The alchemist in the White House

Back in the day, people around the world had great and charismatic leaders because that is what people valued. Charismatic not as in The Apprentice, or Pakistani morning shows, but charismatic as in leaders who read and wrote books and inspired people with their wisdom. People frequenting libraries seems centuries ago if you ask me. Libraries are replaced by shopping malls, book reading has been invaded by binge watching, family time is infected with phone screen time.

When we were kids, our parents were angry at us for playing outside all day. Today, we literally have to yell at children to quit their gaming console and go out and play. Before, parents used to stop their children from eating soil. Today’s parents have to stop children from eating McDonald’s. I’m confident the soil eating was less harmful.

In the book, The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho, the boy (Santiago) travels enormous distances and faces gruelling hardships to find the truth about alchemy. He eventually finds that it was possible to make gold, and the man who knew alchemy (the alchemist) was a pious man in the story. The alchemist reminds the boy that while it was possible to make gold, it was not supposed to be the ultimate aim of life.

This week the ever hungry-for-a-scoop investigative journalists of The New York Times found President Trump’s tax return. Turns out Trump is the alchemist of our times. This alchemist does not live in the oasis nearby an Arab Bedouin camp, but rather in the White House. Trump’s alchemy is made of con artistry instead of piety and knowledge. He is the master of tax alchemy. He made his empire of billions but displayed losses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to avoid paying taxes. His public bragging of calling himself being “really rich” gave him celebrity status and eventually even the White House while the private claims of failing businesses allowed him to avoid paying any taxes. He truly had it both ways.

The revelation by The Times also further solidifies the long held belief that Trump did not run for president in 2016 to win. He rather wanted to inject life into his fading brand. The fame that comes with running for president helps many candidates land book contracts and so forth. Trump never expected — and as mindboggling as it may sound — never wanted to win. Michael Wolff, in his book, Fire and Fury, had quoted Trump’s son, Trump Jr, saying that his father “looked as if he had seen a ghost”, on the night of the 2016 election when it became clear that Trump had won. Melania Trump was “in tears — and not of joy”.

While the real alchemist stopped living for gold after he achieved the mastery of alchemy, the con artist-cum-tax alchemist in the White House wanted even the presidency for money.

But given people’s values in today’s day and age, this is the best you can get. The world we live in is one where young boys and girls are raped and then killed, where many people are starving to death while some have so much food that mega corporations are in the business of cleaning up the extra food thrown in trash; where millions are refugees in search of food and shelter, while some drive custom built BMWs made of gold and diamonds; where for some the biggest complaint is the latest iPhone is no different than the previous one, while the miseries of many such as the Kashmiris and the Palestinians are no different than the previous year.

Sure, that is how today’s alchemists are going to look like. Because like it or not, that is who we are. Trump and many leaders like him are our very own reflection. It is not Trump, it is us.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2020.

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