There is much to be said in using the early modern period in Europe as a reflection of today’s political and cultural topography across the globe. At first glance, some might think of the theocratic Middle Ages as being a more apt description of contemporary America, but there is still merit in seeing Trump as a latter-day King Henry VIII (1509-1547), well-known for having six wives.
Just as King Henry broke with the Roman Catholic church (for
not annulling his marriage with Catherine of Aragon of Spain), Trump, who openly aspired
to Canadian and Greenland sovereignty, has in essence also broken with Europe, in
particular NATO and all its member allies.
Upon rejecting papal supremacy in 1534, Henry became head of the Church
of England, which clearly is not far from the ambitions of Trump in America, and
the role of Christian nationalism there these days. In 1536, Henry ordered the dissolution of the
monasteries, thus making himself a wealthy property developer and enriching his
loyal supporters: shades of Trump here. And
to be sure, bumbling clown Boris Johnson also probably thought of himself in terms of King
Henry, certainly if we look at the Brexit crisis.
Considering specifics, I would like to invite a comparison
between former Director of the FBI James B. Comey and Thomas More (1478-1535), a
former Speaker of the House of Commons, and author of Utopia, published
in 1516. Both these men refused loyalty
oaths, the former to Trump allegedly in his first presidency in 2017, and the
latter, a Catholic, who could not in good conscience accept a church without
the papacy. More was executed for
treason in July 1535 because he could not swear an oath recognizing the king as
the highest ecclesiastical authority. While
Comey will suffer no such fate in the American judicial system, there will no
doubt be attempts to humiliate him, just as Trump had to submit to his infamous
“mug shot.”
More’s Utopia, meaning No-place, stands in stark
contrast to the antics of King Henry VIII, and of course, Trump. To write about More without the benefit of
featuring some of his work would be a disservice to the man’s humanism. The following excerpt deals with More’s
understanding of the role of Magistrates:
It is stipulated that no issue relating to the public
interest may be settled unless it has been debated in the senate on three
separate days, and it is a capital offence to devise schemes about public
matters outside the senate or popular assembly.
The purpose behind these rules, they claim, is to prevent any conspiracy
by the governor and the tranibors to alter the constitution and oppress the
people. For this reason all issues
judged to be of importance are referred to the assembly of syphogrant and they,
having discussed the matter with the households they represent, consult among
themselves and then report their conclusions to the senate. On occasion a question may be placed before
the general council of the whole island.
It’s also accepted practice in the senate that business is never
discussed on the day that it is raised, but deferred to the following
session. This is in case someone, after
blurting out the first idea that enters his head, should then concentrate on
bolstering his own proposals rather than those that might benefit the
commonwealth, preferring to risk the general welfare rather than his own
reputation, and all because of a perverse and stupid fear that he might have
appeared too hasty at the outset. He
should have had the sense in the first place to speak with due consideration
rather than impetuosity.[1]
[1]
Thomas More, Utopia, tr. and ed. Dominic Baker-Smith (London: Penguin,
2012), pp. 62,63. See Book II.
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