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Welcome to the Truth and Action Roundup, your reliable weekly source for information, inspiration, and opportunities for action during the second Trump administration.  Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to continue receiving it.

Pastor Mark Burns dedicated a golden statue of Donald Trump at one of the President's golf courses. The pastor made sure to say it wasn’t a golden calf, but the idolatry in the act was obvious. Unfortunately, Pastor Burns is not alone in coming to make an idol of Donald Trump despite every biblical exhortation against doing so. We’ve also seen our government bend to idolatry in fealty to the President.

While we can see the banners featuring Donald Trump’s face across federal buildings in the Capitol, we can understand clearly the idolatry of the moment and the warnings against it. We should also understand it as Congress has made itself inert in the face of attacks on its constitutionally defined duties. With the war in Iran continuing to drag past the 60-day mark, which requires any hostilities to be authorized by Congress.

As Christians, we must guard against idolatry and repair the damage that we are now seeing. We can call on our leaders to turn away from the blind worship of Trump and turn back to the principles and beliefs they hold dear.

–Rev. Moya Harris and Chad Stanton, Sojourners

P.S. We are continuing to build an intentional community of people looking to enact their faith in our Sojourners Faith and Practice Forum on Mighty Networks. Please consider joining us.

In the News

Here’s a look at what happened this week:

1. Debates persist in Congress regarding funding for the Trump administration’s cruel deportation policies, while ICE and local law enforcement continue to implement these measures.

   • Congressional Republicans are working to pass $72 billion in funding for immigration enforcement through the budget reconciliation process, which does not require Democratic support. President Trump has established a June 1 deadline for the bill to reach his desk.

   • ICE is providing financial incentives to local police departments that participate in immigration enforcement. Localities receive funding by joining the federal 287(g) program, which gives local police the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants. If every police department received the promised funding—including allocation for vehicles, equipment, salaries, benefits, and bonuses for increased arrests—the total could reach $2 billion annually.

2. The combined effects of the war on Iran and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) have contributed to an affordability crisis for Americans across socioeconomic backgrounds, with particularly severe consequences for those who are economically vulnerable.

   • The Pennsylvania Independent interviewed economically vulnerable people throughout the state, revealing widespread hardship and significant concerns regarding the OBBBA’s reductions to SNAP and Medicaid, as well as the failure to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that previously reduced health insurance premiums. One home care worker reported having to choose between buying groceries and paying the utility bills.

   • Although 75 percent of Americans believe the Iran war has negatively affected their finances, President Trump stated Tuesday that he does “not even a little bit” think about Americans’ financial situation when addressing Iran. Meanwhile, the Labor Department reported Wednesday that wholesale inflation rose to 6 percent in April as a result of the war.

3. Threats to voting rights and the integrity of upcoming elections persist nationwide, with new efforts to maximize white and Republican voting power through gerrymandering, lawsuits, and other tactics in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling.

   • Florida is defending its new congressional map in court, asserting that it lacks ‘signs’ of partisan gerrymandering. Multiple voting-rights and civil-rights organizations have filed lawsuits against the state, contending that the map clearly violates voter-approved anti-gerrymandering standards and is “one of the most extreme congressional maps” enacted in the past 50 years.

   • Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) called in June to redraw the state’s electoral maps ahead of the 2028 elections. The session follows the Louisiana v. Callais ruling that weakened the Voting Rights Act, and is consistent with actions by other Southern states to redraw maps in ways that dilute minority representation.

Take Action

• There will be a national day of action tomorrow in defense of voting rights, organized by All Roads Lead To The South coalition.

• Fund Care, Not ICE will be a march and rally organized by Popular Democracy and partners to demand a humane budget. It will take place at Benjamin Banneker Park, in Washington, D.C., on May 20.

What We’re Reading

“Decolonizing Faith From Palestine to the Philippines” | The purpose of theology is to give colonized people—from Mindanao to Palestine to communities across the world—the faith and tools they need to practice decolonization. (by Yanan Rahim Navarez Melo)

“The DOJ’s Report on Anti-Christian Bias Mistakes Policy for Persecution, Advocates Say” | “If you’ve grown up in certain evangelical circles your entire life, this can perhaps feel like an attack,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean it is one.” (by Ken Chitwood)

Deep Breaths

This week, Rev. Harris is traveling, so for this week’s Deep Breaths, I’d like to share a poem by Terrance Hayes about Octavia Butler. Hayes is a Silver Professor of English at New York University who has won numerous prizes for his poetry and criticism.

–Chad Stanton, Political Director, Sojourners

—————

AMERICAN SONNET STARRING OCTAVIA BUTLER I

In Julie Dash's Octavia Butler the director washes Octavia's Monumental feet & toenails in buckets of government water

When there are no seas or rivers handy. It takes too long Awaiting God's drizzle though there are open barrels outside The camera's frame in the scene where Butler lies outdoors

Letting her entire mouth fill with tap water, then spitting the water Into the air blessed & better after the taste of her speech.

If you don't see suffering's potential as art, will it remain suffering?

When Butler tells Dash she's dreamed of storms all week, Dash asks to film the dreams. The camera watches Butler sleep A full moon humming something in the same baritone she uses When she speaks. Of course, Octavia Butler stars in Octavia Butler.

She buys blouses with patterns of leaves & flowers in the off-hours And listens to the young hotel desk clerk worry about precipitous weather.

––Rev. Moya Harris, Senior Director of Programs, Sojourners

The Truth and Action Roundup is compiled by Sojourners staff:

President: Rev. Adam Russell Taylor
Senior Research Associate: J.K. Granberg-Michaelson
Digital Content and Community Specialist: Kassandra Tapia
Chief Program and Impact Officer: Bryan Epps
Political Director: Chad V. Stanton
Senior Program Director: Rev. Moya Harris
Digital Education and Outreach Specialist: Cortnie Brooks
Policy and Action Assistant: Trinity Williams