Our President had a rough first week in office, despite his very best efforts to unite the country and do right by a restored Christian (White) America. He did get off to a fast start a week ago Friday, by utterly vanquishing that terrible beast ObamaCare, on a first-pass paper basis at least.
After an exciting weekend battling the beasts of small crowds, disrespectful women protestors, and inaugural crowd size deniers, Trump stepped it up with a peek-a-boo planned meeting, on then off, with Mexico’s President, before welcoming Great Britain’s Prime Minister and getting boxed into a corner about NATO by a too-clever woman in his first world leader one on one interaction. He topped the leader connection thing off on Saturday with chilly and frosty telephone confabs with Germany and France, before a much needed and welcome friendly exchange with Potential Buddy to Be Vladimir over Ukraine, Syria and other fun stuff. No election hacking was mentioned (out of politeness) and sanctions were not a main topic of conversation, or so it was reported.
And how about that inordinately creepy too weird I’m going to grab your unwilling hand Madame Prime Minister and deliver a double love wrist tap, cause I’m the Alpha, and what are you going to do about it anyway, as we stroll along the colonnade live on camera? Go to War? Ours is the special relationship, you and me, honey. Listen lady, no offense intended. I was just being friendly, ally to ally to in order to break the ice.
Access Hollywood International Style, 2017. Trump.45 has learned nothing, absolutely nothing. Save for the fact she is a proper lady and a dignified human being, she might have double slapped his butt with a pinch in reply. An athletic 20-something might have deservedly hauled off and hard slapped his officious puffy face. Trump proved yet again his normal behavior towards women is utterly low-class and repugnant. Representing the most powerful nation in the world on a very public stage?
In between Trump also signed a bunch of important stuff with his Special Presidential Edition Sharpie supply, like building the Mexican wall, reconsidering black sites rendition, and oh yeah, implementing the refugee and fakely non-Muslin Muslim Immigration delay, suspension, program re-evaluation and ban, including legal U.S. Green Card holders. Or maybe not. At least three Federal Judges put a temporary hold on parts of what can only be called the Winged Mercury EO published by the WH without proper prior vetting by Homeland Security, the Justice Department, etc. but okayed and approved by guru advisor Steve Bannon, on his own ‘authority’ with apparent concurrence from Trump.45.
Trump also gave a pep talk to Congressional Republicans in Philadelphia on Thursday, returned to whining about voter fraud (3-5 millions votes worth) and gave a long TV interview Wednesday where he expressed a personal belief in the efficacy of detainee torture methods to obtain useful anti-terrorist information, before finishing with some beautiful pictures of his inaugural crowd size.
Trump’s determined navigation of hazards, traps, and deceits set against him by terrorists, Muslims, immigrant refugees in general, the Press, and various other haters and losers can only be understood properly in the context of a great work of literature such as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)* which has never been out of print, is translated into 200 languages (the whole world gets it). This great work describes the constant travails of Christian, our hero, on his path from the City of Destruction (in Trump’s political theology America’s dire burdened current state) to the Celestial City (which in Trumpian terms is the object of MAGA, a cleaner, whiter, more pleasant and prosperous land for the elect).
Illustrated Road Map of the Perilous Journey from City of Destruction to Celestial City (1821) from Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)
Bunyan’s allegory has been the subject of numerous artistic interpretations in literature and on film, including a 1978 South African dramatic play version called “CHRISTIAN!” or FOLLOW THE MAN WITH THE BIG BASS DRUM IN THE HOLY GLORY BAND, which has recently been revived again. Amazing isn’t it, how perfectly attuned this title is, including the ALL CAPS form of the title, to the plight and promise of Trump’s current political journey to the promised land, strictly on behalf of all right thinking Americans in 2017.
Pilgrim Trump is Heavy Burdened on His FatefulJourney for America [Illustration from Pilgrims Progress by Rachael Elmer (1919)]
A Picture is Worth…
No matter how many times this phrase is invoked, it cannot diminish the inherent value of the concept. To monitor Trump’s journey, as an index of his Pilgrim’s Progress for America, we present here a sequence of pictures of Trump’s desk congestion.
President At Work behind Resolute on Day One (1/20/17): Neat and Uncluttered- A Model Workspace
First on Day One, ab initio, to establish a baseline for the first order of Presidential business on Friday afternoon after his swearing in, here is a picture of Trump.45 at his desk (the Resolute**, so very manly sounding under the grip of Trump’s hands), signing his very first EO, a deadly blow against ObamaCare, the Thing that wouldn’t Die. Note Trump’s desk is free and clear of extraneous materials, except two phones, a (decorative ?) small wooden box, perhaps a small Presidential paperweight near the phone, and a pen. A demonstration of organization, a clean orderly and efficient work surface to advance the People’s agenda. We see the beautiful polished inset leather surface of his elegant historic desk, exuding power and prestige for all to appreciate.
Second Source Documentary Proof All is Well on the Main Battle Deck of the Republic (1/20/17)
To firmly establish this clean and orderly image, the essence of Trump’s vision for America, here are two more shots at the same time showing, in combination with the first picture, an almost panoramic view of his grand signing surface.
Triple Verified Confirmation Desk Resolute is Ready to Do Its Part in America’s Service
And to complete the documentation, we add as a bonus almost as clean a desk shot from his office in the sky, aboard Air Force One. I understand Trump’s airborne work digs are not quite up to his personal luxurious standards aboard Trump Force One, but now and then a good sport just has to take one for the Team. America is really grateful for the sacrifice made by the Dear Leader in this regard.
Mini-Presidential Oval Office: Clean & Tidy on Air Force One (Is that a laptop computer in the far corner? First Sighting)
Now we skip forward to yesterday, Saturday, January 28, 2017 after a mere 8 days in the harness. Only one desk shot here to document circumstances. Trump’s desk has been transformed, and not for the better, so far as America is concerned.
America’s Majestic Presidential Desk Resolute is Seething Over the Disrespect Shown by Current Oval Office Occupant (1/20/17)
The desk is messy and sloppy, there are haphazard, disorganized piles of files lying about, indeed one might even say a minor degree of paper chaos is evident. There is a glass of something, perhaps soda, in the right mid-ground area.
The article source indicates this picture was taken as Trump.45 was having his conversation with Angela Merkel of Germany, a conversation which did not go overly well, especially as European leaders, among others, were getting to know the full extent of Trump’s Immigration Order prohibitions and restrictions on visitors, immigrants and refugees seeking to come to America.
So, the appearance of Trump’s desk after one week of learning on the job how to best go about this President and Governing thing, is cluttered, disorganized and messy, actually kind of a spot-on visual metaphor for how his political week turned out. What do you know?
On the plus side, there are no obvious piles of papers or files on the Reagan carpet covering the floor beneath the desk just yet. And of course, as expected, there are no jumbles of disordered books on the ground. In fact, a book of any kind is rather hard to scare up within the Trump office zone, a quite accurate reflection of Trump’s distaste for their bookish cousins in real life, and in the rest of Trump’s personal territorial zones. After a lifetime of opportunity to learn better, Trump is apparently convinced that published words have no appeal and even less to offer him, a man of such high and uncharted brilliance that simple book enlightenment is too low wattage to interest his sparking extreme high-voltage brain.
Too bad for America.
One last point. In another gently ironic twist pairing the image of Trump’s desk to his person, the picture shows both are slovenly and unkempt. Honestly, Trump really does need at least a good trim and style, if not a radical hairstyle makeover. No reputable men’s hairstylist has ventured forth to claim responsibility for Trump’s crowning birds nest. I wonder if Melania is still coping with the occasional honor of clipping it for him, and if the more extended recent separations occasioned by his predominant residence time at the WH, without her routine presence there is an explanation, even if not fully acceptable as an excuse for Mr. Shaggy.
In his private personal life, as a hugely wealthy man, Trump is of course entitled and has the resources to adopt any style of grunge or eccentric personal appearance style he wishes. However, since he ardently sought out the job of President, which Lord Only Knows no one asked him to do, now that he is President, his private life is unavoidably very limited and overruled by his public duties and responsibilities. His every official moment is seen by millions here and abroad as the official presentation of the United States of America and her proud people. His personal appearance reflects on all of us, and rather poorly right now. He wouldn’t wear a pair of scuffed shoes with uneven heels with his suit. Why doesn’t Trump take at least minimal care with his hairline?
And lest someone complain of trying to hold our Dear Leader to an unrealistic standard of physical presentation, let me remind you right here of the extensive catalogue of Trump’s intolerant rants about facial beauty, anatomical parts, figures, bathroom habits, body weight, cosmetic enhancements, wearing glasses, etc., mostly about women, but directed at specific men as well.
Sauce for the goose, et etc. You sling it, you better learn to duck yourself. That’s Playground 101 Ethics in New York
I also can’t help wondering if the disorganization of his papers and files after only 8 days reflects an equally scattered condition inside his head where the mental processes he should be using to help govern the country are supposed to be humming. Is this why we have already seen a fair number of short circuits and sparking gaps in his thoughts and actions in public as President?
Inner clutter, outer clutter. Not always a correlation there, but often enough associated to be of concern to others.
Unlike some polymaths and academics, who vicariously pride themselves on being able to laser identify in a flash a single page among an avalanche of files spread out willy nilly around them, Trump has exhibited no such magical memory skills, recently or in the past.
*From the Wikipedia entry for John Bunyan’s (1628-1688) Christian allegory Pilgrim’s Progress:
John Bunyan’s Great Christian Allegorical Work, The Pilgrim’s Progress, First Edition (1678)
The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come; Delivered under the Similitude of a Dream is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.
Bunyan began his work while in the Bedfordshire county prison for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. Early Bunyan scholars such as John Brown believed The Pilgrim’s Progress was begun in Bunyan’s second, shorter imprisonment for six months in 1675, but more recent scholars such as Roger Sharrock believe that it was begun during Bunyan’s initial, more lengthy imprisonment from 1660 to 1672 right after he had written his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.
The English text comprises 108,260 words and is divided into two parts, each reading as a continuous narrative with no chapter divisions. The first part was completed in 1677 and entered into the Stationers’ Register on 22 December 1677. It was licensed and entered in the “Term Catalogue” on 18 February 1678, which is looked upon as the date of first publication. After the first edition of the first part in 1678, an expanded edition, with additions written after Bunyan was freed, appeared in 1679. The Second Part appeared in 1684. There were eleven editions of the first part in John Bunyan’s lifetime, published in successive years from 1678 to 1685 and in 1688, and there were two editions of the second part, published in 1684 and 1686.
A More Topographical Illustrated Map of the Pilgrim’s Progress (1813)
The entire book is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator. The allegory’s protagonist, Christian, is an everyman character, and the plot centres on his journey from his hometown, the “City of Destruction” (“this world”), to the “Celestial City” (“that which is to come”: Heaven) atop Mount Zion. Christian is weighed down by a great burden—the knowledge of his sin—which he believed came from his reading “the book in his hand” (the Bible). This burden, which would cause him to sink into Hell, is so unbearable that Christian must seek deliverance. He meets Evangelist as he is walking out in the fields, who directs him to the “Wicket Gate” for deliverance. Since Christian cannot see the “Wicket Gate” in the distance, Evangelist directs him to go to a “shining light,” which Christian thinks he sees.
Christian leaves his home, his wife, and children to save himself: he cannot persuade them to accompany him. Obstinate and Pliable go after Christian to bring him back, but Christian refuses. Obstinate returns disgusted, but Pliable is persuaded to go with Christian, hoping to take advantage of the Paradise that Christian claims lies at the end of his journey. Pliable’s journey with Christian is cut short when the two of them fall into the Slough of Despond, a boggy mire-like swamp where pilgrims’ doubts, fears, temptations, lusts, shames, guilts, and sins of their present condition of being a sinner are used to sink them into the mud of the swamp. It is there in that bog where Pliable abandons Christian after getting himself out. After struggling to the other side of the slough, Christian is pulled out by Help, who has heard his cries and tells him the swamp is made out of the decadence, scum, and filth of sin, but the ground is good at the narrow Wicket Gate.
On his way to the Wicket Gate, Christian is diverted by the secular ethics of Mr. Worldly Wiseman into seeking deliverance from his burden through the Law, supposedly with the help of a Mr. Legality and his son Civility in the village of Morality, rather than through Christ, allegorically by way of the Wicket Gate. Evangelist meets the wayward Christian as he stops before Mount Sinai on the way to Mr. Legality’s home. It hangs over the road and threatens to crush any who would pass it; also the mountain flashed with fire. Evangelist shows Christian that he had sinned by turning out of his way and tells him that Mr. Legality and his son Civility are descendants of slaves and Mr. Worldly Wiseman is a false guide, but he assures him that he will be welcomed at the Wicket Gate if he should turn around and go there, which Christian does.
At the Wicket Gate begins the “straight and narrow” King’s Highway, and Christian is directed onto it by the gatekeeper Goodwill who saves him from Beelzebub’s archers at Beelzebub’s castle near the Wicket Gate and shows him the heavenly way he must go. In the Second Part, Goodwill is shown to be Jesus himself. To Christian’s query about relief from his burden, Goodwill directs him forward to “the place of deliverance.”
In 1978 a musical based loosely on Bunyan’s characters and the story was written by Nick Taylor and Alex Learmont. The musical [originally titled “Pilgrim”] was produced for the Natal Performing Arts Council under the title “CHRISTIAN!” or FOLLOW THE MAN WITH THE BIG BASS DRUM IN THE HOLY GLORY BAND, and ran to capacity houses for the 1979/80 summer season in Durban’s old Alhambra Theatre. The show moved to Johannesburg in March 1980 and ran for a further three months at His Majesty’s Theatre. After a substantial re-write CHRISTIAN! was again mounted at the new Playhouse in Durban for the 1984 Christmas season. The musical has been performed many times since by schools and amateur theatrical groups in South Africa. After 30 years the show is again attracting attention both locally and abroad and the score and libretto are being updated and made more flexible for large and small productions.
There are a surprising number of full length video performance of Pilgrim’s Progress readily found on YouTube. Here are three of the better ones.
The first is a modern dramatic adaptation of the 17th century tale. (1:45 long). Watch here.
The second I would describe as an richly illustrated dramatic reading. (1:53 long). Watch here.
The last, and shortest of the three is a British period drama featuring Liam Neeson in an early role. Watch here.
Enjoy any and all of these works. No reading necessary. More important, try and take their moral lessons to heart. The winding road forward for America is not reliably paved with three word slogans and indifferent planning, in the 2016 campaign tradition.
***The Presidential Desk Resolute (1880), A Gift to America from England’s Queen Victoria:
The Resolute desk is a large, nineteenth-century partners’ desk mostly chosen by presidents of the United States for use in the White House Oval Office as the Oval Office desk. It was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 and was built from the English oak timbers of the British Arctic exploration ship Resolute. Franklin Roosevelt requested the addition of a door with the presidential seal to conceal his leg braces. Many presidents since Hayes have used the desk at various locations in the White House, but it was Jackie Kennedy who brought the desk into the Oval Office in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy for the first time. It was removed from the White House only once, after the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, when President Johnson allowed the desk to go on a traveling exhibition with the Kennedy Presidential Library. After this it was on display in the Smithsonian Institution. President Jimmy Carter brought the desk back to the Oval Office, where Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump have used it.
A plate on the front of the desk presented to President Hayes bears the following inscription:
H.M.S. RESOLUTE forming part of the expedition sent in search of SIR JOHN FRANKLIN IN 1852, was abandoned in latitude 74° 41′ N longitude 101° 22′ W on May 15, 1854. She was discovered and extricated in September 1855 in latitude 67 degrees N by Captain Buddington of the United States Whaler “GEORGE HENRY.”
The ship was purchased, fitted out and sent to England as a gift to HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA by the PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES as a token of goodwill & friendship. This table was made from her timbers when she was broken up, and is presented by the QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND to the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES as a memorial of the courtesy and loving kindness which dictated the offer of the gift of the RESOLUTE.
Plaques with similar messages were fitted onto each desk made, the Resolute desk in the White House, Queen Victoria’s writing table, and the Grinnell desk.
HMS Resolute was part of a five-ship squadron under Edward Belcher sent from Britain in April 1852 to search for the missing British explorer Sir John Franklin, who had left Britain in 1845 in search of the fabled Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. The Western Division of the squadron, consisting of HMS Resolute and HMS Intrepid under Captain Kellett’s command, sailed West and wintered at Deally Island off Melville Island. The Eastern Division, consisting of HMS Assistance and Pioneer under Sir Edward Belcher’s command, sailed North up the Wellington Channel and wintered near Northumberland Sound. The men spent the autumn of 1852, and the spring and summer of 1853 sledging across the Arctic in search of the Franklin Expedition, as well as the men on HMS Investigator (Captain Robert McClure), and HMS Enterprise (Captain Richard Collinson). After finding and rescuing McClure and the crew of Investigator, Resolute and Intrepid sailed east, but had to winter in the pack ice, gradually moving East all winter.
In September 1855 an American whaler named James Buddington, from New London, CT saw Resolute adrift in the pack ice off Cape Walsingham in Davis Strait. He split his crew and sailed her back to New London, arriving home on Christmas Eve. Buddington’s ship, George Henry, had preceded Resolute, and many were beginning to wonder if Buddington was still alive. The British government waived all claims to the ship upon learning of its arrival in New London.
Queen Victoria visits HMS Resolute, December 16, 1856, the day before the ship was granted to her as a good will gesture.
(England and America. The visit of her majesty Queen Victoria to the Arctic ship Resolute – December 16th, 1856, to whom this engraving is by special permission respectfully dedicated by her obedient servants, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., an engraving by George Zobel after the artwork of William Simpson, showing the visit of en:Queen Victoria to the HMS Resolute, an Arctic ship that, having been lost to the ice, had recently been recovered by the Americans, and returned by them to the British.)
The relationship between Britain and America was at a breaking point when Buddington salvaged Resolute. They were on the brink of their third war. President Franklin Pierce addressed Congress to say he had ceased to have diplomatic relations with Britain. He closed the British embassies and sent the ambassadors home. Tensions continued to mount. Suddenly one of the most vocal hawks, Senator James Murray Mason, from Virginia, proposed a bill in Congress for the government to buy Resolute, refurbish her, and sail her back to Britain as a present. The bill passed, authorizing more than $40,000 for the work, and President Pierce signed it into law. Resolute was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she underwent a complete refit, and Commander Henry Hartstene USN, sailed her back to Britain, arriving at Spithead on December 12, 1856. After Resolute was towed to Cowes so that the Queen and Prince Albert could tour her, Captain Harstene presented the ship to Queen Victoria as a gesture of peace and good-will on December 17, 1856. Soon the talk of war ceased, and the gift of Resolute was seen as instrumental in the easing of these tensions. Henry Grinnell, a New York merchant and ship owner who had grown up in New Bedford, had supported the purchase of Resolute to be used as the gift, and both he and Lady Franklin had hoped the Navy would use the ship for a new search for Sir John Franklin’s expedition. However, by 1856 the Royal Navy was no longer willing to spend money on what they now believed would be a fruitless search. It was impossible to believe that any of the Franklin men could still be alive eleven years after they entered the Arctic. Belcher’s abandonment of four seaworthy ships was the last straw. Nor was the Navy willing to let Lady Franklin use Resolute for a privately funded search. Britain could not risk losing Resolute after the important role the ship had played in smoothing the turbulent waters between her and America. Resolute stayed in home waters until she was taken to the breaker’s dock at Chatham Dockyard in 1879.
Great Britain’s First Woman Prime Minister Thatcher Inspects Desk Resolute With U.S. President Carter in Oval Office (1979); The Special Relationship
The story of the Resolute desk and how she came to be is a gripping 19th century tale of bilateral national gifts and gestures between America and Great Britain; bravery and cowardice, loss and rescue on the high seas. domestic and foreign politics, and the true nature of our nations’ Special Relationship.
There is the Gesture of the Resolute Return (1856) and the reciprocal Desk Resolute (1880) (proud moments for both countries), and then there is Trump’s (2017) embarrassing lothario bungle.
Since he is not a reader or a student of history, Trump wouldn’t know anything about all that antiquated diplomacy and national friendship stuff. He does keen that several Presidents before him used the desk with pride for America. So, now Trump.45 has it on temporary loan too.