Scott Lively: "Bush Clan intended to use DeSantis to produce this exact type of moral outrage in the church – NOT to further biblical morality, but to incite civil war in the MAGA movement to weaken Trump"

Notice: Due to a trip there might be no Catholic Monitor posts or they may be infrequent for the next two weeks. Scott Lively's Mission Dispatch, 12/24/2024, Observations and Action on Current Events, History and Theology. Photo above is at Tel Gezer archaeological site looking west toward the port city of Jaffa, Israel. Subscribe HERE. Contact/Comment HERE.  DONATE HERE.

Clarifications on 'Trump, the Benign Oligarch' 12/24/24 Update. I intend many of my articles to be complex and thought-provoking, rather than straightforward and superficial like most items in our current “breaking news” era of information-sharing. But sometimes they produce bad reactions by those who merely skim the surface or get triggered by the headline and don’t even read the piece. Other times I fail to clarify key points that in retrospect I should have known would be misunderstood. Reactions to “Trump, the Benign Oligarch” fall into both categories, so I am publishing the following clarifications.  1) My comments about Cruz and DeSantis relate only to the season of their political careers in which they allied with the Bush Clan against Trump. Both men eventually extricated themselves from that entanglement and shifted their alliance to the MAGA movement. I have a lot of respect for both men today and their contributions toward our shared values. In the case of Governor DeSantis, I wrote the following column on May 23rd, 2023, which everyone concerned about my assessment of the man at the time in question should read:

2) Nothing in Trump, the Benign Oligarch was ever intended to compare the ethics or morals of Cruz, DeSantis and Trump or to rate these three men on a scale of Christian character. One reader challenged me on that point with this broadside:   “Are you saying that a pro-sodomy, pro-child sacrifice Trump is better than God-fearing, free market capitalists like Ted Cruz or Ron DeSantis?  “Trump has hosted the Log Cabin Republican (aka the sodomy club) Christmas party at Mar-a-lago several times. His wife did a fundraiser for the sodomy club. “If it wasn't for Ron DeSantis, child sacrifice would be constitutionalized in Florida. Also note that DeSantis supporter, Kim Reynolds, of Iowa rejected a satanic statue in the capital building without much fanfare. I never heard Trump speak out against that.  “You are clearly the anti-Christ if you think Trump is better than DeSantis.” Wow. I’m not even going to try to untangle that illogical mess here because my regular readers know there is no more stalwart pro-life enemy of the LGBT political agenda in the world than yours truly. Instead I’ll again refer you (and him) to my DeSantis article which explains in detail how the Bush Clan intended to use DeSantis to produce this exact type of moral outrage in the church – NOT to further biblical morality, but to incite civil war in the MAGA movement to weaken Trump and strengthen the Purple Uniparty. This is classic CIA-style regime-change crap from the clan whose latter-years patriarch and close ally of LBJ, George H.W. Bush, headed the CIA under Gerald Ford, after allegedly being a field agent in the 1960s connected with the JFK assassination (see especially page 7).  I’ll also reiterate here my own quotable quote: "Christians who can't balance the aspirations of Christianity with the realities of politics sabotage their own interests by imposing an unrealistic standard of moral perfection on people who run for office: a standard that God Himself never imposed on the people He raised up as Judges during the 400 year Israelite Republic America is modeled upon."  3) Third and last, the term “Benign Oligarch” does not equate to “Righteous Monarch” in the biblical sense and I did not remotely intend to imply that. My article was written in reaction to a recently launched corporate media talking point characterizing Trump as an “Oligarch,” probably because the average American is still conditioned to equate “Oligarch” with “Russian” and the Uniparty media is trying to wring every last drop of smear-value out of their Russian collusion hoax.  Rather than join the chorus denying Trump is an Oligarch, I wanted to help defang the media's psyop tactic by admitting the plain truth that Trump IS an Oligarch, and by showing that in his case that’s not a bad thing at all. To bolster that claim, I showcased the five stages in the life of a republic in Plato’s Republic, and how his model fits the American experience today.  Anyhow, I'm glad to have readers, even if sometimes we're not all on the same page. Merry Christmas to Everyone. I love you all. Scott ###

Trump, the Benign Oligarch I read a piece this morning at The Conservative Treehouse about Donald Trump inviting Ted Cruz to the stage at the AmFest conference which explained the significance of this magnanimous act: “It is well remembered how duplicitous Ted! refused to endorse President Trump at the 2016 nomination convention and instead led the Never-Trump rebellion against the MAGA administration. It was recorded in history as likely the worst moment of political judgement in the era of MAGA; the only other moment of political tonedeafeness that comes close, was when Ron DeSantis chose to challenge Trump again in the 2024 contest.” What instantly struck me as I read this paragraph was the Cruz/DeSantis common denominator, which is the Bush Dynasty. Both of these men (and many other “Never Trumpers” like Mitt Romney) have been “owned assets” of the Bush Clan in like manner to how players on a major league sports team are “owned.” Indeed, I think most of America’s political celebrities in public office and in the media, are “owned assets” of behind-the-scenes Oligarchs.  In contrast, Donald Trump is an “owner” at the Oligarch level who chose to become a player on the field because he has more talent for it than the players for hire – and because he is actually disgusted at what the far left has done to this nation. And Trump’s success in convincing the street-level populists that he’s just “one of us” with a larger bank account, has inspired other Oligarchs such as Elon Musk to emulate and partner with him (and prompted others like Zuck and Bezos to become wanna-bees). These thoughts in turn reminded me of a Wikipedia summary of Plato’s five stages in the life-cycle of a republic I read recently. Bear with me: this may seem at first to be dry and academic but it’s actually politically juicy. “In Books VIII–IX [of Plato’s Republic] stand Plato's criticism of the forms of government. Plato categorized governments into five types of regimes: aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny.   “The starting point is an imagined, alternate aristocracy (ruled by a philosopher-king); a just government ruled by a philosopher king, dominated by the wisdom-loving element. Aristocracy degenerates into timocracy when, due to miscalculation on the part of its governing class, the next generation includes persons of an inferior nature, inclined not just to cultivating virtues but also producing wealth. In a timocracy, governors will apply great effort in gymnastics and the arts of war, as well as the virtue that pertains to them, that of courage. [e.g. Teddy Roosevelt] As the emphasis on honor is compromised by wealth accumulation, it is replaced by oligarchy [robber barons]. The oligarchic government is dominated by the desiring element, in which the rich are the ruling class. Oligarchs do, however, value at least one virtue, that of temperance and moderation—not out of an ethical principle or spiritual concern, but because by dominating wasteful tendencies they succeed in accumulating money. “As this socioeconomic divide grows, so do tensions between social classes. From the conflicts arising out of such tensions, the poor majority overthrow the wealthy minority, and democracy replaces the oligarchy preceding it. In democracy, the lower class grows bigger and bigger. The populism of the democratic government leads to mob rule, fueled by fear of oligarchy, which a clever demagogue can exploit to take power and establish tyranny where no one has discipline and society exists in chaos. In a tyrannical government, the city is enslaved to the tyrant, who uses his guards to remove the best social elements and individuals from the city to retain power (since they pose a threat), while leaving the worst. He will also provoke warfare to consolidate his position as leader. In this way, tyranny is the most unjust regime of all.” [End excerpt] It’s not hard to see a close semblance of this sequence in American history if you put the Founders in the role of a “constitutionalism-loving ideological aristocracy.” And it’s impossible to miss the LBJ/Bush/Clinton/Obama/Biden-era transition from oligarch-driven left-wing populism in the 1960s to outright tyranny over the past two decades. With hardly any editing the last three sentences of that excerpt could serve perfectly as the caption for a smirking photo of the rat pack I 've just named. What Trump represents is something beyond and outside of Plato’s model: the attempt by a Benign Oligarch to intervene against the last stage tyrants to rescue and restore this republic to the original vision of our founding ideological aristocrats.  The Plato summary states that “Oligarchs do, however, value at least one virtue, that of temperance and moderation—not out of an ethical principle or spiritual concern, but because by dominating wasteful tendencies they succeed in accumulating money.” Plato apparently did not allow for the possibility of an Oligarch WITH “ethical and spiritual concern” and thus he did not anticipate men like Donald Trump.   While it is certainly true that Trump exemplifies the goal of “temperance and moderation” in social policies, and is a veritable force of nature against “wasteful tendencies” in government and foreign policy” (which impact his self-admitted personal interest in “accumulating money”) he has not acted solely from selfish desire for personal gain but has proven beyond all doubt by his self-less persistence against all odds, that he does truly love America and Americans. At this moment in time Donald Trump is the very picture of a tyranny-crushing benign Oligarch and a model for governmental leaders all over the world. Were he alive today, even Plato would be forced to acknowledge that.   Let us pray that as his power in the world increases that Trump's intentions and actions remain benign.