You can help stop Trump’s most extremist nominees by taking this one simple action
We have already stopped one of the worst of Trump's nominees. We must call on the Senate to do its duty for the rest.
Donald Trump has already named most of the nominees for his second term cabinet: and their records are to a person deeply entrenched in far-right extremism, immorality, and/or white Christian nationalism.
Three of them have been credibly accused of either committing or contributing to sexual misconduct. Potential FBI Director Kash Patel has vowed to "come after" the media and Trump's political opponents. And former FOX News contributor Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice to lead the Department of Defense, has tattoos that reference white nationalism and the Crusades, supported using the military to shut down peaceful protests, and called for a "360-degree holy war" against those to the left of Donald Trump.
Much of what we know about these nominees is alarming and awful. But their confirmations are NOT a done deal. The Senate has the power to reject some or all of them. Some centrist and Republican senators are already expressing concerns.
People of faith, we are not powerless in this struggle. As Christians who love our neighbors–and who are prompted by our beliefs to work for the common good–we must use our collective voice to urge the Senate to look closely at Trump's nominees and refuse to confirm unqualified extremists who will do harm to our families, friends, and communities.
Freedom Road is working with a coalition of faith-based organizations to collect and deliver 10,000 signatures asking the Senate to take vetting Trump's nominees seriously. Click here to add your name now:
Here are just a few of the other extremists Donald Trump wants making life-changing policies for our nation:
Pam Bondi, nominee for Attorney General. Bondi is a chair at America First Policy Institute, a Trump-backing far-right think tank -- and was a part of Trump's legal team that promoted the Big Lie.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., nominee as director of the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a notorious vaccine skeptic who has been connected to the deaths of over 80 people in Samoa (most of them children) and promoted false conspiracy theories about COVID-19.
Tulsi Gabbard, nominee as director of national intelligence. Gabbard has openly aligned with Russia and has been connected to a religious sect that is known for homophobia and Islamophobia.
It's understandable to feel worried about Trump's nominations. But we must not despair. As Dr. Dillamond said in the hit movie Wicked, “If you make it discouraging enough, you can keep anyone quiet.” Refusing to be silenced is resistance. Refusing to be discouraged is resistance. As engaged citizens with values rooted in our faith, we have an opportunity to help defeat the most harmful nominations: and there's already clear evidence that when we speak out, we can make a difference.
Justin Jones, a member of the Tennessee Three and state house legislator for
Tennessee, posted on his Facebook page in December that we must “…face the darkness, recognize it’s real, and light a candle anyways. We are in for tumultuous days, but feeling empowered by those who recognize that whether in Washington or Tennessee, the fight against authoritarianism will take all of us.” Tennessee has been fighting on a state level the same things we all must now fight on a national level and every year, coalitions of ordinary people defeat the worst of what the state legislature tries to pass. And together we can do this for our country.
When Trump nominated alleged sexual abuser Matt Gaetz for Attorney General, the public outrage was immediate and enormous. As a result, some senators made it clear that they would never vote for Gaetz, and Trump dropped him. We can do that again.
Let's lift our voices together as Christians and other people of faith and let our elected officials know that we want them to do their duty to defend our neighbors and communities from Donald Trump's worst impulses.
Add your name to our coalition petition calling on the Senate to vet Trump's extremist nominees thoroughly.
Thank you for all you do to love your neighbor and hold our leaders accountable to the values of our shared faith.
The Narrative Gap, as coined by Lisa Sharon Harper, is the distance between the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves, including how we got here and what it will take to make things right. In our world today, competing narratives vie for our loyalty, dividing society and the church, therefore making justice impossible. Our mission is help communities shrink the narrative gap, by identifying core issues and building community capacity so they might work toward common solutions for a just world. Here on the Freedom Road Substack, we can converse together on ways to shrink that narrative gap and help ensure everyones’ stories are told.
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