Victory, But Not Ours: Trump uses his deplorable words in exactly the same way as C.S. Lewis' wicked queen, Jadis, used her single 'Deplorable Word'. To win – no matter what the cost. He knows the power of words. He understands the damage they can do. The bitter divisions they can open up. The fear they can inspire. The lust to inflict harm which they can trigger. But, like Queen Jadis, he doesn’t care. America must he his – even if he’s the only person left standing who doesn’t feel duped and sullied and robbed of everything they held dear.
BEFORE NARNIA THERE was Charn. Mighty Charn, which fell at
last because Jadis, its final Queen, was willing to utter the “Deplorable
Word”. C.S. Lewis describes the scene in his “prequel” to The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, The Magician’s Nephew.
“The last great battle”, said the Queen, “raged for three
days here in Charn itself. For three days I looked down upon it from this very
spot. I did not use my power till the last of my soldiers had fallen, and the
accursed woman, my sister, at the head of her rebels was halfway up those great
stairs that lead up from the city to the terrace. Then I waited till we were so
close that we could see one another’s faces. She flashed her horrible, wicked
eyes upon me and said, ‘Victory.’ ‘Yes,’ said I, ‘Victory, but not yours.’ Then
I spoke the Deplorable Word. A moment later I was the only living thing beneath
the sun.”
Written in 1955, as the Cold War was fast freezing the world
into a seemingly permanent balance of terror, Lewis’ Deplorable Word did not
require too much in the way of effort to decode. What else could he be thinking
of but the growing global stockpile of nuclear weapons? Clearly, Lewis was
convinced that even if a war between the superpowers began with conventional
weapons, it would inevitably be ended by their doomsday devices. Whichever side
found itself facing inevitable defeat would, like Queen Jadis, insist on having
the last word – even at the cost of all life on Earth.
Now, in 2019, with the Cold War a distant memory, it is
possible to read another meaning into Lewis’ Deplorable Word. Before making the
attempt, however, lets hear some more about it from the mouth of the evil
Queen:
“That was the secret of secrets,” said the Queen Jadis.
“It had long been known that there was a word which, if spoken with the proper
ceremonies, would destroy all living things except the one who spoke it. But
the ancient kings were weak and soft-hearted and bound themselves and all who
should come after them with great oaths never even to seek after the knowledge
of that word. But I learned it in a secret place and paid a terrible price to
learn it.
Those weak and soft-hearted kings of Charn did not want to
die, but, being wise, they knew that, in the end, Death comes to us all. Of
much more importance to them was their posterity. Charn was a mighty empire:
the crowning achievement of their world. Keep it alive, and with it all the
many and mighty accomplishments of its living people. That was all that
mattered. That was why they did all they could to prevent the Deplorable Word
from ever being spoken.
Though he is very far from resembling the beautiful and
terrible Queen of Charn, the present President of the United States, Donald Trump,
shares her pathological hunger for recognition and power – even at the cost of
the American republic’s utter destruction.
The difference between the President and the Queen, however,
is that he is not content with just one deplorable word. Trump has made himself
the master of many, many deplorable words. Hundreds of them. Thousands. As many
as it takes to kill all the living institutions out of which the democratic
spirit of America was fashioned. As many as it takes to destroy decency and
dignity and public decorum. As many as it takes to overwhelm all the
traditions and values that made America truly great. Words so deplorable that
they snuff-out the living light of American liberty and justice – even as they
kindle the roaring bonfires of American rage and hate.
Trump uses these words in exactly the same way as Jadis used
her single word. To win – no matter what the cost. He knows the power of words.
He understands the damage they can do. The bitter divisions they can open up.
The fear they can inspire. The lust to inflict harm which they can trigger.
But, like Queen Jadis, he doesn’t care. America must he his – even if he’s the
only person left standing who doesn’t feel duped and sullied and robbed of
everything they held dear.
The terrible magic he has unleashed on the four
congresswomen of colour is proof of just what a powerful political wizard he
has become. First he singles out the women as enemies of America, and then,
when their Democratic Party comrades hasten to their defence, he turns their
gestures of solidarity into evidence of treason. See how far the stain of
“radical socialism” has spread, he tells his baying supporters. “Throw them
out!” they chant. “Throw them out!”
The American presidents who came before Trump knew the power
of these deplorable words, which is why they foreswore them. Such
fastidiousness strikes Trump, just as it struck Queen Jadis, as “weak and
soft-hearted”. If the only object of the game of power is to rule, then what
does it matter if everything of value in the republic you have made your own
has been destroyed?
This essay was originally posted on The Daily Blog
of Friday, 19 July 2019.
