This meme provides a “quote” from Donald Trump. Of course to my knowledge, he never uttered those exact words, but I feel they express his mindset. The quote is a paraphrase from Thucydides and his fictionalized account of a negotiation between Athens and rulers of the island of Melos during the Peloponnesian War. The original quote states, “The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”
In the original writing, it was the Melians who admittedly wanted to remain neutral in the war as they were no match for Athens. When Athens demanded that they submit to their rule the Melians thought this was unjust. The Athenian response was that matters of justice exist only between equals.
It is this very attitude that is now threatening our democracy. The Athenian attitude was one of political realism not guided by ideology or values, it was one of power. Likewise, Trump’s mentor Stehpen Miller was quoted in an interview with Jake Tapper saying, “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.”
You will note in the attitude of Stephen Miller that there was no mention of that power and strength coming from the people. Democracy be damned. To Stephen Miller acting as puppet master to Donald Trump, power comes from wealth. The new Golden Rule is, “Those with the gold make the rules.”
The hypocrisy here is that this administration purports to support the Christian Bible and its teachings and counts among its tribe the Christian right. It then abandons the Christian concept of the weak and vanquished (aka the poor) having any claim of moral value. It is now their attitude that “We the People” means “We the Rich.” It is here that the words of JD Vance claiming that America is philosophically a Christian nation ring hollow.
This harkens to a time of ancient Greece or pre-Christian Rome where their treatment of slaves could be likened to their treatment of kitchen utensils. You took care of your kitchen tools only as long as they had function and utility. It wasn’t until Christianity challenged the worth of all mankind that this attitude changed. Christian charity assimilated the Jewish God in its teachings where all of humanity has worth in that they are created by God.
To disregard Donald Trump, Stephen Miller, and the Trump minions doing their bidding, is to accept whatever they mandate for our welfare. As a reminder, when Melos was defeated in a siege, Athens slaughtered the island’s men and enslaved its women and children.
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