Trump and Injustice
What a world we live in! Donald Trump, former President and current front runner to win the 2024 election, is now a convicted felon. And! On the basis of that conviction, the Trump campaign raised a record 30 million dollars in 10 hours.
It’s a dizzying reality, isn’t it? Not only is a former President a convicted felon but that conviction buoyed his chances for re-election. If you follow the coverage of it all, it would seem like the country is split 50/50 on the decision. On one side of the nation, there are those expressing a sense of relief that some measure of justice has found its way to Trump after a long history of indecent, immoral, and all-together deplorable conduct. Then, on the other side of the country, is a people outraged at a sham of a trial and an obvious attempt to unjustly imprison a political opponent of the Democratic party.
In other words, both sides are claiming to be on the side of justice. But, in reality, neither are. Let me explain beginning with the side that is cheering the conviction and claiming that there was nothing wrong with the trial.
They’re clearly lying or fooling themselves. By any objective measure, the trial was an unequivocal sham. The judge, the jury, the whole thing was aligned to convict Trump regardless of the content of the trial itself. If you’re looking for an unbiased, concise, unimpeachable resource to confirm such a statement, go here. and watch Yale Law Professor Jed Rubenfeld do just that.
Perhaps an even greater source of evidence proving the trial was a sham are those who are happy with the verdict. If you talk to them, I mean really talk to them, they actually don’t care if the case was just or unjust. In their mind, Trump walked into that trial deserving of being in jail. And the verdict just confirmed a universal and obvious reality. In their mind, they are just relieved to know that Trump’s past and deplorable conduct are finally catching up with him.
Understandable or not, this, of course, isn’t justice. It’s the opposite of justice. It’s means justifying the ends. It’s a group of people doing whatever they have to bend reality to fit their worldview. The danger of doing this is, as St. Augustine wrote, is that a “kingdom without justice” becomes “just gangs of bandits.”
And, am I the only one who seems to sense that, with each passing day, this becomes less and less a country and more and more a gang of bandits?
The other side is, unequivocally, no better. They know the verdict is unjust. They’re profiting from it enormously. And fair enough. But, and here’s the rub, instead of taking the moment to elevate the country, instead of being the party of law and order (as it’s supposed to be), many pundits and media figures are taking the moment to encourage Trump to trade an eye for an eye. To use injustice like a weapon to justify any and all action. Matt Walsh, a leading conservative voice from the Daily Wire, summed the sentiment up perfectly when he wrote,
“I don't want to hear elected Republicans complaining. I don't need to see their tweets and statements condemning the verdict. The only thing I want to hear from these people is which Democrats they will have arrested. Don't tell us that you're sad about the verdict. We don't give a shit about your feelings. We want to see corrupt Democrats frog marched on camera in handcuffs. If you won't do that, then shut up.”
Injustice does not justify vengeance. Instead, it opens the door for goodness to shine and elevate everything around it in a profound way. Trading an eye for an eye, injustice for injustice, solves nothing. In fact, it only serves to escalate the problem, alienating those capable of offering a solution, and dramatically increases the chances of a greater injustice being done in the future. As the old saying goes, two wrongs never makes a right.
All across the political spectrum, we have individuals who fail to realize the power of true justice, the power of doing the right thing, in the right way for the right reasons, and the power of responding to evil to heroic goodness. Instead of someone, anyone, daring to stand as a beacon of hope, as a standard for human goodness, we have leaders deeply committed to escalating the depths of injustice, selfishness, and hatred in our world.
So, what are we to make of this? Few of us are in a position to change large amount of people’s minds and we’re certainly not in a position to create a scenario where another candidate can emerge.
Well, injustices, big and small, are a part of life. We can be wrongly accused of something we didn’t do. We can have the best of intentions and someone can still be personally hurt and offended by us. Someone can get the promotion over you despite you being more qualified and a better fit. You can be the best parent in the world and your child can still resent you. And so on.
When that happens, you have a choice to make. You can let the injustice turn you toward vengeance, inner resentment, despair, or a number of other dark and detrimental outlets. Or, you can choose to rise above it. To show the world the kind of power that emerges when a leader leverages injustice to expose a glimpse of the best of what a human can be by rising above it.
Think here of Gandhi and the non-violent moment in India. He fought injustice, violence, and hatred with non-violent, peaceful, just protests. He trusted, in faith, that goodness itself is the only thing that can triumph over evil.
Can you imagine what it would be like if Donald Trump came out and said, “What’s been done to me is incredibly unjust, but I vow to never do that to my opponents. I vow to return this country to a place that champions the right of every individual to live under a fair and just rule of law.” And then lived up to that statement?
Well, the same holds true for you. When you experience injustice in the relationships and circumstances of your own life, you possess the spirit of power, love, and self-control capable of turning that injustice into a light illuminating the superiority of goodness and the glory of God. You also have the power to use that injustice to lower the level of humanity of everyone around you. Either way, you choose.
