Robert Hendrickson

This is every priest giving a tour of his church — “See up there...that water stain? We have no idea where the leak is coming from.”

The thing I keep thinking is that Pam Bondi didn’t turn her back on a group of grown women survivors. She turned her back on the ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, and fourteen year old girls they were. That’s the disgusting thing about where we are and who we’re content to have in charge.

The average taxpayer pays $47 per month to ensure that hungry people are fed. Let’s say a ridiculously high 20% of all food benefits are fraud. The average taxpayer, in that absurd scenario, is paying $17 per month to ensure that $30 goes to feed kids and seniors with next to nothing. I’m ok with that. And the actual fraud numbers are infinitely smaller. Let’s say, like me, you’re a small government conservative. What is the cost of starving people in an economy? What is the long term cost of malnourished kids? What is the cost of seniors who can’t eat? I don’t know all of the economic costs — I suspect the cost-benefit balance of basic subsistence is pretty solidly in favor of some base level investment. I also suspect that the long term moral cost of saving the $47 per month is infinitely more damaging—today and when we face greater powers than we now see.

Just to be clear. While churches gather food for food banks because people are hungry, our very Christian administration is petitioning the Supreme Court, with an emergency request, to halt payments for food for those most in need — and in supine acquiescence they agree that this is an emergency that must be rectified. This is with the ultimate goal that people who don’t have employer provided health care will see the cost of every medical procedure and test increased in a health system that is profoundly broken. Get a job working on new ball rooms, historic demolition, specializing in gold gilt, or as a burlesque dancer for resort parties — otherwise be prepared to go hungry these days. Resisting these policies is not about hating a politician — it’s about caring for our neighbors enough to just say enough is enough of the flow of everything in this increasingly immoral economy to billionaires. Bonus: we don’t actually know the jobs numbers because the administration now refuses to publish the employment reports. Because they are too good I suspect.

Huge credit to our stone-faced senior officers.

Imagine having spent a lifetime in military service fighting with honor across the globe to be drug home to listen to this infantile fascist agitprop from our civilian leaders. What a disgraceful display from the president and the secretary today. There is nothing redeeming or coherent in what we saw. This is the most embarrassing and brazen attempt to define our neighbors as not only opponents worth defeating but enemies worth killing. Not a mention of our obvious foreign adversaries — just one attack after another on fellow Americans in our democratic system. Seriously, listen to that speech and imagine it before Normandy. Imagine it before Dunkirk. Imagine it before Gettysburg. Imagine it it front of the Berlin Wall. Imagine it at any other time when we summoned our national greatness and you’ll realize how small and pathetic this leadership truly is. Seriously, this is a speech that should be heard by every American and then actually listened to for the fascist fever dream that it is. There is no excuse and nothing redeeming in it. The only redeeming thing in this scene is the complete professionalism of the men and women forced to listen to it. God bless our men and women in uniform and God bless this country as we endure how many more years of this absurdity.

Thin skinned leaders channel the rage of people who feel robbed somehow by society or the economy or culture or education or whatever—so they can’t afford to appear weak or ridiculous. Imagine if George H.W. Bush had been so weak as to cancel SNL because he didn’t like Dana Carvey’s impersonations. Imagine if George W. Bush were so absurdly small a person that he couldn’t stand mockery of his stutter or accent. Imagine if Gerald Ford couldn’t handle jokes about his stumbling. Imagine if Reagan couldn’t deal with jabs about his age. What if Clinton went after media outlets that joked about his wandering eye and more. We can’t imagine it because it’s such an absurd thing to have a president so fragile and humiliatingly small that he can’t take a joke. The second highest official at DOJ, Todd Blanche (the President’s former personal lawyer), even openly talked about using the Racketeering in Corrupt Organizations statutes (RICO used to bust the mafia) to go after the ladies who yelled at the president while he had dinner. Never has such a small man occupied so great an office in this country. That smallness and fragility is going to cost us all. Make a mental list of countries where leaders spend their time going after late night comedians and talk show hosts. How many countries on that list are ones in which we want to live?

The stupidity and malice of this administration cannot be underestimated. No sane country can look at a nation that threatens its allies with territorial expansion (Greenland), abandons those who helped it (canceled Afghan visas), assaults the livelihood and sovereignty of its neighbors (Canada), walks away from its historic commitment to freedom (Ukraine and Taiwan), launches an unprovoked economic suicide pact in the form of economic terrorism (tariffs), reneges on its agreements (free trade with South Korea and many others), and makes nice with the most disruptive and abusive governments in the world (Russia)—no reliable ally can now look at us as reliable. This is not because of this administration. It is because the people elected the person who promised these things. Add to this the abandonment of key research into complex diseases and life-threatening conditions, the gutting of any semblance of American commitment to the welfare of those in need around the world, the mockery of the rule of law, the rhetoric around disbanding the federal judiciary and third terms, and the central role of conspiracy theorists and a ketamine-fueled oligarch in our decision making. Combine this with the shuttering of Voice of America and the canceling of funding for democracy promoting non-profits around the world. And nations around the world watch as we cancel the visas of researchers and scientists who would be the next generation of proud Americans, from all corners of the earth, who would truly have made us great. They watch as we deport the folks who build houses, till fields, and pick fruit because they dreamed of a better life here. This is the dismantling of American leadership—and every single data point that a rational actor around the globe would look to to make a decision about whether we can be trusted now or in the future is a flashing red light. An administration has decided that its enemies are its civil servants and its existential threats are posed by fellow democracies. We may yet make a course correction here at home but we have planted seeds of doubt and discord that will fester for decades. I always come back to the point that none of this is conservative. This is the dismantling of the Eisenhower, Reagan, Bush I legacy. It is walking away from anything that made us great for the sake of nothing. There will be no gain. There will be no golden age. We will look at a White House that has been covered in cheap gold fakery and wonder what happened. We will look for someone to blame as the world watches with pity and scorn as a noble experiment was ended with one gaudy escalator ride. A cadre of tv show hosts and backbench hecklers has been enlisted to testify to the manifest destiny of a felon who has been rebuked and repudiated by everyone who worked for him before as they now dismantle the guardrails put in place over decades to protect against precisely this. Something else will be next. But there is no going back. We will not be able to make America great again because we have chosen to show that we can no longer be trusted. That’s the cost of electing someone so manifestly unworthy of the office because we were too unimaginative in predicting how much damage one soulless man could do to our national character.

We are one country, united, even the losers who supported my predecessor, the worst president in history. It is sad these animals poisoning the blood of our country won’t cheer when I call them pigs and won’t clap while I kick their dogs — which would have been eaten if it weren’t for me.

I’d offer that feeding starving people is the opposite of spreading atheism. Faith without works is dead and the work of feeding the hungry is at the heart of every faith tradition. Indeed, it’s just at the heart of being a decent human.

This is a misunderstanding of the role of clergy. Jesus himself says “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The role of clergy is to cut through the bs of this world with a clear word from the Kingdom.

Since we’re going to throw out one amendment (birthright citizenship) we might as well have a 2 for 1 sale.

As I understand it, there was a pledge to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and then, almost immediately, an unconstitutional attack on birthright citizenship was launched. It’s almost like this guy doesn’t take vows seriously.

When I was a kid, I remember a friend of mine and I found his parents’ liquor cabinet. We discovered vodka and had no idea what we’d opened up but it was fun until we passed out. A lot of folks think this is fun but there’s a serious hangover coming for all of us.

I’ve typed and re-typed a dozen things here. But here’s the only honest thing I’ve come up with watching this today. God help us. I’m trying not to dislike neighbors, family, and friends who made this possible. But God help us. I’ll find more to say. But God help us.

It’s five years now…and still the letters and e-mails come…but it’s definitely not a cult.

…courageous enough for photoshop…on the eye…and on the jowls…and on the cheeks…and on the hair…but courageous…except on the shading on the collar and lapel…but definitely courageous…except around the tips of the ears…and the shading filters…but definitely courage…

People have asked why we home school or why I don’t trust the school system. Not that long ago, when the public school system said they had no room for our son after his IEP was approved, he couldn’t read. He couldn’t write. He couldn’t do basic math. He would come home and literally crawl under a bench in our back yard and cry, asking why his teachers didn’t like him. Tonight, I went to search for something on YouTube. There I found his searches for various things. He had applied the learning and reading and writing he has done. I don’t know that a parent has ever teared up at reading “Tower of Terror Walt Disney World” but I did. Because I know just how hard he worked to get to the point where he could search for videos about rides at Disney. I know many have issues with the ESA program here in Arizona and many don’t think vouchers should exist. But I know for a certainty that he would still be unable to open YouTube and find a video about rides if he were in the schools that rejected him.

Marc Elias’ take on Donald Trump: “Donald Trump is not Hitler. He is not Stalin. His vision of America is neither pre-war Germany nor the post-war Soviet Union. The United States is not at risk of falling into totalitarianism. The United States has its own history and culture. It has a unique way of manifesting its politics. That does not mean, however, that we cannot learn from other places and other times. As Mark Twain, the most American of American writers, wrote: “History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.” So, let’s start with what we know. Trump is a deeply unserious man. In a different era, he would have been a carnival barker. If not born to privilege and wealth he would be running a low level scheme or selling supplements on a sketchy website. Instead, he is the president-elect who, in addition to hawking schlocky items on the internet, will soon command the highest, most powerful office on earth. We know that he admires modern day dictators and strongmen. He seeks their favor and rejoices in their flattery. He rejects liberalism — things like the rule of law, impartial government and fundamental rights. He has contempt for democratic norms and institutions. Elections are only fair when he wins and rigged when he loses. For Trump, the presidency exists to exact the spoils of electoral victory rather than a public trust. Like many of you, I have spent the last few days trying to make sense of things — asking how this happened and what comes next. As for the second question, I have been doing a lot of reading. It is something that preoccupied the Founders, who were afraid of the reemergence of a king. Decades after the founding, John Adams was still concerned. In 1814 he wrote to a colleague that “democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” As part of my processing, I went back and reread several of Hannah Arendt’s works. She is best known for her account of the trial of Adolf Eichmann in which she coined the phrase “banality of evil.” In her telling, the Nazi SS leader was a mediocre joiner. In her words a “clown.” But, in my opinion, her most important book was The Origins of Totalitarianism, in which she attempts to explain the mechanics of how totalitarian movements come to power. One observation of hers strikes me as most relevant today. “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”  It is hard to make sense of Trump’s recent cabinet nominations without coming back to this central truth: He is nominating “crackpots and fools” because that is what Trumpism requires. It is required both by Trump himself but also by his followers. As a narcissist, Trump surrounds himself with people who, like him, reject science, expertise and the idea of objective facts. As a leader, he must continue to promote ever more extremist conspiracy theories to explain why his last conspiracy theory failed to come true.” 🍿

I’m personally absolving everyone who day drinks this week.

This is my letter to the congregation about the election: When I was young, I had a paper route. I had to get up early, around 5:00am, before boxing practice at 6:30, and get out and deliver newspapers. I don’t know if you’ve been in northern Indiana in the winter. But at 5:00am, it is cold! I’d be exhausted and freezing. I’d get home, get ready to head back out the door to practice and I’d say to my dad, “I’m so tired!” His response was always, “Then do it tired.” If I was cold, he’d say “do it cold.” He’d say the difference between winners and losers was that winners could do what they needed to do whether they were tired, cold, hungry, or whatever. That came to mind this week after the election. There are a lot of people who are exhausted, me included. A lot of people are worn down emotionally and spiritually. A lot of people are just tired. We’ll have to do it tired. What is it, exactly? It is going to mean ensuring that those who most need to hear it hear the Gospel through us and our actions. It is going to mean ensuring that the divisions of the day aren’t enough to break our spirits, our hearts, or our trust in God. It is going to mean ensuring that those who are now fearing they will be rounded up and deported without dignity or due process know the church has always and will continue to offer sanctuary. It is going to mean standing up for the dignity of all people in the face of a constant pressure to dehumanize and denigrate them. It is going to mean being a voice for justice and a defender of freedom. It is going to mean not being political for the sake of making a point. It is going to mean speaking to the cruelties of our politics with the love of the Gospel. And we’ll just have to do it tired. I have zero interest in being another bit player in the partisan dramas of the day. However, the Church has always, in our best hours, been an ally of those who have found themselves victimized by the power of the state. So many of the stories of the saints aren’t about how privately pious the saints all were. So many and more of them are saints because they heard the call of Christ to stand between the powers of this world and the poor, the innocent, the hungry, and the oppressed. The Church may need to put itself between the oppressed and the state once again. We may need to lift our voice on behalf of those who fear theirs won’t be heard. We may need to respond to the human needs that the power plays of national politics create. We also need to be ready to be a healing force in these divided times as we model for the world how to be a people united in Christ across our differences. I don’t know what the need will be. None of us do. We can’t predict the future but we can learn from the past. In times of fierce division, everyday people are often the collateral damage. We are the ambulance service of our national life. We are here to carry the wounded and heal the broken as Christ’s hands and feet in the world. We’ve been here before. The saints have shown us what to do. We’re tired. But we’ll have to do it tired.