For many Americans, the results of our recent election inspired some measure of despair, fear, and anger. Sometimes these reactions come out online as threats to cut off relationships with family and friends who voted for Republicans. But, better channeled, I sometimes see them come out as expressions of concern for the vulnerable, often specified as immigrants and women facing unplanned pregnancies. Many minds are working to describe the ways people could be hurt by simultaneous GOP control of the White House and both houses of Congress.
It’s important to note that many of these worries may prove unfounded. President-elect Donald Trump is notoriously unpredictable. True, he has declared his interest in doing a lot of terrible things, and some genuinely terrible things happened during his first term, like the dismantlement of refugee resettlement in the US. But many of his ambitions will likely be about as successful as building the wall and making Mexico pay for it.
That said, whatever happens with Trump, the task before Christians making these statements remains the same: Take your concern on behalf of vulnerable people and turn it toward genuine solidarity and care.
Few vulnerable people are interested in what you post about them on the internet, and fewer still have any stake in the personal relationships you might cut off on their behalf. Almost all are more interested in tangible love, just like the rest of us. As James wrote, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?” (2:15–16).
Vigorous policy debates are good and necessary, yet for most of us, most of the time, our opinions matter much less than our love, put to work (1 Cor. 13:1). It is hardly a virtue to have opinions that are stronger than relationships, but the hard work of loving others is always before us.
So if the election’s result made you feel crushed on behalf of vulnerable people, the most important questions to ask yourself are these: What could you have been doing for vulnerable people before November 5? Has the election changed that? What can you do now that will be a blessing to others regardless of what happens in Washington over the next four years? How can you, to borrow the words of W. H. Auden, “love your crooked neighbor / With your crooked heart”?
When it comes to immigration, many worry that aggressive deportations of those without legal status, as Trump has promised, will lead to traumatic family separations and perhaps the accidental deportation of legal migrants or even citizens. The government already deports several thousand people every month, of course, and Trump’s much-larger-scale plan faces massive legal and logistical hurdles.
Whatever happens, there are many ways that you can be a blessing to vulnerable migrants. If there are local organizations that help to resettle refugees or provide services to immigrants, contact them and ask how you can volunteer. Signing up to open your home and provide foster care is also an incredibly valuable service, as children (whether they are American citizens or otherwise) often require a home if their parents’ legal status is in jeopardy. Helping to care for foster children will always be one of the best ways to do good, irrespective of Oval Office hijinks.
As for women with unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, here too the future is unclear. Trump has forced the Republican Party to accept a “state’s rights” framing of abortion law since the overturn of 1973’s Roe v. Wade several years ago, and Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is extremely pro-choice. Pro-lifers lost more state referendums than we won this year, and some “victories” were hardly decisive (such as Florida’s Amendment 4, in which only 43 percent of the vote was pro-life.)
With little hope that there will be federal action to prevent abortions, our focus as believers should be on building communities of character where women who are considering abortions—now fully legal in more than half of states—can meet Christians who are able to help them care for their children both before birth and beyond. If we are worried about vulnerable women, we can offer them practical help. And as with immigration, foster care will always be relevant, no matter who’s in power.
I don’t make these recommendations in the abstract. My family and I moved to Africa years ago to provide medical care to people in need while equipping African health professionals to become missionaries themselves. Some of my African friends and colleagues have become refugees after their homes were destroyed and their families killed, and I fear that the Trump administration will (among other possibilities) make it harder for them to start a new life in America.
But beyond calling my congressman and senator every now and then, there’s little I can do about the federal politics responsible for my worries. What I can do is keep going with the work that God called me to do—and keep praying that the Lord who “has brought down rulers from their thrones” and “lifted up the humble” (Luke 1:52) will keep doing good to those who fear him.
Matthew Loftus lives with his family in Kenya, where he teaches and practices family medicine. You can learn more about his work and writing at MatthewAndMaggie.org.
