In dark times like these, we need to see shafts of sunlight. And lo and behold, there’s actually some good news today! Shall we look on the bright side and find pleasure where we can?

For starters, some of Trump’s Republican toadies are aghast that he teargassed peaceful citizens to clear a path for his Bible-hoisting stunt in front of a church he never attends. Even Senator Lindsey Graham removed his head from Trump’s posterior long enough to say, “I don’t know what the point the president was trying to make.” But Graham was topped by Senator Ben Sasse, another normally servile colleague: “I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop. (There is) a fundamental – a Constitutional – right to protest.”

Arguably best of all, we have televangelist Pat Robertson, a Trump supporter whose usual habit is to blame calamities on gay people. But yesterday, on his TV show, he said:

“It seems like now is the time to say (to the George Floyd protestors), ‘I understand your pain, I want to comfort you, I think it’s time we love each other.’ But the president took a different course….He said, ‘I’m ready to send in military troops if the nation’s governors don’t act…In a matter of fact, he spoke of (the governors) as being jerks. You just don’t do that, Mr. President. It isn’t cool!”

The church stunt, in particular, has backfired so badly that members of the Trump regime are now in full retreat – claiming either that they didn’t know what was going on, or that others were to blame. This passage, in a news story today, is classic:

“Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put out word through military officials that they did not know in advance about the dispersal of the protesters or about the president’s planned photo op, insisting that they thought they were accompanying him to review the troops.”

We also got this gem from Defense Secretary Esper: “I didn’t know where I was going.” (A metaphor for this inept regime.) Meanwhile, Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly blamed the whole church thing on Ivanka. And the New York Times gives us this delicious sentence: Trump “made his way to the church, where he posed stern-faced, holding up a Bible that his daughter pulled out of her $1,540 MaxMara bag.”

And the church stunt has finally prompted retired Admiral Michael Mullen, the Joint Chiefs chairman under Bush and Obama, to speak out:

“I have to date been reticent to speak out on issues surrounding President Trump’s leadership, but we are at an inflection point, and the events of the past few weeks have made it impossible to remain silent. Whatever Trump’s goal in conducting his visit, he laid bare his disdain for the rights of peaceful protest in this country, gave succor to the leaders of other countries who take comfort in our domestic strife, and risked further politicizing the men and women of our armed forces.”

More broadly, the public is hammering Trump for his (mis)handling of the protests and demonstrations. According to the national Morning Consult tracking poll, only 21 percent of registered voters say that his performance has been excellent or very good. Among all moderates, it’s 14 percent. Among independent women, it’s 11 percent. Even among all whites, it’s only 24 percent. In every demographic breakdown (except for hard-core Republicans), pluralities say his performance is poor.

And perhaps most tellingly is the attitude of voters who didn’t go to college. They were Trump’s biggest fans in 2016; as he famously crowed, “I love the poorly educated!” But in this new tracking poll, only 32 percent said that Trump’s performance during the Floyd protests has made them more likely to vote again for Trump; a plurality – 40 percent – said they’re more likely to back Joe Biden.

Let’s see, what else…we got news that former officials in the George W. Bush administration have formed a PAC to help take down Trump. It’s called 43 Alumni for Biden, referring to Bush’s presidential number. Elsewhere, conservative commentator Rod Dreher, writing in The American Conservative magazine, assessed Trump’s church stunt:

“This is the act of a weak man who is left with nothing but to stand in front of a church flashing a Bible like a gang sign to get conservative Christians in line. It is pathetic…As a believing Christian, Trump’s cynicism disgusts me viscerally.”

And this tweet yesterday from conservative commentator Matt Lewis caught my attention: “Something changed (Monday) night. I am hearing from conservative friends and relatives in states like WV, VA, and SC who are finally done with Trump. One is writing in ‘Romney-Mattis.’ Another one is voting Biden. He just told me, “I want (Trump) crushed.”

Let’s see, what else…We shouldn’t forget the downfall of Steve King, the racist anti-Semitic Iowa congressman. Republicans in his House district finally got tired of swimming in his sewage (sample King quote: “White nationalist, white supremacist…how did that language become offensive?”), so they ousted him last night in a GOP primary. And lest we forget, Trump once extolled King as a “special guy, a smart person, with really the right views on almost everything.”

And since we’re talking about overdue ousters, Philadelphia’s detestable Frank Rizzo statue is suddenly gone. Last night, that enduring symbol of racism and police brutality was pulled from its pedestal across from City Hall, and consigned by the city to storage. Mayor Jim Kenney said early today: “The continued display of the statue has understandably enraged and hurt many Philadelphians, including those protesting the heinous murders of George Floyd and too many others. I have seen and heard their anguish…We now need to work for true equity for all Philadelphia residents, and toward healing our communities. The removal of this statue today is but a small step in that process.”

Which brings me to the last shaft of sunlight. Trump is in danger of losing Arizona in November, a rare event for any Republican, and his fight to salvage that new swing state may prove quote daunting if people of faith join Robert Hendrickson in voicing their disgust. Hendrickson, the rector at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Tucson, wins our quote of the day with this analysis of Trump’s biblical photo op:

“This is an awful man, waving a book he hasn’t read, in front of a church he doesn’t attend, invoking laws he doesn’t understand, against fellow Americans he sees as enemies, wielding a military he dodged serving, to protect power he gained via accepting foreign interference …exploiting fear and anger he loves to stoke, after failing to address a pandemic he was warned about, and building it all on a bed of constant lies and childish inanity. This (tweet) is not partisan. It is simply about recognizing the moral vacuum that is now pretending to lead.”

I wish I could write like that.