On the December 2, 1993 cover of Time magazine there was a computer-generated image of a young woman who appeared to be mixed-race. The cover illustration was to symbolically show literally the changing face of America. 1/

The issue discussed the rapidly changing racial and ethnic demography taking place in the early 1990s - and the fact that if these changes continued that sometime in the 2040s the United States would become a majority-minority nation. 2/

This meant that whites/Anglos would no longer be the dominant racial group. I remember reading this issue with great interest and enthusiasm because I was then serving a congregation that already looked like that distant future. 3/

My congregation, at that time, was one of the most ethnically and racially diverse churches in the nation. We were one congregation with over 32 different nationalities and many, many more ethnicities and languages. 4/

Our congregation was already living this predicted future future - and it worked. Did we have our issues? Sure, every church does, but we understood our diversity - and our unity - as a strength, not a weakness. 5/

So within that context and experience, I looked forward to our future as a country when I hoped that we might become a more tolerant, just, and inclusive society. 6/

The reason I mention this is because we are now only 20 years away from becoming this majority-minority country. It's now happening and this is seriously scaring the shit out of white people in the U.S. 7/

Whites (not all of course) are living in absolute fear of becoming a minority racial group. Part of that fear may be due, in part, to their worry that they will be treated in the same manner that they have historically treated other minorities. 8/

I know that I am not the first to conclude that it has been this terror of becoming a minority that has driven support for Trump and the now white-nationalist GOP. 9/

Many white Americans seem to be looking to Trump and the Republican Party as a kind of white savior figure and political movement which will reverse/stop/slow this current demographic shift. 10/

They make up the base/core of the GOP now. Whatever political conservatism might have once stood for, that party no longer exists. Only white grievance and fear remain. 11/

The GOP has known for some time that if it wanted to continue winning elections, they needed to appeal to folks beyond their base. They as much as said so in the autopsy report following their 2012 loss. But they chose otherwise. 12/

At this point they have crossed the threshold where they can still win nation wide elections in a free and fair process with the constituency who currently constitutes their party. 13/

So they turn to voter suppression and intimidation, purging rolls, and generally making it as difficult as possible for non-white people to vote. They are breaking whatever rules they need to in order to hold on to power. 14/

In 2016, the GOP and the Trump team turned to Russia for assistance to alter the outcome of the election - and they won, as we well know, but just barely - enough to hold on to political power. 15/

And they are doing the same things this time around too. But their base of support has actually shrunk since 2016, and they realize that they may never again win the majority of votes cast in an election. 16/

I believe that if a truly free and fair election is held, Democrats would walk away with it. I believe that the GOP also know this to be true. So this will be for them an existential election for them - retain power or become a permanent minority party. 17/

Because this is the case, they are giving up on the practice of democracy altogether and are turning to authoritarianism to keep in power. When faced with their own decline, they refuse to adapt and dispose of the democratic process. 18/

They no longer care about elections, votes, rules, laws, or norms - they will do whatever it takes to hold on, even if it means sacrificing the very thing which has set us apart as a nation. Fin/