The Drumpf or the King?

I don't usually write about politicians here because, well, they're pretty much all liars. But one person has gone way too far. For a while I'd just assumed that Donald J Drumf was a big Poe having a laugh at all the idiots who hang on his every hateful word. After watching how far it's gone and how utterly absurd the Republican race for the white house has become, it's clear he's not joking, though he certainly has the world laughing...at Americans.

I've seen people draw parallels between Hitler and "The Donald" but I don't see that connection. Hitler, while an evil man, was driven by singular goals and was in fact a self-made man. Drumpf, on the other hand, was handed millions after being born and raised with a silver spoon. The Drumpf has never known what it's like to live as the people who rabidly cling to him as their candidate. Instead, he truly reminds me of King Henry VIII. Let's explore why.

Henry was born into royalty - he never knew a day of hunger, his education was provided for him and had a profound sense of entitlement to all of it.  When Henry VIII ascended the throne, he had a massive surplus in the national treasury - thanks to his father. But  the junior Henry didn't have a vision for the country, its alliances or a strategy. Henry VIII cared only about Henry VIII. His driving forces were greed, ego and lust just like the Donald.

Henry is largely credited with religious reformation in England but it wasn't due to deep introspection or firmly held religious views. He just wanted a new wife. So he made himself the supreme head of the church and annulled his marriage despite the fact that he had a child from that marriage. As an added bonus, he was able to fill his coffers with all the holdings of the monasteries (since they were now his not the pope's), who had significant lands and often operated as the centers of communities and fed the hungry - but hey, it was just business. To quell an uprising over these drastic moves, he promised the rebels amnesty and then executed most of them. Seems you couldn't trust his word - sound familiar? But after that, Henry blew through wives like kleenex, executing two of them, deciding that one would become his sister and on the path to executing a third when he died. What this illustrates about Henry VIII is that he would stop at nothing to get his own way because he felt he was entitled to it. Women were mere vessels for his children or eye candy to drape on his arm and prove his waning vitality. Use them up and throw them away. Interestingly, all of them except his first, were significantly younger than he was.

Trump, of course, is on his third wife and numerous self-professed extramarital affairs. He lied and cheated in business, defrauded investors as well as those who are currently suing him over his failed Trump University fiasco. He thinks nothing of these things because hey, that's just business. After all, he needs to rake in the big bucks to pay for the latest million dollar wedding. Yes, he spent more on one wedding than many of his admirers will make in their lifetime.

Henry VII was also very divisive - his policies changed from day to day and he frequently pitted his closest advisors against one another to test their strengths and loyalties. Kinda like a royal version of the apprentice except instead of losing their jobs, they lost their heads on the block. His friends and allies never knew quite when Henry would turn on them and send them to the tower (cause Henry had a tower too) for a bit of torture until they testified against themselves. This flip-flopping and extreme paranoia led to some costly wars both from the standpoint of lives and depletion of the treasury, after which Henry, quite literally, was taxing his own people to death.

Trump, too is very divisive. He pits people against one another on a reality TV show because that's how he operates in business as well. He's famously turned on the Clintons who he once claimed were good friends, Univision, who took umbrage at his racist comments, NBC, Macy's and even Samuel L Jackson in a twitter feud. His history is littered with those he's used and cast away when they displeased him. He also advocated torture and killing the families of those he suspects to be terrorists with no due process. He promises to 'take over the oil fields' of another nation, simply because he thinks he can. All this he thinks he can do as president - order illegal activities and people will simply 'do it' because 'he's a leader'.

The risk of a greedy egomaniac in power is real. Things Trump is told that he can't do on his own - citing the balance of power of the US granted by the constitution - he claims he'd just issue edicts instead in the form of executive orders. The reality is that Trump is not likely to deliver on any of his twisted promises because our constitution will prevent. However, he will continue to spread the type of hatred that he's created and alienate the global community against all things American, quite possibly sending our economy into a tailspin that could take years to climb out of. That the public conversation has become so ugly amongst those that are vying to be the one of the world's most powerful men is not only disgusting, it's dangerous for this generation and for generations to come.

That's All Folks.

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