith in God, knowing that whatever happens to us in this life, He is with us always and absolutely nothing can separate us from His love.

    May God continue to bless you. Enjoy your weekend!

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  41. Janet, thank you so much for your reply. Yes, I don’t believe he says anything from the heart–he speaks what gets votes. And my head truly spins that any woman would vote for a Grade A misogynist. As I said earlier, my trust is in the SOVEREIGN LORD, HE REIGNS FOREVER…His Word promises that there WILL BE JUSTICE. Much love to you…I’m so glad it’s the weekend! Let’s chill out!🤗

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  43. Haha, yes Ma’am! …on a serious note, I’m not a news junkie…it robs my peace. I should probably subscribe to your site–so you can “give it to me straight” without making me crazier! Blessings to you, dear heart.

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  44. I majored in political science in college and have always been a news junkie. That is definitely not good for my mental health now! My blogs might send you over the edge, Rene. I don’t always blog about politics, but I feel compelled to do so often. After more than ten years of usually blogging just once a week about writing or books I was reading, I now blog several times a week. Too many people aren’t paying attention to what’s happening, and I try to highlight some things that aren’t necessarily getting much news media attention. I’d love for you to follow my blog, but I don’t want it to ruin your health! LOL!

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  45. Hahaha, you’re too cute, my friend! I had a neighbor who was super political–liberal (where I tend to be conservative). He would keep me updated–maybe in an effort to influence me, but maybe not…we respected each other’s differences (many!) I miss him–he used to gladly accept whatever I cooked, as I always cooked way too much!

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  46. I miss the America in which people of differing political views could still find common ground and remain friends. That is becoming harder and harder to accomplish.

    Liked by 1 person

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