Trumped up?

I have a picture on my office door.

It is an Internet shot from the opening montage of London 2012. The Queen is walking in the corridors of Buckingham Palace with Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond. Speech bubbles have been added. The intelligence officer is saying: ‘…and Donald Trump, ma’am?’ The Queen is responding: ‘Make it look like an accident, 007.’

Amusing? But perhaps it is sobering. We have always known that MI5, in John Le Carré or Ian Fleming style, may sometimes have been involved in dirty dealings for the ‘defence of the realm’ but it does raise the question of violence entering into politics more generally. God permits the state to ‘bear the sword’ (Romans 13.4), but recently we have observed thuggery and threats in national politics in a way not seen for many years.

In August, with November’s election looming, Donald Trump himself appeared to make a veiled ‘assassination threat’ against his rival for the US Presidency, Hillary Clinton. His remarks about the Second Amendment were read by many as an invitation to those pro the gun lobby to shoot Mrs Clinton. If that was the case, surely Trump really ought to be excluded from running for the Presidency?

Aggression

But violence in politics is not restricted to the US. We remember with sadness the Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in June before the EU Referendum took place by a deranged man angry over her pro-Europe stance. In August Momentum, the grassroots Left Wing organisation which backs Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, dropped its commitment to non-violence. It was argued that this was to allow for self-defence during political demonstrations.

Hopefully such things are isolated cases coming from extremists. But if that is the case it may well mean that the US has an extremist running for President. Where has civilisation gone?

Writing in The Washington Post, Robert Kagan attributes Trump’s appeal precisely to his aggression: ‘What Trump offers his followers are not economic remedies – his proposals change daily. What he offers is an attitude, an aura of crude strength and machismo.’ Whereas the Democrats with their liberal ideas have made America weak, ‘his program, such as it is, consists chiefly of promises to get tough…’, in particular with illegal immigrants. Kagan argues that this is a path to Fascism.

Don’t vote?

Violence in society is never to be endorsed by a Christian. However, it is partly the result of a fragmented society in which certain groups, be it blacks or whites or whoever, feel they are simply not listened to by media or government. Trump taps into some of this and into the anxiety that anarchy is just around the corner. His answer is a ‘strong man’ who will restore order. But such authoritarianism dislocated from Christian principles will become tyranny. Trump’s approach is no friend of Christianity. But then it might be argued that the Democrats, through the judiciary, pushing politically-correct diktats with no allowance for personal conscience, are also becoming a kind of authoritarian tyranny.

Perhaps the best thing for Christians in the US would be to purposely and publicly refuse to vote for either candidate. If only extreme views are on offer, what’s the point?

And listen to Francis Schaeffer writing 40 years ago: ‘If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow… eventually we or our children will be the enemy of society and the state. No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes.’*