Yesterday, on Easter morning around 7:30 a.m., President Trump wished his Twitter followers a “HAPPY EASTER!” in all caps.
An hour and a half later, the President tweeted “NO MORE DACA DEAL!” also in all caps.
Another two hours would pass before he, his wife, and one of his daughters attended church for Easter services.
I wasn’t the only one who noted the jarring juxtaposition and incongruity between the occasion and the sentiment.
Is this what my Christian sisters and brothers hoped for when they voted for him? Is this how George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, or Mitt Romney would have acted on one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar?
I ask the same of my Jewish sisters and brothers who support Trump. Sunday was the second day of the Passover, a remembrance of how we were all once immigrants in Egypt. Can any one of them say that their forbears — immediate or ancient — were not immigrants?
Tracie, our daughters, and I spent the Passover holiday with my brothers, their families, and our mother in San Diego. That was the view from my mom’s house above.
It was nice to be in a place like (mostly) liberal California where the majority opposes Trump, his willful degradation of civic discourse, and his continued efforts to use the children of immigrants — the DACA dreamers — as a political bargaining chip. Where I grew up in Southern California, it’s mostly socially awkward to speak favorably about Trump and his policies and dehumanization of immigrants. Mostly…
People call California a liberal bubble. I was reminded of this when one of my detractors recently wrote the following on my blog: “You dont know a godam thing about the south u bathroom swapping western bitch!!” [sic, sic, and sic]
But it’s actually not a bubble. In fact, one of my best friends from my childhood in San Diego, with whom I’m still very close, is an adamant and vehemently vocal Trump supporter. And so is one of my immediate family members, although not as loudly so.
My California family lives along the coast. But head inland and you’ll find plenty of Trump supporters. Similarly, you’ll find a predominance of liberals in blue-state Houston where we live. But move outside the urban area — north, east, south, or west — and you will find the political attitudes inverted.
As much as I enjoyed being home with my family and being in a place where we were mostly shielded from politics and political discussions, I also realized that California is not a world without Trump. That world exists in the future and in my mind. It exists in my hopes and dreams. But it is not a real world or real place. Yet…
In the meantime, Tracie and I will continue to teach our children that Easter and the Passover are holidays meant to make us reflect on our shared humanity — regardless of religion, ethnicity, or geography. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ and G-d’s redemption of the Jews in ancient Egypt remind us that we are all emigrants and immigrants, traveling between the physical and the spiritual. Between the real world and the one that awaits us.
Do Bianchi 
So clever calling the children of illegal immigrants ‘dreamers’. What makes them dreamers?
We have African gangs where I live. They carjack, break into homes and vandalise them and threaten the vulnerable, they help themselves to products in supermarkets and so on and so on. It’s an invasion. But apparently it’s not their fault, it’s ours, because we aren’t understanding enough. That’s called high maintenance.
It’s important to be compassionate, but I don’t believe in indiscriminate immigration. And I don’t believe in open borders.
There may be a world without Trump, but you anti Trumpers make it sound as if he is the exception no the rule. Without exception, I don’t trust those slick oil salesmen and women who call themselves politicians. Why do you?
Mary, I believe that you live in Australia and I’m embarrassed to say that I am not familiar with the current refugee/illegal immigrant situation in your country. What I can say is that I personally know dreamers and I grew up with tons of kids whose parents were illegal immigrants (I grew up in a border city and now live in a city where there are a lot of migrants). Their parents fled their own countries because it was a life or death question for them. I don’t see it as the price we pay for living in the most prosperous country in the world. I see it as our responsibility for the privilege of having been born and living in the most prosperous country in the world. Having said that, I appreciate you being here and thank you for the comment and for sharing your insights. One of the most interesting things about sharing my own feelings and thoughts on the current tide of intolerance in our country has been the dialog with people who support Trump’s policies. Let’s keep the dialog open and let’s keep on talking.