Entitlement and the End Stage of Trump

The maturation of our country

Today’s my birthday and I want to start by apologizing for my radio silence here for some months, partially due to a steady stream of personal things that needed to be handled.

I have had many articles start to gestate in my consciousness but, like so many of us, I have also been pressed to keep up with the fire hose of new developments, digest them well enough to formulate a thoughtful response, and then actually complete a polished article before the next news cycle gets going.

This is, of course, by design. The shadowy forces that are currently controlling the United States government know that overwhelm is the key to advancing their aims. Instead of savoring their latest power grab, they press forward rapidly for the next objective, whether that is an American takeover of Greenland, a next step towards a police state, or a further scheme for personal enrichment.

And this is what will ultimately what will sink them. Because the forces of darkness lack wisdom, they overreach and press for more power, more money, and more domination of the other. They are impulsive, primitive, and unconscious. Eventually they will hit a wall, which has to arise from our refusal to be subjugated, psychologically, politically, or economically. The wall happens when the forces who are committed to the good find our power, stand strong, and demonstrate something better. That is happening in hundreds of public ways and millions of ways that are only becoming visible. People are rising. Awakening is happening.

That does not mean we are at the end of this reign of Trump although I am beginning to think we are getting closer. We still have to define the end of it by fully arising into our spiritual power, collectively. No one of us can do it on our own but each of us can be an example to others and the more of us who stand with integrity, the stronger our movement becomes. We champion truth over lies. Love over hate. Principle over power. Laws over criminality. Democracy over dictatorship. Goodness over greed. We each need to stand in our truth, say no to the corruption, and call for something better.

We also have to recognize that Trump and his collaborators are meant to illuminate the unintegrated shadow of America. They are embodying our arrogant sense of entitlement that makes us think this is “our” hemisphere, or that another country’s oil is ours for the taking or that “our” needs should usurp the sovereignty of others. It is entitlement to believe we have a right to take what belongs to others. Entitlement was at the root of slavery, colonialism, and the subjugation of women. Entitlement is at the root of racism. A belief that our desires should overrule the needs of others is at the core of the shadow of America. It is selfishness writ large.

Entitlement is at the foundation of the Epstein saga as well. Rich men felt entitled to steal the energy, innocence, and sexuality of young girls. Epstein’s world was a practice ground for piracy on a larger stage: corporate hostile takeovers, backroom political deals, stealing legitimate votes from voters, and eventually thieving oil from other countries. There’s a reason that Trump was at the right hand of Epstein and, judging from his ferocious attempts to block the full disclosure of the files, undoubtedly a major player in the criminal predation. It was a kind of sexual piracy that gave powerful men a permission slip to engage in other forms of economic and political piracy. It was a practice ground for the powerful to enjoy the suffering of the less powerful.

Our system of governance and laws was built to curb the ever-increasing appetite for more power which seems to almost inevitably grow with wealth. Power is addictive and addiction creates its own justifications. As America has grown more powerful economically and militarily, we have also become more entitled and selfish as a country. The noble courage required to stop Hitler in his tracks has been replaced by a selfish desire to annex Greenland or steal Venezuela’s oil.

America, at least in the halls of the elite, has become drunk on power. We are becoming an increasingly self-enamored empire rather than a shining light on the hill. We are beginning to look like the decadent end stage of the Roman empire, which rotted from within.

Trump and his MAGA minions didn’t invent these currents in America but he did put them unabashedly in the center of our national decision-making. He has given permission for greed, selfishness, violence, and immorality to be fully revealed at the apex of power. The wealthy of our country have, for the most part, bent the knee because they want to retain their own wealth and power. How many billionaires have taken a real stand against Trump? How many Silicon Valley companies have stood their ground? Virtually none.

Trump didn’t just cause the corruption of America. He revealed it. He brought the predation out of the shadows and into the Oval.

We are now in a situation where the capacity for our democracy to curb the excesses of power has been deeply corrupted. We have shifted from being an inspiration to the world to being increasingly seen as a dangerous predator. We are becoming, literally, the thugs who take what they want at gunpoint. The ICE murder in Minnesota was both deeply tragic and symbolic: a woman literally named “Good” was shot in cold blood, which was then justified by obvious lies. Minnesota leaders, to their credit, are making clear the truth in the situation rather than going along with the lies. The truth is that ICE has become an embodiment of evil hellbent on destroying what is good. The bullet killing Ms. Good was a brutal and appropriate metaphor.

For virtually everyone who is reading this article, you already know the truth of what I write. And you may be shocked and even appalled at the people in your life who remain enamored of the lies, who are still drunk on the power MAGA promises, or who turn a blind eye to the violence. The challenge is that if you only judge them, they will not feel your love or your call to a higher possibility. Their awakening is supported by your clarity, your courage and your love, even when they are participating in causing harm. They are like addicts who have not yet hit bottom. They are addicted to a fantasy, often in denial about their own sense of entitlement, and desperate for an easy answer to their own suffering.

Trump has fed the fantasy, stoked the sense of entitlement, and directed their rage against Someone Else who is the source of their suffering. He knows the tricks and tools used by demagogues the world over. He is a practiced con man but I believe he is nearing the end of his con.

His supporters will keep peeling away. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not the first and won’t be the last diehard supporter who goes through an awakening. Whether it is literally the blood of a Good woman that catalyzes their awakening, or the jailing of a beloved community member, or remorse for the next war, something is going to push them past the limit of their denial. It’s important that we are there for them as they go through this awakening because even the most diehard MAGA supporter has the potential to become a noble American citizen once they go through a change of heart.

I still believe that America has a very high destiny in service to the planet. I believe we are here to lead the way towards a peaceful and prosperous world - a bright new era for humanity. And I increasingly see that this chapter with Trump has been a necessary initiation into our shadow of greed, arrogance, entitlement, and narcissism as a country. He has held up a mirror that revealed where we have been lying to ourselves and where we remain adolescent in our motivations and immature in our leadership.

Close to half of the country fell for Trump’s sales pitch because they had not done the inner work to inoculate themselves and heal the places in themselves that made them vulnerable. They allowed their loyalty to party, church, community, race, gender, or class to cloud their judgement, impede their morality, and block their sense of honor. They allowed themselves to be manipulated emotionally. They gave license to their dark side. They chose to believe comforting lies rather than face sobering truths. They indulged in a kind of ideological violence against others who they thought of as “other.” And they are going to have to face a long sobering up. It’s a painful awakening to realize that your addiction to power has caused harm to others. Addicts have a long journey of healing and making amends for what they did while in their addiction.

In a similar way, America is going to have a long process of sobering up once we have sent Trump to the dustbin of history. We’ll need to recognize and understand our arrogance, entitlement, greed, and narcissism in a deeper way. We’ll need to engage in deep collective healing. We’ll need to understand how easily we can be manipulated by con men and demagogues.

We’ll need to face the fact that while we have great power as a country, we have not yet embodied real wisdom.

I don’t have a crystal ball to know exactly how it ends. But I think getting the full truth about Trump and Epstein is part of the story as it will reveal Trump as a predators at a level that even his most ardent supporters can no longer support. Some sort of economic breakdown is likely part of it as well, breaking the illusion that lies beget success.

Ultimately it will come down to a decision in every heart of every American who wants to dedicate their lives to the good: we each have to say an unequivocal no to what Trump is doing to our country on every level. And we have to help wake up those who are still addicted to the illusions, power, and money that Trump is promising to those who still follow him.

We have to be fierce in our commitments. We have to be powerful in our protection of our democracy. And we have to trust in God that ultimately, good will triumph over evil so that our nation can rebirth ourself with more humility, heart, and genuine commitment to be a beacon for the world.

It will take a long time to re-earn the trust and respect of the world after what they have witnessed America become. We will have to apologize and make real amends. But I do trust that we can do it with time and sufficient commitment to the sacred principles we have inherited from the generation who went before us.

So stay strong. Speak truth. Hold the vision that Trump will soon face his demise and America will rise again as a more mature country.