Who knows if the words of the meditations desired by Pope Leo for the Via Crucis reached Donald Trump: «True power is not that of those who believe they can dispose of the life of others in giving deathbut that of those who can truly conquer death by giving life and can give life even by accepting death.” God manifests «that authentic power is not that of those who use force and violence to impose themselvesbut that of those who are capable of taking upon themselves the evil of humanity, ours, mine; and cancel it with the power of love that manifests itself in forgiveness.” And if he has listened to the severe warning: “Whoever has the power to stop wars will answer before God.”
We receive the images, surreal but unfortunately true, of a president of the United States who is pleased with the words of the Pastor Paula White. Invited to a lunch in preparation for Easter, the evangelical televangelist, appointed by Trump as president of the White House Office of Faith, compared the legal battles and the injury during a Tycoon rally to the trials endured by Christ. “Jesus taught countless lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection. He showed us great leadership: great transformation requires great sacrifice. AND, President, no one has paid a price like the one you paid. It almost cost her her life. He was betrayed, arrested and falsely accused”, he declared, concluding the speech with a “but as He was resurrected, you too are resurrected» and you will be «victorious in everything he does», because God is using you «to defeat evil».
Despite White’s words, however, and the theatrical ceremonies in the Oval Room of the White House, with «mass exorcisms against Satan and the dark forces that threaten the President», Trump is at an all-time low in American consensus, even among the loyalists who voted for him. And while increases military spending to figures never seen since the Second World War, threatens to fire military and administrative leaders who cannot find a way out of the war waged against Iran.
Having rejected Tehran’s request for a truce, the president wavers between “the war will end in two weeks because we have obtained the results and whoever didn’t help us went alone to resume the passage from the Strait of Hormuz” and the “we will take the oil from the Strait of Hormuz at all costs and we will take Iran back to the stone age.”
Meanwhile it is above all civilians who pay the price of Trump’s improvisations, while Israel takes advantage of it to advance in southern Lebanon.
