The Mess is Ours
teerhardy.substack.com
The Mess is Ours
An Election Day Preview with Gretchen Purser and Crackers and Grape Juice
Gretchen Purser, host of The Mess is Mine Podcast, joins me,
, and on Crackers & Grape Juice to preview Election Day 2024. Gretchen helps us understand how we got to where we are and what we might expect on Election Day and the following days, weeks, and months.Gretchen is a recovering evangelical, former political hack, and Republican refugee.
Find Crackers and Grape Juice on Instagram, Facebook, and Substack.
I've been listening to this episode and I find it a hard slog. I've been a Never Trump Republican for years and I voted for Kamala Harris and hopes she wins. I don't think democracy is over if Trump is elected again, but I don't think it will be good for our nation and world. I think Trump is a terrible human being. All of that said, the reason I feel this episode is hard to hear is because I've heard this same message from nine years. I don't know Gretchen, but her talk felt somewhat self rightepus and not willing to see the faults on her side. For example when Jason talked about Clinton, she minized it as simply a "zipper problem." While his infidelities aren't the same as Trump's I think the willingness of the Democrats in the 90s to minimize and ignore what he did had implications for how Republicans would act later. That doesn't mean the GOP is innocent, they had a choice, but the actions of the Democrats were a factor.
The question I want to know if how do we live post election? How do we extend grace to people who voted for Trump? How do we see where we have fallen short in loving others or making politics and idol? This is not a reflection on the podcast, but I'm not interested anymore in talking about how bad he is, because that is known. I'm interested in learning how to be a faithful witness in the face of Trump and Trumpism that extends grace even to the person wearing a MAGA hat. The person that a as a gay black man I might feel uncomfortable around.
I just want some grace with my sense of justice.