Thomas Zimmer

This matters. Not because I think Trump is capable of mercy or empathy towards these vulnerable groups. But because it is a public act of defiance.

Contrast that with all these other powerful people in this country signaling nothing but appeasement and obedience.
https://www.threads.net/@aaron.rupar/post/DFGSwX8ABqa

Aaron Rupar (@aaron.rupar) on Threads

Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde to Trump: "I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender people in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives ... and the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals"

Threads
Jan 22, 2025 at 1:46amIvory for iOS
Show threadThomas ZimmerJan 22, 2025

What makes this so striking is that we almost never see it. She confronted Trump directly - made him sit there and listen.

Cynicism is not “savvy.” The idea that nothing matters anymore and all is lost is self-defeating. And it’s the easy way out. This is harder: Figuring out ways to push back.

Show threadThomas ZimmerJan 22, 2025
Of course this isn’t going to magically change everything. Everyone knows that. The bishop knows that. But she asked herself: What is it I can do in this moment? And then took a stand - demonstrating to the nation that this is indeed a choice we can make, whatever form that may take individually.
Show threadGreem (Graeme. Not Graham!)Jan 22, 2025

@tzimmer_history That was a really powerful speech, too.

I fear there will be inevitable petty retribution to follow.

Show threadLiberal CroneJan 22, 2025
@greem @tzimmer_history Probably; but I’m sure she took that possibility into account before she did the right thing…the brave thing. I have a new heroine!
Show threadWaka/JoewakaJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history I firmly believe that resistance appears in thousands of different ways depending on the people and the community they are in. How a normal Republican, a centrist Democrat, a progressive, an anarchist, a Catholic, etc. resist and speak out is going to look different.
Show threadKaterina MarchánJan 22, 2025

@tzimmer_history what would you consider to be the practical effects of this particular kind of act of defiance? Like, why is it desirable and does it actually achieve more than “I’m gonna post on masto lol”? The response from the receiving end was literally just “eh, it wasn’t very entertaining/good” and moving on as if nothing happened.

This is a genuine question! And I’m not even thinking that the Reverend doing this is bad or pointless, I’m just trying to think through the implications and learnings

Show threadBynkiiJan 22, 2025

@zkat @tzimmer_history because someone did it in public, directly.

That matters.

Show threadPete Alex Harris🦡🕸️🌲/∞🪐∫Jan 22, 2025

@zkat @tzimmer_history

As someone once said of protest (I forget who) "I don't do it to change the world, I do it so the world doesn't change me"

If a bishop won't take a clear, morally principled position, what's a bishop even for? That crook thing they carry about has a symbolic meaning, it's not just any old stick.

Appeasement and complicity rot the soul, and the bishop *wasn't really talking to Trump*

Show threadPeterJan 22, 2025

@tzimmer_history

Amazing, brilliant, and well done.

Show threadKevin SchwarzJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history The Rev is a hero for what she said!
Show threadDoreen32128 ready to rumble!Jan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history  She took her shot!    
Show threadMara LamprosJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history Her words matter so much. It was brave, defiant, and absolutely needed to be said to him and all of his followers, no matter how they received her message.
Show threadkittenzrulz123@localhost ~>Jan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history Trump fears no god, his own arrogance and hubris have consumed him long ago. Trump serves only himself and demands all bow down to him, he has in effect become his own god.
Show threadMerry ChristmasJan 22, 2025

@kittenzrulz123 @tzimmer_history

I think Musk thinks the same, he is God.

There will be fireworks between these two, but unfortunately for the USA it will be their poor who are in the firing line.

Show threadTim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPEJan 22, 2025

@kittenzrulz123 @tzimmer_history WTF does a bible have to do with it? Doesn't the US have separation between church and state?

Or ... is that a bit like their separation of the judiciary and the executive, it's there in writing but nobody is expected to take it seriously?

Show threadkittenzrulz123@localhost ~>Jan 22, 2025
@TimWardCam @tzimmer_history Its symbolic
Show thread𝓐𝓷𝓭𝔂𝓣𝓲𝓮𝓭𝔂𝓮 𓀤Jan 22, 2025

It would have looked bad for him to put his hand on the Bible, only for the Bible to spontaneously combust.

@kittenzrulz123 @tzimmer_history

Show threadAlaricJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history while the front row will pretend to ignore it, millions of others will hear it and for them it matters enormously.
Show threadxs4me2Jan 22, 2025

@tzimmer_history

Exactly this indeed.

Defiance…

Show threadSoNotABrickJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history he's big mad, called her a "so called bishop" and sai she should apologize... she should tell him to get bent
Show threadMarkNWJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history it also matters to me that she is telling a man who wraps himself in the glow of a kind of Christian nationalism, "this is what Christ actually expects of us"
Show threadMarkNWJan 22, 2025
@tzimmer_history Diana Butler-Bass has written some helpful thoughts on this, and linked to the entire sermon (so her appeal can be heard in context) https://substack.com/app-link/post?publication_id=47400&post_id=155393182
The First Sermon

The parts you probably didn't hear

The Cottage
Show threadCamille Winds DownJan 23, 2025

@tzimmer_history
I hate this more than words can say. Typical liberal white woman scoldy nonsense. This is the energy that keeps losing to Trump. Because it is all whiny sentiment and zero substance

We need to be past this now.

Now we fight for realsies or else we keep quiet.