The Neighbor — “Blessed Are the Peacemakers (Not the Dehumanizers)”
- Gerard Dolan
- Feb 8
- 4 min read
There are moments when a country tells you, plainly, what it is willing to become—if enough people will laugh, shrug, or look away.
This week, President Donald Trump’s Truth Social account shared (and later removed) a video that included a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as primates. The post drew bipartisan condemnation, including unusually direct criticism from Republican lawmakers; Trump refused to apologize and said he “didn’t make a mistake.” (AP News)
If you’re trying to live as a Christian in public—especially if you take the Beatitudes seriously—this isn’t a “culture war” skirmish. It’s a discipleship test. Because the Beatitudes are not vague spiritual poetry. They are a blueprint for what a human being looks like when God is forming them into someone who can live with power, anger, enemies, and fear without becoming cruel.
What I’m relying on
Public reporting describes a video posted to Trump’s Truth Social account that included a racist image depicting the Obamas as primates; the post was later taken down after blowback from both parties, and White House explanations shifted. (AP News)I’m not reproducing the imagery here. Dehumanization spreads by repetition.
The point of the “monkey” trope is not humor. It’s permission.
Comparing Black people to primates is a historically loaded form of dehumanization—designed to make contempt feel natural and empathy feel optional. It trains the audience to see certain people as less than fully human.
And once you’ve reduced someone’s humanity, everything else gets easier:
mocking becomes normal
contempt becomes entertainment
cruelty becomes “just politics”
and violence—eventually—finds cultural cover
This is how a society’s moral immune system weakens. Not all at once. One shared clip at a time.
What the Beatitudes actually do to a person
The Beatitudes (Matthew 5) do not create “nice guys.” They create people who refuse to purchase belonging at the price of someone else’s dignity.
They also expose a common distortion in modern political Christianity: the idea that “winning” is the highest good, and humiliation is an acceptable tool if it helps “our side.”
That is not the way of Jesus. It’s the way of power.
Consider three Beatitudes as a diagnostic:
“Blessed are the merciful…”
Mercy does not mean naiveté or passivity. Mercy means you do not treat another human being as disposable—even when they are your political opponent, even when the internet rewards cruelty, even when your tribe demands blood sport.
If your politics requires you to laugh at dehumanization, something in you is being discipled—but it isn’t being discipled by Christ.
“Blessed are the peacemakers…”
Peacemaking is not “tone policing.” It is refusing to escalate the moral temperature of public life in ways that make violence feel inevitable.
Dehumanizing imagery is escalation. It doesn’t persuade; it poisons. It prepares a nation to accept what it should never accept.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”
Righteousness is not a brand. It is not “owning the libs.” It is not defending the indefensible because you fear your enemies more than you fear God.
Righteousness looks like truth-telling, accountability, and restraint—especially when it costs you status within your own camp.
The Christian Right problem isn’t “being conservative.” It’s tolerating contempt.
I’m not asking anyone to abandon their views on taxes, regulation, immigration, or cultural questions. People of goodwill can disagree on policy.
But if you claim the name of Jesus while excusing dehumanization—especially from the highest office in the land—your public witness is not “bold.” It’s malformed. And the world notices.
This is exactly how the Beatitudes confront us: not by asking, “Are you on the correct team?” but by asking, “What kind of person are you becoming?”
The neighbor is not the person who votes like you
In the parable of the Good Samaritan, “neighbor” is not defined by tribe. Neighbor is defined by action: who stops, who sees, who refuses to step over the wounded because it’s inconvenient.
In our political life, the “wounded” include anyone targeted for public humiliation and dehumanization—especially when it is weaponized to rally a crowd.
So the question is not merely “Was this post offensive?” (It most certainly was.) The deeper question is: What do we permit ourselves to enjoy? What do we permit our leaders to normalize? What do we permit our churches to excuse?
What citizens can do now
Refuse to share dehumanizing content—even to condemn it. Describe it; don’t circulate it.
Name it plainly in your circles: “This is dehumanization. It’s morally corrupting.”
Demand better from leaders you support. If you can’t criticize your own side, you’re not a citizen—you’re a client. (AP News)
Practice “Beatitude speech” online: truthful, restrained, humanizing, unwilling to mock.
Strengthen your moral reflexes: if a joke requires someone’s dignity as the punchline, it’s not harmless. It’s training.
Teach your family what you will not laugh at. Legacy is formed in small approvals.
A final word
The Beatitudes are not an accessory to public life. They are a protest against the idea that cruelty is strength.
If you want to know whether your faith is real, here is one test: Can you refuse dehumanization even when it flatters your side? Can you remain merciful when contempt is culturally rewarded?
Because “The Neighbor” is not a slogan. It’s a discipline.
Every post ends with the same question: what does citizenship require of us now?
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