As cardinals convened in Rome to pick a new Pope and successor to St. Peter, a curious AI-generated picture appeared on the White House, Truth Social, and X websites.
It showed Donald Trump in papal vestments, white cassock with a cross around his neck. The thrice-wed Trump had joked last week to reporters, “I’d like to be Pope. That’s my number one choice.” He has already talking about running the world, taken the helm at the Kennedy Center, and shown no recognition of limits defined by a U.S. Constitution he has sworn to uphold.
The papal photo shared news with Pentagon plans for a grand military parade, with 6,000 participants, to mark the U.S. Army’s 250th birthday. Its mid-June date just happens to be Trump’s birthday. Our President has yearned for a splashy show of force since witnessing Bastille Day in Paris eight years ago.
How do you deal with a president of dictatorial tendencies, an outsized ego, sense of grandiosity, and the expectation of absolute loyalty? Here are some formulas forged by foreign leaders and Republican leaders:
Grandeur
Trump is addicted to show, never mind the tackiness. French President Emmanuel Macron wowed him with a guest invite to Bastille Day. India’s PM Modi conjured up a campaign-style rally with 100,000 people for a Trump visit. Recently elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with a beaming Trump by his side, displayed a state visit invite from King Charles III. Trump had such a visit in his first term, when he violated protocol by walking in front of Queen Elizabeth II.
“This is unprecedented,” Starmer told reporters — magic words in TrumpWorld. The right wing President showered praise on a Labour Party Prime Minister, describing Starmer as “a very good person” who is doing “a very good job.” Backdrops like a royal palace are also a big deal, and Modi supplied the Taj Mahal on Trump’s trip to India.
Adulation
A feature of this presidency are meetings at which Cabinet secretaries one-by-one shower praise on the self-impressed President. He is incapable of error. When a rare shortcoming is admitted, subordinates shoulder all blame.
Absolute loyalty is the litmus test, the only test. The previous Secretary of Defense under Biden was a four-star general. Trump’s pick was plucked from Fox News. Pete Hegseth has already created chaos at the Pentagon and disclosed a Yemen air strike on a chat room site. Or take Kristi Noem, the Secretary of Homeland Security, whose unctuous, anti-immigrant TV ads pay tribute to Trump. As South Dakota Governor, she suggested his face belonged on Mt. Rushmore.
Retribution
As Trumpworld author Tim O’Brien recently observed, vengeance is the oxygen that keeps him going. Witness Trump’s firing of Justice Department prosecutors who worked on felony indictments, or an investigation of a cabinet undersecretary who wrote an anonymous column critical of Trump during his first term.
Universities and big-name law firms are caving in, letting him influence curricula and determine hiring and admissions policies. Seattle-based Perkins Coie, targeted for helping the Mueller investigation, is one of the few to fight back.
We have as FBI director one Kash Patel, who has claimed the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol was “never an insurrection.” In his book Government Gangsters, Patel identified an enemies list of 50 “deep state” operatives in the executive branch of government. Agents who investigated 1/06/2021 are being purged.
Loyalty to Trump is considered absolute. Attorney General William Barr did his bidding, from scotching the Mueller Report to justifying expansion of presidential powers — only to be showered with abuse for daring to report that no evidence was found that the 2020 election was rigged.
In sum, we in America are getting to experience strongman rule. The Trump Administration is putting it all together — glorification of the dear leader, loyalty tests, instilling fear in critics, and coddling the very rich. The leader’s fantasies become policy –witness the desire for Canada becoming “the 51st state.” The Constitution and laws be damned.
The Trump-as-Pope picture is sacrilegious, an insult to Catholics. Also that photo is an insult to the memory of Pope Francis, who lived simply, shed trappings of the papacy, championed immigrants of the poor, and was buried in a simple wooden coffin. Sad to say, these features are all sins to wealthy, right-wing American Catholics.
The good news is that some folks have awakened and are voting against Trump. The bad news is these voters live in Canada and Australia. Flattery and adulation are required when they come calling at the White House.
This article also appeared in Cascadia Advocate.
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