Who Do You Blame for this Election Disaster, and What Can Be Done About It?

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Special to United Methodist Insight | Nov. 11, 2024

Two days after the election, a discouraged friend asked me, “Who do you blame for this election disaster, and what can be done about it?” As I mulled over his first question, a long list of possible responses came to mind. For example, I blame GOP leaders who know Donald Trump is corrupt, incompetent, and dangerous, but, for political expediency, bow down to him anyway. I blame the Supreme Court for allowing Trump to delay accountability for his criminal actions until after the election and then giving him almost unlimited immunity. I blame billionaires like Elon Musk for spending hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to sway the election to their selfish advantage. And I blame Joe Biden for not pulling out sooner, depriving the Democrats of a primary election that might have given them a stronger candidate. And the list goes on. There’s plenty of blame to go around.

The Primary Factor

But in the end, I said to my friend, “I mostly blame white, churchgoing Christians.” Why? Because white people who go to church regularly are the voters who gave us Donald Trump. Agnostics, atheists, “nones,” Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and black Christians didn’t elect Trump. White Christians who attend church on a regular basis did. Twice.

And I’m not just talking about evangelicals. Yes, over 80 percent of them support Trump. But it goes far beyond evangelicals. Pew Research discovered that 71 percent of white people (evangelical, Catholic, and mainline) who regularly attend church services (once per month or more) voted for Trump in 2020. Given the numbers from the 2024 election, that percentage likely increased.

So, who is mostly responsible for electing Trump? White, churchgoing Americans. In spite of the fact that Trump violates everything Jesus stood for, including love, mercy, kindness, honesty, marital fidelity, compassion, character, decency, justice, humility, care for the sick, welcome of the stranger, and the list goes on and on. And high inflation, mostly caused by a worldwide pandemic, is not a viable excuse for Christians to forfeit those values.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Donald Trump is the most anti-Jesus president in U.S. history. His narcissism, lies, discord, rage, division, hatred, vengeance, racism, sexism, criminality, violence, cruelty, and depraved indecency (including sexual assault) have earned him that ugly distinction.

Given that reality, I have no doubt that white Christian support for Donald Trump will go down as one of the greatest failures in American church history. Unfortunately, this is just the latest failure in a long litany of them. They include support for Native American genocide, defense of slavery, participation in Jim Crow segregation, resistance to the Civil Rights Movement, the pedophile priest crisis and coverup, ugly mainline schisms over human sexuality, anti-immigrant sentiments, fostering hatred for the LGBTQ community, and so much more. Which is why, several years after my retirement, I’m still on “sabbatical” from institutional religion. And, after watching white churchgoers overwhelmingly support Donald Trump in three elections, I’m starting to think my sabbatical will never end.

Although I’m not currently involved in a traditional congregation (I’m part of a retired clergy group that serves as a sort of house church), I still attempt to follow Jesus. And I know he calls his followers to practice forgiveness. I’ve attempted to do so my entire life. For example, I forgave my father for being a horrific parent. I even forgave a man who went to prison for committing a felony against me. But I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forgive the white American church for jettisoning Jesus for the likes of Donald Trump. It may prove an unforgivable sin for me. But I’m going to try.

What Would Jimmy Do?

Although playing the election blame game is understandable, the bigger question is, What should followers of Jesus do now? As my friend asked in his second question, “What can be done?” No easy answer exists for this important question. But in these depressing days after the election, I’ve been thinking about an old story involving Jimmy Carter, who I voted for at age nineteen in my first presidential election. I voted for Carter because I believed (then and now) that he tried his best to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

Years ago, when Jimmy Carter worked as a peanut farmer, every white businessperson in his community—other than Carter—held membership in the White Citizens Council (which was basically the KKK without white sheets). One day several leaders of the Council made a visit to Carter. They informed him that he was the only white business owner in town who was not a member of their organization. They pressured him to pay twenty dollars for his membership dues or “there would be repercussions.” Jimmy Carter took a twenty dollar bill out of his wallet and said, “I’ll flush this down the toilet before I give it to the White Citizens Council.”

I believe that spirit of resistance is the best response right now for followers of Jesus. Regardless of the consequences, we must resist (in a Christian manner) Donald Trump’s anti-Jesus agenda. And before you accuse me of partisanship, that statement has nothing to do with partisan politics and everything to do with honoring and following Jesus. So I’m going to try to do that. But I don’t expect much help from the white church. Why not? Because that’s the institution who put Trump into the White House not once but twice. These are the people who have said, “Forget Jesus, we’re going with Trump.” It makes me sick—heart, mind, body, and soul.

Once again, Jesus weeps.

Martin Thielen, a retired United Methodist minister, ex-megachurch pastor, and best-selling author, is the creator and author of www.DoubtersParish.com.