I see a lot of mocking here, but the pastor has a point – there is evil at those rallies even if we disagree on the source.
In the spirit of the witness, let me tell a parable:
Meet Amy. Amy is a nice girl, could be from anywhere . She wasn’t the smartest in her class but she got into community college and did okay. Then she meets Steve. Steve is charming and says all the right things and makes her feel special. He can be bossy, but her dad was bossy, too and it’s normal for guys, right? Besides, all her friends and family think he’s the greatest. They get married. Then one day he hits her. It doesn’t stop with one day, either. She tries telling her friend, but it gets back to Steve who hits her harder and threatens to kill her. He apologises afterwards and says he’ll make it up to her, and she believes him just like she’s scared he’ll follow through on the threat. At work one day she here’s some women talking. “I can’t believe she’s so stupid to stay with him.” “She knew what he was before they got married. It’s her stupid choice.” She knows they’re not talking about her, but she won’t trust them for help. They don’t understand. She can’t go to family, because Steve has them wrapped around his finger. He convinced Amy’s mother that Amy is just accident prone – she was always clumsy so it was an easy sell. She even starts to wonder if she is crazy.
But one day Amy hears Sally’s story, and it sounds an awful lot like Amy’s. It’s a relief just knowing she’s not the only one. She feels less alone. She finds more stories, and finally works up the courage to leave.
If there is one thing this White House crew have in common it’s that they are abusers. They know the isolate and gaslight playbook. Doubters surrounded by true believers often are silent and doubt their own doubt.
At least this pastor is saying something, even if it sounds fantastic. And maybe it’ll reach the ears of others who felt the same sense of evil but couldn’t or daren’t say anything. Maybe those people will feel more secure in their doubt and start pulling away. Let this guy be Sally.
Note: in no way am I suggesting we go the route of that NYT article and start cozying up to Trumpists. Those guys can fuck themselves. “I’ll be nice if you love me” isn’t the language of the abused, but the abusers. Those guys I have no sympathy for.
All I am saying is that I am not going to hassle people who are speaking out in ways that don’t 100% match my beliefs. Just because I think evil is a wholly human trait and not a supernatural one doesn’t mean that this pastor is wrong about what he felt there. His story isn’t for me. It’s for the Amys (or Adams) who feel scared and isolated. Maybe even those who voted Trump because they were told “If I find out you voted for that bitch I will kill you.” Something like this just might give them an out. But it won’t if we shut do the abusers isolation work for them.
