President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, has a message of importance.

This is from a Republican. George W. Bush's speechwriter. ***Warning; it is graphic ***.

President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter, Michael Gerson, has a message for people who are excusing President Trump's racism:

"I had fully intended to ignore President Trump’s latest round of racially charged taunts against an African American elected official, and an African American activist, and an African American journalist and a whole city with a lot of African Americans in it. I had every intention of walking past Trump’s latest outrages and writing about the self-destructive squabbling of the Democratic presidential field, which has chosen to shame former vice president Joe Biden for the sin of being an electable, moderate liberal.

But I made the mistake of pulling James Cone’s 'The Cross and the Lynching Tree' off my shelf — a book designed to shatter convenient complacency.

Cone recounts the case of a white mob in Valdosta, Ga., in 1918 that lynched an innocent man named Haynes Turner. Turner’s enraged wife, Mary, promised justice for the killers. The sheriff responded by arresting her and then turning her over to the mob, which included women and children. According to one source, Mary was 'stripped, hung upside down by the ankles, soaked with gasoline, and roasted to death. In the midst of this torment, a white man opened her swollen belly with a hunting knife and her infant fell to the ground and was stomped to death.'

God help us.

It is hard to write the words.

This evil — the evil of white supremacy, resulting in dehumanization, inhumanity and murder — is the worst stain, the greatest crime, of U.S. history. It is the thing that nearly broke the nation. It is the thing that proved generations of Christians to be vicious hypocrites. It is the thing that turned normal people into moral monsters, capable of burning a grieving widow to death and killing her child.

When the president of the United States plays with that fire or takes that beast out for a walk, it is not just another political event, not just a normal day in campaign 2020. It is a cause for shame. It is the violation of martyrs’ graves. It is obscene graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial. It is, in the eyes of history, the betrayal — the re-betrayal — of Haynes and Mary Turner and their child. And all of this is being done by an ignorant and arrogant narcissist reviving racist tropes for political gain, indifferent to the wreckage he is leaving, the wounds he is ripping open.

Like, I suspect, many others, I am finding it hard to look at resurgent racism as just one in a series of presidential offenses or another in a series of Republican errors. Racism is not just another wrong. The Antietam battlefield is not just another plot of ground. The Edmund Pettus Bridge is not just another bridge. The balcony outside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel is not just another balcony. As U.S. history hallows some causes, it magnifies some crimes.

What does all this mean politically? It means that Trump’s divisiveness is getting worse, not better. He makes racist comments, appeals to racist sentiments and inflames racist passions. The rationalization that he is not, deep down in his heart, really a racist is meaningless. Trump’s continued offenses mean that a large portion of his political base is energized by racist tropes and the language of white grievance. And it means — whatever their intent — that those who play down, or excuse, or try to walk past these offenses are enablers.

Some political choices are not just stupid or crude.

They represent the return of our country’s cruelest, most dangerous passion. Such racism indicts Trump. Treating racism as a typical or minor matter indicts us." — Michael Gerson

We will benefit if we pay attention to her.

Although her ability to win is slim, Marianne Williamson is the candidate who is focused on the real problem - it is the poisoning of the heart and soul of these United States - the neglect of the passion for freedom and compassion that has always made this country special. Trump can win on programs - even many who despise him think he is doing a good job as a chief executive. On the surface the country is thriving but Trump has poisoned the swamp he assured us he would drain. He has not gotten rid of it but he has drained most of the decency and compassion that was left as a governing principle. Marianne Williamson is very likely correct that we cannot beat Trump on policy and programs - we must expose him for the corrupting, callous, self-serving force that he is.

Tim Wise, the author of “White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privilege Son” writes: 

People who say the Democrats should ignore Trump`s race-baiting because it`s some political genius strategy calculate to distract us are idiots.  He`s no genius.  If you downplay it, you normalize him.   You make this about policy, you normalize him.

He adds: If anything, I would say crafting an argument that this is an existential crisis for the nature and making it about Trump`s bigotry and who we want to be as a country would be far more effective.   It`s the only way we`re going to get reasonable moderates and conservatives who probably are never going to agree on policy with the candidates the Democrats have, but they can come together on the basis of a moral message and we can live to fight another day about the issues that we care about once the Democrat has defeated Donald Trump.  But in the meantime please understand that this movement that he is leading poses a threat to the values that this country holds dear.  It is a movement that is opposed to pluralism, opposed to multiculturalism.  It is a white identity cult and we all can do better than that. 

WISE:  Marianne Williamson is doing it.  If Marianne Williamson`s doing it, they can all do it.  Believe me. 

This is part of an interview from MSNBC’s Chris Mathews’ show “Hardball”.  Sadly Chris felt the need to be sarcastic about the inclusion of Marianne Williamson’s participation in the “serious” political debate that had taken place.  

While she may stand no chance of winning the election, there is no question that she was the only one on that stage who made clear the real problem with Donald Trump.  You can say he is an effective executive but he totally lacks any appearance of a moral compass.  Much of Trump’s key support comes from people who claim strong moral compasses.  Can they continue to deny the nature of the man that Trump has shown himself to be – a guy with little compassion and no love for those average people who believed he was better than another morally suspect individual who was running against him.  As Tim Wise said,  “Marianne Williamson is doing it.  If Marianne Williamson`s doing it, they can all do it.  Believe me.”

While it may not be a contribution to a winning campaign, a $10 contribution to support her message will be more beneficial to our country than supporting any of the other campaigns.  CLICK HERE NOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO RECLAIM HOPE AND THE IDEALISTIC SPIRIT THAT TRULY  MAKES THIS COUNTRY GREAT.

Iran Deal and the Evil Men Do

This is an ideal example of how different people are working to design Reality.  A couple of years of talking has lead to an agreement intended to take Iran off a path leading to nuclear bomb capability.  It has been a very difficult negotiation because on the International stage, no one must look like a loser.  National pride can trump common sense any time.  But, alas, withstanding numerous delays and breaks in the talks, a deal has been made.

This is when we find out what people's true motivations are:  what they really want.  We have (hopefully) the larger group of influencers who are filled with hope and optimism that the deal has given us a path to a more peaceful and prosperous future for all.  That is very definitely the intention of the agreement.  That is the story line that has been set in motion and those filled with hope and optimism and even great relief BELIEVE in that story line as a picture of the future.  Here is the part that most people don't appreciate or realize:  if the predominant belief on the world stage is that this positive more unified and orderly vision of what is going to happen is what is really going to happen, there is no chance for any other result to materialize in our Reality.  Those dreaming this reality into our physical space want peace and literally are the peacemakers.

Then we have the doubters and the fear mongers.  They may not actually be bad people.  They may just be sadly deceived and unaware of how things actually work in this adventure story we are all a part of.  After all, how many of us often find ourselves fearing outcomes we don't want in our day to day lives.  We forget that whatever belief we put our attention on is energized and if we focus enough energy in that direction it will with certainty become our personal reality.  On a personal level it is not a big deal because we can only create problems for ourselves.  On the world stage, negative fearful talk actually poses a danger to the well being of the planet.  The conservative often zealously "religious" politicians in our land have welcomed the devil into their details.  The current leader of Israel has put himself very clearly on the side of death and destruction - he may not really want peace because like so many misguided leaders he may well believe his strength relies on having an evil enemy to fight.  The truth is that he is perpetuating and, in fact, has made himself a primary force empowering the force that he is so adamantly against.  Fight fire with fire, you just get more fire.  A belief in and hope for PEACE and mutual respect (or we could start with just tolerance even if the respect part is a ways off) is the water on the fire that can put it out and eventually wash away the hate and anger of the past.

In case you didn't quite get the point here, let me be very clear.  Those who are making statements like "this deal is a death sentence for Israel" or "this is going to lead to the third world war" are speaking "evil".  Not only is their thinking taking them down a personal path that sure seems undesirable, they are trying to instill fear and horror into the minds of others.  Here is why that is EVIL - really misguided and bad for our well being - these individuals are in very insistent language backed by the power of emotion writing a story of the future that is certainly not in the best interest of a loving and joyful world.  Even if you are not ready to accept that predominant beliefs control the reality of Reality, on a common sense level I think you can accept that if enough people are claiming something is really dangerous and needs to be destroyed, the odds start to be pretty good that action is going to be taken regardless of whether the horrible thing is true or not.  While the fear mongers may believe they are well intentioned they really are doing the Devil's work.  Belief controls reality and these "well meaning" individuals are trying to get everyone to believe in a future we really don't want.  Let's all insist that they start working and praying for peace and tolerance and not the opposite.