As children we all learned that our nation is led by a a government that is balanced by three branches. The Legislative Branch makes laws. The Executive Branch enforces laws. The Judicial Branch interprets laws.

The Framers of our Constitution did this on purpose. We declared our independence to flee the absolute rule of one king.

I will be the first to admit it hasn’t always worked well. In 1798 Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Act that prohibited anyone from criticizing the government. In 1857 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of slavery in the case of Dred Scott v. Sandford. In 1942 President Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese Americans.

But these exceptions are rare. And respect for all branches undergirds our very democracy. But respect does not undergird our President.

Last June, while he was defending Trump University against a lawsuit, he charged that the judge couldn’t preside fairly because he’s Mexican (though born in Indiana).

I wrote about President Trump’s executive order on immigration last week. Lawsuits began almost immediately. Judge James Robart, a Republican appointee of President George W. Bush, halted the executive order; President Trump called him a “so called judge”.

After (we assume) hearing the oral arguments he said this:

You could be a lawyer, or you don’t have to be a lawyer. If you were a good student in high school or a bad student in high school, you can understand this, and it’s really incredible to me that we have a court case that’s going on so long. I was a good student. I understand things. I comprehend very well, OK? Better than, I think, almost anybody. And I want to tell you, I listened to a bunch of stuff last night on television that was disgraceful. It was disgraceful because what I just read to you is what we have. And it just can’t be written any plainer or better and for us to be going through this.

And so, to sum up, when he disagrees with a court ruling, he claims the judge couldn’t be fair, or the judge isn’t legitimate, or that he’s smarter than the judges.

Stay tuned, I’ll be writing more.

Those of us who supported President Obama learned early on that we needed to develop a thick skin. From his first days in office he was accused of not being an American. But perhaps the most puzzling false accusation was this: he doesn’t love America.

We listened to the same speeches, and we couldn’t understand how anyone heard anything that indicated he wasn’t a patriot. And in fact, none of them ever pointed to an example: a speech, a remark, a photo op.

And so we couldn’t believe what we heard on Super Bowl Sunday. President Trump, in an interview with Bill O’Reilly made comments we never expect a U.S. President would ever say.

The birth of the Soviet Union in 1917 began a century long competition between them and the United States for world domination. This competition accelerated after World War II and is commonly known as the Cold War.

Many of us believe the Cold War ended in 1991, in large part due to the policies of United States Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush (both Republicans) and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Most of us find no nostalgia for those days. But today, in 2017, we recognize that our current leaders in the United States and Russia do not share that nostalgia. And as Americans we should be worried.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, commonly referred to as a thug and a murderer, yearns for the days of the Soviet Union and the quest for world domination.

And so during the interview Mr. Trump spoke of the respect he has for Mr. Putin. In response Mr. O’Reilly called Mr. Putin “a killer.” Here is how Mr. Trump responded: “There are a lot of killers. Do you think our country is so innocent? Do you think our country is so innocent?”

I’m going to let this sit in, but at the very least he said this country is no better than Vladimir Putin. His fawning need to be liked by Mr. Putin apparently means more to him than his love of our country.

And President Obama is the one who doesn’t love this country?

I wrote recently about President Trump’s remarks at the annual Prayer Breakfast. In addition to disrespecting his office and prayer, he also called for the repeal of the Johnson Amendment. Briefly it states that churches and other tax exempt organizations cannot participate in a political election and cannot endorse a candidate.

Evangelical Christians like Jerry Falwell, Jr. oppose the Johnson Amendment as limiting his free speech. We disagree on this point, but I’ll get to that later.

Right now there is a clear divide. You can belong to a church and contribute, and you can deduct those donations on your tax return. Essentially our government encourages us to belong to places of worship and donate to charities. And if you want to contribute to a political campaign, you can do that but you can’t deduct those monies.

But if places of worship can take political stands, it won’t take long for overtly political groups to claim that they are churches.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look back at Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In 2010 the Supreme Court held that corporations and unions are “persons” and are protected by the First Amendment. This led to an explosion of “social welfare groups,” or 501(c)(4) groups. Political campaigns recognized that they could set up a 501(c)(4) social welfare groups without having to disclose who is supporting them (as do Super PACs). This essentially allowed wealthy people to donate to someone’s campaign anonymously. They specifically avoided transparency.

So how do you create a church and register it so your parishioners can deduct their contributions on their tax returns? It’s actually pretty easy, and you can walk through the process on the IRS page. Nowhere does it say anything about beliefs or teachings, or doctrine.

Earlier I spoke about disagreeing with Jerry Falwell, Jr. Here’s why: I’ve spent nearly all my adult life in the world of religion. Since 1980 I’ve been a seminarian, a youth minister, a director of religious education, a deacon, a priest, and a hospice chaplain. During all that time I’ve been identified by my role. I’ve also been a registered voter since 1978. People who know me have known my political views, and how those views have changed over the years. As an American I’ve been enthusiastic about my personal political views.

But from day one I’ve recognized that when I’m representing my church I cannot and should not tell others how they should vote. When I’ve preached, in any venue, I’ve recognized that I serve those I preach to. I care deeply about their moral compass and how they make decisions, but I care not at all about who they vote for. The Johnson amendment protects members who love what their pastor preaches and disagrees with who their pastor votes for. As Americans we need this distinction.

I call all of of us to oppose the repeal of the Johnson amendment.

Last week President Trump issued an executive order blocking anyone from seven nations for 120 days (except Syria where it’s open ended).

During the past week several members of Mr. Trump’s administration have tried to portray this as an emergency order to protect American lives. This past Thursday Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews on MSNBC. This is what she said (and I got this from an Associated Press article from the Los Angeles Times:

President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized, and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered

Oh dear, where to start. Let’s start at the beginning with Ms. Conway’s claim that President Obama instituted a six month ban on Iraqis. Snopes.com rated this “mostly false.” In 2011 the State Department slowed issuing of SIV’s (Special Immigrant Visas) after finding that two Iraqi men entered the United States and were living in Bowling Green, Kentucky who shouldn’t have been let in. Because of this the Obama administration added layers of vetting of immigrants from Iraq, but by 2012 the process was back up to full speed. And it bears stating that they slowed one type of visa from one country.

But this wasn’t what made Ms. Conway look like an idiot. She spoke of the “Bowling Green Massacre.” At first I thought she was talking about Bowling Green State University in Ohio, or perhaps the four people killed on May 4, 1970 at Kent State University in Ohio. Problem is, there is no such thing as the “Bowling Green Massacre.”

Never one to miss an opportunity to play the victim, she responded by saying she only misspoke one word. Instead of massacre she should have said terrorists.

Yeah, but it was an important word. She and the rest of the Trump administration have shown us a stunning appetite for falsifying events to advance their agenda (see also Mr. Trump’s claim that his inaugural crowd was the largest ever).

By the way, if you want a giggle, the Bowling Green Massacre has a funding page. You can click here. Full disclosure: it links you to the donation page for the American Civil Liberties Union.

On Thursday President Trump spoke at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. President Eisenhower began this tradition in 1953.

For those of us who find great power in prayer, this has been an important event. It’s a time to gather and to pray for and with our President, even the ones we didn’t vote for. And we expect the President to come to the breakfast in humility and respect. I’ve spoken before about how this President shows a lack of respect for his office. Thursday we saw how he holds the prayer breakfast in the same contempt.

This is a quotation from his remarks:

But we had tremendous success on “The Apprentice.” And when I ran for President, I had to leave the show. That’s when I knew for sure I was doing it. And they hired a big, big movie star — Arnold Schwarzenegger -– to take my place. And we know how that turned out. The ratings went right down the tubes. It’s been a total disaster. And Mark will never, ever bet against Trump again. And I want to just pray for Arnold, if we can, for those ratings, okay?

Mr. Trump famously craves attention and approval. Apparently he will choose any venue, even a prayer breakfast, to settle scores and puff up his own ego. Mr. President, those of us who value prayer are ashamed of you.

Last Friday President Trump issued an executive order suspending entry into the United States from seven nations (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen). For six of the seven countries the suspension will last 4 months; for Syria it will last indefinitely.

This created chaos on an epic scale. In a tweet on Monday President Trump claimed that only 109 people were detained out of 325,000. Like many of his claims, this was blatantly untrue. An excellent article in the Washington Post estimates the number at about 90,000. You can read about this here but some travelers were blocked from boarding planes, others were detained once arriving on U.S. soil.

This order covered anyone coming from these countries, regardless of their status. Some had travel visas, others had student visas, some were refugees, and some had “green cards” (non citizens who are here legally and can work here). Eventually those who had green cards were allowed in.

President Trump insists he did this to prevent terrorists from entering the United States (like the terrorists from 9/11) and the four month delay allows “extreme vetting.” But refugees come here only after incredible vetting. Right now it takes between 18 and 24 months. Several people endured this process and were on the verge of finally coming here when they were stopped by this executive order.

So President Trump, here’s my question: If these people spent 1 1/2 to 2 years being vetted, and we’re convinced they pose no threat, what do you expect to learn in the next 120 days?

From the initial announcement of his candidacy, President Trump has promised to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. As a matter of fact, he spoke of Mexican immigration when he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015.

He’s also promised to compel Mexico to pay for it. But he never clearly told us how. I think we can all agree that if he sends a bill to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto it won’t get paid. A few times he’s threatened to tax or ban remittances (money sent from the United States to Mexico, often from relatives).

Last week he announced a different plan: a 20% tariff on products imported from Mexico. Perfect, right?

Well, not exactly. You see, a tariff means that if Mexico imports a $20,000 car, the United States collects $4,000. A tariff is imposed to make an import more expensive and make a similarly produced American product more appealing. So Mexico appears to be the loser here.

Except that a tariff assumes Mexico will then charge $24,000 for the car. If the Mexican manufacturer eats the extra charge the tariff doesn’t work, so we can assume they will pass along the $4,000. Some Americans will pay the $24,000 and others will purchase a car made here. But there are some things that can only be made in Mexico.

We Americans love our margaritas, and depend on tequila from Mexico. By law, tequila must come from a region in central Mexico (the states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit and Aguascalientes). Tequila is distilled from the blue agave plant, and by all accounts, it can’t be grown anywhere else. You can read about it here. You can also read a funny response from South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

But whether we pay the tariff out of choice or not, it doesn’t matter. At the end of the day the US government comes out ahead (they collect the tariff), Mexico breaks even (they pass the cost of the tariff to us), and we come out behind (paying more for the products we purchase).

In other words, we pay for the wall.

President Trump, when you promised us Mexico would pay for a wall many of us don’t want, you were lying. You hoped we wouldn’t notice, but we did.

Several times this week President Trump has claimed he lost the popular vote because of voter fraud. In my last post I spoke about how his press secretary claimed Mr. Trump “has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has.”

But Mr. Spicer didn’t elaborate on the source of the studies and information. Today Mr. Trump tweeted that a man named Gregg Phillips makes these claims.

But today Chris Cuomo interviewed him on CNN where he refused to reveal any proof of his claim that 3,000,000 non-citizens voted in the election.

In addition there was talk that uncounted people registered in different states (and presumably voted in both places); Mr. Trump tweeted that out Wednesday morning. But that was quickly debunked. It’s true that many people are registered in different states, but that’s because when people move they often neglect to notify their local registration board. Interestingly enough Mr. Trump’s advisor Steve Bannon is registered in New York and Florida and Mr. Trump’s daughter Tiffany is registered in Pennsylvania and New York. I guess voter fraud begins at home.

I’ve spoken about this before, but we Presidents aren’t elected by a majority of the popular vote, but by the majority of member of the Electoral College. Twice in the last 16 years we’ve elected someone who lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote.

In 2000 President George W. Bush became our 43rd President even though he lost the popular vote by 540,000 votes. But if President Bush reacted to this, I have not been able to find anything. He moved on and went about the business of running the country.

Not so in 2016. President Trump lost the popular vote by nearly 3,000,000 votes. A smart leader would see this and recognize the need to build bridges and give the 65,844,610 voters who chose Secretary Clinton cause to reconsider.

Instead, like any cry baby bully, he continues to insist he was cheated out of the popular vote by “the illegals.” I’ve said this before, but good leaders command respect while poor leaders crave approval.

Today Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed the President “has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has.” But it’s not based on studies or information we have.

Mr. Trump, you do not serve us (your employers) well when you spend your time and energy lying to us.

I’ve spoken before about how thin skinned we find President Trump. This past weekend we saw it again.

Several media outlets reported that attendance at President Trump’s inaugural was smaller than attendance in 2009, when President Obama was inaugurated.

Saturday evening, presumably at President Trump’s direction, White House press secretary Sean Spicer held a press briefing. But he did not take questions and spent most his time charging that “the media” falsely downplayed the crowd and that this inauguration was the largest ever. He said this: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.”

On Sunday morning Kellyanne Conway (Counselor to the President) appeared on Meet the Press. When asked why Mr. Spicer used his first press briefing to argue about such a small issue, Ms. Conway responded that Mr. Spicer gave “alternative facts”.

Alternative facts? Really? Frighteningly we’ve seen this before. In 1943 George Orwell wrote about this here. He wrote that totalitarian regimes are at their most dangerous when they deny truth. He explained that Nazi Germany did not believe in science but in “German Science” instead of “Jewish Science.” When leaders are able to convince their followers to ignore truth in favor of propaganda, their power is limitless.

Today we see that everywhere. President Trump dismisses climate change as a Chinese hoax. Forty two percent of Americans don’t believe in evolution. And 100% of current Presidents believe he drew more people to his inauguration than President Obama.