President Donald Trump is not God. He just thinks he is.
There is a picture going around the internet that shows Adolf Hitler posing with a book held high in his right hand as if he is sharing “The Word” with his blinded, murdering followers. It is just like the picture of Trump holding the Holy Bible in his right hand, as if he is sharing God’s word with his followers, those who have also been blinded by his murdering of our Constitution and his destruction of our American democracy.
The picture of Hitler is fake, like so much on the internet, but the blasphemous photo-op of Trump in front of a church in Washington is true. And it came at a cost so great to our democratic way of life and our Constitution — armed police, soldiers and others, many on horseback, violently breaking up a peaceful demonstration in order for Trump to “dominate” the battle space of America’s streets — that we will be paying the price for this demagoguery for years.
Even former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, finally, spoke out against Trump’s assault on the Constitution and our American way of life.
He said, “When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the constitutional rights of their fellow citizens — much less to provide a bizarre photo-op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside. ... It erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between the men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect, and which they themselves are a part. ... We know that we are better than the abuse of executive authority that we witnessed in Lafayette Square. We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
Just in case there is any doubt, he is talking about holding Trump accountable — something the entirety of the Republican leadership in the United States Senate refuses to do — every single day.
But, I digress. I was comparing Trump’s desire for self-aggrandizement to Hitler’s known penchant for posing, over and over again, until he got just the right picture for the people to see.
But Hitler, even in Trump’s messed-up mind, couldn’t be the model for behavior Trump would want Americans to see in him. After all, we fought an entire World War just to get rid of that monster.
No, Donald Trump had to have a different role model in mind when he held the Bible above his head as if to proclaim a connection between him and God. A direct connection. Then it hit me.
Charlton Heston. I mean, Moses.
Remember that picture of Heston, the actor, playing Moses, the real deal contact for God’s plan to free the Jews from Pharaoh’s Egypt? The movie was called “The Ten Commandments.”
It was a Hollywood blockbuster of a movie. It was a blockbuster of a story, too.
Cecil B. DeMille chose Heston and God chose Moses. And Moses showed up with the Ten Commandments above his head, proclaiming that he was the guy, he was God’s guy on Earth. Remember, the story takes place B.C.E.
I am not making light of the Book of Exodus, but I am convinced that Trump, the poser, saw Heston as Moses and himself as God’s gift. The rest of the trip from the White House to St. John’s Church is the stuff from which “B” movies are made. In this case, the real life version is an even bigger flop.
First it was Secretary of Defense Mark Esper who timidly exposed some daylight between him, the Constitution and Trump’s version of events. (I am not too exorcised about Esper’s version of eggshell walking because I dread his replacement should Trump decide to axe him. Those Republicans in the Senate would rubber stamp Putin for Defense Secretary should a Trump tweet express such a desire.)
Next came Mattis with his substantive, powerful and meaningful rebuke of the man who shouldn’t be president.
And then came retired four-star Marine Gen. John Allen, who warned that Trump’s using active duty troops in America’s streets could signal the beginning of “the end of the American experiment.”
And, soon, there will be others who will finally speak out because Trump is no longer — if indeed he ever was — acting in the interests of Americans.
However Trump sees himself and from whomever he derives the power in his head to think that he is the “chosen” one, the fact remains that he is a clear and present danger to our democracy. For certain, he is a danger to those peaceful protestors across America who get in the way of a photo op or, worse, a political point he may wish to make about domination or military power displayed on our streets.
What stumps me, though, as I witness what was and is the inevitability of Trump’s personal devolution into presidential obscurity, is the continued silence, and therefore support, of the very people who should be leading the charge against this man’s presidency.
Where are the evangelical religious leaders, the people who have been most supportive of the Trump administration, the people who live by the Bible and the Ten Commandments, which were given to Moses by God and not Mr. DeMille? Where are those people of faith when Trump uses them and their belief system as a prop in his quest to undermine the Constitution and the First Amendment, which guarantees religious freedom for us all?
Unlike the screams of those young people in the streets of Washington who were being shoved aside by police on horseback and tear-gassed into conceding their guaranteed right to protest, there is a conspiracy of silence amongst the voices of the righteous.
We may not be in a DeMille blockbuster, but this is a time for those responsible for spreading God’s word to speak out, to do what’s right and to condemn those who are mere poseurs on the world’s stage.
Trump poses as if he is Moses. Or someone even more important.
And the religious world, with a few notable and welcome exceptions, remains mostly silent.
Brian Greenspun is editor, publisher and owner of the Sun.