By
Roberto Rodriguez
Como
hacer un Dios... Or the Making of a God.
That
is where we find ourselves today, on a divine path to the White House. While
this may sound hyperbolic; it is not. Somewhat metaphorical perhaps, but an
exaggeration it is not. This is much more ominous than simply giving a con
artist, with a juvenile delinquent mentality, the keys to the White House.
The
nation is on the verge of installing its next president, not simply a mentally
unstable and narcissistic charlatan – who is not simply a failed and vindictive
businessman, with lots of unresolved conflicts of interests – but who in his
own mind, is a God-in-waiting. Perhaps the only real question is what kind of
God?
An
ethically-challenged God of money, greed, fraud, debt and Other Peoples’
Property and Other Peoples’ Money?
A
God of obfuscation, smoke and mirrors, mis-education and mis-Information?
A
racial supremacist, xenophobic, misogynist, materialistic, megalomaniac and
vainglorious God?
A
tyrannical, all-knowing, all-seeing and omnipotent God?
An
arrogant God that humiliates and demands and rewards 100% loyalty and delights
in never-ending exaltation?
A
pompous, deceiving, pathologically lying, jealous, judgmental, vengeful, punishing
and wrathful God?
A
petty, discriminating, angry, hateful, bullying and violent God?
A
fear-mongering, God of war, conquest, ethnic cleansing, profit, exploitation,
subjugation and domination?
Oddly,
these qualities seem very familiar, and yet, he himself has no actual God-like
qualities that would make even his own admirers think of him as such, unless we
indeed are talking about a god of evil.
To
be remembered is that his DNA requires that he be constantly praised in public.
Without doubt, he is a mentally deranged man who craves adulation and who would
not be satisfied with simply being a strongman president. Even dictator, King,
Pharaoh or Emperor would not suffice for his delusional designs.
While
some people think he is a Godless dyed-in-the-wool materialist, the truth is,
he actually believes in God… when it serves his purpose and wallet. Professing his
mediocre book as second only to the Bible, as the greatest book ever, that was blasphemy,
though really but show, but also very telling of his delusional
self-aggrandizement. Remember, he knows not even one Bible verse, except maybe
the one about 2 Corinthians. Yet, he believes in destiny, his own, and that of
the unfinished business of Manifest Destiny… of taking all the land from the savages,
Providence really. Heaven on Earth. He is surrounded by religious doomsday
fanatics that have encouraged him to believe that he alone will bring it about,
and thus, he gets to enrich himself, while they get their doomsday. Oh… and his
cosmovision, he sees savages everywhere, from Standing Rock to the U.S./Mexico
border… that’s why he has lent his support for the pipeline and why he has called
for the building of the Wall… and for the uncivilized nation to the south to
pay for his wall.
There
is something about walls and towers that give us a clue about his God-complex.
He doesn’t believe that he is doing God’s bidding, but that he himself is an
infallible God. A Supreme God. Simply being the ruler of one nation is not
enough. Even his designs for his own Mexican wall would have to eventually come
down in favor of towers across the globe. Tall ones, huge ones, located
everywhere; all bearing his name and perhaps even his likeness too. Towers and
walls equal power and strength, and yet, even using the presidency to create
the largest corporation in the world would not suffice.
That
he received some 3 million votes less than his opponent, which reportedly gets
under his skin, means he will never have what is minimally required to run a
country: the ability to say that the American people chose him, and
legitimation. Though that is not what he seeks. Arguably, what he seeks is
legitimation as Lord.
To
simply see him as another money-grubbing, war-mongering Dick Cheney is to not
understand that he seeks more than money, power and domination. He wants
adulation from his subjects, and more than anything, he wants his “enemies that
he defeated” to bow down and effusively praise him, always.
We
may never get to see his wall – as he envisions it – go up, despite the fact
that he sees it as his consummate Tower. But actual towers, yes. He needs to
see more of them across the globe with his name in bright lights and will
probably continue to make such deals, unless Congress checks him. Also, unless
Congress checks him, perhaps we will soon be seeing oversized portraits of him
everywhere, perhaps even huge statutes of him. And temples? Those indeed are
his towers. What is missing is a name for this new God.
For
him, God is money and money is God, and thus, perhaps from that equation his
name will arise (MOOLAH?). Getting Congress to put him on Mt. Rushmore or his
face on a $100 bill; probably a good bet, though not sufficient for this man
with an oversized and overinflated ego.
Anyone
wanting to oppose him simply as a potential ruthless and self-enriching
dictator will miss the entire point, and thus will be ineffective. More than
control, power and money, he wants to be worshipped. Our recent election shows
us that he indeed has many worshippers, though not quite enough to his liking.
Someone
please give him a name: The Swamp God works for me.
Rodriguez is an associate professor at the University of Arizona
and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
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