When anyone criticises Donald Trump as I do, the default position of his supporters and backers is always to say you hate him. Speaking for myself, I want to make it crystal clear that I do not hate Trump.

For one, hate is too terrible a burden to bear. Second, there is no living person on this planet who can occupy such a place of importance in my life. Hate is too obsessive and pernicious an emotion to wear around like a badge of honour. It is a deeply disturbing and disruptive emotion which destroys your personality. At its worse extremes, as was clear in the hatred Adolf Hitler had for the Jews, it renders you dysfunctional at the core of your being.

Those who advocate hate for people, as is often alleged in criticisms of Trump, often do not know what they are talking about. Superficially, they call people hatemongers because you dare to vehemently disagree with those they admire. They would be humbly advised to rethink their mojo. To deflect me from my criticisms of Trump, some go as far as to suggest that this is unworthy of me as a priest. I hate to defend myself, so let it suffice to simply say that, like the Jesus I follow, I hate the sin, but not the sinner. Thus, I hate the message of retribution and revenge that Trump is trumpeting; his mockery of people, even the disabled; his willingness to lie and indulge other falsehoods in pursuit of his most selfish ends; his willingness to kick aside norms, conventions, and traditions in the undermining of national institutions in order to bend them to his will. And I could go on and on, but I think the message is clear.

In the aftermath of being found guilty by a jury of his peers, Trump has hit the media circuit with the pronouncement of an agenda of retribution and revenge against those who have done him harm. He comes across as a bitter and aggrieved person who truly believes he has been wronged. He has convinced his supporters throughout the US, and obviously in Jamaica, of this position. Hence their defence of him. By the way, when we speak of a jury of his peers, I do not believe that Trump thinks he is in peerage with mere mortals, least of all those who found him guilty. This makes it harder for him to accept the verdict against him. He seems to believe that on planet Earth, he has no peers, no equal. He is a god of all he surveys and deserves his pinch of incense as the ultimate emperor.

But, of course, all of this is the delusion of the narcissistic personality. As I said in my last piece, ‘Trump and the death of shame in America’, it is this kind of messianic thinking that inevitably gets him in trouble. He may suffer from delusions of grandeur, but what is not so much a delusion is his message of retribution and revenge that he has sworn to execute if he should again be handed the presidency. There is no other former president, who, in seeking the high office, has breathed such threatening language or developed a course of action as to the vengeance he will seek if he returns to the White House. It is clear that Trump feels aggrieved with what he believes the legal system has done to him. He is an angry man and he does not hide his anger as he lashes out against those who he believes have wronged him. His angry diatribe against the justice system is palpable.

One of the mantras of wannabe dictators is to say the most outrageous things to test people’s reactions to them. Often people will just shrug these off as just small talk or something that can never happen. This is the worse delusion that the American voter could ever fall for on polling day. His first term was a dry run for what he is capable of. A second term, when he would be wiser and more au fait with the rudiments of how the system works, would be catastrophic. And because people shrugged off what he said and proceeded to elect him, he could reasonably justify his actions as part of the mandate he received from the voters. At this point Americans would have no one to blame but themselves.

A politics of retribution and revenge will only tear open the already broken fabric of American society. It would have serious implications for the conduct of international relations. This is why many countries, especially those that are a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance, are worried about the possibility of his return to power. The business class on Wall Street who are now cosying up to him because they think he will be good for their bottom line, should be reminded that healthy economies do not thrive in an environment of chaos, mayhem, and the destruction of national institutions. A stock market does not thrive in the context of uncertainty created by political mayhem due to policies of retribution and revenge.

Wannabe ‘Trumpists’ like Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and others in the Republican Party, who perhaps believe they can be like Trump, must be prepared for the shrivelling of their souls as they get closer to him. For one, they do not possess his charismatic personality that would endear them to the MAGA (‘Make America Great Again’) base. They can only be imitators, and poor ones at that. They should have a conversation with former Vice-President Mike Pence. If he honestly bares his soul, he will admit that the most humiliating experience of his life was being Trump’s vice-president.

Those who want to follow him to the mountain top must ask what are they getting into. But will they?

Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest, social commentator, and author of the books Finding Peace in the Midst of Life’s Storms; Your Self-esteem Guide to a Better Life; and Beyond Petulance: Republican Politics and the Future of America. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or stead6655@aol.com.