The Amateur Hour

Be Mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.
-- Sun-Tzu,Emptiness and Fulness

The Trump family is a source of constant inspiration to other families whose children are not as accomplished as their parents might have hoped, as well as to the parents of those children.

Jared Kushner became the administration expert on Middle Eastern matters on virtually the same day his father-in-law was elected president. It was to him that Trump entrusted the task of negotiating a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, a task many more experienced than he, had found to be almost impossible to achieve. His success in that arena is well known and needs no further description here, other than the brief observation that the recent exchange of bombs and rockets between Hamas and Israel suggest that there is still a little work left for Jared to do. What do merit attention in this column, however, are the events of the week of March 10, 2019.

That week presented us with two revelations. The first was the revelation that Donald Trump Jr. was every bit a match for his dad when it comes to understanding foreign affairs. He penned an op-ed piece for the British newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, in which he displayed an understanding of foreign affairs that few, if any of us, knew he had. The issue he discussed was Brexit. In that piece he gave a closely reasoned analysis of Brexit and Prime Minister Theresa May's dealings in connection with it. In the op-ed he shows that he understands what has been happening in connection with the Brexit negotiations and why they are floundering. He places some of the blame for Prime Minister May's lack of success on what he calls the "European elites" in Brussels who, he says, are bent on sabotaging Brexit. He also explains that because Prime Minister May ignored his dad's advice that had been offered to her several months earlier, "A process [implementing Brexit] that should have taken only a few short months has become a years long stalemate." He observed that as a result of all that "democracy in the U.K. is all but dead." That can only be described as a cogent observation.

As startling as the op-ed was, it did not hold a candle to what we learned three days later. That was the pronouncement by Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, that God had sent us Donald's dad. (That pronouncement was made before the release of the 4-page summary of the Mueller report, a release that has taken the focus off Mr. Pompeo's comments.) To describe the Trump advent to the world stage as a gift from God, was a little like saying that the recent floods in the mid-west are a gift from God to the farmers whose livelihoods have been wiped out. Nonetheless, that's what he said and here's how that proclamation came about.

Mr. Pompeo was visiting Jerusalem and while there was interviewed on The Christian Broadcast Network. The interview took place a few days after Mr. Trump had said it was time to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. During the interview, Mr. Pompeo was asked: "Could it be that President Trump right now has been sort of raised for such a time as this. . . to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace." A beaming Pompeo responded saying: "As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," and he continued by saying he was "confident that the Lord is at work here."

A number of readers have written to ask whether I can explain how it is that God has selected a man known to be, among other things, a liar, lecher, crook, tax cheat, unfaithful husband and, in short, a two-legged moral vacuum, to carry out his work. Furthermore, how could Mr. Pompeo believe God raised Trump to help Israel or to do anything else for that matter? I have the answer for them. I found the answer in a site on the internet called "Got Questions."

In a section of that site entitled "What does it mean that god works in mysterious ways?" the writer explains that "God works in ways that are often deemed 'mysterious'-that is to say, God's methods often leave people totally bewildered." It is so obvious as to scarcely bear repeating that the selection of a moral vacuum to live in the White House, as the supposed leader of the free world has certainly left all but the most obtuse or ignorant totally bewildered.

Continuing the explanation, the writer explains that there are, through the ages, "true stories of how God turned situation after situation, problem after problem. . . completely upside down-and He often does it in the most unexpected, astonishing, and inexplicable ways." Once again, with that explanation it is easy to understand how Trump came to be president. His election clearly turned situation after situation and problem after problem completely upside down and it was done in a way that was unexpected, astonishing and inexplicable.

Those of my readers who are of a religious bent will continue to awaken each morning wondering if that is the day God will reveal why he put Trump in the White House. Those who are not of a religious bent will, of course, have no reason to assume that at some point the reason for Trump's prominent presence in the world will be explained to them. It won't.