TIO Public Square
Is Trump the New Samson?
by Robert P. Sellers
Some of the supporters of President Donald Trump have found it religiously beneficial, if not politically shrewd, to compare him to various figures in the Bible.
DRAWING PARALLELS FROM SACRED SCRIPTURES FOR POLITICAL GAIN
Two of these personages from the Hebrew Bible – or Old Testament – are kings. That association is arguably fitting because Trump certainly appears to crave royal status. It is his apparent fascination with kingship and his monarchical behavior that spurred the recent “No Kings!” protests that drew millions of people throughout America to march against Trump. This organized movement plans an even larger national protest on October 18. No doubt, fears concerning the president’s interest in being declared “king for life” derive, in part, from Trump’s having been compared – with his approval – to both to 6th-century BCE Persian King Cyrus and to 9th-century BCE Israelite King Jehu.
Lance Wallnau, a conservative evangelical Christian preacher in Dallas, Texas, favors the Cyrus persona for the president, insisting that “Donald Trump has [God’s] anointing upon him.” Pressed to explain why he believes this is true, Wallnau points to the growing threats from China, Russia and Iran and concludes that “With Trump, I believe we have a Cyrus to navigate through the storm.”
Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, a Messianic Jewish leader, spoke recently at a gathering of the National Faith Advisory Board. This coalition of Christian “faith-based organizations” has announced its mission to “protect religious freedom, promote a strong America, defend life at all stages, and honor family values” [“Home Page,” NFAB, accessed at https:// nationalfaithadvisoryboard.org/]. In his speech at NFAB’s 2024 meeting, Cahn compared Trump to Jehu. Looking to the wannabe royal, he intoned: “President Trump, you were born into the world to be a trumpet of God, a vessel of the Lord in the hands of God. … He called you according to the template of Jehu, the warrior king. He called Jehu to make his nation great again.”
But the biblical king with whom Trump is most often linked is King David – whom, if Trump were describing him as his alter ego, he might call David “The greatest king of all time, one like the world had never seen before.” Mira Fox, in the “Jewish independent progressive” blog, Forward, writes:
Evangelical support for Trump has been strong since he was [first] elected in 2016; despite the former president’s multiple divorces, adultery and profanity, many have stood behind him, justifying their support through comparisons to biblical figures – particularly King David.
In 2016, Jerry Falwell Jr. said that “God called King David a man after God’s own heart even though he was an adulterer and a murderer.”
David’s illicit love affair with Bathsheba and his scheming the murder of her husband Uriah angered God, so the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to confront the king with his actions (2 Samuel 12). Many bitter consequences eventually fell upon David because of his sins, until – recognizing how he had wronged God, the people and himself – the king genuinely repented. This same contrite spirit, however, is something that President Trump has never evidenced, even after having his moral failures and self-advancing decisions revealed so publicly. If fact, at a Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, in 2015, CNN newscaster Anderson Cooper asked Trump about his recent remarks concerning forgiveness. The then-presidential candidate responded, "Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes? I work hard, I'm an honorable person"
Presbyterian professor of biblical studies at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, says that comparing Trump to King David is intentional. Its appeal is to evangelical supporters, hoping they will gloss over the sins and crimes of Trump as they do the sins of David, thereby helping to accept that a very imperfect man has again been chosen by God to lead the nation.
Following this political script, on Fox News Ben Carson suggested: “Think about the Bible and King David. Most … people, probably if they were alive back in those days, would have said, ‘Oh, what a horrible guy.’ You know, the episode with Bathsheba and some of the other things that he did, and yet, he was a man after God’s own heart.”
A BIBLICAL FIGURE WHO BETTER FORESHADOWS TRUMP
There is another Old Testament leader, however, who in my opinion better prefigures Donald Trump: the Israelite “judge,” or warrior-deliverer, named Samson. The period of the judges covers the time between the taking of the land under Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy with Saul as the first king. There is a familiar cyclical pattern in the story of Israel during these years, when the covenant which God had made with Israel’s ancestors was not being honored, thus resulting in oppression from Israel’s neighbors, followed by the people’s repentance to God and renewed faithfulness to the covenant, leading to God’s allowing a judge to rise up and lead the Israelites to victory and freedom.
The story of Samson, according to James Crenshaw, Old Testament professor at Duke Divinity School, is a “tale of blood and passion.” It is recounted in the biblical book of Judges, chapters 13-16. Crenshaw explains that Samson’s “heroic deeds are greater than life, generously mixing truth with fiction” [Ibid.]. He summarizes the plotline of the feats of Samson:
He kills a young lion with his bare hands; slays thirty Philistines and takes their clothes to settle a wager; catches three hundred foxes, ties their tails together, sets them on fire, and releases them in the enemies’ grainfields; snaps a new rope with which he has been tied; snatches up a fresh jawbone of an ass, and kills 1,000 Philistines; rips up Gaza’s gates and door, carrying them on his shoulders for a great distance; and pushes down Dagon’s sacred precincts, killing more than 3,000 worshipers within its walls.
Much of this sounds like pure historiography, politically motivated and fancibly conceived to elicit loyalty to this leader by exaggerating his exploits. One thing in the story is nonetheless clear: Samson’s “private vendetta, attributed to the divine spirit and to a personal desire for revenge, invariably grew out of amorous adventures. These erotic relationships with foreign women … led to Samson’s capture, [blinding,] and death at his own hands.
Why do I believe this story foreshadows the things we publicly know about the character and actions of Donald Trump? Here are some possible connections, or suggestions of similarity, that occur to me.
Like Samson, Trump uses violence to “win the public wager” and thus dominate others.
Like Samson, Trump has fallen in love with “a foreign woman.”
Like Samson, Trump’s “amorous adventures,” sometimes with prostitutes, have gotten him into trouble.
Like Samson, Trump’s actions are often driven by his “private vendettas” and desire for revenge.
Like Samson, Trump likes to use his own “foxes and fire” episodes, in spectacular fashion, to amaze and captivate the people.
Like Samson, Trump with policies and budget cuts destroys the “grainfields,” or hopes for prosperous futures, of peoples around the world who are unlike himself.
Like Samson, Trump contrives to knock down or belittle “Dagon’s sacred precincts,” or the religious institutions of non-evangelical Christians.
Like Samson, Trump tells lies, even to those closest to him – his own “Delilahs” – in order to protect and maintain his power.
Like Samson, Trump often “slays his enemies” with the jawbone of an ass.
Like Samson, Trump has been “blinded” because of his egotism and self-grandeur.
CONSIDERING SUCH STORIES IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE
Conversations with our families, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, colleagues and associates are peppered with personal stories or vignettes from our own lives, but increasingly also with what we have heard or seen on social media. In this era of manipulative speech, “alternative facts,” fake news, anonymous falsehoods, and AI deception, it is important to be discerning.
We must not be persuaded by speech intended to win our loyalty or vote, without first evaluating what’s being said and the source of the message. I believe we should not uncritically accept someone’s opinion, no matter how creative or compelling. I especially resist the increasingly frequent comparisons of Donald Trump with biblical figures, most disturbing of all the blatant attempts to compare him to Jesus.
