Some really smart person once said people should not talk publicly about religion, politics or money.

Well, the race for the president of the United States is heating up, and quite frankly I’m baffled by one candidate’s apparent strength, particularly among Christians.

Donald Trump, business and real estate mogul, turned reality TV star, turned Republican presidential hopeful makes lots of headlines and sound bites.

Trump is brash and speaks his mind. People seem to like that, particularly after years of increasing political correctness and the feeling among many that over the past several years, our nation has become more and more meek all in the name of trying not to offend anyone.

In the process, the nation seems less like its former superpower self and more, well, run-of-the-mill.

So Trump strikes a nerve when he touts that he will, “Make America great again.”

Just like Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” song, something about that phrase, “Make America great again,” stirs our collective soul.

Like his bigger-than-life TV persona, Trump doesn’t seem real. He’s just an act.

Sadly, that’s what America seems to want in its leaders now, style over substance.

Trump’s antics are well documented.

A few months ago, he publicly mimicked a reporter who has a physical handicap. Despite a video showing Trump waving his hands in the area feigning a disability, he denies he was making fun of the man.

Trump is, perhaps, the most egotistical, money-obsessed, foul-talking and unapologetic candidate imaginable.

He seems to have the complete opposite kind of character that true Christians would seek out as a representative leader.

Trump claims to be a Christian — and realize only he and God know what’s in the man’s heart.

But the Bible does suggest that we are to discern true believers from charlatans by the visible fruit their lives bear.

If fruit were personal wealth, Trump would clearly be near the top of the heap.

But all signs of real fruit seem to indicate a pretty barren tree, at least from where I sit.

Trump has claimed his favorite book is the Bible, but yet he’s declined to quote a favorite passage.

He’s been downright disrespectful to what many believe is a holy sacrament in the church — Communion.

Trump has been quoted as saying when he take Communion he feels “cleansed” and makes references to drinking “my little wine” and eating “my little cracker.”

Many Christians believe in transubstantiation, a process in which the wine used in Holy Communion turns to Christ’s blood and the bread to His body.

To reference this as “my little wine” and “my little cracker” is simply missing the greater point of what this process represents.

But then again, that’s Trump. He plows through life pushing his weight around and keeping the constant focus on him.

Last week as other Republican candidates met for a final debate before voting begins this week in Iowa, Trump again figured out a way to keep the focus on him.

He refused to come to the debate because he felt one of the moderators had treated him unfairly in a previous debate.

If none of the other swirling piles of doubt around the man aren’t enough to sway you, consider this: Do we want the leader of the free world to be so sensitive that he merely packs up his marbles and goes home when he was to face someone he doesn’t like?

Trump’s 15-minutes of presidential glory have already gone on far too long. Trump is correct on one thing: We can make America great again.

But it won’t happen based on the worship of oneself, but on the worship of one God.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.