This isn’t about left versus right, Democrat versus Republican, red hats versus blue hair. This is about reality versus illusion, about whether a civilization understands the difference between noise and strength, chaos and leadership. The United States has flirted with demagogues before, but Donald Trump is something more corrosive: a long-term institutional acid that eats away at everything it touches—law, trust, alliances, truth itself.
In Jewish terms, this is not a debate about personalities. This is a debate about sechel—basic intelligence—and the tragic consequences when a nation confuses bravado for wisdom.
The Torah does not oppose kings. It opposes bad kings—those who mistake their ego for destiny. The Navi does not warn Israel about foreign enemies nearly as much as it warns about leaders intoxicated by their own reflection. Shaul fell not because he lacked strength, but because he lacked humility. Rechavam split the kingdom because he chose bluster over counsel.
Trump fits squarely into that lineage. He governs—when he governs at all—by instinct, grievance, and television ratings. The Rambam writes that leadership requires daas, not theatrics. Trump has spent a decade proving that he has volume without depth, anger without strategy, and confidence without comprehension.
The Erosion of Institutions Is Not “Draining the Swamp”
Trump’s defenders speak endlessly about “draining the swamp.” What they really mean is burning down the mikdash because you dislike the kohanim. Yes, American institutions are flawed. Yes, bureaucracy can rot. But Trump’s answer is not reform—it is delegitimization.
Courts are “rigged.” Elections are “stolen.” Intelligence agencies are “traitors.” Journalists are “enemies of the people.” Allies are “freeloaders.” Generals are “losers.” Anyone who contradicts him is corrupt by definition. This is not conservatism. This is not populism. This is nihilism.
In Jewish history, the destruction of institutions always precedes catastrophe. Once people stop believing in law, they stop obeying it. Once truth becomes negotiable, power becomes the only currency left. That is not freedom. Trump boasts that “the world respected us.” This is fantasy bordering on delusion. The world feared American unpredictability the way one fears a drunk driver—not with respect, but with anxiety.
Alliances built over seventy years were treated like bad real estate deals. NATO was mocked. Long-term deterrence was replaced with impulsive threats. Dictators learned a simple lesson: flatter the man, ignore the country.
The Gemara teaches that chacham ro’eh et hanolad—the wise person sees what comes next. Trump sees only the next headline. America’s enemies plan in decades. Trump plans in tweets.
The result? A weakened global order where adversaries test boundaries and allies hedge their bets. Empires do not fall from one blow; they rot from repeated foolishness at the top.
Trump normalized cruelty as entertainment. Mockery replaced dignity. Lying became strategy. Violence became “understandable.” Lawbreaking became heroic. Children learned that power excuses everything.
In Jewish language, this is chilul Hashem on a civilizational scale. When leadership teaches that nothing is sacred—not elections, not oaths, not truth—it invites societal breakdown. People stop trusting outcomes, then neighbors, then each other.
You cannot build a nation on permanent outrage. You can only burn one down.
Jews have seen this movie before, and it never ends well. When people cling to a strongman, it is usually because they have lost faith in themselves. Trump does not restore American confidence—he feeds on American insecurity.
A truly strong leader does not demand loyalty; he earns it. He does not scream “I alone can fix it”; he builds systems that outlast him. He does not divide relentlessly; he unifies grudgingly, responsibly, imperfectly—but genuinely.
Trump offers none of this. What he offers is addiction—to grievance, to spectacle, to perpetual crisis. And like all addictions, it leaves the host weaker over time.
Future historians will not debate Trump’s tweets. They will study the damage: the erosion of democratic norms, the coarsening of public life, the strategic self-sabotage, the hollowing out of trust.
They will ask how a great nation confused chaos for courage and narcissism for strength. They will ask why so many intelligent people chose denial over discernment.
And they will conclude what should already be obvious: Donald Trump was not a solution to America’s problems. He was a multiplier of them.
Judaism teaches that leadership is an obligation, not a performance. That power must be restrained by law, wisdom, and fear of consequences. Trump embodies the opposite: power without restraint, speech without responsibility, ego without limit.
So don’t kid yourselves. This isn’t about whether you like his enemies or distrust elites. This is about whether the United States intends to survive as a serious civilization—or amuse itself into decline.
Empires don’t collapse from external enemies first. They collapse from internal foolishness, crowned as strength. And that, tragically, is Trump’s legacy.
 |
| REPUBLISHED |
Amen to all expressed in this article. However, it needs to go one level deeper. How did this once great nation built on Judeo-Christian values end up here? I believe that at the core of it is the breakdown of morality and a family oriented society over the past 60 odd years.
ReplyDelete