Donald Trump must learn the art of empathy- but he is too filled with rage to try

An echo opinion lesson from Crossroads Church and Undivided, published in the Cincinnati Inquirer:

Donald Trump delivered a hate filled speech in response to the 35 days of the government shutdown, whereby he kept 800,000 federal workers without paychecks. Trump enforced this evil deed, just so he could demand 5 billion dollars for  an expensive border wall, to stop illegal immigration into the US, from Mexico and Central America. Many of the migrants are legally seeking asylum.

Trump made a campaign promise that Mexico would pay for the border wall, but their government said "no y diablos no", to that stupid directive, from the failed US leader!  

Now, Trump has had to defend his ridiculous campaign promise with hate filled rhetoric delivered at the White House, today January 25, 2019, in a speech he had to give, because he wanted to stoke his racist base voters. Plus, he absolutely had to open the US government.

Nevertheless, the masses who follow Trump are obviously being mass hypnotized by his incendiary rhetoric. They needed to hear their dog whistle of hateful racism, directly from the cult hypnotist, himself.

Just yesterday, January 24, 2019, one of the ghouls who works for Donald Trump in the White House, Wilbur Ross, told the press that he couldn't understand why furloughed Federal Workers were unable to take out bridge loans from banks, to help them pay expenses until the government re-opens?  It was the modern example of how the fate of Marie Antoinette was sealed, when she was tragically quoted to say, "Let them eat cake", while the French people could not afford to buy bread.

Donald Trump will never learn the art of empathy.  If he had only said to the American people, "I know there are thousands of desperate immigrants trying to immigrate to America because we are a great country. We want to help support legal immigration. I want to work with the Congress to bring about meaningful immigration reform."  Well, that was what he should have said but, instead, he spewed hateful racist rhetoric, like a fountain of lava was steaming out of his foul mouth.

Where is the empathy for 800,000 Americans who needed support during a 35 day government shutdown, whereby virtually nothing was accomplished? Trump did not get his way, because the tantrum he created did not work. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, she raised five children, so she knows a tantrum when she sees one. Trump is an angry man today. Speaker Pelosi must be complimented for her political expertise, but don't trust anything Donald Trump says, especially when he's an angry man. 

Somebody must teach Donald Trump the art of empathy, as described in this letter to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Empathy. The act of feeling with people.
This is a word we use quite often in our teachings through UNDIVIDED, a six-week spiritual journey that brings people together of different races and life backgrounds to have meaningful conversations – often leading to healing within our (increasingly!) alienated communities.

As Greater Cincinnati is in the national, and even international, spotlight for an interaction between Covington Catholic High School students, (who confronted) a Native American elderly man, and members of the Hebrew Israelites, I believe empathy is needed now more than ever.

I have watched the short video that went viral on Saturday, between the Native American and the Catholic school students; and I have watched the longer videos that were made public on Sunday. 

I don’t pretend to have all the facts, but I can tell you one thing I am certain: America is growing increasingly divided in the way we handle and communicate discussions about race, ideology and faith.

In our world of viral snippets, we have lost our ability to listen before jumping to assumptions and filling in the story ourselves. 

We like to stay in our echo chambers, surrounded by people and sources that tell us what we want to hear. But when we listen to people’s stories with empathy, it changes who we are and, by extension, becomes a revolutionary act that brings connection in the place of fear, hatred, and division.

Empathy is easy to say, but it can be difficult to practice. 

Dr. Maya Angelou

I think Maya Angelou (1928-2014) said it best: “We all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”

As America debates what happened this past weekend, it’s my hope that we do this through a lens of empathy for all who were involved. And, in 2019, let’s make Cincinnati (and, by extension, the United States) known for the way we empathize with people we don’t fully understand.

Chuck Mingo is the Oakley campus pastor for Crossroads Church and leader of Undivided, a racial reconciliation program that has seen more than 3,000 participants from Northern Kentucky and Ohio.