Trump forgives his enemies

OPINION:

This past week, President-elect Donald Trump did something few, if any, people expected him to do.

First, he agreed to meet with MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to discuss ways he and the media could work together for the good of the American people and the nation. Second, despite the insults Mr. Scarborough and Ms. Brzezinski heaped on him over the past eight years, Mr. Trump forgave them.  

Here’s part of the statement Mr. Trump issued after the meeting: “I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding, or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly or even badly beyond comprehension. I am always looking to give a second and even third chance.” 

Again, the importance of this meeting and the president-elect’s response can’t be overstated.

After years of being accused by “Morning Joe” and virtually all of the establishment media of being a fascist, a felon, an insurrectionist, a demagogue, a threat to democracy, a liar and a rapist, after being called virtually every name in the book, Mr. Trump choose to meet with his detractors, bury the hatchet and forgive them. 

In many ways, this is the biggest news of the day. While Mr. Trump’s Cabinet nominees are getting most of the media attention right now, the headline that has unfortunately been buried is this: “Donald Trump forgives his enemies.”

Who would have expected this? Haven’t we all been told that Mr. Trump is a vindictive, mean-spirited man driven by a lust for vengeance who will use the power of the presidency to exact retribution on everyone who disagrees with him? Wasn’t it just yesterday when Joe and Mika and everyone else from Whoopi Goldberg to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told us that speaking out against this “strongman” would likely result in political exile and imprisonment?

Weren’t they, along with every other talking head at CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN, incessantly warning us that the reelection of Donald Trump would result in the end of free speech, the end of constitutional government and the end of America as we know it? 

But instead of all this, our supposed modern-day Stalin meets with his enemies and openly offers an olive branch to those who were most vile in their comments against him. 

Frankly, this is nothing short of astonishing. 

Oh sure, those of us who are Christians know that being a forgiving person is necessary if you also expect to be forgiven. Jesus was very clear about this: “If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

And yes, the biblical imperative is quite clear: People who need grace should be people who extend grace. Otherwise, we become people who know nothing of grace at all. (And let’s not forget that without grace, we are all damned. “For it is by grace that we’re saved through faith, it is not of ourselves, lest anyone should boast.”)

And yes, it is unmistakable that the Son of God himself taught us that those who are desperate for mercy (as all of us surely are) should be the first to be merciful to others.

And yes, it is unequivocal that if we are quick to condemn others for condemning us, we are nothing less than hypocrites whose standard is essentially “Do as I say, not as I do. The rules are for thee but not for me.” 

And yes, we know that the mature Christian life means we cannot expect something we are unwilling to give and that being the adult in the room requires forgiving others because we know we need it as much, if not more, than they do. We understand that a lack of forgiveness is the mark of a morally stunted person, and that anger will keep all of us locked in a moment that happened a year earlier, five years earlier or maybe just five minutes ago, and that no one grows and matures if they are frozen in time because they refuse to forgive.

And finally, yes, we know that we all need forgiveness at the end of the day and that without it, we are damned to live miserable lives now and for eternity. 

The Gospel of Christ is crystal clear: Everyone needs to have their “trespasses forgiven as they forgive others of their trespasses.” We all need a “second and third chance.” But who in the world would have expected that the man Joe and Mika have been telling us for months was the reincarnation of Hitler himself would set this example for the nation and the world?

If history teaches us anything, it is that every unforgiving movement, whether it be that of the Bolsheviks or the French, results in a nation’s blood growing cold as it watches the blood of its neighbors flow in the streets.  

“Donald Trump forgives his enemies” should be the lead story in every news outlet across the globe. Without headlines like this, all of us are doomed. 

• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host. He is the author of “Not a Daycare: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth” (Regnery).