The Trump Who Would Be King

... and who the protests are really for

* See credits below

It seems clear that Donald Trump sees himself not so much as a president as a king. He has said so. Despite the supposedly illustrious celebrations he’s insisted upon for June 14, those of us who have not been able to convince him that he has no clothes (consider the fabled emperor of old) are fighting against the idea that anyone can or should be king in the U.S.

According to the NoKings website, well over 2,000 uprisings are happening across the continental U.S., protesting Trump’s self-declared coronation celebrations planned for the 14^th. And protesters who are celestial-minded enjoy pointing out how very lousy the weather will be at the time Army tanks and marching soldiers will parade through D.C.

Find protests by zip code (NoKings.org)

Who are the protests for

We know who the parade in Washington is for. But as for the protests.... They are not for Trump. They are not to convince him that he is not as popular (or as well-dressed) as he thinks he is. He’s too protected to hear that, partly by his own narcissistic sociopathy and partly by the Republican orcs who surround him and fend off any bad press.

Today’s protests are for the protesters, and also for the people who know in their hearts that they should be protesting. The gathering of true patriots in cities across the country will bolster the resistance and convince anyone not yet resisting that they must never again vote for anyone, at any level of government, who would be king—or anyone who would support a king.

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING (by Rudyard Kipling)

In Kipling’s story, the character Daniel Dravot, supported by sidekick Peacey Carnehan, takes rifles and an ad hoc army to a remote area in the Afghan mountains, with the deliberate intention of setting himself up as king. Trump would do well to take a lesson from this tale, because Dravot lets the adoration of his subjects and the power of his army to go to his head. He dishonors the dearly-held principles of his conquered nation. They kill him and torture Peachey.

I am by no means inciting murder or torture. Kipling’s story was fiction and should remain so. However, the lesson (which Trump will never learn) can be driven home to his sycophants and supporters. That is what the protests can do.

There are nay-sayers, people who insist it does no good to collect in groups and yell and scream and carry signs. For these people, I recount a point not of fiction but of history: It was the firing of British soldiers on American colonists that started the American Revolution.

NY Public Library, Prints Collection

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I’m an inveterate observer of human nature, writing stories about understanding and connecting with each other. My primary goal is furthering acceptance of people who appear to be different from “us,” whoever that “us” might be. Check out my books on my website.