Who Gets to Say What Happened?
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.” —Ephesians 4:25, NRSVUE
On Monday, CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes asked President Trump a question he did not want to answer. He told her to be quiet and called her loud, boisterous, disrespectful, and fake.
This was part of a familiar pattern. Trump has told female reporters to smile and has commented on their faces and bodies. He called Bloomberg correspondent Catherine Lucey “piggy.”1 When women ask questions he wants to avoid, he often responds as if a woman’s voice needs a man’s permission.
These attacks are degrading, but they also serve a political purpose. The insult overshadows the question. By the next morning, the focus is on his cruelty, which is real, instead of the truth he wanted to avoid.
The administration’s attacks on the press go beyond insults. The White House punished the Associated Press for using the name Gulf of Mexico. The Pentagon limited access and replaced established news organizations with those more supportive of the administration. Federal agents searched a reporter’s home. The Justice Department subpoenaed journalists to find their sources. Trump has sued the BBC, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal while in office.2
Absurd actions can hide real dangers. Even a weak lawsuit is costly to defend. A childish insult can lead to thousands of threats against a reporter. Demanding a new name for a body of water can show that access to power depends on using the leader’s chosen words.
The conflict over the Gulf was never just about geography. The Associated Press was punished for refusing to be compliant.3 The administration was claiming the power to decide not only what people should believe, but also what can be spoken as real.
Still, defending the press means being honest about the press itself. Over the years, large news organizations have come under corporate ownership. They gave up some independence for access, turned complex issues into simple conflicts, and built their business around grabbing our attention. Reporters gave anonymity to powerful officials but treated vulnerable people as content. Too much journalism served business interests while pretending to be separate from power.
Public trust in journalism did not collapse only because politicians attacked it. Some trust was lost through the media’s own actions.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians connects truth-telling to belonging: “Speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.” Truth is more than just giving accurate information. It is a responsibility we share because our lives are connected.
That responsibility includes telling the truth about the institutions we are trying to defend. A press incapable of examining its own compromises cannot fully serve the public. Institutional failure does not justify authoritarian punishment. Criticism seeks accountability. Authoritarianism seeks submission.
The cost of submission is not shared equally. Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara lived in the United States for twenty years before being detained while covering a protest.4 The charges were dropped, but he stayed in immigration custody for over one hundred days, much of it in what advocates called solitary confinement, before being deported.
Rümeysa Öztürk, who was a doctoral student at Tufts, was detained after coauthoring an opinion essay about Gaza.5 Independent journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested after covering an anti-ICE protest in a Minnesota church.6 Reporters covering immigration enforcement have been shoved, assaulted, detained, and threatened.
Journalists who work for big companies have lawyers and institutions to defend them. Freelancers, immigrants, students, and local reporters often have to stand alone. They are easier to intimidate and easier to ignore. “Freedom of the press” becomes just an idea when we do not ask who pays the price for witnessing.
For much of the twentieth century, Americans believed that neutral institutions could create a shared reality. That system was never as neutral or inclusive as it claimed, but it did provide some common ground for public debate.
That common ground is disappearing. The Trump administration is speeding up its loss, though it did not create all the conditions that made this possible.
This raises a bigger question than just how to save major newspapers or TV networks. How can people keep a shared reality when the institutions meant to protect it are compromised, taken over, or attacked?
Communities have faced this question before. When official histories left them out, families kept names alive. When authorities denied violence, neighbors wrote down what they saw. Congregations kept records. Elders shared stories. Workers gathered testimony. Communities built archives from photos, letters, court records, and memories.
Truth has never belonged to just one institution. We still need reporters who have the time and resources to investigate governments, corporations, wars, and prisons. We also need local journalists, community archives, neighborhood historians, librarians, teachers, artists, and witnesses who are willing to remember the truth together.
“For we are members of one another.”
A shared world lasts because someone notices what happens, someone records it, and someone else refuses to let that witness be forgotten.
This work is becoming more dangerous, but it is also becoming more important.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
When have you seen an insult or spectacle distract public attention from a question someone in power did not want to answer?
What failures of contemporary journalism need to be acknowledged without becoming excuses for government intimidation?
Who is preserving the truthful memory of your community, especially the experiences that powerful institutions overlook?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Those Who Bear Witness
Holy One, Strengthen those who ask the unwelcome question, record the hidden violence, and remember the names others would erase. Protect the reporter standing alone, the writer made vulnerable by her words, the neighbor holding a camera, the community preserving its own history. Give our institutions courage to confess their failures and resist every demand for submission. Keep us from mistaking spectacle for truth or repetition for reality. Make us faithful witnesses— humble enough to be corrected, brave enough to speak, and steadfast enough to stand beside those who bear the cost of telling what happened. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Keep a Faithful Record
Choose one local story that matters to your community but is receiving little sustained attention. It might concern an immigration raid, a school-board decision, an environmental hazard, a library closure, a threatened congregation, or a neighbor organizing care.
Find two reliable accounts of what happened. Record the date, the names of those involved, the sources, and what remains uncertain. Save that record somewhere others can find it. If a local or independent journalist is already covering the story, subscribe, donate, or share the reporting with context.
Do not place yourself or anyone else in danger. The practice is simply to help keep one piece of reality from being lost.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
My team and I launched a new experiment we are calling “The Commons.” It’s an online space centered around communities of practice: groups of people who share a common concern, set of problems, or passion for a topic, and deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis. Join the community here.
August 20, 2026, 7-8:45pm ET - I will be joining Jackie Sussman for an online session on practicing eidetics as a part of our “Reclaiming the Power of Imagination” monthly series. Eidetic Imagery is a powerful tool for pastors, denominational leaders, coaches, and spiritual directors working with others, and for individuals seeking deeper integration and healing in their own lives. Jackie is a psychotherapist, author, and leading expert in Eidetic Image Psychology, and has spent over forty years helping leaders and individuals unlock creativity, uncover hidden strengths, and move through limiting patterns. During this session, she will lead a live Eidetic process shaped by mythic imagery, offering a direct experience of the work. REGISTER HERE.
August 25 - September 1, 2026, 12:30-1:30pmET - Book Club in The Commons - FREE - We are reading our next book, “I Eat The Stars” by Sarah Wilson. We will meet each Tuesday for 6 weeks. It’s such great fun. I hope you will be a part. All are welcome! RSVP HERE.
September 8, 2026, 12:30 - 1:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT with NY Times Best-Selling author and journalist, Sarah Wilson!!! Sarah has just published her latest book I Eat The Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World. Join us for this one hour conversation where we will talk with Sarah about how we face collapse, how we find beauty and who we can become in these challenging times. Scholarships are available. REGISTER HERE.
September 8, 2026, 7-9pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - I’ll be hosting a powerful online gathering on The Black Madonna: Sacred Wisdom for a World in Crisis with Matthew Fox, Alessandra Belloni, and Christena Cleveland. We will explore the Black Madonna as a symbol of resilience, liberation, sacred feminine wisdom, and healing in a fractured world through conversation, story, music, and spiritual reflection. If you feel drawn toward a deeper encounter with the Divine Feminine and the ancient traditions that continue to nourish movements for justice and wholeness, I hope you’ll join us. Learn more and REGISTER HERE.
September 14, 7-8:30pm ET ONLINE EVENT - I’m delighted to share that Dr. Margaret Wheatley is releasing a newly updated edition of her beloved book Perseverance: A Companion for the Journey this October. Written for those committed to serving the world with compassion in difficult times, the book offers daily wisdom and practical guidance for navigating grief, anger, exhaustion, and uncertainty while remaining rooted in love, courage, and presence. Meg and I will be in conversation to explore what perseverance looks like in this moment of history and how we can sustain ourselves for the long work ahead. I hope you’ll join us for what promises to be a deeply meaningful conversation. REGISTER HERE.
October 6, 2026 - 7-8:30pm ET, ONLINE EVENT - Matthew Fox and I are teaming up again to launch a series called Journeying with the Mystics. The mystics have always emerged in times of uncertainty. They appear when old certainties are crumbling, when institutions no longer provide easy answers, and when people find themselves longing for a deeper experience of the Sacred. Join us for an 18-session exploration of the teachings of St. John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Hildegard of Bingen, Kabir and Rumi, Meister Eckhart and more. This is more than a lecture series. It is an invitation into a living spiritual journey. REGISTER for the first session HERE!
October 18-21, 2026 - PREACH! 2026 Conference- I’ll be co-hosting PREACH in Minneapolis with Church Anew, a new gathering for preachers, storytellers, worship leaders, and spiritual communicators navigating what it means to speak with clarity, compassion, and courage in a changing world. If you’ve sensed that the preaching moment has changed and are longing for thoughtful community and renewed imagination for this work, I hope you’ll join us.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
I’m delighted to celebrate the upcoming release of Wisdom Church: Abundant Life for Aging Congregations by my colleague, Rev. Dr. Anna Hall. Rather than seeing aging congregations as communities in decline, Anna invites us to recognize them as communities rich with wisdom, purpose, and possibility. Her book offers a hopeful vision for moving beyond anxiety about the future and embracing the unique gifts of older adults as beloved children of God. If your congregation is navigating these questions, this is a resource well worth reading. You can preorder the Kindle edition now, with delivery on August 17: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Church-Abundant-Aging-Congregations-ebook/dp/B0HBXGYTWC
Every Monday, 12pm ET - ONLINE WRITING GROUP - My dear friend, Meryl Marshall-Daniels, is leading a writing group open to all. This is a simple and spacious writing circle for people who want time to listen inwardly and put words on the page without overthinking, performing, or polishing. Meryl offers a prompt designed to invite reflection, imagination, and attunement to what is already alive within you. The practice honors writing as a way of listening, of letting images, memories, questions, and insights surface in their own time. Learn more here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
Current reporting on the administration’s treatment of journalists includes coverage of Trump’s attack on CNN correspondent Kristen Holmes and the White House’s subsequent personal response: Daily Beast.
Axios reports that Trump, his businesses, and his administration have been involved in sixty-one media or defamation lawsuits since 2015: Axios.
The Associated Press has documented the White House’s retaliation over its Gulf of Mexico terminology, restrictions at the Pentagon, and the arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort. Amnesty International documented Mario Guevara’s detention conditions before his deportation: Amnesty International.
The Committee to Protect Journalists documents Mario Guevara’s arrest while livestreaming a protest, the dismissal of the charges, his prolonged immigration detention, and his October 2025 deportation to El Salvador. Committee to Protect Journalists, “Mario Guevara,” link. Amnesty International also reports that he spent more than one hundred days in ICE custody and was subjected to solitary confinement: Amnesty International report.
Rümeysa Öztürk was held for more than six weeks after coauthoring an opinion essay criticizing Tufts University’s response to the war in Gaza. A federal judge ordered her release. See Michael Casey and Kathy McCormack, “Turkish Tufts University Student Released from Louisiana Immigration Detention Center,” Associated Press, May 9, 2025, link.
Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort were arrested and charged after covering an anti-ICE protest inside a Minnesota church. See Jaimie Ding, Alanna Durkin Richer, and Eric Tucker, “Journalist Don Lemon Charged with Federal Civil Rights Crimes after Covering Anti-ICE Church Protest,” Associated Press, January 30, 2026, link.
There was once a simple Jewish man who said, '' ...you will learn the truth and the truth will make you free." I trust that he was right.