“Herod called the magi secretly and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search diligently for the child. When you have found him, bring me word, that I too may go and do him homage’” (Mt 2:7-8).

As we all know, Herod the Great had no intention of paying homage to the newborn king. Although there is no extra-biblical evidence for the Massacre of the Innocents, Herod executed several members of his own family, including his wife, not unlike King Henry VIII.

There is no area of human activity more in need of evangelization than the exercise of political power. This is also the area where our failures are greatest and the consequences of those failures most severe.

As an American who has served as a bishop in Latin America for 13 years, I have witnessed these failures and their consequences up close. And I see the same dynamics playing out in the United States under President Donald J. Trump today. 

For example, Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro both failed to serve their people and the common good in Venezuela by weaponizing the justice system. Sadly, the removal of Mr. Maduro by U.S. forces has done nothing to restore democracy there. I have personal friends among the bishops of Venezuela who only send messages via WhatsApp that immediately disappear because their communications are monitored. An illegitimate government remains in power and is busy consolidating that power, while the opposition leader is trying to bribe Mr. Trump by giving him her Nobel Peace Prize.

In Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega and his wife, Rosario, have an absolute hold on power, to the point of expelling both Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity and the Poor Clares, as well as shutting down the Jesuit university in Managua. Through the Vatican’s office for consecrated life, two monasteries of Poor Clares in my Diocese of San Ignacio de Velasco in Bolivia have offered to receive any or all of these contemplative sisters expelled on false charges of money laundering.

In Bolivia, some opposition politicians, facing over 100 lawsuits brought against them by the socialist governments of Evo Morales and Luis Arce Catacora, died while in “preventive prison” before they could clear their names. My own diocese and our bishop emeritus were falsely and absurdly accused of money laundering, causing us to spend more than $80,000 in legal defense, in part because of my critical stance against the government. We are overjoyed that they are no longer in power, mostly due to their utterly inept handling of the economy.

The Dictator Dynamic

“Keep religion out of politics!” As if the exercise of political power were somehow of no concern to the one whom King Herod vainly attempted to destroy as an infant and forced into exile in Egypt—the one who is judge of the living and the dead, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” We offer this prayer not in heaven but here on earth,  because in heaven God’s rule is uncontested. It is here on earth that Satan claims the kingdoms are his to dispose of and grants power to whomever he pleases (Lk 4:6), to whoever is willing to prostrate themselves before him (Lk 4:7, Mt 4:9). And the dictators of the earth prostrate themselves all the time! There is a process, a dynamic, by which they are gradually sucked in and trapped in Satan’s snare.

When we hear statements like that of Vice President JD Vance after the killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are protected by immunity when they violate the civil rights of citizens and immigrants, we can see that this process is running its course in the United States.

Immunity for ICE for inhumane enforcement tactics becomes impunity for a dictatorship that is consolidating power. Just as the U.S. Navy is being used to blast boats out of the water on the mere suspicion of ferrying drugs in the Caribbean, with zero regard for international law, so ICE agents can kill people for not obeying their orders without any due process of law. Both the investigation and the narrative are dictated by those in control.

The first step in the “dictator dynamic” occurs when a democratically elected ruler seeks impunity for some irregularity he or she has committed. Rather than admitting to a mistake, accepting responsibility and the consequences, they lie and seek to lay blame elsewhere. The dynamic is not unlike that of an alcoholic. They manipulate the truth and manipulate others to hide their weakness and maintain their addiction.

These lies are violence to the leader’s own soul and to all who surround them. And as such, they require ever-new and increasing violence to maintain them. Spiritual transparency is sacrificed. True religion is distorted or discarded. Prayer is abandoned or falsified. God is not allowed into their politics or political parties because God keeps poking away at the lies. 

But they still need religion to win elections. “God bless America,” they say, just as long as God has very little to say on policy, other than supposedly endorsing our side in elections. 

Those who crave power will also dehumanize and demonize their perceived enemies—saying they are “undeserving of our justice system,” calling them “garbage” and “vermin”—and commit ever greater atrocities against them.  

Once atrocities and crimes have been committed, impunity must be assured. This requires ever greater lies, ever greater control of the narrative, ever more hardened hearts and then ever-greater atrocities. You can be assured that the dynamic will continue. Mr. Trump will try to consolidate absolute power, immunity, impunity and control. I have watched it happen over and over again in Latin America.

Power is an addiction. And unchecked power destroys the souls of individuals and of nations. But it is also a statue with feet of clay. Sooner or later, the colossus will come tumbling down. Still, it would be much better if it were never built.

Satan was foolish enough to quote Psalm 91 to Jesus when he suggested the Lord throw himself off the temple parapet to prove his divine protection: “For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways. With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone” (Mt 4:6, Lk 4:9-11). Jesus, of course, was familiar with the entire Psalm, which promises to those “who dwell in the shelter of the Most High” and “who abide in the shadow of the Almighty” that “God will rescue you from the fowler’s snare.” 

It is time we democratically restore our democracy while we still can, so that we can all pray together: “We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare was broken and we escaped. Our help is the name of the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth” (Ps 124:7-8).