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Ivan G Thompson
a book bubble about
The Making of a Great America Where the Church and the Founding Fathers Fell Short
Religion & Spirituality
Author Insight
Fake Patriotism
It’s plain to most everyone that President Trump’s “patriotism” is fake. His MAGA version of patriotism has been a shroud to promote his own self-serving ambitions and white nationalism. Here’s a national anthem lyric: “Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?” “What are ramparts: the embankments that were part of the fort's defense. gallantly: in a heroic or brave manner. streaming: this describes the flag waving in the wind.” (Grammarlyblog.com) Trump supporters have perverted the meaning of America’s most revered anthem and symbol. Our flag was made into a symbol of armed insurrection as it was flown by rioters attacking the very fortress of American democracy. Instead of flying America’s flag in a heroic manner, a cowardly Trump supporter, embedded in a mob, beat Capitol a police officer with a flagpole attached to the American flag. Trump supporters carried it alongside the Confederate flag, exalting the symbol of our nation’s greatest insurrection. The president’s response to this mob who attacked the Capitol, threatened the lives of Congressmen/Senators and chanted “hang Mike Pence?” He called them “patriots.” This is the same president that vehemently attacked black athletes for kneeling before the flag during the national anthem, calling them “son of a bitches” who should be “fired.”
Book Excerpt
The Making of a Great America Where the Church and the Founding Fathers Fell Short
Our Love is as Fierce as Our Anger (excerpt)
I’m angry because I haven’t been honest. I haven’t been honest about who I am and what I believe. In a country where people fight to identify themselves in so many ways, I, for many years, have identified myself as a Christian and a Republican. I’m angry that those terms recently have been so closely associated with racism and division.
I’m angry that the President of the United States could go to Alabama in a rally and refer to a black athlete protesting gun violence as “a son of a bitch.” I’m angry that the president would attack Senator John McCain’s combat record and POW status when his wealth and privilege allowed him to escape Vietnam. I am angry at Republicans who did not rebuke the president when he attacked Senator McCain, as he was battling brain cancer, or when the attacks did not cease after his death.
A Ringing Endorsement by the Church? (excerpt)
I previously quoted 1 Cor 12:17-26 that says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” It hurt me when the president referred to a black athlete as a son of a bitch for protesting police brutality by kneeling during the national anthem. (NBC Sports Bay Area Staff, 2017)
When I think of the person kneeling, I don’t just see the flag that I spent 28 years serving and respecting. I also see horrifying camera footage of unarmed black men, following the instructions of police, shot, and even fatally shot.
Simultaneously, I see a person using incendiary words to stir up racial division, and even worse, I see that the person is not standing behind a badge, but the crest of the Office of the President of the United States.
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