Tucker Carlson’s recent public admission of ‘torment’ over his past support of Donald Trump serves as a startling prologue to our 250th Anniversary. It suggests a penance is being paid for influencing a nation to prioritize a single man over its own foundational values. Carlson invoked Daniel 11:36 in his apology to the nation. Daniel 11:36 refers to an autonomous ruler who rejects all authority but his own. That’s actually not far off.
Daniel 11:36 also says that He “will do as he pleases.” We could probably find that as a quote in transcripts of Trump’s campaign speeches. The French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote that “the finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist”. More commonly we say, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.” The most dangerous form of evil is the one that operates in secret.
If Tucker is right, the new greatest trick the Devil ever pulled is convincing us He is not Trump. On the eve of our 250th Anniversary, God offers America a test. While we are blessed, we are squandering our gifts. We have turned away from our friends and allies. We have turned inward and forsaken the poor and sick at home and around the world. In Luke 16:19–31 we were shown our ethical responsibility to care for the vulnerable. Ironically, a poem added to our Statue of Liberty written by Emma Lazarus (no known relation) says,
“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
We have closed our golden door. We have been led to believe that THEY will take our jobs and cost us money we don’t have. Somehow, we have money to go to Venezuela and Iran. In Luke 16:19–31 the rich man’s sin was not his wealth, but “his indifference to the suffering right at his doorstep.”
At home we have been turned on each other. The traditional American ideal of “united we stand, divided we fall” is being tested by increasing anger and resentment over differing opinions. The Golden Rule requires seeing yourself in your neighbor. Current political polarization does the opposite and frames our fellow Americans as enemies. Carlson noted that this shift toward “hubris” and “lawlessness” is destroying our social fabric.
George Washington argued that national prosperity cannot exist if we abandon our moral and religious foundations. Abraham Lincoln warned us that internal strife is more dangerous than any foreign enemy. If Trump is the devil, he is doing his best to test this nation, have us reject our values, and abandon the Golden Rule. If we don’t rethink our current course “America First” will soon mean America Alone, no God, no Allies, no future?
