From the beginning of President Trump’s candidacy, we have followed the sparkly objects that have captured so much attention: name-calling, exaggerations and fabrications, bad language and worse behavior, denigration of half the species, bromances and who knows what else. Even the President’s supporters acknowledge his behavioral issues, though many are not too public about it for fear of an early-morning tweet.
It dawned on me as I watched his one and only post-election, pre-inauguration press conference that my attention had been diverted as well. Faced with an opportunity to ask him about the serious issues facing his administration, what was the focus of the first journalists’ questions? We were offered the chance to watch the parrying over the alleged videotape that the Russians do or do not have, a series of what-ifs and oh-no-you-don’ts, culminating with a public chastisement of a news network for reporting what may or may not have been news.
The conversation slipped away and soon a Trump attorney was skimming over the details of a stack of briefing books on the structuring of Trump's businesses. Here are some of the questions that were not asked:
What are the details of the “replace” half of the equation of the Affordable Care Act? Will two million people who rely on it be protected in the interim while you make good on your promise to repeal it within your first days in office?
Will your Secretary of Education honor the constitutional separation between religion and government? Betsy DeVos has advocated otherwise – will you direct her to uphold the law, or will your approach be more laissez-faire?
Can non-Christians count on the full protection of the Department of Justice if the federal hate crimes statute is violated? Do the constitutional guarantees of equal treatment under the law apply to gays, lesbians and transgender people, or may personal convictions of civil servants and business owners exempt them from providing what heterosexuals are entitled to?
Who will care for the poor while the middle class is being shored up and fully employed? Will you send a message to the Republican House and Senate about their responsibility to ensure that Americans do not go hungry and homeless while taxes are being cut and regulations loosened?
Will women be able to access the health care to which they have become accustomed under the law?
Have you concluded that we should follow the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change, vaccinations, drug testing and the like, or is there a standard you will follow that you will identify?
How should we evaluate whether the people chosen to lead our diplomatic presence in other countries are adherents of your foreign policy or pursuers of their own politics? And what exactly is your foreign policy?
Journalists most certainly need support and defense of their First Amendment rights just as much as we do in the faith community. But if some or all of them continue to follow the lure of distraction when critical matters are before us, then we must be the ones to take up the task.
I am issuing a plea to faith communities with a commitment to social conscience: do not allow yourself to be distracted from your mission. We can all agree that in matters of personal conduct, the President, like all of us, falls short of the ideal. However, the mandates of our faiths and philosophies are to act with compassion and integrity on behalf of the disadvantaged. It would be a betrayal of our values and commitments to relinquish the prophetic voice in favor of the prurient.