The apocalyptic Donald Trump 

The new US president has an apocalyptic style which offers false hope. He presents a danger but also reveals that true Christian politics values the weak over the strong, writes John Heathershaw

Since taking office, Donald Trump has pardoned extremists who used violence against the police and a man who ran a crypto currency exchange for organised crime. He has begun dismantling US regulations and cancelling its membership in international institutions he doesn’t like. Trump has scapegoated migrants, and targeted allies like Denmark and Canada as if they were enemies.

To his supporters, this is a cause for great hope as he reasserts what they consider to be natural differences between nations and people while blaming others for America’s woes. To his opponents, these measures threaten the US constitution and the global liberal order under benign American power. But none of Trump’s moves should surprise us.

There is clearly a risk of hysteria here in the flurry of reactions. What Malcolm Muggeridge called “idiot hope and idiot despair” occur when both those for and against a political leader presume that they have more power than they in fact have. A great deal of what Trump plans to do will be held up in the courts and it is worth remembering that the president has no new money without congressional approval.

But perhaps the biggest drag on his administration will be the battles between its internal factions and egoists: the radicals and the conservatives; the libertarian tech bosses and the MAGA nativists. Most of all, and as I wrote at the time of Trump’s election, his policies are mere reactions to the course of history which is breaking down both barriers between cultures and limits on the accumulation of capital by the wealthy. Trump is (a relatively minor) part of the problem not the solution.

What might a Christian political theology make of Trump’s second term? The Christian brand of “idiot hope” here includes those who believe he has been saved by God to restore the created order of great men and a great Israel (and even herald Christ’s second coming).

Beliefs of that kind involve some tendentious readings of the Old Testament. Trump plays up to this claim for the sake of Conservative Christian base but there are no sound biblical or theological grounds to believe that leaders like Trump have this role to play.

The New Testament apocalypses – both Revelation and apocalyptic sections of the gospels – indicate that demonic leaders will promise fake “salvation” while presiding over extremes of wealth and violence, just as Trump is doing.

However, the general claim of Trump’s supporters that history takes an apocalyptic form should not be so easily dismissed. And they are correct that the liberal order which emerged in the 20th century was always partly mythical and is fast becoming implausible.

Trump has an apocalyptic style in that he thirsts for conflict with the existing order which he believes is not just wrong but false. He does this by making scapegoats from minority groups, humiliating them, and using their downfall to motivate his tribe. The Christian cultural theorist Rene Girard – who has been read and misunderstood by the new Vice President – has explained this kind of behaviour as form of scapegoating that was once important to political-religious order but no longer works.

Girard presents this archaic order as a duel which escalates to extremes. It escalates because two sides with so much in common compete for domination. All social life has this potential, but war and politics are two domains where this duel is especially intense. Trump’s politics are an acute example. The descendant of immigrants stigmatises new immigrants. The businessman who has sold his brand around the world to the highest bidder denigrates American companies that have done the same.

Such a style of politics is an artefact of religion whose revival is a symptom of the apocalypse rather than the full unveiling promised at the end of times which is foreshadowed in Christ’s coming to earth. Girard sees our present situation as that of “undifference” where the political differences between nations which once ordered society have been broken down by Christ’s victory on the cross which destroyed the archaic order of strongmen and sacrifices. His sacrifice was so radical because it was for others not of others. In this light, Trump is one of many examples of ill-fated and anti-Christian leaders seeking to reassert an order that Christ has already overcome.

So, how do Christians find hope and avoid hysteria in these apocalyptic times? The first thing is to be assured that God is sovereign, not any political leader. We can be confident that the MAGA movement will pass away as the differences it seeks to reassert through wars, borders, and stigma will not stand.

The duels which Trump fights will, in the end, reveal his own contradictions and the limits of what can be achieved by combat. Despite his expressed distaste for war, he loves to threaten others with invasion, sanctions and other coercive measures.

Notwithstanding his enthusiasm for the national interest his measures will weaken the American state as they did in his first term. He expresses patriotism towards US institutions but, as he did in January 2021, calls for insurrection when they don’t bend to his personal demands.

There is little in the way of control or strategy here, much less sovereignty. The scriptures assure us that such “wars and rumours of wars” must happen but there are no grounds for fear (Mark 13:7)

Our second reassurance is in the promise of redemption through God’s forgiveness of our sins – even Donald Trump’s. The ultimate grounds for hope are found in Christ on the cross. The person and actions of Jesus are as far from the person and actions of Trump as one could possibly imagine.

The Christian God is one who takes the place of the scapegoat rather than scapegoating others. God does not sacrifice others, he sacrifices Himself. Jesus is the person that overcomes political authority by refusing to play politics. He is the man who “binds the strongman” not impersonates one.

Jesus is the one who raises up the poor and treats women as equals; Trump disdains the poor and treats women as objects. But even someone so far from God as Trump can be reconciled to Christ.

Our final reassurance is the caritas which provides relief in times of turbulence and violence. Usually translated as “charity” or “love”, caritas is said to cover a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). As we are loved unconditionally by God, we pass that love onto others without condition that they are like us or live up to our ideals (1 John 4:8).

The church has tended to associate caritas with itself and yet the truth is that the Bible does not say that you must be baptised or a member of an institution to convey caritas. In the coming four years, we will see many religious and secular organisations, as well as dissenting government officials and responsible businesses, practice caritas towards those that are stigmatised or otherwise targeted by the Trump administration in America, at its borders, and beyond.

And by God’s grace, and because Trump is not in control, it is even possible that his actions may contribute to moments of mercy, for Ukraine for example.

Despite these solid grounds for hope, we should not underestimate the violence of our age. In apocalyptic times, the powers that be escalate to extremes and are not prepared to listen to criticism or pleas for mercy. There will many more Trump-like leaders to come who will speak of Christ while behaving in direct opposition to his teachings.

The challenge for the church in these times is to once and for all withdraw from the logic of Christendom where they seek power first and caritas second. That age has been passing away since Christ came into the world.

Praying for those in authority in apocalyptic times means praying for those leading missions of caritas, both secular and faith based, and for leaders like Donald Trump to repent and find their hope in the champion of the weak not the triumph of the strong. 


Image | Jon Tyson | Unsplash

 

John Heathershaw is Professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter, a member of Pinhoe Road Baptist Church in Exeter, and the author of Security After Christendom (Wipf & Stock, 2024)

This post originally appeared on his Substack Security After Christendom, and is republished with permission 

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