The "Chosen One" At A Theater Near You
(750 words)
The second I saw the attempted assassination bullet rip through Donald Trump’s ear and splatter blood on his face, I had a flash-back of a movie I’d seen 50 years ago in London, 1975, when I saw, “The Man Who Would Be King,” based on a classic Kipling novella. The mind makes WEIRD but revealing connections, sometimes.
In the movie, two rogue ex-soldiers in the British Army – Danny and Peachy -- launched a fantastical plan to rule like kings in a far-away land high in the Himalayas. By teaching the natives how to fight warring tribes, they hoped to win the natives over. Danny took an arrow in the chest during battle, but the arrow hit his bandolier and Danny was saved. But the natives didn’t know that and were amazed he was alive and saw this as a divine intervention of the gods. The natives proclaimed Danny a god, and they “chose” him to be their King.
Danny had done everything he could in life to become anything but a king, by being a shameless womanizer, con man, cheater, and liar. Trump on the other hand, “has risen” from boy to man, then business man, TV personality, politician, President, felon, and now “The Chosen One.” It remains to be seen if Trump becomes a dictator (on “day one“ if elected), and later maybe a King if all goes to plan.
Once Danny understood that the natives thought he was a god, he said to Peachy, “I’m not about to undeceive them.“ And like Danny, Trump likes the concept of being the Chosen One, and so far Trump hasn’t “undeceived” his True Believers. Even though level-headed Republicans are silently embarrassed as hell that Trump is going along with this farce, they know strategically it could be a political game-changer because the claim of Chosen One is coupled with the notion of “Divine Right.”
Divine Right was a political and religious doctrine in European Christianity that asserted monarchs received their right to rule from God, not from the people. These kings believed they had absolute power, could do as they pleased, while expecting total obedience from their subjects. These kings also believed that they could not be held accountable by any earthly authority; i.e., the kings were “above the law.”
Some evangelical ministers across the country are calling the near-miss assassination bullet a “divine intervention,“ in some ways similar to Danny’s dumb-luck arrow to his chest. They are preaching to their congregations that Trump is the Chosen One backed by the full protection of God; and therefore, it is “inevitable” Trump will become President once again.
Knowing that their Chosen One carries the God-blessed power of Divine Right, some of Trump’s MAGA MIGHTY believe they have a duty to do anything he signals, such as:
storming the capital to steal the vote,
hanging Mike Pence if he “doesn’t come through”,
secretly masquerading as state fake electors,
provoking violence against peaceful protesters,
intimidating political enemies, witnesses and judges with death threats, and
whacking a Democrat on 5th Avenue (assuming it’s an “Official Act”).
The Chosen One + Divine Right Bundle is so politically powerful, you have to wonder why at least one of the 14 presidents from Roosevelt to Biden didn’t give it a shot? Probably because they would never try such a whacky stunt for fear their families would never again let them sit at the Thanksgiving table.
The Chosen One charade is the most ridiculous theater-of-political-absurdness that we’ve ever experienced. It’s a dangerous fraud and insult to some religious and patriotic (yet naïve) Americans who are being lured down this conspiratorial rabbit hole of disinformation.
Danny increasingly liked being King and used his absolute power to force a native girl to marry him. When Danny tried to kiss her, she bit him and made him bleed and in that instant, the natives knew that he was NOT a god, but a total fraud, and they came after him shouting:
“Neither God nor devil, but just a man!“
It ended badly for Danny, the mortal man who would be king.
Can a Chosen One go back to just being a mere mortal? I don’t know, you might try googling that. But if the MAGA FAITHFUL start to sniff something phony, then these True Believers might want their money back, and more. That would make all those whippersnapper campaign managers break out into a cold sweat.
How will it end for the Chosen One?
Time and the truth will tell.