Trump versus Biden: When Faith Collides with Politics

I have a sinking feeling that Trump will prevail over Biden in the forthcoming US presidential election. Two elderly giants are battling it out for the presidency: one, an orange-complexioned, lantern-jawed man bristling with ferocity and capable of uttering only brief, meaningless but emotionally stirring slogans designed to induct his audience into mindless acclamation; the other, manifestly feeble, earnest, almost pleading, his voice hesitant and sometimes tapering off into a whisper, his mind struggling to reach for the “right” turn of phrase in an effort to appeal to both the hearts and minds of his audience. It’s a no-brainer as far as I am concerned. Emotion always trumps reason. Kind hearts always trail behind coronets in the race for the throne.

The clincher for me was the failed assassination attempt on Trump. He has emerged from his brush with death in a more contemplative mode, more serene in his demeanor, as impoverished as ever in his thinking but with a new aura of immortality surrounding him. Saint Donald has descended, like the Messiah, to lead the people to glory (or greatness, in the parlance of his famous slogan). Never mind what actually constitutes greatness. One only has to look at the expressions of adoration on the faces of his followers to realize that this man can do no wrong.

America had it coming. Generations of shallow, flamboyant self-aggrandizement on the world stage, coupled with disdain for the rest of the world, have bred a culture which hallows power, image and wealth above all other attributes. Trump is the personification of this culture. His elevation to super-human status has its precedent in the primitive world of ignorance, which no amount of intellectual veneer can conceal.

As well as the Hallelujahs resounding across the United States, we are now having to contend with a cloud of noxious gas drifting across from the American continent to contaminate other democratic countries. Sitting on this cloud is a man invested with messianic qualities while harboring dictatorial ambitions. Until we can find a means of dispersing the toxic fumes emanating from him, a mass issue of gas masks must be the order of the day.