It rained on earth for 40 days and nights because, according to Genesis , “The Lord saw how great [was] the wickedness of the human race.” He was troubled and disappointed with his creation and acted violently to punish the human immorality and violence that had corrupted the earth. Noah was chosen as a possible savior, but his work was never fulfilled as envisaged.
The world has continued for centuries to be filled with corruption, violence, brutality, and widespread sin. Immorality has been the name of the game until the present day, though the term has been defined differently across societies. The immorality of the most powerful, however, has proven to be an enduring force that dictates outcomes in virtually all societies.
The powerful French King Louis XV, who was directly responsible for wars and miseries in his own and other countries, allegedly introduced the phrase « Après moi, le déluge . » It has survived as a phrase to describe someone who acts purely in his or her own interest, ignoring the impending chaos or disaster their actions will cause. Such actors refuse to acknowledge responsibility for their actions. Embodying the immorality of the most powerful, they do whatever they like, no matter the consequences for others.
Referring to Donald Trump, Tom Engelhardt writes : Our very own Louis XV is, of course, something else again: a deluge of tweets, insults, self-praise, lies and false claims, and strange acts of almost every imaginable sort. In other words, thanks in significant part to the media and social media, Donald J. Trump is indeed the definition of a deluge and we, the American people, are—thought about a certain way—present-day Venice; we are, that is, six feet under water if we don’t quite know it. Other countries, which are the targets of the same person, are much deeper under water. Expanding the focus, Engelhardt adds : Even declining imperial powers haven’t usually had such a mad ruler or leader. And he does seem remarkably intent, in his own increasingly confused way, on taking this country down with him. The difference, historically, is that until now no imperial ruler had the chance to take down not just his (almost never her) country, but (after a fashion) our planet (at least as a livable place for us.) And that is exactly what the man in the White House is determined to do. Religious Crusades The Crusades were military attacks organized by western European Christians against what they perceived as Muslim expansionism. From the 11th to the 16th centuries, control and plunder of the Holy Land were the main motives of these Holy Wars.
In the Fourth Crusade, for instance, after capturing Constantinople on April 13, 1204, the Crusaders and Venetians spent three days plundering and destroying the city. Instead of pursuing spiritual goals, the Fourth Crusade led to the destruction of one of the greatest cultural and spiritual centers of the medieval world. Churches, monasteries and palaces were robbed, works of art were destroyed or stolen, and the population was treated brutally.
Similar crusades have taken place since. In 1620, the Mayflower arrived in the new world with settlers escaping religious persecution who entered the history books as the “fathers of the nation.” InMassachusetts,wheretheir shipdocked, they encounteredIndiantribes(Wampanoags at the beginning) who taught them how tosurvive in an unknown country by planting and harvesting the fruits of the earth and to fish.
Earlier conquerors—Christopher Columbus, Hernando de Soto—had ruthlessly threated the native peoples they encountered. The Plymouth colonists, who brought women and children with them, were no less determined to conquer, especially given their religious zeal. Countless massacres are remembered today only by activists, mostly descendants of those original Indian Nations. New Crusades Like their pilgrim forefathers, many U.S. presidents have been on the lookout for new lands in need of rescuing, enlightening, and liberating. Or so they have claimed.
Donald Trump has been brutally honest in his claims to other nations’ soil, oil, and important resources. He, too, has made appeals to God and heaven. Evangelical Christians are a powerful voting bloc in America. So, Trump and his fateful echelon often nod in their direction.
Recently, in answer to a reporter’s question if he thinks God supports the United States in the war against Iran, Trump stated: “I do, because God is good, because God is good, and God wants to see people taken care of,” adding that neither he nor God “like what’s happening.” It is reassuring for Christians to know just how close their president is to God.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is doing his best to follow. He injected the rescue of an American pilot into the Easter tale: “You see, shot down on a Friday, good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday, and rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing, God is good.” Hegseth likes the term “crusade” so much that he used it in the title of his book American Crusade to refer to a “holy war” to rid America of the left.
Many Christians are appalled, including Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Catholic Church. In his Palm Sunday homily, the Pope said that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.” Trump is not happy with a Pope who consistently challenges his faith. But Leo XIV is not backing down. In his speech in Cameroon, he said , woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth…. Blessed are the peacemakers… The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters. It’s up to Americans and Christians to choose who is closer to God: Trump with his vulgarity, stupidity, and derangement, or the Pope.
Anybody who hopes to connect “Après moi, le déluge » with another phrase, “After the storm there’s a rainbow,” must think twice. The current storm is of such destructive intensity that it calls into question the quality of any rainbow to come. Trump, a truly devil-may-care type of person, is producing ethical, social, political, economic, and climate-related storms that, on the global level, are more like Category 5 hurricanes than simply strong winds.
It is surprising that the Christian Lord didn’t see fit to arrange a few more floods over the centuries to eliminate the recurrent immorality. Less surprising is that some humans still imagine themselves to be divinities. Donald Trump’s delusion is all too visible through his urge to construct golden representations of himself. What’s next: a golden pyramid in his honor, constructed by his numerous slaves, that towers above the rising waters?
The post After Trump, the Flood appeared first on Foreign Policy In Focus .