The Bad News Continues and The Good News Stirs

The Bad News continues.  Non-stop it seems.  Each day brings an onslaught against anything resembling healthy democracy. 

More insults to our allies, whether Canada, Mexico, or Europe.  Attacks on the free press.  The world’s richest man saying no one has died by his closing of USAID when in fact children are dying from not getting their AIDS medicine and millions of others are dying and will die from decisions being made at home and abroad. 

There is much to lament.  And much to stand up and protest and go to court about.  And much to reform in the opposition party.

One headline tells us that “Project 2025 Honcho Raves About Trump’s First Two Months Back in Office: ‘Way beyond my Wildest Dreams.’”  The article recalls how during the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump insisted over and over again, that Project 2025 had nothing to do with him or his campaign and the project’s director, Paul Dans, was pushed out as a scapegoat.

But the last laugh goes to Dans who says: We had hoped, those of us who worked putting together Project 2025, that the next conservative president would seize the day, but Trump is seizing every minute of every hour.*

In my book on Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, published during the election, I recall the history of the archetype of the antichrist to name Evil.  This history includes artists such as saint and doctor of the Church, Hildegard of Bingen, and sixteenth century artist Luca Signorelli (whose major fresco in the Orvieto Cathedral caught the attention of Sigmund Freud in a big way) as well as theologians like Martin Luther and others. 

I warned that the lies that Trump had nothing to do with Project 2025 were themselves signs of antichrist which is always identified with lies– Satan is known as “the father of lies.”  Aquinas teaches that truth and justice go together.  Lies and injustice also go together.

In the book I propose that MAGA means “Make America Grotesque Again.”  What is happening before our eyes is grotesque.  Presidents and congress people who took an oath to defend the Constitution are engaged in dismantling democracy and the three levels of government that guard it.  

It is “grotesque” that the push is on to give the richest corporations and individuals $4.5 trillion tax breaks on the back of the weakest in society.  The safety net for the poor, the sick, the disabled, the hungry, the old are being shattered.  Beyond grotesque.  Work of the antichrist archetype in our midst. 

And the dismantling of EPA and protections for Mother Earth herself?  What about future generations of humans and of all the wonderful species we share the planet with?  What about our grandchildren and great grandchildren?  It is grotesque and beyond grotesque. 

Christofascism and Christian nationalism invoke Christ’s name to kill democracy as we know it in America.  How grotesque is that?  I cite The New Republic that Project 2025 is “a remarkably detailed guide to turning the United States into a fascist’s paradise.”

And the war on Palestinians in Gaza goes on, even after 50,000 have already lost their lives.

The Good News?  Resistance is happening in the streets, congressional townhalls, in (some) of the media and parts of congress and in courtrooms.  Spiritual warriorhood is stirring in citizens waking up to what is afoot. Moral outrage at lies and injustice is palpable, and fires are being lit in the hearts and minds of many.  The divine spark and divine “I am” in every person is catching fire.  Time is short.

* Sarah Rumpf, “Project 2025 Honcho Raves About Trump’s First Two Months Back in Office: ‘Way Beyond My Wildest Dreams,’” Mediaite, March 17, 2025.

See Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, pp. 51-84.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society.

And Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.

And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.

And Fox, “Spiritual Warriorhood,” in Fox, One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths, pp. 404-422.

Banner Image: Meticulous retribution: “Deconstruction of BLACK LIVES MATTER PLAZA along 16th between H and I Street, NW, Washington DC on Monday afternoon, 10 March 2025.” Photo by Elvert Barnes Photography on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

Are you taking care of yourself in these dark times and grounding yourself in your divine “I am” at the same time that you are resisting in whatever ways your moral imagination and fire in your belly and conscience tell you to do?  Are you finding allies to assist you and build community with?

Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice

In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register

Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth

Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox.  He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.

One River, Many Wells: Wisdom Springing from Global Faiths

Matthew Fox calls on all the world traditions for their wisdom and their inspiration in a work that is far more than a list of theological position papers but a new way to pray—to meditate in a global spiritual context on the wisdom all our traditions share. Fox chooses 18 themes that are foundational to any spirituality and demonstrates how all the world spiritual traditions offer wisdom about each.“Reading One River, Many Wells is like entering the rich silence of a masterfully directed retreat. As you read this text, you reflect, you pray, you embrace Divinity. Truly no words can fully express my respect and awe for this magnificent contribution to contemporary spirituality.” –Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit