Donald Trump has always been a complicated character, but now to fully understand him, he must start with an attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
Listen to how Trump described the experience in his second inaugural address:
Those who wanted to stop our cause have taken my freedom and actually tried to take my life. Just a few months ago, an assassin bullet was torn into my ears on a beautiful Pennsylvania field. But I believe that at the time, I felt that my life was saved for a reason, and I believe even more. I was saved by God once again to make America great.
Even his harshest critics were hesitant to challenge Trump's grand claims. Because on some level they can put themselves in the shoes of a card. And now, three months after the election, and just three weeks after he was sworn in, it is proof that Trump has been a politician and reborn, and has a new purpose. If “Make America Great Again” started as an election slogan, it turned into a godly mission.
Another history
Trump 2.0 is the Democrats' worst nightmare. Had he won a second term in 2020 and forced his rule in the Senate controlled by Chuck Schumer, he would have been effectively powerless. He would have stepped in through that second term by calling the regular bluester and name, but there was no new vision or agenda. His mission would have been simple – keep the economy strong and not rock the boat too hard. Play golf whenever possible.
There would have been no Elon Musk or the government's Efficiency Bureau. There was no Robert Kennedy Jr., or he would make America healthy again. It is unlikely that the FBI or CIA had a house cleaning. Remember, there would have been no raids at Mar-a-Lago, no “disturbed” special advisers, or no January 6 riots at the Capitol. We live in a completely different world and were led for four years by completely different Trumps on the gliding path to retirement.
To see Trump as a real-life mule is a random element of an otherwise ordered and predictable set, and there is no doubt. He is Disruptor Deluxe.
The 2024 elections would have been completely unknown. Republicans would have scrambled to find a respectable successor to Trump, but none would have been anointed. It's almost certainly not Mike Pence, but who is it? Josh Hawley? Tom Cotton? Nikki Haley? Tim Scott? Not JD Vance, he is still a mid-level author and would not have been elected to the Senate from Ohio. The Democrats wouldn't have had to suffer through the embarrassment of the aged Joe Biden. They would have been in a legal major battle between the government in 2024. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.), JB Pritzker (D-Ill.), Kathy Hochul (Dn.Y.) and Sens. AmyKlobuchar (D-Minn.), Elizabeth Warren (d-mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (dn.y.), and perhaps Bernie Sanders (i-vt.). Kamala Harris would have been an afterthought – or, as she did in 2020, she would have retreated before Iowa.
There would have been a high chance of a democratic victory after the second consecutive Trump condition. The magazine itself may have disappeared from attrition and eight years of mainstream media overkill.
Therefore, while it is easy to theorize about the role of God's providence, we cannot underestimate the importance of Trump's own character in asserting his will against an established order. His ability to withstand the press of two firing each, two special advisers, two assassination attempts, multiple felony charges and a full court of convictions, is a miracle to persuade Americans to return him to the White House. There is nothing more than that.
Anyway, who is this guy?
If Trump was indeed “saved by God,” there must have been a reason. It has become the perfect ship for Trump to change our times, not ourselves. So, what is it?
I tried to think of an analogue of Trump persona in life and literature, but for the most part it is empty. As a politician, Trump is Sui generis. While other examples of imperfect perfection such as King David and Cyrus the Great can be scanned through the Bible, it is best not to appeal to modern times like Trump, an authority on the Old Testament. Where else are you going?
Several authors have noted the similarities between Trump and Napoleon Bonaparte. I myself have written twice about such connections. 2016 before he was elected and Once in 2022 after he was exiled To Mar-a-lago. The queue stands the test of time, but there may be one avatar for Donald, who is even drawn from the proper literature.
I think of a character simply known as the mule in Isaac Asimov's “basics” trilogy. The second volume in the science fiction series “Foundation and Empire” is enough to break all expectations, surpass all restrictions, and have the power to avoid virtually every trap in his way when he attempts. We introduce mules as their intense personality. Conquer the galaxy.
As another character explains to Asimov, “He has no name other than the mule's name. He is reportedly applied to himself, and by popular explanations, he has said that he has been used to his own name. It means immeasurable physical strength and stubbornness of purpose.”
Although we don't have to worry about physical fitness in our comparison, “Stubbornness of Purpose” is a US history that includes George Washington in his role in the Chief of the Continental Army and his role as Abraham Lincoln. In it can only be applied to Trump and a few other people in US history. Commander of the Union Chief. If Trump's extraordinary second term, not for his God's committee, we may not have even understood the stubbornness of his purpose. Oh yeah, he was considered a lavahead for his reluctance to follow political practices, but until he returned from exile, he tried to conform to his expectations rather than imposing his will through brute force. By doing so, he tried to curry favor with the ruling class.
When Corey Lewandowsky encouraged Republicans to “make Trump a Trump,” we thought we knew what he meant. And to some extent we did. That meant that the unsleek, incomplete Trump was the most authentic politician since Truman “gives Hell, Harry, Harry” and voters would reward his credibility with the vote. However, it was not until the last month or two, that by following his instincts, we were able to fully transform not only the political world but the real world. Ta. It's just getting things done.
Amazing Destroyer
It brings us back to the mule again. In Asimov's epic tale, mules are an unpredictable factor with the potential to change the course of galaxy history. Otherwise, it is a history mapped with incredible accuracy by Hari Seldon, the inventor of psychohit. Seldon offered humanity a plan to save civilization from the upcoming dark ages, and everything swam until the mule arrived on the scene. From that point on, everything became unpredictable as this one individual was outside the box, making the box irrelevant.
That's Trump. There are other similarities too. People either love the mule or hate him because of the mind control techniques that the mutants were born with. No one has accused Trump of having the ability to ensense, but they accuse him of being a cult leader – Svengali, who brainwashes his disciples and expects absolute dedication. Maybe they're right, but there's no need to conclude that Trump is using mind control to explain his influence on the eralists. “Stubbornness of purpose” is enough.
To see Trump as a real-life mule is a random element of an otherwise ordered and predictable set, and there is no doubt. He is Disruptor Deluxe. And in response to the consequences of massive reinvention of American political norms, he – like the mule, is the ancestor or more of the new world order created in the service of self-expansion.
We are waiting to know what it is. But one thing is certain: no one like Donald Trump is on today's world stage. His kind arrives once in a generation or once in more than 100 years. Or, on the scale of Asimov's “basics” it becomes one millennium.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and is now available via RealClearWire.
