Captivating the Masses

Trump’s election loss drew forth some interesting parallels with a historical event. During the late 1600s, James II of England was enamored of the French king, Louie XIV. You could call it jealousy, because Louie XIV got his way, whereas James II did not. Frustrated, he did try to get his way, only to find himself embarrassingly removed from kingship, a moment in history known as the Glorious Revolution.

Enter the Trump-Putin connection. That Vladimir Putin has been in power in Russia since the year 2000 must burn Trump deep at heart, because that’s what he wants: full and continuous reign over the United States of America, for as long as he can get his piggy-little hands on it. He wants to be like Putin. But America, like England at the time, isn’t having it. Curious, because it’s not just about massive egos and megalomania, it’s also about — you guessed it — the ugly, butt-headed institution of religion.

James II was ousted because of his Catholicism, but is that why Trump was ousted, because of religionism? In a way. The Bible-Belt South thinks Trump is a god, mainly because he’s done to the country what no other Republican has done: he’s brought into the open how much they truly hate the rest of the world. “Dark and terrible as is this picture, I hold it to be strictly true of the overwhelming mass of professed Christians in [slave-state] America.” — Frederick Douglass.

In truth, whatever Trump really believes is potentially irrelevant; what he knows is that there’s money and power in riling up these bible-belt confederate types. With a mouth like his, he’s able to seize bible-belt hatred and push it into everyone’s face with abandon. Which is odd, because really, he had plenty of money and power before he became president, so why does he do it? He’s got his ego to feed, of course, but it seems nearly that he’s some sort of Joker-type who just wants to watch the world burn.

As it stands, Trump’s state of mind represents Republican America, which he’s been diligently able to define by drawing into focus the metaphorical/literal Mason-Dixon line, setting the stage for the future problems he hopes to incite. It’s lucky that in America we can make a one term president out of sad people like this, but it’s this same system that has him at it again, thinking he’s going to be president again (he thinks he still is). The man is delusional but really, it’s dangerous, as January 6, 2021 has shown. James II went into exile, which was good for England, keeping them safely out of the clutches of Catholicism and the pope, but for America, Donald J. Trump, like stinky religion itself, is the “thing that wouldn’t go away.”