On June 27, President Donald J. Trump will walk into a modern lion's den with a big smile.
Bible readers know the story of ‘Daniel in the Lion’s Den’ from 372 BCE in which the Jewish prophet Daniel is thrown into a den of hungry lions for the ‘crime’ of worshiping God rather than the king of Persia. Much to the dismay of those who conspired to see him dead, the next morning he emerged unscathed, testifying to the reality of the One God Who can intervene in the world as He sees fit.
While The Donald is certainly no Daniel, the parallel can show us a few things about Trump, about Biden and his minions, and about the face of courage.
Daniel the Prophet and Donald the President are very dissimilar in very many ways. One thing which they have in common is that they were both convicted of what was considered a crime by the respective judicial systems of their day.
Daniel was targeted by rivals jealous and fearful of his relationship with King Darius. Donald Trump was targeted by rivals jealous and fearful of his relationship with the people.
Daniel was supposed to have been eaten alive by the lions. Donald is supposed to be eaten alive by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash who might not be actual lions, but who surely are hungry for the juicy orange mission being served up on what they hope is a silver platter in CNN’s den.
Let’s meet one of the lions. While Dana Bash has unabashedly shown her anti-Trump and anti-Conservative bias over the years, it is Jake Tapper who really takes the prize for the sheer viscerality and consistency of his Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
Here’s the very abridged version of Tapper on Trump:
- He pushed the now infamous Steele Dossier since before Trump's 2017 inauguration and for long after without any apparent due diligence.
- He said in 2019 that Trump sounded like the Kremlin’s spokesman.
- In 2020 he retweeted a tweet calling Trump 100% insane.
- After Trump's 2020 loss to Biden, he said that the “…long national nightmare is over.”
- Long past 2020, Tapper would not host Republicans who dared to challenge the election results while declaring them “election liars” - something he did not do for the numerous Democrats who challenged election results over many years.
Take away: Jake Tapper is no paragon of non-partisan objectivity.
Aside from the lions themselves, there is also that den of journalistic iniquity known as CNN. Anyone who has watched CNN since 1980 knows that its smug motto of “The Most Trusted Name in News” has long since deteriorated to something far less trustworthy. A 2023 McLaughlin and Associates survey found that 61% agreed with the statement: “One of the reasons I find myself watching CNN less often is because of its liberal/leftwing bias.”
Indeed, when watching CNN today it is impossible to come away with anything but the conclusion that they, like most media outlets, are willingly and hopelessly in thrall to the DNC and will do anything to help Democrats and hurt Republicans.
After all, if artificially propping up a tottering failure and defeating a once and future ‘Orange Hitler’ is what’s needed to defend Democracy itself, who has time for journalistic ethics?
The question isn’t whether this debate platform can be fair and balanced, but is, instead: Why would Donald Trump agree to go into this den with these lions at all?
Part of the answer can be seen in how Trump is successfully barnstorming through historically solid blue cities, and in how we all know Biden would never try that in solidly red cities. Trump might not shift those locales - but he does dare to speak to all Americans including in hostile territory, thus challenging mind-numbing conventional wisdom and showing himself as a simultaneously Progressive and Conservative leader who will not be enslaved to polls and trends.
All Biden can say is that if you’re not voting for him, then you “ain’t Black” (just for one example of who is supposed to be snugly in his pocket) - nor are you particularly enlightened, smart, or pro-Democracy.
Trump walked into and out of the Manhattan kangaroo court house like a champion, unsurprisingly became a felon, and still rose in the polls while pulling in record fundraising numbers. Trump speaks to all Americans about the exorbitant prices they are paying for Biden’s too numerous failed policies, while Biden growls tired vagaries about defending Democracy, January 6, and Trump being a felon.
Given his past and current performance, Trump willingly walking into what is sure to be a highly engineered trap is yet another move from a guy who is not only used to being targeted by TDS-infected lions, but who actually thrives on it. While Trump likely doesn't care too much about taming the hungry beasts, he surely will show us stark contrasts of courage vs cravenness, vision vs vacillation, and fearlessly breaking the mold with forward thinking and creative ideas vs a reflexive reliance on poorly-aged tropes despite their dismal failure in the real world.
The hungry lions of the world will declare victory as they must, but the clear-eyed amongst us will see who emerges smiling from that den.
Daniel Winston is a writer, therapist, and therapist trainer in Gush Etzion, Israel and has served as a campaign advisor to one of Israel’s Prime Ministers. He can be reached at DanielWinston.com.