I wonder how Trump is going to celebrate Christmas. It is a tough week for him. In fact, it is a tough presidency for him.
In today’s article “How Donald Trump got caught in a legal vice” by author and executive director of Bloomberg Opinion, Timothy L. O’Brien, he wrote this Grinch’s Christmas Trump list of notty and not nice: -
“The Trump Organisation, the Trump Foundation, the Trump family, the Trump transition, the Trump inauguration, the Trump White House are all being probed for wrongdoing.”
He added that the Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s collusion with the Russians to help his 2016 president compaign may have ”pull the many strands of the investigations together.” Talk about opening a can of worms.
Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, said: “Let me point out that there are a lot of unanswered, legal and factual questions but clearly this was not a good week for President Trump, not for his campaign organisation and these allegations are concerning.”
So, what do they say about the latest legal woes he is facing? Fake news? Enemies of the people? Witch-hunt? Envy and jealousy? (Has Trump made clone out of us? It’s like tens of thousands of mini-Trumps roaming the streets?)
The real question is, do we now (finally) call a (rotten) apple a (rotten) apple? Or we shouldn’t accuse an innocent man before proven guilty - if ever proven guilty?
You see, what started as an investigation into collusion, led to Michael Cohen’s admission that Trump suppressed information of his extramarital affairs with porn stars by paying them off and the National Enquirer buying over the stories to bury them.
Question is, how would that look to the evangelical’s voters should his adultery with Stormy and MsDougal be made public just before the 2016 election?
Will Trump then lose the Christian votes?
Going by the way his religious supporters are pining for him, with one even saying that short of seeing Trump shooting his daughter, he will still vote for him, I think that answer to that question might just answer itself. Isn’t that a frightening presumption for the faith (if true)?
Here, I recall that Trump’s lawyers strongly advised him against accepting an invitation from Mueller to be examined by him for fear that it might just be a perjury trap.
The irony of that is that as his legal trouble unravelled itself, Trump’s electoral college victory in November 2016 might just turn out to be a President trap for him.
Timothy wrote that anything that Trump touches has not turned into gold as he has always craved after, but on the contrary, it has turned into a deep suspicion and bloomed into an investigation. Recall Trump Organisation, Trump Foundation, Trump family, Trump transition, Trump inauguration, Trump White House? It has his name all inscribed.
Timothy then wrote this: “If that’s the course the various investigations follow, then Mr Trump may emerge as a brazen grifter (con artist) who, by aspiring to the White House like a wizened, soiled version of Icarus, flew beyond the boundaries of his own luck and abilities and delivered his business into the hands of prosecutors.”
Mind you, and I am not even opening that Pandora’s box on his undisclosed tax statements which he has fiercely vowed to fight anyone who threatens to make it public. Mm...I wonder, what is he hiding from the people?
Lesson? Just one.
Over the months, I have seen how Christians (here and in America) have been fighting for this President, openly believing that beyond the prophesy that he is divinely appointed, Trump is also the anti-establishment saviour to set the country straight again and bring back good old biblical and moral values into the world like pro-life, pro-family, pro-Jerusalem, pro-prayers and pro-Christmas. (maybe we need a leader who is pro-Christ?)
Honestly, I too wish that Trump could start coming to his senses. I too wish that I can write something positive about him, like his employment numbers and the growing economy. And maybe his fight for the farmers, storekeepers and bakers, and for traditional values is also worthy of some mention?
But while there are some positive developments coming out of his administration, the disturbing part is still about him and how he clumsily mixes business opportunism with his presidency, falsehoods with truths, praying with pastors with preying on women, praising himself and praising God, nepotism with honest and impartial government, and calling Christmas Christmas and not calling a spade a spade.
On so many levels, it is still a bewildering and incomprehensible leader whose only preoccupation as a president (it seems) is to make sure that everyone knows without questioning that he is a great president, if not the greatest, full stop.
So, let me end on a cautious note to believers by asking, what is spiritual discernment? How do we know with a measure of certainty that a leader is just not what he claims to be?
Is it about the adultery? Well, King David did that. What’s the big deal?
Is it about repeated denials in the face of truth? Well, Peter denied Jesus repeatedly in his face? So, don’t be so petty please. Look at the big picture.
Is it then about spreading falsehoods, covering up, blaming others, cowardice and shifting responsibility? Hey, tell me which one of Jesus’ disciples has not in one way or another trespassed those sins? Look at the infamous Iscariot.
Well, the crucial (enduring) difference between them and Trump, at least for now, is that they all repented, set things right, paid the price, and gave themselves up for the purpose of the Cross.
That is what distinguished them from the current president. And that is what it takes to discern right from wrong, and truth from falsehoods.
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