(Gerd Altmann photo)
The Donald is ignorant of diplomacy and couldn’t care less about cultural and historical influences. He only knows money. He only knows deal: “I’ll take that, if you give me that.” He revels in being perceived as a genius negotiator. Reminds me of the time someone was quoted as saying while attempting to broker a deal; “All I want is your half.”
His deals are only about money. To twist the truth to get what you want is part of negotiations for the deal. He is obtuse and unaware of culture and patriotic history. Over the centuries, the Ukraine, for example, has struggled to gain back its land, language and culture from Russian imperialism. Each time it does, Russian dominance crushes it again. Putin is only the latest Russian aggressor. Culture and national language, art, music are not values to Trump. That’s why he does not care much whether Russia or the Ukraine wins the present war.
Trump wouldn’t know Ukrainian from Mandarin. He can’t imagine that another’s culture and language have value. Land, however, is another matter. Land is negotiable as an asset. It’s just dirt you can build something on. Family farms, village territories mean nothing to him. Europeans from the east and west think of their countries with love, a thing Trump can’t understand. He simply believes that America is the first and best country in the world and no country’s values will ever mean anything to him. Canada, Mexico, Spain –to mention a few– are countries that he believes America doesn’t need anything from so why should we honor them? We’ve got more money.
He is a celebrity, a flim-flam artist, a P.T. Barnum with a mop on his head. He is really good at selling himself. He is a political rock-star with only one love: he himself with a fist full of dollars.
The bible has its own riches. It has a lot to say about money and deception. The evil one is a deceiver and a liar. He’ll tell you that the only way to promote yourself or to be anything is this world is to accumulate money. “Greed is good,” as a movie once told me. In the sermon on the mount, however, Jesus tells us all, rich and poor alike that we must not let greed be our master.
St. Paul concludes that it’s not money itself, but the love of money that we must avoid. “The love of money is the root of all evil” (I Timothy 6:10). And, as the poet says, Oh, ’tis true, ’tis true.” (From “When I was One and Twenty,” A.E. Housman)