Dem
47
GOP
53
The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual, bipartisan event that brings together a bunch of people who actually care about Jesus with a bunch of people who pretend to care about Jesus because it is politically useful for them to do so.
This week was the week, and the keynote speaker was, of course, Donald Trump. Readers can decide for themselves which of the two categories above he fits in. He delivered a speech that was characteristically rambling and characteristically full of attacks on the President's perceived enemies. It was just so very Christ-like. If you are a reader who cares about Jesus, and you are of the Catholic persuasion in particular, perhaps you can ask your priest at confession if you can watch the speech instead of saying Hail Marys this week. In our view, if you make it through the whole hour-plus, that should allow you to atone for this week's sins AND to bank at least 1,000 future Hail Marys.
Following Trump was a fairly brief final prayer from Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL), who is the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. With Trump standing just feet away, Jackson offered up these remarks:
Today we pray for America and we pray for all parliamentarians around the world. The book of Timothy teaches us that you've been entrusted with leadership. Today we pray for the future of this nation, and that you would lead this president into greater levels of compassion for your namesake. We pray that you would protect him from the inequities of evil, that you would give him greater clarity, greater courage, and greater capacity to do what is right in forever challenges.
Today we remind him that the lives of millions of people are in his hands, and that he has the power to turn mourning into dancing or to reduce the country into a cosmic elegy of chaos and suffering. And it is because of this that we pray, that the best of this president would rise among us. For the sake of this nation, for the sake of this world, we pray that goodness and mercy would announce themselves in his life in new and powerful ways.
We pray that he would be mindful of the poor and that he would be invested in elevation, the alleviation of suffering happening on farms in the Midwest and the families preparing to bury their loved ones in Minneapolis. Remind him that we are all Americans, all made in the image of God. And that none of us are free unless all of us have our freedoms protected. Many people are not lazy. Many people are simply tired. Many people simply are not OK.
Here is what Trump looked like for the bulk of Jackson's remarks:
Was Trump pretending to pray? Sleeping? Listening respectfully? We report, you decide (though we will say that we very seriously doubt that Door #3 is the correct one).
In any event, it takes a fair bit of fortitude to stand right next to the leader of the free world and to tell him what's what. The kind of fortitude that, for example, few Republicans in Congress seem to have. So, a tip of the hat to Jackson for his bravery. His old man must be proud.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)