トランプ氏は「神の手に守られた救世主」 暗殺未遂、個人崇拝に拍車

【ミルウォーキーＡＦＰ＝時事】ドナルド・トランプ前米大統領について、信奉者らは長年、米国を救うために神に選ばれたと主張してきたが、暗殺未遂事件を間一髪で生き延びて以降、トランプ氏を「救世主」とあがめる熱狂は新たな高みに達している。（写真は、米ウィスコンシン州ミルウォーキーで開催された共和党大会に出席したドナルド・トランプ前大統領）
　ウィスコンシン州ミルウォーキーで１５日に開幕した共和党大会に参加した党員らは、トランプ氏の命が救われたのは神の介入のおかだと口々に語った。
　銃撃後、はためく星条旗を背に血を流しながらも拳を突き上げるトランプ氏の写真も、信奉者には好ましく映った。
　扇動的な発言で知られる右派のマージョリー・テイラー・グリーン下院議員は「われわれが心から敬愛する男性に悪が襲い掛かった」とした上で、「神がトランプ前大統領に手を差し伸べてくれたことに感謝する」と述べた。
　マイク・ジョンソン下院議長はニュース専門局の取材に対し、トランプ氏が耳に軽傷を負っただけで済んだのは「奇跡的な出来事」だと評した。マルコ・ルビオ上院議員（フロリダ州選出）はＸ（旧ツイッター）に「神がトランプ氏を守った」と投稿した。
　トランプ氏の側近で、議会侮辱罪で服役中のスティーブ・バノン元首席戦略官は「トランプ氏は神のよろいを着ている」と述べた。
　トランプ氏本人も自身のＳＮＳ「トゥルース・ソーシャル」に「思いも寄らない事態を防いだのは神だけだ」と投稿した。
　■個人崇拝
　英エセックス大学のナターシャ・リンドステット教授（政治学）は今回の出来事について、トランプ氏とその側近が何年にもわたって周到に培ってきた個人崇拝を強調するものだとの認識を示した。
　リンドステット氏はＡＦＰに対し、個人崇拝を推し進めた指導者には独裁者もいれば選挙で選ばれた者もいるが、目的は同じだと指摘。「人々を無批判に従わせ、超人的な資質で惑わすことだ」と語った。
　トランプ氏が自身を米国唯一の救世主だと位置づけるのは今に始まったことではないが、暗殺を免れたことでその説得力は大きく高まったという。
　保守派が好んで使うソーシャルメディアでは現在、イエス・キリストがトランプ氏の両肩に手を添える画像が拡散している。
　トランプ氏の次男の妻で共和党全国委員会（ＲＮＣ）共同委員長を務めるララ・トランプ氏は、「恐れることはない。私はあなたと共にある」とのキャプションを添えてこの画像をインスタグラムに投稿した。
　党大会に参加したニューヨーク代議員のジャック・プレンダガスト氏はＡＦＰに、「私はキリスト教徒でカトリックだ」とした上で、「トランプ氏の肩には天使が座っていた。神の手がトランプ氏の首を傾けたのだと思う」との見方を示した。
　リンドステット氏は「個人崇拝は民主主義にとって極めて有害だ」「普通なら従わないようなことにも従い、崇拝の対象を信じて疑わなくなるからだ」と警告した。
　さらに、大統領の免責特権を事実上強化する最近の最高裁判決と相まって、「トランプ氏が何をするつもりであろうと、当選してしまえば、民主主義のガードレールは米国を守れないのは明らかだ」と指摘し、「実際にそうなるだろう」との見方を示した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/07/17-19:00）

Devotees of Donald Trump have long proclaimed he was chosen by God to save the United States -- but the messianic fervor has hit new heights after the Republican presidential candidate narrowly survived an assassination attempt.
At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, the party faithful have been quick to credit divine intervention with saving their leader's life after he was wounded in a shooting at his Pennsylvania rally.
Images of the bloodied former president raising his fist defiantly in the air as the Stars and Stripes fluttered in the background have only served to bolster his image among his supporters.
Evil came for the man we admire and love so much, said the right-wing firebrand Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. I thank God that his hand was on President Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told a news channel that Trump's escape, with only a slight ear wound, was a miraculous thing, while Senator Marco Rubio of Florida wrote on X that God protected Trump.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, currently serving a prison sentence for contempt of Congress, said Trump wears the Armor of God.
Never mind that one rally-goer was killed -- a volunteer firefighter who died shielding his family -- while two others were seriously wounded.
Nor that, until his foray into Republican politics, tycoon Trump displayed a distaste for religion, even mocking believers, according to a former aide.
He also boasted in one of his books about affairs with beautiful, famous, successful, married women, and has been found liable by a civil court for sexual abuse.
- Personality cult -
Trump, who has said he was raised Presbyterian but now considers himself a non-denominational Christian, has encouraged the attention, writing on Truth Social that God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.
For Natasha Lindstaedt, a political scientist at the University of Essex, the episode underscores the cult of personality that Trump and his inner circle have meticulously cultivated and reinforced over several years.
Some personalist leaders are dictators, others are elected, but their goal is the same: To get people to blindly obey them and to be mystified by their superhuman qualities, she told AFP.
Trump casting himself as America's sole savior is nothing new -- but escaping the assassination attempt has elevated the rhetoric to Biblical proportions, she added.
Consider for instance, the meme circulating across conservative social media depicting Jesus Christ himself placing his hands on the 78-year-old's shoulders.
Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, who co-chairs the Republican National Committee, posted the image on her Instagram page with the caption Fear not, for I am with you.
I'm a Christian and a Catholic by faith, Jack Prendergast, a Republican delegate from New York at the convention, told AFP. Trump had an angel sitting on his shoulder -- the hand of God in my opinion, moved his face aside.
Such hero worship benefits both the mythologized leader and followers, said Natalie Koch, a political geographer at Syracuse University.
By building up that cult and joining that and being part of that, they get a sense of community, she told AFP.
- 'Imperfect vessel' -
They also gain a vehicle to pursue their political interests, from evangelicals with a religious agenda to the ultra wealthy hoping for massive tax cuts, Koch added.
And for all the criticism from liberal quarters that Trump's faith is a facade, he proved to be the imperfect vessel evangelicals hoped he would become, fulfilling their decades-long agenda of tilting the Supreme Court heavily conservative and overturning the national right to abortion.
Even Trump's embattled Democratic opponent President Joe Biden has begun to adopt certain Trumpian flourishes of late, telling ABC News only Lord Almighty could convince him to end his re-election bid amid questions about his mental acuity.
Personality cults are really bad for democracy, said Lindstaedt, because it gets people to blindly obey things that they normally wouldn't, they refuse to question the authority figure.
Coupled with the Supreme Court's recent decision bolstering presidential immunity, the guardrails of democracy are not really protecting the US from whatever Trump plans on doing once he gets elected, which I think will happen.