My dear mother taught me to avoid saying I “hate” someone. Mom wasn’t a particularly religious person, but surely she must have known what Scripture teaches us about Jesus “loving” his enemies.

Still, as I survey the Republican Party presidential nominee-in-waiting, I find myself wondering if the ex-POTUS knows a damn thing about what’s inside the Bible. Thus, I wonder if he refrains from telling those closest to him not to “hate” those who oppose him. If he is as ignorant of what the Bible tells us as I suspect he is, then he hasn’t exercised a moment of faithful restraint.

This is the kind of supposition that gives me grief as I wrestle with what I feel viscerally about the GOP nominee-to-be. If he has never sought forgiveness, as he once said, then should those of us who do follow Jesus’s teachings actually care about this guy?

At some level, I do care about him. “Care,” though, is as far as I go.

I’m going to continue to avoid saying I “hate” this clown. Jesus wouldn’t agree to it. More importantly, neither would Mom.