Trump's presidency is heading off in a direction requiring an entirely new frame of reference. It doesn't mean anything to say that Donald is incompetent, for example, because he inhabits a realm of incompetence. "Incompetent" assumes points of reference to something other than itself, just as you can't define a word by itself or a cognate.
As a longtime inhabitant of the South I think I can explain. Competence is not coin of the realm there but only privilege, property and authority. Privilege is getting something for nothing but, more importantly, it's about getting everything for nothing. This is hard to understand if you haven't encountered it. Human effort is discounted in Calvinist doctrine.
If someone is born with nothing and builds an empire it is still destiny and God's work. So, to human eyes, it should seem arbitrary. In fact, if the wealth is inherited and comes from nowhere, it's in a higher and purer form because it isn't tainted by human effort and can't reinforce the heretical opinions of the unbelievers about free will and human efficacy.
Human effort must be seen to be futile. Everything is in God's hands. That this is "insane" and reductive is further evidence of its divine origins. We can't understand it and that's not a criterion--or, it's a positive indicator. Revelation is the criterion and also biblical, literal certainty. Property, I think, comes into this as some telling baggage relating to slavery.
Slavery wasn't just useful it was beloved. Racism is important to this thinking because it blows the perversity curve and, as we have seen, perversity and injustice are good things. It reassures the Calvinists the heathen haven't taken over and instituted earthly, rational rule independently of God and His will. We can all have justice in the afterlife, but not now.
On the privilege scale--an inverse function of competence for Calvinists--it's becoming clear that Trump is unbeatable. And privilege is an absolute measure of God's favor. This explains his appeal to evangelicals. Trump's horrifying meltdown is exactly what they sent him there for. It warms their hearts in multiple ways. They love it and will back him forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment