Trump’s Apotheosis
The juxtaposition of charity and amorality, poverty and conspicuous wealth, and good and pure evil is trending today in the news:
WPost: “Former president Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner on Thursday in New York. Harris declined an invitation to speak at the event, which raises money for Catholic charities.”
NY Times: “The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation’s largest, has agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy. The settlement, which experts said was the highest single payout by a diocese, brings Los Angeles’s cumulative total in sex abuse lawsuits to more than $1.5 billion.”
Hmmmmm.
In 1928, Al Smith lost in a landslide to Herbert Hoover. — 440 to 87 in the Electoral College and 21. 4 to 15.0 million in the popular vote. His religion, ethnic and racial enmity, and opposition to prohibition led to his defeat.
Smith also lost the 1932 Democratic nomination contest to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Al Smith carried his grudge against FDR almost to his grave and he fought the New Deal vehemently for a dozen years.
So why are Irish-Catholic New Yorkers still celebrating a two-time loser? And why are the Irish-Catholic Archbishops of New York still inviting the most amoral billionaire cum Bible salesman to their “charity event?”
Yes, much truth is said in jest. That was Trump’s modus operendi in 2016 and 2020 at the Al Smith dinner. And, probably, it will be his shtick tonight.
But…
Gales of laughter cannot erase tonight’s debasement of the Sermon on the Mount. You know, those New Testament passages containing Christ’s admonitions: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Or “blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”
Ain’t nothing righteous about today’s events. And the apotheosis of Donald Trump ain’t happening any time soon, except maybe in his own mind.