STARK CONTRAST: Easter greetings from Biden and Trump provide sharply different messages
It’s always been a tradition for presidents to issue official messages and national greetings for every major holiday, and today is no different in that regard, with President Joe Biden posting his Easter greetings on Twitter this morning with a tweet that even the most cynical Republican would be hard-pressed to attack as overly secular or anti-Christian.
As we reflect today on Christ’s Resurrection, we are reminded that with faith, hope, and love — even death can be defeated. From our family to yours, we wish you hope, health, joy, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. Happy Easter and may God bless and keep you.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 17, 2022
Biden’s message of “faith, hope, and love” promises the redemption that is the ultimate meaning of the Easter holiday in the Christian-derived faiths in an empathetic and compassionate manner that expresses unity and optimism.
Contrast President Biden’s traditionally beneficent post with the Easter greetings issued by the pretender to the presidency — the man who refuses to admit his legitimate defeat and who continues to insist on being referred to as the “45th President of the United States of America” — Donald Trump.
That’s greetings in the plural because Trump was not content with using the sacred holiday as an excuse to send a simple message wishing the world a happy holiday, but instead felt compelled to follow up his initial tweet — a simple wish for “great peace and prosperity throughout the World!” that injects Trump’s materialism into the equation — with follow up Easter greetings that seem more concerned with scoring self-serving political points than with any genuine expression of sentiment surrounding the sacred Christian Holy Day of hope and joy.
Since Trump has been permanently banned from Twitter — barring Elon Musk taking control of the company and reversing that decision — his Easter greetings were posted to the platform by his press liaison, Liz Harrington.
Here’s Trump’s initial message, which would have been reasonably uncontroversial had it been the only one that he posted today.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Happy Easter to all. May there be great peace and prosperity throughout the World!” pic.twitter.com/Z2FAQc2Xd0
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 17, 2022
Trump, however, is never one to leave well enough alone. Within an hour, Harrington posted a second tweet on his behalf, this one more in Trump’s own voice compared to the relatively inoffensive words in the first post.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Happy Easter to all including the Radical Left Maniacs who are doing everything possible to destroy our Country. May they not succeed, but let them, nevertheless, be happy, healthy, wealthy, and well!” pic.twitter.com/Q6tJf0nThl
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 17, 2022
Forget the Easter Bunny. Trump apparently thinks that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog is the official Easter mascot, judging from the more aggressive than passive-aggressive characterization he offers to the vaguely-defined “Radical Left Maniacs” out there. Perhaps Trump thinks that he’ll get to heaven with his begrudging wishes of happiness, health, and prosperity towards his perceived enemies. Any true Christian would likely tell you that the odds are slim in that regard.
But wait! Trump wasn’t done using faux holiday wishes as a method to attack his enemies.
He went from going after the general category of “Radical Left Maniacs” to a very specific opponent with his next Easter greeting.
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Happy Easter to failed gubernatorial candidate and racist Attorney General Letitia James. May she remain healthy despite the fact that she will continue to drive business out of New York while at the same time keeping crime, death, and… pic.twitter.com/X22xhcDdEX
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 17, 2022
It is a tweet so dripping with insincerity in its holiday wishes to Letitia James — the New York State Attorney General who is leading the civil investigation of financial fraud and tax crimes allegedly committed by the Trump Organization — that one feels compelled to handle it with rubber gloves. Trump pointedly omits the wishes for happiness and wealth for James that he included for the larger group of maniacs on the radical left.
It’s incredibly clear from the contrasting messages from the current president and the disgraced former president which man has embraced the message of the man whose resurrection Christians celebrate today.
Biden’s Easter greeting is centered on love and redemption and exhibits exactly the expansiveness of spirit for which the holiday calls.
Trump’s Easter greetings are the perfect example of a man desperately in need of redemption, so self-involved and narcissistic that he can’t even spend one day without denigrating those with whom he disagrees.
The very idea that a large portion of Republicans still want this man to return to the presidency inspires many emotions that are also very antithetical to the values celebrated on Easter Sunday. So, let’s avoid thinking about that until tomorrow morning at least, and today do our best to meditate on the qualities of universal compassion and love that will be the only methods to get our nation back on track.
Tomorrow we can get back to ensuring that Donald Trump — a man bereft of any redeeming qualities — never sets foot in the White House again.
Follow Vinnie Longobardo on Twitter.
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