What Christian Leaders Can Learn From the Trump-Zelanskyy Conflict
I am sure that many people were shocked by the recent events that took place at the Oval Office when President Zelenskyy of Ukraine met with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance among others. What started as a friendly meeting ended up becoming a loud argument in front of the world.
My goal here is not to discuss politics or even world events. You may believe the United States should or should not support Ukraine in their war with Russia. I am not discussing that issue.
What I would like to do is make some brief comments about what I saw in the video of the event.
One the positive side:
- We saw a leader standing up for his country.
- We saw a leader address the suffering that was taking place.
- We saw a leader name injustice and correct untruth.
- We saw a leader who was courageous enough to challenge what was wrong.
On the negative side:
- We saw a leader who struggled to define what they were really about.
- We saw a leader who demanded subservience.
- We saw a leader who used insulting names against those he disagreed with.
- We saw a leader blame all the problems on his predessor.
- We saw a leader who treated real suffering as a business deal.
There is more that could be said but this is enough.
There are lessons here for Christian leaders. We are all going to face conflict. We will face people who have very different opinions. They may disagree on what is really true.
How do we respond? There may be the temptation to attack the person we see as our opponent. We may feel the need to vent our emotions because of how we feel about their position.
Ultimately, how we respond is as important as how strong our arguments are. For Christian leaders, the goal should not be to destroy the person we are facing. It should be reconciliation and respectful communication.
That is not what we saw in the Oval Office. It is also not what we often see in churches. People who claim to follow Jesus can be very comfortable attacking both other Christians and non-Christians.
When we find ourselves in conflict, we should keep in mind the way we respond as much as the content that we are trying to communicate. What we saw in the White House is a helpful reminder for us to do better.
Vance’s behaviour in particular was toxic, falsely accusing Zelenskyy of ingratitude. There was an agenda to put him on the defensive (“Why aren’t you wearing a suit?”) because he and his people are collateral damage for an administration that wants to appease Putin. It was ugly, not Christian behaviour at all.