No doubt in common with most of the rest of the world, and, in particular, listeners to the Today Programme on Radio 4, I have become somewhat outraged by the recent behaviour of Donald Trump. Whilst he was outrageous during his last term in power, I didn’t predict how controversially he would rule America during his second term. I started to think about power and the parallels with the abuse work I have devoted my life to.
The Ukraine Peace Proposal
Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Donald Trump at the White House, but the meeting ended abruptly without an agreement.
Key Points:
- The meeting was meant to discuss a deal where Ukraine would share half of its natural resource revenues in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.
- The discussions fell apart after Trump publicly criticized Zelenskyy, accusing him of “gambling with World War III” and not being serious about peace.
- After this tense exchange, Zelenskyy left the White House without signing any agreement.
Consequences
- The future of U.S. military aid to Ukraine is now uncertain, as the Trump administration is reconsidering its support.
- Many world leaders, including those from Canada, France, and Spain, reaffirmed their support for Ukraine after the failed talks.
- The breakdown of negotiations has added further uncertainty to Ukraine’s defense against Russia.
Abuse of Power
At first sight there are no similarities between Donald Trump and child abuse because, as far as we know there are no paedophiles in the American or Ukrainian governments. Statistically however, the ratio “One in Four”, which is the title of one of the longest standing Child Abuse Support Groups in England, belies a different conclusion. Allegedly one in four of us are victims of abuse.
I remember participating in a discussion program for BBC4 called “After Dark” in 2003 the subject for which was child abuse and the way it was treated in contemporary society at the time. Controversially, one of the guests was Tom O’Carroll, formerly of PIE (Paedophile Information Exchange), who believed that there is nothing wrong with paedophilia because, in Ancient Greek it means “love of children”. Not surprisingly, he was attacked by the other members of the panel including a psychiatrist from Rampton who firmly believed that he needed psychiatric care. I volunteered that he was missing the point because child abuse is simply abuse of power rather than pleasure being derived from sex with children. He immediately became enraged and continued to berate me after the programme finished at 3am. It was as though I had touched a nerve.
After watching the news coverage on the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, the idea of an article with comparisons between child abuse and abuse of power gestated in my mind.
So how are there parallels between the way Donald Trump/America/President Putin/Russa is behaving and child abuse?
- Child Abuse involves the of usurping of someone in a position of power over the powerless child whether it be a parent, or teacher, or priest. There is no doubt that America is a super power, as is Russia, and Ukraine is much less powerful.
- The more powerful child abuser uses its relationship with a child to take advantage of their relationship to persuade the child to engage in illegal sexual behaviour. Russia invaded a weaker country three years ago in order to usurp/abuse its power. It spread secret agents within Ukraine in advance to smooth its path. It also described the invasion as a “special operation” in order to mislead the world into thinking that this was not an act of war.
- The abuser normally protests their innocence and denies the truth of the abuse allegations. Russia has told the world that it is freeing the Ukrainian people from their tyrannical and fascist leaders who are actually Nazis. Thankfully, no one believes the rhetoric. The abuser/Russia, however, has continued with the untruths despite attempts to stop the abuse by the rest of the World.
- The abuser is often a bully who uses not only the threat of violence, but actual violence to subjugate their victim into submission. There is no doubt that Russia is a bully. When I witnessed the bullying behaviour of Donald Trump who lost his temper in the Oval Office with a smaller individual not conventionally dressed in a suit and tie like the rest of the journalists and politicians in the room, it made me think that here was an abuse of power, as Trump talked over the top of Zelenskyy and joked about his display as “good television.”
- The effects of both child abuse and war is lifelong. Just as war destroys homes, and brings about lifelong misery, so abuse is a life sentence for victims, who never recover.
- In order to keep some balance, whilst the way Trump is behaving towards Zelenskyy has angered most of the rest of the world, his aim is, indeed, peace. One wonders, however, whether his goal is a Nobel Peace Prize rather than peace for the benefit of the Ukrainian people.
Summary
When I started to write this article, I thought that there were multiple parallels between child abuse and the Ukrainian War/attempts at peace by Trump, but in reality, whereas the recent news is alarming, the comparisions are somewhat tenuous. Having been brought up by a grandfather who had sympathies with the Quakers, my sympathies are always with peace in any situation. I hope and pray that world leaders will see sense, and not prolong the tyranny of war, not only in Ukraine, but also in Israel.
