Trumping, 'Trump Anxiety'

Recently, a friend admitted he made a rare trip to the doctor. The prompting:  anxiety, stemming not only from family challenges but the whirlwind rising from our current President.  My friend said his dread even has a name: 'Trump Anxiety.'

I doubted it.  So I 'googled' 'Trump Anxiety' and found it popping up everywhere.   Especially helpful, was an online article from the Philadelphia Inquirer, featuring the journey of Nancy Kirsh.  

Nancy Kirsh started seeing a therapist a few months before her husband died of cancer in September.  There was already plenty to process, but, lately, she's wanted to talk about ...President Trump.  [Why?  Because Nancy feels]...the country's core values are under attack as she watches the new president in action. "Everyone I know is really rocked to their core," [Nancy commented].  Her sense of disbelief reminds her of how she felt about her husband's leukemia. "Having been so close to someone whose life was winding down and who was just declining before my eyes, wasting away, is very hard," said Kirsh..."That process is similar to what I see happening to our country." http://www.philly.com/philly/health/Trump-anxiety-chest-pains-gastrointestinal-therapy-stress-LGBTQ.html

Now, before you 'write me off' as a sheer partisan (e.g. a Trump-basher), there was probably some form of a 'Roosevelt Anxiety' as Franklin D. Roosevelt [FDR] ushered in a whirlwind of his own after his election in 1932.  

But in all candor, 'Trump Anxiety' appears unprecedented, largely because Trump inherited a country woefully divided, whereas Roosevelt inherited a country woefully depressed.  As Adam Cohen reminds us:  "The crowd that gathered in front of the Capital...to watch [FDR's] Inauguration [March 4, 1933] had all but given up on America. They were, as [one] observed, 'as silent as a group of mourners around a grave..." http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0,29239,1906802_1906838_1906979,00.html

Thus, Roosevelt, like Trump, moved fast.  But unlike Trump, Roosevelt garnered support fast.  "[Why] even the rock-ribbed Republican Chicago Tribune [lauded FDR's inaugural speech's] 'dominant note of courageous confidence.  [For] FDR had buoyed the spirit of the American people and nearly 500,000 of them wrote to [FDR] the following week to tell him so..."  http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0,29239,1906802_1906838_1906979,00.html

And so FDR's 'fast-track' united the country, whereas Donald Trump's 'fast-track' continues to divide the country.  

But, ironically, some historians believe the reason for our current divide is none other than FDR!  For, FDR's New Deal created "...a new America -- or, rather, two new Americas.  [For Roosevelt's first] Hundred Days was the start of the American welfare state..."http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/printout/0,29239,1906802_1906838_1906979,00.html

Whoa!  I'm not kicking over that 'hornet's nest,' further -- making comment (at least now) on the notion of two Americas, especially the premise of an American welfare state, pro or con. 

But I am trying to document, that the roots of our current divide and angst are of long standing, crossing both political 'aisles.'  

And so back to our core question:  how do we 'survive' our current anxiety and woe?   

First -- Don't Focus On A Political Solution.  Though politics got us into our current dilemma, politics is not the way out, because politics, of any stripe, does not have the capacity to rescue and heal. I hate to 'break your bubble' but no politician, of any persuasion, is the Savior.  There was -- and is -- only one Savior: Jesus The Christ, who, alone is Rescuer and Lord.  Sure, politicians act as if they are Lord and Messiah, but they're not.  Thus, we are not obligated to follow. 

In fact, we must not follow, for as Jesus clarified to politician Pilate:  "...my Kingdom is not of this world.  If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders.  But now, my kingdom is from another place..."  (John 18:36).

Second -- Develop A New Confidence In The Contribution That Christ, And Christ's Priorities Can Make. I'm convinced that many Christ-followers have an inferiority complex related to the contribution Christ and His priorities can achieve.  But it's ironic, just about the time we doubt our unique, Godly contribution, 'softening skeptics' trumpet, that only a revival of spirituality will unite us.  One skeptic, softening -- on a journey back to faith -- is journalist David Brooks.  As Neal Gabler has observed:  

...Brooks [has] pretty much dispensed with politics. He seemed to have arrived at the conclusion that no good could possibly come of any of this and retreated into spirituality. What Brooks [promotes are] values of mutual respect, a bolder sense of civic engagement, an emphasis on community and neighborhood, and overall a belief in trickle-up decency rather than trickle-down economics. He is not hopeful, but he hasn’t lost all hope.  http://billmoyers.com/story/farewell-america/

Sounds a lot like Jesus and His New Covenant.   Mutual Respect:  "So in everything, do to others what you would have then do to you."  (Matthew 7:12).  Civic Engagement:  "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you visited me." (Matthew 25:35-36).  Community And Neighborhood:  "...[And an expert in the law asked] and who is my neighbor..." (Luke 10:29).  And Jesus told the famed parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37]. Trickle-Up Decency: 'Blessed -- are the poor in spirit...those who mourn...the meek...those who hunger and thirst for righteousness..the merciful..the pure in heart...the peacemakers...those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs in the kingdom of God..." (Matthew 5:3-10).

Third -- Recommit To Bedrock Belief In The Sovereignty of God.  We are not in control -- thus things can feel out of control -- but in fact -- things are not out of control. For God is Sovereign (The Rock and The Almighty), and ruler, yet.  For...

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way...[For] there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God...God is within her, she will not fail...Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts... The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress..."  (Psalm 46:1-2; 4-5; 6-7, emphasis added).

So, replace 'Trump Anxiety' (or 'Roosevelt Anxiety') with Christ Certainty.  For as Martin Luther steadily reminds us:

"Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He -- Lord Sabaoth His name, From age to age the same  -- And He must win the battle."  -- Martin Luther (emphasis added)