Dear Donald Trump:
Migrants are not animals.
Migrants are not subhuman.
Using such language about them is a dangerous and fascist tactic, designed to dehumanize and create “The Other.” Real leaders don’t light these kinds of matches and stoke these kinds of hates.
But I guess you know that.
Real Christians understand the Hebrew scripture injunction that God expects us to have one law for the native and the foreign born.
Both political parties have failed our nation on the issue of immigration, and “reform” continues to be used as a political football by all politicians. But you singularly and repeatedly take things to a dangerous extra level, with your sub-human descriptions of migrants.
You probably don’t remember this story, but during Jesus’ very first sermon his “hometown crowd” seeks to kill him, because he suggests that God’s holy prophets have a mission among “foreigners.”
The crowd becomes so enraged precisely because he does the opposite of what you are doing: He pushes them to embrace God’s holy work among the native born *and* the foreigner.
Nativistic and tribal fears run deep inside every human animal. Real leaders understand this, and do not drive explosive tribal wedges.
Jesus’ ministry teaches us that his death —celebrated and remembered this time of year— was very clearly caused by those who feared his broader vision for loving all God’s children.
Instead of pushing your crowds to see immigrants humans, you “stir up” your “hometown crowds” with foolish rhetoric that gives moral license to your followers to see immigrants as less than, as the Other, as an animal.
This is not only the complete opposite of what Jesus did, it is also 100% what fascists do.
You should be ashamed, but it’s clear to me you are not, and that you are doing this on purpose.
But as an American Christian, dedicated to resisting fascism in our country, I name this evil publicly; not in a vain hope you will stop, but in the hope that our people, through their votes, will stop you.
WhenEFTalks 
Dear Pastor Eric Folkerth,
Hello! I have returned to your website for more wisdom through your writings. As I read your work here, I deeply sense how much you would like to contribute to uniting what has become a very fractured and fractious society. The USA (and increasingly other countries) is in such a fractious state that there arises the new acronym, DSA, namely, the Disunited States of America, which needs all the Hope and Glory that it could possibly be inspired by. I find the following statements in your post highly admirable and pertinent:
The salient issues of democracy versus autocracy aside, there are many sobering implications of authoritarianism, which is a very topical area to explore the many outstanding tensions between (the sociopsychological states of) sanity/stability and insanity/instability, affecting even the very existence and survival of humanity. In recent years, many citizens have willingly aligned themselves with misinformation, disinformation, post-truth politics, demagoguery, plutocracy, oligarchy, ochlocracy, kleptocracy, kakistocracy, narcissistic leadership, neoliberalism, globalization, clerical fascism and Trumpism. We can also agree that the ongoing chaos inflicted by the Trump presidency finally culminated in the infamous riot at the Capitol. You and I can be justified for being cynical, snide, snarky and facetious in characterizing Trump as the symbolic messiah who is going to lead his misguided supporters, sycophants and funders to glory on Earth and the promised land! It is often futile to reason with such misguided folks. Perhaps only when the country truly becomes autocratic or fascist, or when it plunges into a civil war, will such folks wake up, but then it will be too late. Consequently, any reasonable person can conclude that the USA has been plagued by ignorance, dogma, falsity, blind faith, spiritual stagnation and epistemological impasse . . . . .
Needless to say, due to misinformation and disinformation as well as the pandemic and other global issues, 2020 to 2022 as well as the past few years had been very difficult and trying, not to mention having to deal with the pandemic. It was all quite surreal, perhaps in some ways more bizarre than ghosts and the paranormal (not that I believe in such things). One could indeed say that we live in interesting times, but often for the wrong reasons. It is all quite a big mess in danger of getting bigger still. Even a global pandemic and an insurrection at the citadel of democracy still cannot unite folks in the USA and wake them up. Perhaps it will take an even bigger crisis to do so, such as a series of climate change disasters.
There is indeed a need for people to come together and meet the many challenges of our time before further chaos ensues. Speaking out against untruth or an unjust, dishonest or immoral act requires courage and conviction, especially in very trying, threatening or compromising situations. I have done so for decades, and have at times paid very high prices and even sacrifices for being truthful, being multidisciplinary, being interdisciplinary, going against the grain, being an outlier, being a visionary, being ahead of the curve, and/or being a whistleblower.
To make matter worse, even those who are supposed to know better, who are in the most privileged position or at the highest echelon, have displayed objectionable conducts, caused much disunity, and/or generated unwisdom. A supremely consequential example of such unfortunate degeneracies has been discussed in a very detailed and multipronged approach in my eye-opening post entitled “🏛️⚖️ The Facile and Labile Nature of Law: Beyond the Supreme Court and Its Ruling on Controversial Matters 🗽🗳️🔫🤰🧑🤝🧑💉“, published at
In the post, I have investigated the fundamental issues and also offered some far-reaching solutions, some requiring profound soul-searching as well as genuine compromise and rapport with the “other” through compassion and mutual understanding. I welcome your input and am curious to know what you make of my said post as well as your perspectives on those matters discussed in my post, where I look forward to savouring your feedback.
Thank you very much for your insights into such important matters that have affected so many people.
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
Dear Pastor Eric Folkerth,
I would like to inform you that a few minutes ago, I submitted a very long and detailed comment to your excellent post here, and I am not sure as to whether the comment got through.
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle