TRUMP AND THE BIBLE

Moses carried the Ten Commandments. Trump appropriated the Bible. He crossed Lafayette Park in full Fuhrer mood, after  the peaceful protesters had been dispersed, military style.  Surrounded by the usual crowd of the blind and the faithful, he embraced law and order, yet again putting himself, extemporaneously, in the center of the narrative. 

His "silent majority" bluff might work out after all.  His base prefers the flexing of the muscles over the soul searching of a country in shock. If Trump's behavior is nauseating, the weepy reaction of the Democrats is often unconvincing. Black lives deserve a better script.

The reality is that the racial fault-lines in America run deep. The occasional appearance of a healer--Presidents Johnson, Clinton, Obama, Dr. Martin Luther King--or a man with better intentions--George W. Bush--gives some hope, but too much bigotry and prejudice remain standing in the way of upward mobility or social harmony.

This current episode has repercussions worldwide. The "American Dream" is seen as being on life-support, entering the final phase. The bankrupt casino owner of Atlantic City and his mafia entourage have killed the American saga. 

The world at large does not do that well. Other populist Golems proliferate. Europe has problems of its own. The immigration fiasco (with the exception of Germany) is a stain which appears to becoming structural. Nevertheless the original six founders of the EU are trying to come to terms with the situation.  

Europeans are also asking themselves if the alliance with the US is still worth the expense. There is nothing that compels solidarity or empathy with an American administration obsessed with self-aggrandizement and devoid of cultural and historical empathy. The days of the Nixon/Kissinger pax Americana, cynical but sophisticated, are long gone. 

The growing divide between the EU and the US leads to a  dangerous breaking point. An alarm bell should ring when divergence starts to take the form of a snub. Europeans have to come up with an alternative instead. Americans are not the first to have made the wrong choice.  Sobriety recommends that the "we are different" is a better argument than the "we know better". There is a tide in world affairs, after all. Europeans should pause, concentrate on their own priorities and be on hold. In case the American culture war makes a further turn for the worse, a readjustment can still be considered. It is better to be aware of what might be coming  rather than to to be unprepared. 

If Trump & Co were to be re-elected, new drastic unilateral decisions might be expected. I doubt that they would be arriving after a previous early warning courtesy call. They will be rude by habit, pathological by nature. Imperial America was over-extended. Trump's provincial America will be further under-extended. Better be prepared for worse things to come if the current American mindset perdures. The Entente cordiale between the US and Europe might well become a bygone.