The Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward

The Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Washington. Lincoln. Roosevelt. Kennedy. Obama. Hillary Clinton could become our first female President. She has the curriculum vitae to prove her capability to serve as the Commander and Chief of the United States. Donald Trump does not have the temperament, conviction or virtue necessary to run America. Dear Donald: the highest office in America is not a laboratory for you to practice your dishonorable business practices, nor is the Oval office a place from which early morning tweets should be sent.

After the first debate, it is time for America to come together. We must unify around a common theme: We are stronger together.

This election cycle Donald Trump has done nothing but demonstrate divisiveness, vitriol and pettiness. His campaign to “make America great again” has quickly become tiresome. Why: Because he is a dishonorable steward whose self-interest rivals Ayn Rand’s objectivism. It is unclear why members of the Grand Old Party still support him. A vote for Trump is a vote for the core values he lauds, values that privilege his whiteness, demagoguery, affluence, power, fear and prejudice. If you support Trump there is no shying away from that reality; one cannot separate the means from the ends, one cannot justify a vote for Trump to “put” a Republican in the oval office. Just ask Senator Ted Cruz.

America’s gravest choice in a generation is between electing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as President. Yes, both of these politicians obfuscate the facts to "guide" voters to the polls. Trump models his path to the White House on scare tactics and intimidation.

Clinton is her own worst enemy, at times too cold, too distant, at other times too thoughtful, too rational. She is held to a higher moral standard.

To elect the Über-qualified, and heroic Hillary Clinton has become an agonizingly and anxiety-provoking close race. If it were some other democrat this campaign would be over, but America’s lack of trust in Clinton, and Hillary’s lack of transparency have made the unthinkable thinkable. It is this lack of transparency that feeds the myth that as Secretary of State or Senator of New York Clinton did nothing.

Imagine Donald Trump winning. How scary! Questions about how we got here are stifling. More and more Americans find themselves suffering from what I term: negative campaign fatigue syndrome. Whether it’s the latest serving of birthirism, fat-shaming, stop-and-frisk and build a wall hegemony, I grow more and more wary each day: Is it truly possible that America will elect its first Dishonorable Steward?

How do I define the dishonorable steward? The Dishonorable Steward is a cunning, ruthless businessman, who uses his subordinates to save himself and sacrifice nothing. In some ways, a Dishonorable Steward lusts for primetime. The Dishonorable Steward serves the worst in us: it beckons the darkest forces of mean, and nasty – it riles the white, working class to hear but not listen to its cat calls of racism, heterosexism and xenophobia.

Americans must be discerning and prudent this election. The Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward begs us to answer this question: Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the people will put in charge of their country?

Donald Trump demonstrates dishonor with every calculated lie and betrayal of the truth. Donald Trump is not prudent; his fear feeds the very minds of the memes Hillary Clinton rightfully calls a “basket of deplorables”. It is interesting to note how quick Donald Trump was to condemn her for being too straightforward, too politically incorrect – the Don praises his own dismissal of political correctness, and lauds himself for calling things black and white. When others do this, he bullies them.

When I contemplate the meaning of the Dishonorable Steward during this election cycle, many ordinary images of hard working, honorable Americans come to mind. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, secretaries, janitors, lunch ladies, those who can benefit from more than lower taxes and a $2,000 child care tax credit. How much does a year of diapers and baby food really cost?

Still, in spite of so many differences, these American workers (of all races and genders) are the men and women, like myself, who live from paycheck to paycheck. We represent the America racked by college debt, whose bills may go unpaid, and who desire to confront segregation era practices like, the implementation of bathroom laws that dehumanize Trans people, voting restrictions that prevent minorities from voting and gender inequality gaps that pay women less than men.

Dear America: Aren’t we called to live and to labor in a unified community, to steward one another, to be the home of the brave and the free.

The Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward is, for me, a disruptively haunting representation of stewardship. The parable of the Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward haunts me because, like the Dishonorable Steward himself, I too fall into patterns of complacency, self-absorption and ambition. At times my own action becomes inaction. I procrastinate, I do not pretend to be less complicated then I am, and I certainly ask myself if I am being a responsible citizen. What about Donald Trump?

The Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward also lets us spend time with another important aspect of civil society: the children of this age and the children of the future. America’s children are the poor, vulnerable, those who need the most protection from a Donald Trump presidency. That is the reality; it is no parable.

If Donald Trump desires to be labeled a demagogue he is succeeding, but only he knows what is in his heart and on his mind.

To date, Donald Trump has not demonstrated virtue or knowledge of policy, he is neither courageous, prudent, restrained; certainly he is not just: no one who is just would seek to ban all Muslims from entering the country, speak about erecting a wall on a border or praise racial profiling. Yes: every person who supports Donald Trump is culpable for the monster they are creating. One cannot half-vote for Donald Trump.

Ultimately, the the Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward represents the paradox of a human life in jeopardy, we are a finite and frail people who are always caught off guard, our loved ones die unexpectedly; we live in age of terror, and on and on. This is human life, it is complex and messy; all of us seek to flourish. We cannot do this alone. But Donald Trump told us he can do it alone, that his successes are “good”. We cannot answer that self-appraisal because his taxes are under audit.

Today, America needs an audit of what she stands for. Due to feelings of betrayal, mistrust and fear, our country is losing its sense of community. With the loss of community come questions about the role of stewardship in our modern society. This election the choice couldn’t be clearer, though it is becoming increasingly uncertain. Thanks to the Parable of Donald Trump the Dishonorable Steward, we can stand before our mirrors and ask: Am I and are we being duped?

Unity, prudence, wisdom, discernment, action, freedom, conversion are character traits of Honorable Stewards. Perhaps Donald Trump has time to re-choose a life that matters, a life of stewardship to his community. That election cannot come at the expense of his Election to the presidency. Let’s work together to ensure Donald Trump’s laboratory experiment does not come to fruition. And soon enough, when love of neighbor is re-initiated we can weed out the other dishonorable stewards from our lives.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot