Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Today’s American president surely does not merit a peace prize, but Donald J. Trump should be recognized as a great destroyer of the good. Like Mephistopheles in Goethe’s Faust, the U.S. President Trump seems to seek a great negation.
Mephistopheles appears in Professor Faust’s study and explains that he is “part of that force that would do evil evermore, and yet [at least sometimes] creates the good.” Mephistopheles elaborates: “I am the spirit that negates, And rightly so, for all that comes to be deserves to perish wretchedly; T’were better nothing would begin. “Everything people call “sin, destruction, evil” is what Mephistopheles sees as “my proper element.” The Devil concedes that he has failed to destroy everything, for water, earth, and even air persist. “If I had not reserved the fire,” he laments, “I should have nothing of my own.” Faust later agrees to see what is on offer, but he first counters that Mephistopheles “would resist the ever-live creative power by clinching your cold devil’s fist.”
Like Mephistopheles, Trump is a force that negates. He labors day and night to wreck:
+ the international order long led by the United States to promote global peace and prosperity;
+ the globe-spanning alliance of like-minded powers that esteems democracy and resists dictatorial aggression by totalitarian dictatorships;
+ the Enlightenment belief that reason and science can and should be used to enhance the quality of life for humans and the planet;
+ the assumption that to foster life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, government can and should advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion;
+ the confidence that the economy can and should be managed to promote higher living standards for all (not just the top 1 perent);
+ the belief that the best science can and should be tapped to promote public health and a healthy environment;
+ faith that win-win outcomes are available in many if not all, realms of life, so that wise policies will seek mutual gain rather than one-sided exploitation.
At the end of Goethe’s story, angels carry Faust to heaven—redeemed by his efforts late in life to create farmland on which life—people and plants–can flourish. Losing Faust, Mephistopheles feels cheated and let down. But he still feels triumphant: “When I look deep within and place myself in my own self and kin; saved are the Devil’s noble parts—for sin.”
Trump, too, focuses on real estate—especially mineral wealth stored beneath the surface in Greenland, Ukraine, and Venezuela; and the tourist dollars available if Gaza can be transformed into another Atlantic City Boardwalk/Riviera. As of 2026, however, these dreams seem a long way from realization. If they materialize and profits emerge, whose coffers will they fill?
For now, Trump’s handling of Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, along with his insults to Canada and Europe, surely merit him an Anti-Peace Award. The SS tactics, ICE murders and deportations of children in blue cities like Minneapolis, plus the spread of measles among the unvaccinated, probably warrant an additional citation for mindless cruelty as well as impeachment.
The post Great Destruction Versuys Mutual Gain appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Walter Clemens.