Two years ago, in the spring semester of 2016, at the beginning of the Trump presidency, I began teaching a course on the Old Testament Prophets. One of the first books I had my students read and discuss was Walter Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination. Now, at the time, like everyone else, the whole idea of Donald Trump as the president of the United States still seemed surreal and, quite frankly, unsettling. I didn’t like him, I thought he was vulgar, immoral and reckless, and I certainly didn’t vote for him. Still, what troubled me just as much was the immediate level of instant hysteria and paranoia by so many people, particularly on the political left. As soon as the election was over, the cries of Russia collusion, insanity, and being mentally unfit were pouring out of every politician, pundit, and media outlet. Everything seemed to be in a state of vertigo.
As my class read and discussed Brueggemann’s book, I felt like a seed was planted in my brain. There was something in what he said in The Prophetic Imagination that was relevant to the “Age of Trump.” I just couldn’t put my finger on it at the time. There was an idea forming in my mind that just needed time to develop. With all the accusations of collusion with Russia, and the subsequent Mueller investigation, I wasn’t about to write anything at the time. After all, if Mueller really discovered evidence of actual collusion with Russia, then all those rumors and accusations would have been proven true, and Trump should have been impeached.
Simply put, I really was unsure about what to make of it all at the time. Like I said, I certainly didn’t like Trump, but at the same time, I didn’t think he ever colluded with Russia. But then what was I to make of the flood of accusations and rumors that just kept on pouring out of media outlets and former government officials? And it wasn’t like the Russian collusion accusations were the only thing: Trump was Hitler, a white-supremacist, mentally unstable, an authoritarian, a threat to democracy, and a danger to our institutions. And these accusations kept thumping through both the news and social media on a constant basis.
But something about the whole thing just seemed off to me, and Brueggemann’s book stayed in my mind.
Over the past two years, that unformed seed of an idea has continued to develop in my mind. Now that the Mueller investigation is over, the report has been submitted, and Mueller has clearly stated, “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” –now that is done, I think it is time to share my thoughts on how I think Brueggemann’s The Prophetic Imagination relates to what we’ve witnessed over the past two years in American politics and society.
An Overview of The Prophetic Imagination
What lies at the heart of Brueggemann’s book is the contrast between what Brueggemann calls the Royal Consciousness/Royal Program of the likes of Pharaoh and Solomon, and the Counter-Cultural Prophetic Criticism of that Royal Consciousness, as seen in the ministry of Moses (in his confrontations with Pharaoh) and the subsequent Old Testament prophets (in their confrontations with the corrupt royalty in both Israel and Judah).
Brueggemann begins his book, though, with a criticism of modern American culture. He says that it is too consumeristic, unable to really believe or act, and that “Our consciousness has been claimed by false fields of perception and idolatrous systems of language and rhetoric” (1). He further says that the dominant culture in America (or in any society really), “is grossly uncritical, cannot tolerate serious and fundamental criticism, and will go to great lengths to stop it. Conversely, the dominant culture is a wearied culture, nearly unable to be seriously energized to new promises from God” (4).
In short, in imperial-like cultures, be it modern America, ancient Egypt, or the kingdom of Solomon, the real religion of such cultures is that of “static triumphalism” and the real politics is that of oppression and exploitation. In other words, the ruling elites really like their situation: they are benefitting and getting rich off the current system and want to keep everything exactly the way they are. And so, they essentially preach to the populace that they are taking care of everything, and that everything is great, or will be great only if they are given more power to take care of things—just don’t rock the boat, we’re on the right path.
Yet this sort of “religion of the static gods,” as Brueggemann puts it, really just serves the interests of the people in charge who preside over the current order and who benefit from the order. The rest of the populace, though, just continues to get slowly crushed under the weight of that ever-expanding bureaucracy to the point where they become nothing more than slaves of that system.
In terms of Pharaoh and Moses, Brueggemann states that Moses initiated “an assault on the consciousness of the empire, aimed at nothing less than the dismantling of the empire both in its social practices and in its mythic pretensions” (9). Thus, the plagues essentially dismantled that oppressive system of Egypt’s “religion of the static gods.” They proved to be blind, deaf, and powerless idols once YHWH stepped into history to exercise His freedom against the Egyptian regime.
In terms of Solomon, Brueggemann argues that he essentially co-opted the counter-culture program of God’s people that Moses introduced and became like Pharaoh himself. Yes, there was affluence under Solomon’s rule, but it was primarily shared only by the upper class. Furthermore, that affluence came upon the backs of the forced labor and Solomon’s enslavement of his own people in order to benefit the government bureaucracy. And by building the Temple in the capital of Jerusalem, Solomon made sure that the YHWHist religion was fully under his control to serve his own interests. As Brueggemann states, “It assures ready sanction to every notion of the king because there can be no transcendent resistance or protest.” And “It gives the king a monopoly so that no marginal person may approach this God except on the king’s terms” (29).
Pharaoh resisted Moses because he wanted to hold on to his power. Even the Israelites consistently fought with Moses because true freedom was dangerous. They preferred to stay slaves in the oppressive system of Egypt—at least there was a sense of security. As for the Old Testament prophets, they were always speaking out against and criticizing both the ruling class and even the Temple itself…and getting constantly attacked for doing so because they were a threat to the system.
Trump and the American System
During the 2016 election, there were some Evangelicals who compared Donald Trump to King David or King Cyrus, as if he were God’s modern day anointed one. Rest assured, that is not what I am doing. I’m not saying Trump is a prophet like Moses, or any other prophet, for that matter. In fact, this post really isn’t about Trump himself at all. It is about what our American system has become and what I think God might be doing.
The fact is that Donald Trump really did win a free and fair GOP primary season in 2016 and he really did win a free and fair presidential election as well. He may have proven himself to be vulgar, obnoxious, and personally immoral, but he didn’t do anything illegal, he didn’t collude with Russia, and he really did win. The natural question has to be, “How did that happen?”
I think the answer is pretty evident: the voting public was sick and tired of the same old political system and song-and-dance routine by both parties. They were sick of electing politicians who promised to do a number of things, only to get to D.C. and do absolutely nothing. Regardless of who got in, the status quo remained the same and the same system stayed in place. Every four years, the public heard the same campaign speeches and saw the same slogans. Every four years, both parties wrapped their candidates in the same images of the flag and every candidate promised they their administration would fulfill the American Dream…and God bless America!
Yet nothing changed. Jobs kept getting shipped overseas; big issues like immigration, prison reform, tax reform, and the budget never got addressed. The politicians kept giving themselves raises and busting the budget ever year, and the government bureaucratic reach continued to grow. The rich donors got richer and the working-class people kept falling further behind. And since we don’t live in a monarchy like ancient Egypt or Solomon’s Israel, working-class people voted for Trump precisely because they wanted someone who would be so obnoxious enough that he really would bash some heads together and try to break up that system.
And surprisingly, he won. He won because working-class people in traditionally Democrat-leaning states voted for him. Like it or not, that should have been that. But as we all know, it wasn’t, because bureaucrats in an entrenched, elitist/imperialist system are going to do whatever they can to ensure the safety of that system from which they benefit. There is no need to detail everything that has happened for the past two years, but the things that stand out most to me are the following:
- The Steele Dossier was funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign through Fusion GPS.
- Christopher Steele got the information for his dossier from Russian sources.
- The Steele Dossier got circulated throughout the FBI and CIA, even though it was unsubstantiated.
- In an attempt to substantiate it, Steele leaked some of it to Mother Jones, who then published the information, thus giving the impression that the Steele Dossier was corroborated by another source, even though Mother Jones had gotten the information from Steele.
- Andrew McCabbe testified that without the Steele Dossier, there couldn’t have been any FISA warrants to spy on the Trump campaign, even though James Comey acknowledged that the Dossier was scurrilous and uncorroborated.
- Once Trump fired Comey (on the recommendation of Rod Rosenstein), Comey leaked material to the press in an effort to get a special counsel appointed to investigate things further. That is how the Mueller investigation started.
- For the past two years, former government officials like Comey, John Brennan, and James Clapper have been regulars on major media outlets like CNN and MSNBC—all of which gave 24/7, wall to wall coverage of every unsubstantiated rumor and accusation out there. Every other day, there was a “breaking story” that was sure to lead to Trump’s impeachment, but time and again those stories fell flat. Brennan routinely called Trump a “traitor.” And every night, on what used to be late night comedy/talk shows, the hosts proved themselves to be unfunny Democratic shills.
- In addition, for the past two years, countless Democrats have been calling for Trump’s impeachment, declaring they themselves had clear evidence of collusion, and that once the Mueller Report was complete, they were going to “impeach that MFer.” And now, even though Mueller’s Report definitely says there was no evidence of collusion, still there are certain Democrats who still have the audacity to go on those certain networks where they have made their home for the past two years and claim, “Oh, just because there’s no evidence doesn’t mean there was no collusion!”
What is Going On?
Again, I don’t like Donald Trump. I think he has contributed to the poisoning of public discourse more than anyone. But the thing is, offensive tweeting is not illegal. It isn’t an impeachable offense. What scares me more than Trump, though, is the growing realization that it seems that there were those within our government who purposely and deliberately ginned up false accusations of collusion and then collaborated with a willing and toxically-biased news media to try to undo the will of the American people and subvert the 2016 election.
In fact, for all the accusations of colluding with Russia, being mentally unstable, being an authoritarian, and trying to subvert our very democratic system of government, I find that I am forced to conclude that the very ones making those accusations are guilty of them themselves. And I’m sure that most of them were convinced that they were the real patriots. They convinced themselves that this all had to be true and that they were “joining the resistance” for the sake of democracy, when in reality it was their actions that were subverting democracy. They did this because Trump threatened their system, and an imperial/authoritarian system has a beast-like life all its own.
If you ignore the alarmist propaganda and even Trump’s odious tweeting, and if you solely look at policies, what do you find? Unemployment at record lows, GDP growth, manufacturing jobs returning, a budget actually getting passed (no budget was passed during Obama’s entire eight years), prison reform…and a Republican president engaging in diplomacy with a dangerous dictator. Trump is a jerk, but those are good things. He is actually moving the needle on a number of issues that the American people have wanted to see addressed. He’s doing what the previous imperialist system of “static triumphalism” failed to do.
Again, Trump is certainly not Moses, and he certainly isn’t a prophet. But in the Bible one thing is clear, God often uses the most unlikely of people for His purposes: bastards, whores, murderers, and megalomaniacs among others. And let’s face it, no one is more unlikely than Trump. I think the United States government was (and still is) in danger of becoming such a powerful system that it might as well be a monarchy or dictatorship with a thin veneer of democracy. But the people still have enough of a voice and the institutions set down in the Constitution still work well enough to give the country a chance at self-correction. Trump’s ego just might be that hammer that can break up that system.
I never thought I’d say this, but maybe Trump is precisely what this country needed. Maybe it took someone as odious and vulgar as Trump to smack us in the face and wake us up to the fact that there really are some darker forces with angelic facades that are threatening to change this democratic experiment into a government system of Pharaoh.
I’m honestly interested in what the fallout of the Mueller Report will be. It seems that some Democrat leaders are just doubling down on the collusion accusation. Already, many leading Democrat candidates are talking about getting rid of the Electoral College, letting 16-year-olds and illegal immigrants vote, and packing the Supreme Court. Not only that, but some are going full apocalyptic and warning that the world will end in twelve years. If that isn’t trying to undo our national institutions, I don’t know what is.
Hopefully, Democrat voters will reject such nonsense and nominate a level-headed adult who focuses on issues and not any more of these apocalyptic conspiracy theories. If they don’t, if they instead double-down on the conspiracy theories they’ve been fed for the past two years, that will just show that the Royal Consciousness of Pharaoh isn’t fully dismantled yet. And if they want to re-establish that Royal Program of Pharaoh, I’ll actually vote for Trump next time.
…and I think most of America will too.
