Can Trump Write a Sequel to ‘The Art of the Comeback’?
President Truman had a saying, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” Well, after last week, even Lassie seems to be lifting her leg on President Trump.
It was a tough one. Trump was brutally battered for not responding as scripted to the chaos in Charlottesville. An elected Democrat called for his assassination with barely a peep of condemnation. Councils created to get the country moving again broke apart, and several organizations bailed on holding charity bashes at Mar-a-Lago. Trump even had to pull out of his part in the Kennedy Center Honors because he didn’t want to cause a “political distraction.”
Man, it’s rough when you can’t enjoy the fun parts of being President because of the hyperventilated hate of your critics. What next? The Easter Bunny boycotting the White House Easter Egg Roll? Trump stopped from lighting the National Christmas Tree? Okay, that won’t happen. But CNN will insist the lights are white only because Trump hates people of color.
At least he got to watch the eclipse with a minimal amount of sniping.
Temporary Chief Strategist
Trump also had to deal with the departure of Steve Bannon as chief strategist. Not that I want the gig, but I can do the job in one sentence: “Mr. President, here’s your chief strategy: Do what you were elected to do.” Let other people worry about tearing down 19th-century statues. You worry about building up 21st-century opportunities. Create new heroes and leaders in the black community worthy of their own statues.
After eight years of a president who peddled in racial division the way Michael Lindell peddles pillows, suddenly the media is demanding Trump heal the nation’s racial woes. Even Mitt Romney is saying that unless Trump renounces racism with “unprecedented candor and strength, there may commence an unraveling of our national fabric.”
Sen. Tim Scott suggests the president meet with civil rights leaders like Rep. John Lewis. A decent idea from a very decent man. Trump did want to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus again in June. They refused. Including Lewis.
Problem is Trump could resurrect Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from the dead, and he’d still be called a racist, and the three would be called “house slaves” for hanging out with him.
Still, that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t try to bring reconciliation. However, it can’t be some phony photo op like Obama’s “beer” summit. Remember that? His buddy, an African-American professor at Harvard, gave grief to a white Cambridge police officer. Obama, before knowing the facts of the case, declared the “Cambridge police acted stupidly” and tied that act to historical police racism.
The message? Any trouble you have with a white officer can be blamed on racism. It’s a lesson he would repeat with Ferguson. We see how that lesson has played out.
No. Trump doesn’t need a show. Stick to real people in real places with real actions. Work the problem, not the press. Put the hard hat back on. Besides, it could help ward off antifa’s (anti-fascists’) flying bottles of urine.
Death of Self
There are people who very much want this president dead. But, ironically, it is through a “death” that Donald Trump could triumph. That is with a death of self. He has laid aside his beloved business. Now, he must lay down his life in the sense that he becomes a servant; that he becomes a vessel through which God can work to heal and lift and protect our land.
It is said that Donald Trump and Vice President Pence pray together when facing decisions. We know Trump welcomes the hands-on prayers of his Faith Advisory Council. It is not known whether in the Oval Office in the dark of night, Trump turns to the One not interested in polls, position, power or personal agenda. The One who declares “I will strengthen you, I will help you, yes, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10)
The One who will “never leave you nor forsake you” nor leak your conversations to The Washington Post (see Deut. 31:6).
Yet when faced with decisions like sending further troops in harms way in Afghanistan, or knowing one wrong move with North Korea could cost a million lives or even facing the never-ending hostility of those you’ve sworn to serve, where can a president go but to his knees?
When 10 sailors under your command are killed, who can better help you offer comfort than the Shepherd who walked across the sea?
Asking for wisdom? “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
The oath of office gives you the authority to hold the office. Telling the Lord “I can’t do it without you”? That’s what gives you the power to do the job.
Some are so convinced the Trump presidency is already over they’ve begun attacking Vice President Pence. But if Trump were really to turn toward Christ, the man who wrote The Art of the Comeback could just be getting started. {eoa}
Originally published at The Stream. Reprinted with permission.
