American Glory

The Golden Age is more than possible

Whether you like him or not, there’s no question that Donald Trump is the man of the century. He rose to dominate the world of New York real estate in the 1980s, was a tabloid sensation in the 1990s, reality TV star in the 2000s, and now twice elected President of the United States. Trump accounts for half of all presidential impeachments in American history, yet he endured. He became the first former president to be indicted and convicted (on sham charges, of course) yet he endured. He was shot by a would-be assassin, who missed killing Trump on live TV by mere centimeters, yet the once and future president endured, standing in defiance and calling on his supporters to fight.

Donald Trump is one of those men who, like Napoleon and Alexander the Great, seize the world with his bare hands and move it according to his will. He said as much himself:

In Act 2, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the conspirator Cassius complains about Caesar’s popularity:

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Cassius was trying to convince Brutus to join the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar by claiming that there was no concrete reason for Caesar to be greater than any of them, and only his ambition had led him to the heights he enjoyed at the time. Cassius believed that history would reward him for stopping Caesar’s rise. Yet despite the conspiracy succeeding — Caesar was stabbed to death by people he thought were his friends — his influence on the world cannot be overstated. Rome was forever transformed by his leadership, and his very name became a synonym for rulership, as we see in the titles “kaiser” and “czar”.

Brutus and Cassius thought death would be the end of Caesar, but it only amplified his influence on the world. Democrats and NeverTrump Republicans thought defeat, indictments, and an assassination attempt would be the end of Trump, but each attack has only made him stronger. I don’t know if Donald Trump is quite on the level of Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, or Napoleon, but as he said, he’s cut from the same cloth. His decision to enter the presidential race in 2015 changed the course of history, not only for the United States but for the world.

Of course, conservative Christians will quickly point out all of Donald Trump’s personal failings, especially his three marriage and numerous affairs. Some also like to find this or that political issue on which Trump is wrong. To that I say, that’s not the point. All men are human. Even our Founding Fathers had their own failings, yet they came together to create the great nation we are privileged to live in today. We deify our founders, in a sense — raising statues, putting their images on currency, and looking to their wisdom to guide us in our decisions today. We made them into more than mere men: we turned them into symbols of our country.

Donald Trump has become the avatar of America, for better or for worse. Like great leaders of old, he personifies the glorious aspirations of the American people. Leftists and skeptics scoff at Trump’s declaration of a new American Golden Age, but the simple act of putting such an idea out there has power to shape the future. C.S. Lewis understood this phenomenon, as he explained in Mere Christianity:

Very often the only way to get a quality in reality is to start behaving as if you had it already. That is why children’s games are so important. They are always pretending to be grown-ups—playing soldiers, playing shop. But all the time, they are hardening their muscles and sharpening their wits so that the pretence of being grown-up helps them to grow up in earnest.

Those who dismiss Donald Trump as nothing more than a buffoon fail to recognize that he is just a man from another era dropped into the modern world, who has nevertheless reshaped the world in his own image.

Photo credit: Evan Vucci / AP

Despite our current challenges, the future of America might well be bright. We are nearing the end of the Fourth Turning, a radical reshaping of our society that comes every 80-100 years, and so far, we’re okay. Had Kamala Harris won the 2024 election, then I might perhaps see things very differently, because things would be very different. But she didn’t. Trump won, and here we are.

Authors William Howe and Neil Strauss describe the Fourth Turning as a time when ideas that were once unthinkable become commonplace. Looking back over the past two decades, we can see that the path our country appeared to be on from 2004-2015 has shifted dramatically. More than a year ago, Santiago Pliego described what he called a “vibe shift” in American culture, a movement away from the creeping censorship and tyranny of microaggressions that had overtaken our society in the 2010s. The events of the subsequent year show that this shift is very real, and is not only continuing, but growing.

No matter what any federal judge says, our government is being reformed and our borders are being enforced. Even if Congress does nothing to codify President Trump’s agenda, future Republicans have lost any excuse to not think boldly, as Trump has shown them what can actually be done.

Trump will also preside over some of the most spectacular events in history. Consider what the next few years will bring:

• In June of 2026, the United States will once again host the World Cup, inviting all nations to our shores to enjoy competition at the highest level.

• In July of 2028, we will welcome the world again for the 34th Olympiad in Los Angeles, carrying on an ancient tradition of athletic excellence.

• In between, on July 4, 2026, we will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps the most auspicious birthday in our nation’s history.

To add to that, as I was writing this today, the College of Cardinals in Rome elected the first American pope in world history. Whatever his social or political views, it represents an incredible vibe.

I’ve said before that I believe the theme of the next century will be that of identity. What does it mean to be human, to be male or female, to be made in God’s image? One facet of that conversation is the question of what it means to be American. Is it simply an accident of birth? Is it a piece of paper? Does our identity as Americans have any connection to our heritage and culture, or is it simply an amorphous idea that can be twisted by political figures to mean whatever they want?

Donald Trump promised to make America great again. That slogan looks back on a time when America was great, but it also promises future glory as well. History never ended, and our manifest destiny remains to boldly chart a new course into the future. Donald Trump is not a perfect person, but that’s not the point. He is the living embodiment of what America was, and what it can be again.

Please take a moment to thank our sponsors: Lynn Bradescu’s Keller Williams Realty and Money Metals Exchange, both of which want to make America great again as well.