Betrayal

     The year’s at the spring, and day’s at the morn;
     Morning’s at seven; the hill-side’s dew-pearled;
     The lark’s on the wing; the snail’s on the thorn;
     God’s in His heaven--all’s right with the world!
                            --Robert Browning

The Bible tells us that Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Mathew 26:15). That story makes a good allegorical anchor on which to base a modern-day tale that is unfolding before our eyes. How much it will eventually cost all of us to have sold out to Donald Trump and his so-called “Art of the Deal” will likely soar into the multi billions of dollars by comparison. Indeed, if we raise our sights just a bit and look toward the distant shores, we may find the total debt for all our misdeeds is rising even now as the polar ice caps melt, the ocean levels rise, and a billion or more of humanity go about their affairs with a false sense of security in believing that “God’s in his heaven--all’s right with the world.”

But this tale is not about climate change or the perils of rising ocean levels. One element of it is about the debt that humanity is accruing, while another is the price we must ultimately pay in lives, in fortunes, and in whatever remains of the honor that dwells among us. It is about how we mock Nature and each other while hiding behind misplaced notions of loyalty and the “truth” that we seek to find in misguided ideologies. It is a tale in betrayal—of courage and of honor lost, and in how we sell our souls for a few pieces of silver. There is also a price to be paid when we choose to honor false idols while ignoring the counsel of our better angels.

The latest installment in this tale centers on Jared and Ivanka Kuschner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and daughter, and in how the three of them colluded to mock the emolument clause in the Constitution through personal enrichment from a foreign government, namely, by Ivanka’s accepting a gift of $100 million from the King of Saudi Arabia within days of his purchase of $100 billion in a missile defense deal signed by Donald Trump. The emolument clause in Article I of the Constitution states:

“No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

In the battle of words and their meanings, lawyers could argue endlessly about whether Jared and Ivanka hold any office of trust as personal advisers to their father and father-in-law who happens also to be the President. But who can deny that a gift of $100 million passed from the King to Ivanka following Jared’s phone call to Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson in which he asked if she would cut the price of a sophisticated missile defense system for the king? (according to an article in Daily Kos, May 21, 2017). Imagine how the same lawyers might argue their case of word origins and meanings in earthly law before a council of wise elders in a forum with cosmic justice in the balance. Such a setting might prove to be a lasting lesson in humility.  

The notion of hypocrisy also surfaces inside the context of this regal “quid pro quo.” Just a few months back Donald called Hillary and Bill Clinton’s foundation the source of “pure evil” when they accepted a sizable gift from the same king for their foundation. Does it matter that the Clinton Foundation actually brings food, medicines and other humanitarian aid to the needy people of the world?

Bias is a well-known fact of life. The issue of fake news is now a prominent part of the legitimate news that dominates the headlines. It is human nature, perhaps, to put the best “spin” on any form of communication that makes us look good vis-à-vis all others in general, and against those we dislike in particular. We expect it, and mostly we know it when we hear it. But it appears to have been raised by several octaves in the dumbed-down lexicon of the Donald. His first 120 days are riddled with blithering bellicosity, of accusations against the press and all those who stand up against his rants. He falsely accuses others of that which he has raised by many decibel levels to approach the level of pain. Mein Gott! Must we endure this bombast for another 44 months? Perhaps the theologians thought of us and our refuge with these words: “Where O death is thy victory? Where O death is thy sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

With the advent of computers, and technology in the form of fiber optics, literally billions of words from the horrid to the mundane fill these cables of drivel in overload modality. We know them as emails and tweets, or tedium wrapped in chaos, and smothered in verbal effluence. We even seek new ways to shunt them to oblivion via Spam filters. Candidate Trump ranted against Hillary Clinton for not accounting for every word that passed through her servers with “Lock her up!” Not every president or head of state has lifted us up with elevated discourse. But few have debased the language with rants from the depths of muck and illiteracy encased in tweets known as Trump-isms. He has given new meaning to the inartful and the inelegant when he called James Comey a “showman, grandstander, and a real nut job.” The rest of humanity see honor, integrity, and class in James Comey.

Many have studied the discordant style, the intimidation, and the propaganda that were the sum and substance of Adolf Hitler when he used them as blunt instruments to pound his way to power during the period known as the Great Depression. It was a time when the German people sought change—any change—to help bring relief from the austerity imposed on them by the Versailles Agreements compounded by the depression. From these ruins Hitler seized the moment and like the phoenix from mythology he rose up from the ashes to lead Germany to an even greater death amid the ruins of Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Berlin.

What more can be said of Donald Trump that history has not already laid at our feet? Economically, he seeks to cut, slash, and gouge the poor and the innocent in order to divert riches to the richest of the rich. His agenda is to pillage and to plunder America while he curries favor with Russia's Putin and other despots. He has shown us that he will refuse to pay workers, he will use laws to avoid paying his fair taxes; while he continues to add opulence on top of opulence for his personal pleasure.

Will he in a moment of utter delusion attack Iran and North Korea with nuclear weapons? He did promise to “bomb the shit out of them.” Perhaps we need not wait for the rising ocean levels to cleanse us from our false sense of security. Why wait for 100 years of climate change to cleanse our souls when betrayal can wipe us out in 100 minutes?  Did Sir Walter Scott have us in mind when he lamented “O what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”