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Before everyone jumps on the major point, no, I am not saying Trump has literally become a mythic being capable of bench pressing a semi-truck like Superman. What I am referring to is the mythological concept of Demi-Gods, that exists universally in pretty much every human civilization. Men (and sometimes women) who for whatever reason transcend the limits of what we consider the bounds of mortality and achieve a state of transcendence that is no longer really contained by them as a person. What their society and the world thinks of them, becomes more "real" in the current day and historical consciousness then who they are.
In mythology Demi-Gods are rife. The Greeks for example had Hercules who slew the unkillable hydra
The Jews had Samson who killed an entire Army with a donkey's jaw
The Chinese have Cao Guojiu, the immortal scholar who became an official in the heavenly realm
Demigods are always depicted as Mortals who "Become" divine by living up to the highest ideals that their society holds. In their mythological context they are just stories that were possibly based on a real person. Sometimes you even get the odd demigod who achieves similar status by going so far in the opposite direction as to become malevolent symbols. But even real historical people can achieve similar mythological transcendence that writes their own form of immortality into history. Caesar, Augustus, Alexander, Genghis Khan, George Washington, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler etc.
The key unifying feature to all of them is that power is not something innate to them. As people chosen by Heaven they are given the potential for a great destiny. But its not something heaven gives out. This is the concept of the "Tribulation of Heaven". Western Mythology in the Christian era makes this very direct. Those chosen by God are made to suffer greatly to test their spirit and faith, and it has a very moral foundation that would definitely leave Hitler out. In Buddhism there is the concept of the great calamities which seeks to deny a potential Buddhavista on the cusp of achieving immortality. In my view stripping out religion entirely brings it into a more direct psychological context that humans love a good story and men of substance who have stories that are beyond good become more story then man.
It all underlies the point that transcendence requires suffering and great effort.
So why am I saying that this man has achieved this? I mean, look at him.
He's a goofy fuck, a sleazy businessman who likes to ramble on and on about how great he is. And for the last few years a 1 term loser being crushed slowly and inexorably under the boot of the governing establishment he sought to defy. But its important to remember the key thing. Demigods are not based on who they as a mortal actually are. They are based solely on the collective perception of the society.
Goofy-Fuck can easily translate into likeable everyman. A key trait of the American concept of unification between the people and their rulers. The Sleazy Businessman actually means shrewd businessman who became wealthy and successful, a key Aspiration of the American Dream. His braggadocio style far from being a break from the mold, actually maps perfectly onto the American peoples collective sense of their own countries strength and power. It is often brash, crude and inelegant at times. But it is still real and it is mighty.
This was how Trumps political career got started lets not forget.
Rather then take the insult he decided to go for it. And the entire way up to 2016 nobody believed he could do it. Indeed the establishment threw open the doors to the kingdom, because they assumed he would make the perfect sacrificial bull for Hillary Clinton to duel in the stadium before he got slaughtered for meat and established her presidency. But then the unthinkable happened. Trump won. The sacrificial bull gored the establishments chosen. He became President, and from that moment on the entire apparatus of the State from the media to the legal system was enabled to destroy him.
He drew heavens gaze, and the Tribulation began. The calamities descended. Betrayed by the people he worked for, faced with low level street violence fomented by his enemies and ultimately even a plague that led to him being unseated. Whether by hook or crook being immaterial the concept. He was cast out of power and into the wilderness. Where the boot really came down. The goal of the establishment became not to just get him out of power. It became to destroy him and his family completely. Strip him of all his wealth and possibly even liberty. You could look at his campaign to regain the Presidency of the last 4 years as the literal labors of Hercules. A cruel joke the Gods played on a man knowing he was already doomed to fail.
Any mere "mortal" would have broken under this level of pressure. Some would bend the knee, ask forgiveness so they could keep what wealth and status they had left in exchanged for servility to their enemies. Others would go down fighting in a futile effort as they are crushed. Yet against all the odds, Trump came back. He regained control of the Republican Party despite being all but iced out of the Primaries. It was becoming clear Heavens tribulation was doing the opposite of breaking the mortal. It was making him stronger. More powerful. More...divine.
And then came the effort to just outright kill him. and the goofy little orange man depicted above became this.
At that point he just had to do one thing. Complete the trial heaven had set before him. And this morning he did just that. What will happen now in his story going foreword remains to be seen. When Caesar achieved "immortality" by crossing the Rubicon and overthrowing the Senate he would ultimately find himself assassinated. Yet this assassination did nothing to silence his legend. It only strengthened it, to the point the English work "Brutal" is based on the name of the man who stabbed Caesar in the back. Millenia later. Trump has achieved Apotheosis. While still just a man, he's something more. For his supporters he is a borderline messianic figure, for his enemies he is a figure of existential dread, the sum of all their fears. For history he is...eternal.
In mythology Demi-Gods are rife. The Greeks for example had Hercules who slew the unkillable hydra
The Jews had Samson who killed an entire Army with a donkey's jaw
The Chinese have Cao Guojiu, the immortal scholar who became an official in the heavenly realm
Demigods are always depicted as Mortals who "Become" divine by living up to the highest ideals that their society holds. In their mythological context they are just stories that were possibly based on a real person. Sometimes you even get the odd demigod who achieves similar status by going so far in the opposite direction as to become malevolent symbols. But even real historical people can achieve similar mythological transcendence that writes their own form of immortality into history. Caesar, Augustus, Alexander, Genghis Khan, George Washington, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler etc.
The key unifying feature to all of them is that power is not something innate to them. As people chosen by Heaven they are given the potential for a great destiny. But its not something heaven gives out. This is the concept of the "Tribulation of Heaven". Western Mythology in the Christian era makes this very direct. Those chosen by God are made to suffer greatly to test their spirit and faith, and it has a very moral foundation that would definitely leave Hitler out. In Buddhism there is the concept of the great calamities which seeks to deny a potential Buddhavista on the cusp of achieving immortality. In my view stripping out religion entirely brings it into a more direct psychological context that humans love a good story and men of substance who have stories that are beyond good become more story then man.
It all underlies the point that transcendence requires suffering and great effort.
So why am I saying that this man has achieved this? I mean, look at him.
He's a goofy fuck, a sleazy businessman who likes to ramble on and on about how great he is. And for the last few years a 1 term loser being crushed slowly and inexorably under the boot of the governing establishment he sought to defy. But its important to remember the key thing. Demigods are not based on who they as a mortal actually are. They are based solely on the collective perception of the society.
Goofy-Fuck can easily translate into likeable everyman. A key trait of the American concept of unification between the people and their rulers. The Sleazy Businessman actually means shrewd businessman who became wealthy and successful, a key Aspiration of the American Dream. His braggadocio style far from being a break from the mold, actually maps perfectly onto the American peoples collective sense of their own countries strength and power. It is often brash, crude and inelegant at times. But it is still real and it is mighty.
This was how Trumps political career got started lets not forget.
Rather then take the insult he decided to go for it. And the entire way up to 2016 nobody believed he could do it. Indeed the establishment threw open the doors to the kingdom, because they assumed he would make the perfect sacrificial bull for Hillary Clinton to duel in the stadium before he got slaughtered for meat and established her presidency. But then the unthinkable happened. Trump won. The sacrificial bull gored the establishments chosen. He became President, and from that moment on the entire apparatus of the State from the media to the legal system was enabled to destroy him.
He drew heavens gaze, and the Tribulation began. The calamities descended. Betrayed by the people he worked for, faced with low level street violence fomented by his enemies and ultimately even a plague that led to him being unseated. Whether by hook or crook being immaterial the concept. He was cast out of power and into the wilderness. Where the boot really came down. The goal of the establishment became not to just get him out of power. It became to destroy him and his family completely. Strip him of all his wealth and possibly even liberty. You could look at his campaign to regain the Presidency of the last 4 years as the literal labors of Hercules. A cruel joke the Gods played on a man knowing he was already doomed to fail.
Any mere "mortal" would have broken under this level of pressure. Some would bend the knee, ask forgiveness so they could keep what wealth and status they had left in exchanged for servility to their enemies. Others would go down fighting in a futile effort as they are crushed. Yet against all the odds, Trump came back. He regained control of the Republican Party despite being all but iced out of the Primaries. It was becoming clear Heavens tribulation was doing the opposite of breaking the mortal. It was making him stronger. More powerful. More...divine.
And then came the effort to just outright kill him. and the goofy little orange man depicted above became this.
At that point he just had to do one thing. Complete the trial heaven had set before him. And this morning he did just that. What will happen now in his story going foreword remains to be seen. When Caesar achieved "immortality" by crossing the Rubicon and overthrowing the Senate he would ultimately find himself assassinated. Yet this assassination did nothing to silence his legend. It only strengthened it, to the point the English work "Brutal" is based on the name of the man who stabbed Caesar in the back. Millenia later. Trump has achieved Apotheosis. While still just a man, he's something more. For his supporters he is a borderline messianic figure, for his enemies he is a figure of existential dread, the sum of all their fears. For history he is...eternal.
