THE DARK PSYCHIC FORCE

Marianne Williamson is right. In the more than two and a half hours of back and forth on the details of policies and procedures last night, she used her few minutes to summarize our whole national emergency in a few words:  President Trump, she said, has unleashed a "dark psychic force" of "collectivized hatred" based on racism. All the wonky talk of plans, laws and reforms in the world will not matter as long as we allow this dark force of Trumpist racism to consume our civic society. We are in a moral, not a political, emergency. The moment is now for good people to defend righteousness. Those who stand for the most basic principles of religion and democracy have to stand up and reject and stop the dark force that will destroy us as a nation committed to equality, diversity, inclusion, and justice. Our whole future as a nation is at stake. This is a moral crisis.

Watch Williamson at last evening's debate here .

President Trump is a racist. That is the opinion of the majority of Americans. To be sure he denies it. The majority of Republicans deny it. This is not surprising. Denial is a common defense mechanism. However, by any objective standard, Trump's words and actions over many years show very clearly his use of racism as a political tool, to divide up Americans and inflame support among the white racists of various stripes. The immorality of this racism is eating away at the soul of America. Bear in mind this is not just any old racism. This is the deliberate work of the president of the United States, the most powerful person in the nation and the world.  

Christians who stand by silently and allow this racism to grow become complicit in it. Even worse are those Christians who fervently aid and abet Trump's racist MO. Of all people, it should be those of faith who lead the way in condemning this "dark psychic force." The staff of the National Cathedral have spoken up and spoken out. They are leading the way for all of us. Read their official statement condemning Trump's racism: "Mr. Trump's words are dangerous," they wrote. Read the Cathedral's statement here . 

In ways, all of the candidates on the stage last night were right. All had important words to say and ideas to contribute to make a better country and world. However, none got to the core of our national problem as did Marianne Williamson. We ought to take her words to heart.