Donald Trump: A lost cause?

We’ve given up on Donald Trump. It doesn't feel like that. After all, courts have blocked his odious Muslim ban. Every day, a new public figure weighs in with yet more condemnation of his sexist, racist, everything-ist policies.  I’m proud to say that my own pro-refugee placard lies somewhere amidst my laundry, ready for the next anti-Trump protest.  

But while we haven’t given up on fighting President Trump, we have given up on him. That’s clear from the number of less than innovative variations on “F*** Trump” placards at every demonstration. We don’t just oppose his values; we oppose him as a human being. It okay to hate Donald Trump. Some even justify wishing for his death.

Most people believe that human nature is inherently good but corrupted by society. Often this leads us to think that anybody can change. But despite this belief in the innate goodness of man, we don’t expect Donald Trump to change. We see him as a lost cause.  He will stay sexist, racist and obsessed with money to the end of his days.

Though I don’t believe that human nature is innately good, I am convinced that that people can change. As a Christian, I believe that humans, though created in the image of God, have become corrupted. When Donald Trump announced his heartless ban on refugees, we saw the corruption of the image of God. In contrast, when lawyers flocked too airport terminals to offer refugees free legal aid, we saw the love and goodness that comes from being made in the image of God. That’s not to say that some reflect the image of God while others are characterised by this corruption. No doubt, Donald Trump has at some point reflected the image of God. I believe that all of us, whatever our faith, are capable of reflecting both the image of God and the corruption of this image. As the Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn once said;

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?”

You might call me a pessimist for thinking this way.  If we believe that all of us are capable of acts of extreme evil, how can there be any hope for humanity? If all the good we do is tainted by corruption, how can we be optimistic that humans can change?

John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, was a slave trader. Though his career would have been considered respectable at the time, he was guilty of one of the most extreme acts of evil- the trade in ‘human souls’. It was during his time as a slave trader that he became a Christian. Although he had asked God that his sins would be forgiven, he saw nothing wrong with his career as a captain of a slave ship. Even after ill-health but an end to his career, he continued to invest in the slave trade.

34 years after becoming a Christian, Newton published Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade.  He described the pamphlet, a copy of which he sent to every Member of Parliament, as ‘a confession, which ... comes too late’. He described the shame he felt about his involvement in the slave trade;

‘It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.’

Now fully convinced of the barbarity of the slave trade, he used his own experiences to campaign against it. He lived just long enough to ‘rejoice at the wonderful news’ when the slave trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1807.

It is true that Newton was not representative of every Christian at the time. While many Christians played key roles in the fight against the slave trade, others profited from the suffering it created.  It also took an undeniably long time for him to see that his involvement in that barbaric trade was morally wrong.

But the fact remains; this slave-trader became an abolitionist. For years, he was no doubt considered a lost cause. He would have been despised. Many slaves and abolitionists would have gladly seen him dead. But, against all the odds, John Newton's life was changed.

We may not be able to wait 34 years for Donald Trump to change. Thankfully, many have been transformed much more quickly than this. The Bible tells how the Apostle (or St.) Paul, a man known for murdering the innocent, was transformed by God in an instant. Throughout history, countless murderers, criminals and even apparent good guys have become different people as a result of God working in them.

Of course, I know that Christians are still only the corrupted image of God and so are capable of evil things. Neither do I deny that some people’s lives are changed dramatically without a belief in God. I cannot, however, say I’m overly optimistic that Donald Trump will be transformed through self-reflection and pulling his own moral socks up. I’m not convinced anyone else is either. 

But I do know that anyone, when they accept that their own moral efforts can never make up for the wrong they’ve done, can ask God for forgiveness. Anyone can ask to be treated as if they themselves lived Jesus’ perfect life. Even Donald Trump.*

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All of this leaves me optimistic. Though I despise Trump’s politics, I don’t think he’s a lost cause. I believe that God can begin to restore the image of God in Donald Trump. Yes, it would be a miracle.

But it's a miracle that's happened before.

* I know Donald Trump claims to be a Christian. But since he's also said he has never asked God for forgiveness, I really don't see how he could be. If he is, however, then I am still confident that, like John Newton, he can become a changed man.