Trump drifts through history with little reflection, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake, seemingly oblivious to the turmoil he stirs

Way back on December 19, 2016, I wrote a piece titled “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (Borrowing a quote from Jesus.)

What has changed since then? I have revisited this article so readers can witness how, over the past nine years, his rhetoric has only grown more extreme.

I am not equating Trump with Jesus, yet the messianic undertones in Trump’s proclamations are hard to ignore. I am not weighing their character; I am only observing how each has shaped their era.

Jesus sought to liberate humanity from sin, while Trump behaves as though he alone holds the authority to decide what is right and what is wrong.

Jesus showed grace, compassion, and forgiveness in the face of great immorality. Trump, on the other hand, seems focused very much on himself. He claims it’s his way, his truth, and that only he can bring back the American dream.

If being a messiah means being a charismatic leader who promises salvation and prosperity, then Trump fits that description surprisingly well.

Take a look at these examples:

“You know the funny thing; I don’t get along with rich people. I get along with the middle class and the poor people better than I get along with the rich people.”

“People are so shocked when they find out I am Protestant. I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church.”

“All of the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me – consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected.”

“Show me someone without an ego, and I’ll show you a loser – having a healthy ego, or high opinion of yourself, is a real positive in life!”

“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts.”

“One of the problems when you become successful is that jealousy and envy inevitably follow. There are people – I categorise them as life’s losers – who get their sense of accomplishment and achievement from trying to stop others. As far as I’m concerned, if they had any real ability, they wouldn’t be fighting me, they’d be doing something constructive themselves.”

“Living your words, walking your talk, and talking your walk. (“Meidas Touch: Why Some Entrepreneurs Get Rich and Why Most Don’t.”)

Who, but a true narcissist, could utter such things? And who but a climate change denier would surround himself with a cabinet steeped in denial?

Let’s take a look at a few. Quoting from The Guardian:

“Trump is assembling an all-star cast of climate change deniers for his transition team – often placing them at the heads of key agencies responsible for monitoring or dealing with global warming. The heads of transition teams for Nasa, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior and the Department of Energy, as well as his nominees to lead the EPA and the Department of the Interior, are all skeptical of the science of human-caused climate change. For instance, Myron Ebell, head of the EPA transition team, has said that the scientific consensus on climate change is “phoney”, while another member of the team, David Kruetzer of the conservative Heritage Foundation, has erroneously claimed there has been “global cooling” in recent years.”

They are, in Ralph Nader’s words, nothing more than a bizarre collection marinated in corporatism or militarism, stained by racism, class cruelty, and rigid ideology.

On Sunday, 11 December 2019, the President gave an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”

He told the host Chris Wallace that he is:

“… very open-minded on whether climate change is underway but has serious concerns about how President Obama’s efforts to cut carbon emissions have undercut America’s global competitiveness.’’

I would argue that only someone truly deluded by a messianic sense of “I am the way, the truth, and the life” could make the claims he did in that interview.

“I’m still open-minded. Nobody really knows,” Trump said. “Look, I’m somebody that gets it, and nobody really knows. It’s not something that’s so hard and fast. I do know this: Other countries are eating our lunch.”

Now, there is broad scientific agreement that human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels for transportation, heating, and industrial manufacturing, is driving recent climate change. And in more recent years, there have been ever-increasing dangers from floods, fires, and hurricanes.

Only someone convinced he is “the way, the truth, and the life” could make such a claim. It takes a person with no expertise in climate science to dismiss a fact so casually. To believe him requires a level of gullibility that defies reason.

Or perhaps it takes a self-styled messiah preaching that greed is good, that nothing stands in the way of the great American dream of endless abundance. In this vision, everyone deserves riches above all else. Regulations are mere obstacles. Science is welcome only when it fattens wallets, and must be silenced if it threatens profit.

Only someone reckless and wilfully ignorant would appoint climate deniers across every relevant department, then claim to keep an open mind on the issue.

Only a self-proclaimed capitalist messiah could speak this way. His cabinet, mostly old white men with a few women, follows his creed. Their hunger for wealth eclipses any search for wisdom, leaving future generations with nothing but gaudy displays of success in a world unravelling. The President-elect lies repeatedly, yet millions remain devoted. History has seen such Messiahs before.

What has Trump done since 2016, including a second term?

Trump lies as if he holds the patent for it, while the American press looks the other way. Robert Reich has compared him to Senator Joe McCarthy, who destroyed lives with reckless accusations in the 1950s. McCarthy’s advisor, Roy Cohn, a master of character assassination, was also Trump’s mentor.

My thought for the day

American exceptionalism does not belong in the same breath as ‘making America great again.

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