Trump is the Anti-Mr. Rogers

This is my contribution to the memes and tropes and tags.

A friend and I were discussing the current state of things and I said something that amounted to wishing serious, significant ill upon Trump supporters. I lamented my own comment because it is out of character for me.

I am a person who has watched others lose themselves to anger, bitterness, and resentment and I have resolved to guard the purity of my heart and strive towards compassion and higher values.

But the Trump effect has worn me down and the ideal of the nobility of the human spirit seems out of reach for me.

But when I expressed regret for my nasty comment, it was my friend who stressed, "Trump brings out the worst in everybody."

That's when the thought formed. Yes, it isn't just his supporters who are made bolder and coarser by his example, even people opposed to him become soiled by association.

After the 2016 election, a friend told me that people in her church were seriously discussing whether Trump is the Anti-Christ. (Hers is not a White Evangelical church, by the way.)

But since I don't hold to the supernatural claims or prophecies of the Bible, I will stop short of calling him the Anti-Christ. He's the Anti-Mr. Rogers. And I don't know if I have the wherewithal to reclaim the expansive nature of my understanding of others and their complicated needs and motivations.

Forget the guy in the red cape. I need the guy in the red sweater back here in the world.