Douglas Wilson's Letter From Moscow

A Trump Administration Might be a Good Thing

Douglas Wilson
Blog&Mablog

No, no. I haven’t gone soft in the #NeverTrump department. Read on.

“Their heart is as fat as grease; But I delight in thy law” (Ps. 119:70).

1. A Trump administration would manifestly be a judgment from God, and judgments from God are good. Not pleasant, but they are always good.

God knows how to make the ears tingle (Jer. 19:3). And when He brings evil upon a nation, He is doing what is good.

2. A Trump administration would mean that as a nation we had abandoned the pretenses of hypocrisy and evasion. Our egotism would be manifest, our pride appalling, and our insolence remarkable.

When politicians are hypocrites, voters have plausible deniability. But when the politicians brag about their infidelity, when they boast in their ignorance, when they luxuriate in their dishonesty, and it doesn’t appear to matter to the electorate, then it is time to acknowledge that the electorate deserves whatever it is going to get, good and hard.

3. A Trump administration would identify a larger number of “conservative” hustlers than have already been revealed.

Eric Hoffer identified the natural progression. First a movement, then a business, and finally a racket. I do not have the time this morning to get into naming names, but the first one that comes to mind, ironically enough, rhymes with sanity.

4. A Trump administration would destroy the Republican Party.

Now would be a good time for it. And the fact that Sanders won Indiana last night means that there are deep fault lines within the Democratic Party as well. It would be nice to see them both blow up at the same time. That way we might have some real options. In other words, consider that it might not be the Republicans coming apart so much as it is the Establishment coming apart. Hope springs eternal.

5. A Trump administration would jar a large number of complacent Christians out of their doctrinal excuses for non-involvement in the political realm.

This has already happened to a certain extent, and we should naturally encourage this process along. Those evangelical leaders who were awakened from their dogmatic slumbers just in time to say #NeverTrump may be prevailed upon in time to put #Never in front of some other abominations as well. I have plenty of suggestions here. There have been lots.

6. A Trump administration would lay to rest forever the idea that “anything is better than the Democrat.”

Obama is an autocratic despot, but he at least has the good grace to pretend not to be one. This goes back to the point made earlier about hypocrisy. As the saying goes, hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue, which means that it is possible to sink lower than hypocrisy. You can stop making that tribute, and let your despotic impulses run openly, free and unfettered. That is Trump. The fact that in his erratic despotism he might occasionally do a good thing is beside the point. I would rather be executed by the bad guy than play Russian roulette with the crazy guy.

7. A Trump administration would humiliate American pride.

Humiliation sometimes leads to humility, and humility to repentance. There is no political solution for our sickness. Things can be better or worse politically, but there is no such thing as political salvation. Politics can be saved, but the first step toward such a salvation is admitting that politics is never a savior.

It is Christ or the void, Christ or chaos, Christ or anarchy, Christ or the abyss. A Trump administration would give us many more opportunities to say so. And a preacher who cannot preach a message of repentance to a nation that chose Trump to lead them is a preacher who couldn’t hit the ground with his hat.