Spencer, “Temptation of Eve”
Thursday
I’m seeing, in Vladimir Putin’s attack on American democracy, a modern version of Paradise Lost. Putin in this scenario is Satan, Trump is Eve, and the Republican Party is Adam. Hang on while I explain.
In Book II, the bad angels convene to figure out how they are going to respond to their crushing defeat. Modeled on Homer’s Greek leaders, they put forth three proposals.
Bombastic Moloch speaks first and councils “open war.” Hell should once again throw itself against Heaven, regardless of the consequences. Think of this option as a direct Russian attack against the United States.
The problem with such an approach, of course, is that both Heaven and America have superior fire power. As slothful Belial puts it in his counterargument,
What if the breath that kindled those grim fires
Awaked should blow them into sevenfold rage
And plunge us in the flames? or from above
Should intermitted vengeance arm again
His red right hand to plague us? what if all
Her stores were opened, and this firmament
Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire,
Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall
One day upon our heads…
Mammon, seconding Belial’s concerns, advocates for making the best of a bad situation. Instead of being vassals of Heaven, Hell’s angels should
rather seek
Our own good from ourselves, and from our own
Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess,
Free, and to none accountable, preferring
Hard liberty before the easy yoke
Of servile pomp.
Think of this option as Russia establishing itself as a great nation on its own, without meddling with its neighbors.
Such an option does not appeal to Satan’s resentment and injured pride, however. He must make God pay for his fall in stature (the break-up of the Soviet Union), but to do so takes cunning. Rather than confronting Heaven directly, he will instead corrupt the Garden of Eden. Or in our terms, undermine open democracies. He will interrupt God’s joy and satisfy his resentment by seducing the inhabitants
to our Party, that their God
May prove their foe, and with repenting hand
Abolish his own works. This would surpass
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy
In our confusion, and our joy upraise
In his disturbance…
The other angels sign on and Satan takes off for Eden.
We don’t yet have the entire explanation for Putin’s power over Trump, but it undoubtedly includes an appeal to vanity, which is how Satan seduces Eve. Casting himself as a serpent (Trump is fond of the poem, “You knew I was a snake before you took me in”), Satan tells Eve that she isn’t receiving enough respect:
Why then was this [the fruit] forbid? Why but to awe,
Why but to keep ye low and ignorant,
His worshippers; he knows that in the day
Ye eat thereof, your eyes that seem so clear,
Yet are but dim, shall perfectly be then
Opened and cleared, and ye shall be as gods…
Like Putin, Satan has considerable rhetorical powers, even though his reasoning is as slippery and coiled as a snake. Eve, impressed, talks herself into taking the fruit.
Of course, that’s not the end of the story. Eve needs Adam to join her in her crime, just as Trump needs GOP complicity. Although Adam is at first horrified, he becomes a fully consenting participant in the new reality. After all, breaking the rules seems to offer amazing new possibilities (Supreme Court appointments, debt-financed tax cuts for the wealthy, regulation rollbacks). Here’s Adam:
[S]o well this day thou hast purveyed.
Much pleasure we have lost, while we abstained
From this delightful fruit, nor known till now
True relish, tasting; if such pleasure be
In things to us forbidden, it might be wished,
For this one tree had been forbidden ten.
Why did we ever think we had to abide by Senate norms and 60-vote confirmations and conflict of interest laws and consensus governing and actual facts? Is there any more forbidden fruit we can eat?
This particular scene involves lustful sex, but think of it as the intoxicating pleasure of breaking all the established rules. In the heady days of the Trump presidency, everything seems possible. No wonder that Trump had 90% Republican approval, according to the latest Gallup poll.
Now, should things ever go south, Republicans may start sounding like Adam the morning after:
O Eve, in evil hour thou didst give ear
To that false worm, of whomsoever taught
To counterfeit man’s voice, true in our fall,
False in our promised rising; since our eyes
Opened we find indeed, and find we know
Both good and evil, good lost, and evil got,
Bad fruit of knowledge, if this be to know,
Which leaves us naked thus, of honor void,
Of innocence, of faith, of purity,
Our wonted ornaments now soiled and stained…
Some day, Trump’s counterfeit will be heard for what it is. Until then, however, don’t worry about Russia, our allies, North Korea, the environment, Puerto Rico, immigrant children, tolerance for difference, and the fabric of our democracy. Party on!
