And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are
prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them
or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless
divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord
concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name although I did not send
them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come upon this land’: By
sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to
whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem,
victims of famine and sword, with none to bury them—them, their wives,
their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their evil upon
them.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give
thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their
foolish hearts were darkened.
‘I Alone Can Fix It’
Breaking with two
centuries of political tradition, Donald Trump didn’t ask Americans to
place their trust in each other or in God, but rather, in Trump.
Has any American political leader claimed so directly to embody the nation, to speak for it, to be its sole hope for redemption?
In 1968, Richard Nixon spoke of a nation torn apart by crime at home, and by wars abroad. But, he promised,
better days were ahead. “Without God's help and your help, we will
surely fail; but with God's help and your help, we shall surely
succeed.”
In 1980, Ronald Reagan painted a similarly dark picture of a
troubled nation, and offered a similar message of redemption. But his
acceptance speech called on Americans to work together to solve their
problems. “I ask you not simply to ‘Trust me,’” Reagan said, “but to
trust your values—our values—and to hold me responsible for living up to
them.”
In 2000, George W. Bush called a troubled nation to
renewal, and ended with a note of humility. “I know the presidency is an
office that turns pride into prayer,” he said, “But I am eager to start
on the work ahead.”In
2016, Donald J. Trump mounted the stage, and told America that the
nation is in crisis. That attacks on police and terrorism threaten the
American way of life. That the United States suffers from domestic
disaster, and international humiliation. That it is full of shuttered
factories and crushed communities. That it is beset by “poverty and
violence at home” and “war and destruction abroad.”
And he offered them a solution.
I am your voice, said Trump. I alone can fix it. I will restore law and order. He
did not appeal to prayer, or to God. He did not ask Americans to
measure him against their values, or to hold him responsible for living
up to them. He did not ask for their help. He asked them to place their
faith in him.
When Trump said, “I am your voice,” the delegates on the convention floor roared their approval.
He
broke with two centuries of American political tradition, in which
candidates for office—and above all, for the nation’s highest
office—acknowledge their fallibility and limitations, asking for the
help of their fellow Americans, and of God, to accomplish what they
cannot do on their own.
But when Trump said, “I am your voice,”
the delegates on the convention floor roared their approval. When he
said, “I alone can fix it,” they shouted their approbation. The crowd
peppered his speech with chants of “USA!” and “Lock her up!” and “Build
the wall!” and “Trump!” It booed on cue, and cheered when prompted. It
seemed, in fact, to chafe—eager to turn a made-for-TV speech into an
interactive rally, and frustrated by Trump’s determination to stay on
script. Not every delegate cheered; some sat stiffly in their seats. But
there was no question that the great bulk of the delegates on the floor
were united behind Trump—and ready to trust him.
The most
striking aspect of his speech wasn’t his delivery, even though his tone
often strayed over the line, from emphatic to strident. It wasn’t the
specific policies he outlined, long fixtures of his stump speech. It was
the extraordinary spectacle of a man standing on a podium, elevated
above the surrounding crowd, telling the millions of Americans who were
watching that he, alone, could solve their problems.
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