Desecrators of the Sacred Trust: The Apotheoses of Donald J. Trump and Isaias Afwerki. Two Preening Would Be Kings and Their Dark Agendas

By Bereket H. Selassie

Two different leaders, with more contrasting characteristics. Comparing the two leaders from two countries with striking contrast in size, history and government structure may seem strange. America is a democratic republic with a constitution two hundred and thirty years old; Eritrea is a dictatorship ruled by an unelected former guerrilla leader who suppressed a ratified constitution and rules by decree. However, both leaders are dedicated to the destruction of, or at the very least, the demeaning of the primary values of the democratic epoch, namely, democracy and rule of law.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 21, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728373195

Bereket H. Selassie

Bereket H. Selassie is an Emeritus Distinguished Professor of African Studies and Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His Memoirs, The Crown and the Pen (2007), relates the story of a man who straddled two worlds—a progressive lawyer and Attorney General of Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie. He thus struggled for justice within an archaic system, bedeviled with imperial Court intrigues. He was banished to a distant province, and eventually escaped to his native Eritrea where he joined the armed struggle for independence. His Memoirs as well as his novel, Riding the Whirlwind (1993), paint a dramatic picture of a tumultuous life saddled with tension involving opposed ideas and forces. Out of Africa, Selassie settled in America and began an academic life, writing over a dozen books, including works of fiction. Defiance…is his third novel. He was appointed to head a Constitutional Commission that drafted a new Constitution of Eritrea.

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© 2020 Bereket H. Selassie. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  09/21/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7320-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-7319-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020917186

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CONTENTS

Prologue

Preface

Introduction

First, a word on why I decided to do this Comparative Study?

Abuse of Power and Impeachment

US Presidential Power Under Broken Politics

Presidential Conduct Akin to the Mafia

A Luta continua

Why the Choice of Isaias Afwerki

Volume I The Apotheosis Of Donald Trump

Donald Trump in Relation to some Key Issues

The Rule of Law

President Trump, the Economy and the Environment

National Security and Foreign Relation

Trump and Race Politics in America

Trump, the Media and Health Policy

Summation

Volume II The Apotheosis Of Isaias Afwerki

Foreword: Requiem for a Revolutionary Dream

The Need of Historical Context

The Road to Apotheosis

The Makings of a Cult Figure

The Four Stages of the Rise and Decline of Isaias Afwerki

From Apotheosis To Psychosis

CONCLUSION OF VOLUME II. Recapitulation: The Executive Under Normal Constitutional Systems

Epilogue On Volume I

Trump: America’s Most Dangerous Pathogen

Why is that?

Epilogue On Isaias (Volume II)

Appendix

Endnotes

DEDICATION

To the heroic G-15 and all other prisoners of conscience in Eritrea.

To the memory of George Floyd, victim of systemic racism, and to all the other victims of racist violence and murder.

Expressions Of Gratitude

Once more, Daniel Teklai has donated valuable assistance in offering useful suggestions on style, substance, cleaning up the draft as well as designing the cover page, for all of which I am immensely grateful. I have also depended on Daniel for finalizing the production process.

Gloria Steinem gave an oracular advice suggesting improvement of the narrative flow of the book. Thank you, Gloria.

My thanks also to Ghirmai Negash and Colonel Tsegu Fessahaie Bahta for their editorial assistance.

I am particularly grateful to Kassahun Checole, publisher of Africa World Press and The Red Sea Press, for helping with typesetting.

PROLOGUE

A WARNING … And A Personal Reckoning

The Warning

I am writing this prologue after much reflection and following the advice of some friends who gave me useful feedbacks on some controversial issues raised in the book. As part of issuing a warning and doing a personal reckoning to my readers, let me state up-front what the aim of my book is. It is to use the lessons learned from past (and present) in order to avoid mistakes that can lead to disasters in the future.

As clearly pointed out in detail in the study, Trump and Isaias are malignant narcissists, (as defined by experts cited in the book), and that fact should preclude them from holding high office with responsibilities affecting people’s lives and a nation’s fate. Nonetheless, my study, though insisting that narcissism as a mental condition, should be understood, does not recommend that the person should be punished for being narcissistic. After all, some narcissists can perform tasks useful to society as explorers, architects or engaged in other field of creative activities.

Focusing now on the subjects of the book, I am convinced on the basis of the available data that Mr. Donald Trump and Mr. Isaias Afwerki, are two leaders who are part of a rogue’s gallery, that stand out as examples of persons that should have no place in leadership positions. What distinguishes them from the average political leader, and what unites them is the fact that they are narcissists; and as such they are unapologetic dictators, immune to any criticism. Indeed, they cannot tolerate or abide any criticism, which makes them enemies of democracy and the rule of law.

A distinguishing characteristic of a narcissist is the absence of empathy to others; no sense of what others are feeling. Narcissism of this kind is also called malignant narcissism by the experts of this subject. Donald Trump and Isaias Afwerki are similar, even though one is from North America, while the other is from East Africa. The point is that though cultures may differ, human brains are the same.

Among the sources I used on this subject are "The Sociopath Next Door", by Martha Stout, and "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump" by 27 medical doctors and other professionals, including psychiatrists. These sources showed me that Trump and Isaias fit the definition of narcissist. In Trump’s case, the study of the 27 doctors was first written as a special report warning that Mr. Trump is unfit for the office of President of the United States. Their warning came too late and it seems to have been ignored failing to achieve its intended purpose by the time Mr. Trump was installed in the White House. It is not clear whether the warning came too late or whether there was no possibility, institutionally, to stop him from embarking on the work of the president. What is important is that we must learn from the experience of the past and become aware of the danger in order to make sure that it is not repeated. The original report is now published as a book and one of the aims of my book is that the experience of the Trump presidency should act as warning for the future. Trump will be gone, hopefully come November 2020, but the experience of his presidency must not be repeated.

Apart from the medical testimonials provided by the sources cited before, Trump’s personal history should have sounded a warning as to his unfitness for the office of President of the United States. To all astute observers his narcissism was evident in his behavior. A simple indication of narcissism is intolerance of criticism and lashing out at anyone who criticized him or had ideas or opinions different from his.

He inherited his father’s unearned wealth and lost it all in investments generally judged as irresponsible. He treated his employees poorly and his attitude toward women has been contemptuous and contemptible. Because American banks were reluctant to loan him money, he borrowed from Russian banks and Saudi-backed banks. This fact probably explains his strange affinity to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Next is My Personal Reckoning.

Isaias Afwerki, the other subject of this study, is a person I have known well for over forty years. I was a member of the EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) that he led and I was a representative of the EPLF at the United Nations for five years (1986-1991). I learned later that Isaias had committed outrageous acts involving the execution of some critical members of his guerilla group, during the earlier part of his leadership, at a time when there was little information of what was going on in the bushes. Even after independence, in 1991, Isaias held a tight grip on his organization with a secret party that he controlled, modeled on China’s Mao.

By the time all this was revealed by defectors from the EPLF, it was too late. In a book I published in 2011, Wounded Nation, I described the secret process by which Isaias rose to EPLF’s leadership and maintained himself in power for over forty years. I coined the phrase, immaculate deception to describe his method of ascent to the summit of power and continued to rule for so many years.

Since independence in 1991, Isaias eliminated all potential rivals and dominates life in a totalitarian rule in which there is a prison population estimated between 25,000 and 30,000, most of them prisoners of conscience. There is no free press and freedom of movement is controlled.

One main difference between Trump’s case and that of Isaias is that at least in Trump’s case constitutional rule of accountability apply, thanks to the US constitution, as the recent impeachment illustrates even though he was acquitted. Despite his acquittal, the fact remains that he was charged, whereas in the case of Isaias, the constitution which make provision for impeachment of the president, was suppressed by Isaias, as I explained in detail in this study. So, Isaias carries the mark of Kane and is answerable in law and in the Bar of History.

More Notes on Personal Reckoning

As was described in detail, the constitution making experience in Eritrea was meant to usher in a democratic system of government. This writer had the privilege of leading the process as chairman of the Constitutional Commission of Eritrea. All people’s hope was pinned on that process and Isaias pretended to go along even making statements that he looked forward to being constrained by the constitution. It was a superb performance, worthy of an Oscar Award for acting. And it illustrates what I called immaculate deception. He allowed the constitution process to go through to the end even taking part in the meeting of the Constituent Assembly. Then suddenly and to the astonishment of everybody, while we were expecting the implementation of the constitution, he provoked a war with neighboring Ethiopia and used the war as excuse to delay implementation of the ratified constitution. A year passed. Two years. Three years, and the war came to an end. Yet, still no implementation of the ratified constitution. Finally, he laughed at the whole nation, and told us the constitution was dead!

Meanwhile, the economy went to the dogs; social services, such as they were, practically stopped. Nearly all Eritreans engaged in private enterprise left the country and joined the Diaspora community, leaving the Eritrean society without a glimmer of hope. And there was the endless national service, a forced servitude that turned Eritrean youth to slave laborers. Lost without hope of returning to normal life to escape from the servitude, thousands voted with their feet leaving their homeland in massive exodus to a life of exile, first in neighboring Sudan and Ethiopia, from which those who were lucky made it to Israel, Europe and North America.

Different opposition organizations were formed dedicated to changing the regime. Isaias grabbed the revenue producing sectors of the economy like the gold and copper mining industry and used the income to buttress his security organizations. He turned the country into a veritable open prison and the economy into his own private estate. All forms of opposition inside the country were monitored and thousands of youth ended up as prisoners mostly held in shipping containers. At a time like the present with the threat of coronavirus casting its catastrophic shadow everywhere, Heaven help the prisoners who live sandwiched in containers as easy prey to Covid-19. No one would dare raise this issue and suggest ways of alleviation of the disaster when it hits Eritrea, as it has already done. Judging by his attitudes and statements in previous incidents of disaster, Isaias would not lift a finger to help people to meet the horrendous challenge. To the contrary, he would welcome it for its capacity to weaken whatever resistance and opposition exists to his brutal regime.

I have been part of initiatives to raise awareness of the tragedy in Eritrea, but our efforts did not make much progress, leading some of us to use whatever international forums are available to bring Eritrea’s case to world attention. I even hatched a plan to charge Isaias as a criminal in the court of international public opinion in the form of the Russell Tribunal. The plan was almost ready for takeoff when the pandemic struck delaying it.

Thus Isaias Afwerki continues to rule with an iron hand. In an ironic twist of political developments in neighboring Ethiopia, Fortune seems to have smiled on him; for the new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, for reasons of his own political survival, made common cause with Isaias, showering on him incredible commendation, and calling on him to create a unity of action between the two of them. As we shall see in more detail, what followed was an extraordinary set of events in quick succession in which the two exchanged visits to their respective capitals and beyond, in a surprising political volte-face that gave Isaias a new lease of life. Indeed, suddenly, he had become a significant player in the affairs of the Horn of Africa, beyond his small country, using the newly found base as a launching pad. In volume II of this book, we shall discuss the details of this particular development and its implications for the politics of the sub-region.

PREFACE

This preface covers two matters:

1. The first relates to one of the most remarkable statements of wisdom ever uttered by a statesman—one of my favorites—Benjamin Franklin, in connection with the phenomenon of power. Franklin’s concise statement contains in a nutshell dire warning about the danger that an inordinate love of power and money can pose to a democratic order. The statement touches on some of the most important points covered in the book. It is reproduced below.

2. The second concerns the three appendices—A, B, C—found at the end of this book. The contents of each appendix provide additional explanatory statements related to important historical and political facts on the advent of Isaias to power and the problems connected with such advent.

Both leaders are dedicated to the destruction of, or at the very least, the demeaning of the primary values of the democratic epoch, namely, democracy and rule of law.

The subtitle The Apotheoses of Donald J. Trump and Isaias Afwerki: Two Preening Would be Kings and Their Dark Agendas is an elaboration of the main title; it adds a personal predilection to the two men toward monarchy and behaving as though they are above the law, like kings of yore.

What it means and why I decided to use it as the sub-title of this book.

As to the reason for using the word as a subtitle of this book, my answer is that after years of observation and reflection on the life and career of the Eritrean leader, Isaias Afwerki, I had been amazed and bitterly disappointed at his fall from grace—his descent from an earlier status as a popular and well-regarded figure into an irrational, irresponsible, arrogant and tyrannical leader. I had considered to write a lengthy paper about Isaias under this title, for a Journal. I kept postponing writing the paper due to other competing demands.

Then came Trump and, to my astonishment, his boorish behavior and manner of governing (or rather mal administration) bore a striking resemblance to that of Isaias Afwerki, in many respects. And as I follow the policies favored by Trump as President, as well as his politics of division and his penchant for stigmatizing and labeling certain individuals and groups he did not like, I concluded sadly that Mr. Trump and Mr. Afwerki are chips from the same autocratic block—two leaders who want to be above the law like kings.

In the book’s subtitle, I called them two preening would-be kings. They have an unmistakable common trait of greed, inordinate ambition, arrogance, absence of empathy and disrespect for the law.

1. Power and Money

When political ambition to climb to the top of their respective countries, is combined with greed for money reminded me of Benjamin Franklin’s perceptive letter that he wrote to the Convention of 1787, which is reproduced hereunder.

Franklin’s Letter

Benjamin Franklin warned,

There are two passions, which have a powerful influence in the affairs of men. These are ambition and avarice; love of power, and the love of money. Separately, each of these has great force in prompting men to action; but when united in view of the same object, they have in many minds the most violent effect. Place before the eyes of such men a post of honor that shall at the same time be a place of profit, and they will move heaven and earth to obtain it…And of what kind are the men that will strive for this profitable preeminence, through all the bustle of cabal, the heat of contention, the infinite mutual abuse of parties, tearing to pieces the best of character? It will not be the wise and the moderate, the lovers of peace and good order, the men fittest for trust. It will be the bold and the violent, the men of strong passions and indefatigable activity in their selfish pursuits.

2. For an explanation of the appendices, see the end of the book, titled, Appendices.

INTRODUCTION

PERSPECTIVES ON TRUTH—

LAW AND POWER

I can shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue And get away with it.

(Donald Trump)

The Constitution is dead…I don’t need a constitution to govern.

(Isaias Afwerki)

First, a word on why I decided to do this Comparative Study?

We are concerned with two different leaders of two different countries, with more contrasting rather than comparing characteristics. Perhaps the contrast may even justify such study. I owe the reader a word of explanation why I chose to do a comparative study of these two leaders—one American, the other African. Comparing two leaders from two countries with striking contrast in size, history and government structure may seem strange.

America is the most powerful country on earth with a population of over three hundred and thirty million; Eritrea is a small African country with a population of under six million. America is a democratic republic with a constitution two hundred and thirty years old; Eritrea is a dictatorship ruled by an un-elected former guerilla leader who suppressed a ratified constitution and rules by decree.

Aside from the fact that common traits of character constitute a proper ground for such a comparative study, there is a specific reason for my choice of Isaias in comparison (in contrast) to Trump. The contrast relates to the historical and socio-political context in which the two leaders operate. The source of power and conditions of operation of Trump’s presidency is grounded in one of the best (if not the best) constitutions ever designed in human government systems—the Constitution of the United States.

One of the most important questions this study seeks to answer is whether President Trump has lived by the promise of the constitution in his behavior and performance as a president. Indeed, his impeachment supports a presumption (yet to be tested) that Trump has done things that provide prima facie evidence that he has not lived up to the promise of the constitution.

As a student of constitutional law and one-time practitioner of