The bones are creaking

From Mt. Vernon, Virginia to Springfield, Illinois the bones of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are creaking as they turn over in their respective graves. What has happened to the America they knew?

In the Oval Office today sits a man who enjoys signing Executive Orders and firing executives at his pleasure. I don’t know anything about General Flynn’s departure but the firing of FBI Director James Comey at the president’s direct orders, unannounced in advance and which caught Comey utterly by surprise, is another chapter in an American tragedy.

The FBI director, the seventh person to hold the position, was a very well-liked and respected leader by his colleagues. He was renowned for his honesty, candidness and loyalty. And his reward was to be booted from his high office, unfortunately, at the recommendation to the president by the Jewish Assistant Attorney General of the United States, Rod Rosenstein.

Allegedly the reason revolves around Russian interference in the American election campaign and President Trump’s relationship to Vladimir Putin. Trump fired Comey because “he was not doing a good job” but the naked truth is that Trump and the American administration are very much afraid of what may have emerged from further investigation. Requests for a Special Prosecutor to investigate were denied.

America is under an autocracy. Perhaps Trump should be impeached and replaced by Putin. At least we can understand Putin’s “da” and his “nyet”. With the flip-flopping from the White House, no one really knows the truth. It’s “yes” today and “no” tomorrow.

In his campaign for the high office he holds, Donald Trump remarked that “I am a man who keeps his promises. I do not break promises”. His nose must be growing longer as he keeps company with Pinocchio. Carlo Colodi, creator of the wooden boy who wanted to be a man, emphasized the virtues of being “brave, truthful and unselfish”, all highly admirable qualities.

I don’t think that the American president has them. Witness one of his very first promises made to solicit Jewish votes…

“When I am President I am going to move the United States Embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem”. No genuine movement has been made to fulfill that promise. On the contrary, the word is that when he visits in our Jerusalem on 22 May, he will announce that the time is not ripe for such a drastic move. He will hang on to the six month waiver as did all presidents before him.

Because the Arab and Muslim nations have threatened violence against America if Trump authorizes the embassy’s move to Jerusalem, the man who never breaks a promise is about to break one now in the coming days. Netanyahu will shake his hands with a grimace. Abbas will shake his hands with an embrace and a smile.

And what of America’s Jews and evangelical Christians? Where are the voices? Where are the protests?

The only sound I can hear is the creaking of ancient bones. The bodies which once housed those bones understood the virtues of truth. Alas… Now only silence and lies. Broken promises and the death of trust.