The
Situation Room, the White House, 7:03 A. M.
Pastor
Rodney Howard-Browne: . . . And we pray
O Lord that you would bless our President, the officials here with him, and his
whole administration with the abundant gifts of your Holy Spirit. In the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus we
pray. Amen.
(He
removes his right hand from the left shoulder of the seated and bowing Donald
Trump.)
President
Trump: Thank you Rodney. Lunch today as usual?
HB: Yes, Mr President.
(He
smiles happily and leaves.)
T: Okay, people, what have you got for me
today? Mike, let’s start with you.
Pompeo: There is still some concern about China. They refuse all of our efforts to
re-establish diplomatic ties since we crippled their aircraft carrier in the
South China Sea.
T: Paper tigers.
We bloody their nose a little to show them we mean business, and they go
and pout in a corner. Some cowardly sons
of b****es, I tell you.
P: But Mr President, we believe it is highly
likely that China is planning to retaliate in some way.
T: It’s been months. They’re not going to act.
P: China usually moves very slowly and
deliberately, sir.
T: Paper tigers.
Gina, what’s going on next door to the cowards in Russia?
Haspel: As we planned, Russia is in disarray over the
Patriarch of Constantinople’s issuing of the tomos of autocephaly to the schismatic
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The new
Patriarch, John, who used to be the Metropolitan of Pergamon, is even easier to
work with than Bartholomew since he saw what happened to his former boss for
not going along with our suggestions.
T: A shame about Bart’s sudden health problems. How’s Putin taking all this?
H: He’s angry, of course.
(Trump
slouches a little in his chair, thinking.)
T: Well, let’s try to brighten his mood a
little. Mike, see what you can do about
lifting a few of the sanctions on Russia.
Let them sell a little natural gas to Germany or something. And call off the boys at the National
Endowment for Democracy for a few weeks.
We want to keep the Russians off-balance, not totally p*** them off.
P: Yes sir.
T: General Mattis, what are you hearing from
Europe?
Mattis: The European Union is shakier than ever after
Italy’s vote to leave. The common
defense force the E. U. proposed isn’t going anywhere for the moment.
T: Fine.
Is everyone still happy in NATO, though?
M: So far, sir.
T: And how’s the expansion going?
M: South America is coming along slowly but
steadily. Africa is a little bit
reluctant because of China’s presence.
But a well-timed coup every now and then, along with the work of the
missionaries on our intelligence payroll, will pay off eventually. The Roman Catholic priests in Latin America
and the Evangelical Protestants in Africa we find particularly effective at
softening up the locals, especially when we throw in something like a
Charismatic woman preacher. That tends
to upend things for our benefit.
T: I like your style, Jim.
(The
meeting goes on.)
***
Lincoln
Bedroom, The White House, 11:10 A. M.
(The
door opens. Rodney Howard-Browne
enters. Pres Trump, who has removed his
suit coat, takes a sip of his chocolate milkshake to wash down a bite of
cheeseburger.)
T: Rodney, thanks for coming.
(He
reaches out to shake his hand. His
cufflink glints a little in the window light.)
HB: Of course.
(He
sits by the President on the couch.)
HB: You’ve come to like this room, haven’t you?
T: A lot of great men spent time here. Maybe a little bit of their greatness will
enter me as well the longer I’m in here.
. . .
--
Holy
Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema
to the Union!
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