A Faith on the Fringe update, Nov. 2, 2025

Everyday, we’re shocked anew by so-called Christians who unflinchingly accept the lawlessness and clear immorality of the Trump regime and ignore the Bible. I wrote this post to try to explain the phenomenon of confirmation bias affecting what we want to see and are unable to see.

Follow this link to read my post about Confirmation Bias Christians.

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“Who is your neighbor?” Jesus asks.

“Not the illegals,” Christian Nationalists answer.

Like too many Christians, Trump supporters believe they are the Samaritan in Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan.

At the very best, they are the priest or the Levite, passing on the other side of the road, refusing to stop and offer aid or assistance to those in need.

The Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress are the robbers, stripping the poorest of us of our heath insurance. They destroyed food, rather than feed starving children. They enrich the wealthy with tax cuts and attack the arts, science and education while putting us at greater risk by diverting law enforcement efforts away from foreign and domestic terrorism. Follow this link to read more.

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Oct. 2 was the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi’s lesson was that love of others, love so great as to not ever respond with violence, can in fact change the world.

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If you’re buying books, follow this link to Bookshop.org, where your purchase supports my ministry.

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Oct. 18 saw millions of Americans take to the streets for No Kings protests across the country.

I was participating in a book festival across the street from a protest and sold a number of books to the good people who assembled to raise their voices. I took these photos.

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Trump responded to the protests and instantly changed the national conversation by illegally destroying a portion of the White House.

The illegal destruction is more than a symbol or metaphor.

It is a stark and obvious example of Trump’s reckless lawlessness as he ignores the processes and policies governing public buildings. Presidents before Trump made changes to the White House — they observed the laws and procurement process — Trump is doing it illegally.

(It’s worth noting that demolition before construction usually doesn’t occur in the fall, before cold weather halts construction altogether. This is the opposite of construction best practices.)

The National Trust for Historic Preservation issued this statement:

“We respectfully urge the Administration and the National Park Service to pause demolition until plans for the proposed ballroom go through the legally required public review processes, including consultation and review by the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, both of which have authority to review new construction at the White House, and to invite comments from the American people.

“These processes provide an essential opportunity for transparency and public engagement—values that have guided preservation of the White House under every administration going back to the public competition in 1792 that produced the building’s original design. Doing so will help ensure that the project honors the exceptional historic significance of the White House and its grounds and acknowledges the investment that the American people have in the preservation of this beloved place.”

Trump doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about history, the White House, or the American people.

When Trump announced plans for the ballroom on July 31, he said, “It won’t interfere with the current building. It’ll be near it but not touching it. And pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.”

“It was never thought of as being much,” Trump lied on Oct. 22. “It was a very small building.”

Remember when Trump was seen on the roof of the East Wing, months ago? We now know he was up there looking at where the destruction would be.

Between his public statements in July and October, alleged costs for the project increased more than 30% from $200 million to $300 million. That number will continue to increase because Trump is not only a pathological liar, he’s an exceptionally poor businessman who couldn’t understand why marble in airplane washrooms is a bad idea.

“This is Trump’s presidency in a single photo,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren published online with a picture of the destruction. “Illegal, destructive, and not helping you.”

Defenders, apologists and appeasers make excuses to rationalize the irrational and to normalize criminality.

It’s not his house to destroy.

It’s not his government to dismantle.

Congress is charged with protecting the nation and its people, but Republicans are complicit.

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In another example of the regime’s lawlessness, the administration is murdering people boating in international waters.

If any other country murdered Americans in international waters off the coast of Virginia, there would be a national uproar, because it’s clearly illegal.

It’s just as illegal for the U.S. to murder boaters in international waters near other countries.

This isn’t law enforcement. It’s murder without arrests or trials and it makes the world more dangerous for all Americans.

International murders like these are why the U.S. isn’t a signatory of the International Criminal Court; we don’t want our presidents charged for murdering people.

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In still another example of lawlessness, the government has no budget or funding.

Congressional Republicans were able to ensure the rich got tax cuts while tens of millions of working Americans, including me, face higher insurance premiums. Millions more have lost basic food subsidies.

Democrats in the Senate are holding fast on not temporarily funding the government to ensure that massive cuts to health care and food are restored.

The MAGA echo chamber is spinning Republican incompetence by blaming the minority party for not signing the Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded temporarily.

Republicans had 10 months to pass spending legislation and they didn’t. Republicans claim government doesn’t work so they get elected and prove it.

In other examples of lawlessness . . .

The regime regularly violates the Hatch Act with partizan political messages posted on public websites.

Every president before Trump deported illegal immigrants — Trump is doing it illegally without due process and in clear violation of the law.

Around half of American Christians are okay with all of this.

Why? Go back to my post about Confirmation Bias Christians.

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“Repent,” Jesus says in Matt. 4:17, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

But does it really mean what we think? Follow this link to read my post about repentance.

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Here are some of the memes I created last month. Feel free to download and share them.

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Follow Faith on the Fringe on Facebook. for daily doses of Christianity on the fringe of the mainstream faith.

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Finally, Abigail Spanberger will be elected governor of Virginia this week. Pundits will try to frame her victory as as rejection of Trump, which it will be, in some ways.

But as a Virginian who worked in state government under seven governors, Virginia has been rejecting Trump and idiotic Republican policies for decades. This week will be no different.

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Thanks for your support and keep the faith.

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Pastor Jim Meisner, Jr. is the author of the novel Faith, Hope, and Baseball, available on Amazon, or follow this link to order an autographed copy. He created and manages the Facebook page Faith on the Fringe.