I have avoided writing about Donald Trump and his asinine bigotry in order to refrain from contributing to the growing idolatry surrounding his candidacy for president. However, I feel I should comment, especially in light of his pick for vice president, our equally bigoted Gov. Mike Pence.
Donald Trump personifies everything that makes America a sad example of prosperity and power. One of the wealthiest men in the United States is running for president because he is bored and wants his daddy to think he’s made it, not because he has any governmental experience or qualifications.
We already had a president like that for eight years who royally screwed over the American public, Iraq and Afghanistan but at least he had some experience before he was elected. Yes, I am talking about George W. Bush and his need for his father’s approval that was played out on a national stage. And now, it’s happening all over again.
For the sake of metaphor, lets say Trump is King Midas. You know how the story goes, King Midas is the richest man in Phrygia but his greed can only be satisfied by gold. If you know anything about Trump, you know he has a penchant for all gold everything.
This man sits on an actual golden throne at the top of his tower that dons his name in giant gold letters. Trump even titled one his books “Midas Touch.” So yeah, Trump is the Greek myth personified. As with King Midas, Trump has seemed to turn everything he touches into gold. However, this gold is all an illusion.
The American life will not turn into gold if Trump sees to it. The people who have been rich will to get rich while the poor will stay poor, because Trump doesn’t care about poverty, only wealth for himself and the people who already have it.
A man who quite literally gilds his life in gold is not going to make America great again, because wealth is never what made America “great” in the first place. This country is built on the rhetoric surrounding the idea any person can make a life here. This country was founded on the rhetoric of the populous, “e pluribus unum” or “out of one,” many.
We might have had the idea the American dream is to be unfathomably wealthy shoved down our throats for our entire lives but that is not true. The American dream is to be free from tyranny of all sorts. The American dream is the ability to build a life for yourself that is comfortable and free from constraints based on religion, sexuality, sexual orientation, race, class and gender.
Trump’s brand of American greatness does not include any of that. Trump’s brand of American greatness is pure avarice, as demonstrated by his love of gold. Trump’s idea to make America great again is to keep it all for himself and close it off to others he doesn’t deem fit enough to enter.
The thing about King Midas’s greed is all the things he loved became unusable once he turned them gold. In the case of Trump, America will become unusable if he becomes president.
rcm2@umail.iu.edu
@RachelCMiller1
