Just a Meme?

 

Normally, I try not to respond to single utterances, or memes. After all, it is impossible to compress an important issue into a few words pasted on a picture. Yet, in this time when so many build their worldview from memes, I occasionally feel compelled to speak to a specific meme. It is almost trite to say, but images carry great weight and often move large numbers of people in a specific direction, politically and socially. Our President posted such a meme last night on his Truth-Social account. I have included a copy of his post in this essay for convenance sake.

 

                            This meme, apparently AI generated, presents President Trump in a messiah-like tableau. Wrapped in robes of white with a red sash, he bends over a man in a hospital bed while an adoring nurse and others look on. His hands are emitting glowing orbs. The background includes many national symbols, such as, the statue of liberty, the American flag, fighter jets, and other potent symbols. Such a blasphemous image demands comment.

                              Some will say, this image is a joke, tongue-in-cheek as it were, and that I am overreacting to something not intended to be taken seriously. Perhaps that is the case. I may be overreacting. I have been known to overreact at times, just ask my wife, children, close friends, former students, and soldiers under my command. But in this case, I do not think so.

                              President Trump is our duly elected Chief Executive. He leads the executive branch of the United States is responsible for implementing and carrying out the laws enacted by congress or the legislative branch. While this is a powerful and important position, it is one best served by someone possessed by an appropriate level of humility and propriety. To share a meme which presents himself as a powerful messianic figure replete with the power to heal at will breaks the barrier of pride, rushing into the realm of hubris. Overweening pride is corrosive to leadership.

               As someone who spent two careers in leadership positions, I know that such pride, such hubris, does not enable good leadership. Rather, it inhibits good leadership. Good leaders must be able to set aside their own pride and listen to others. Often others with more or differing experience provide input that leads to an excellent outcome. An unshakable conviction of one’s own ability leads to faulty decision making and tends to surrounding oneself with yes men. Prideful leaders often misshape their organizations.

               All organizations take on the characteristics of their leader, assuming their traits and their decision making processes. When led by an extremely prideful person, organizations become just as prideful and unwilling to listen to outside input. Sometimes, they become so blinded by pride they flail and fail without really understanding why. This malaise eventually effects the spirit of the organization, leaving it so turned inward as to be impotent.

               As a practicing Christian, I cannot allow such a display of pride driven blasphemy in our national leadership pass without comment. For the leader of my country to display such a disregard for the sanctity of my savior takes my breath away. Such a melding of national symbology into a pseudo-Christian image offends at the deepest levels. After all, Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this earth. Of course, we all make mistakes; but, such a mistake calls for comment and correction. As a nation, we must constantly work to keep our moral center, and when a powerful national leader starts leading us down the wrong path, away from an appropriate view of ourselves, we must raise the alarm and seek a better path.

So to my friends who would say that I need to calm down and not take this so seriously, I say that this level of pride and blasphemy requires a response. Failing to respond would lead to more egregious material and further degradation of our national spirit. In this turbulent time, we need leaders who while possessed of a strong will are also possessed of an appropriate understanding of who they are and their role in our unfolding shared history.