Why it's important to publicly shame Pence and others
By Jennifer Rubin January 16 at 12:15 PM
-snip- (Three paragraphs about the sermon delivered by the Pastor while Pence was in a pew)
Not only pastors, but all leaders of institutions hosting the president, vice president and senior officials should follow Pastor Watson’s lead. There are numerous benefits when figures such as pastors speak out.
First, his example underscores that community and political leaders should not disinvite the president, vice president and others. The administration’s most senior figures need to hear what Americans think of their conduct and need to understand others won’t politely ignore the elephant in the room. If this means they go out less frequently, the portrait of a president and administration under siege will be powerful. At any rate, in the battle for the hearts and minds of Americans anytime you can turn a photo op for members of the Trump administration (“Look, Pence in church, how nice!”) into a rotten story for them (“Pence shamed in church on MLK Day”) is a success.
Second, it is important to personalize the president’s actions so officials understand there are specific victims of his words and policies, in this case members of the church who are likely present in the room. Pence needs to look the Haitian and African immigrants in the eye, or at least feel their anger. Only when Pence and others understand that those affected have been mobilized and other Americans have taken their side will there be any inclination to change course.
Third, it works! Pence reportedly became embarrassed or enraged or both. The same should happen to President Trump and others who spew racist rhetoric. Trump wants adoring crowds, but each time he ventures out is an opportunity to convey he is not loved, but rather reviled, by a large segment of Americans.
Fourth, this pastor and others who speak out will put pressure on and reveal Trump’s clique of evangelical Christian apologists to be frauds, anti-Christian and enablers of racism. Others in the religious community can apply pressure as well. A group of clergy from the Evangelical Immigration Table, which supports a fix to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, put out this statement recently:
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2018/01/16/why-its-important-to-publicly-shame-pence-and-others/?utm_term=.a93199a28b5d
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