No middle ground

It's like Trump himself. You can think it's either the most contemptuous idiocy ever brushed out on canvas, or you can weep pious tears for a country so riven by politics that only prayer will ever bring us back. You can think what's here is nutty, hilarious, or be brought to your knees at the idea of all those American saints blessing the Pres. If you confess the name of Trump, this is a triumph. If you believe him the very face of evil, you'll push the painting through your printer, burn it on your desk, photograph the flames, and post it on Twitter. 

That's Reagan on his left, Frederick Douglas on his right. Lincoln's back there, and Ike and JFK, not to mention half the cast of Hamilton--Washington, Jefferson. I think the tall guy on the far right is Billy Graham, but I could be mistaken; and, closest to the window, that's Robert E Lee next to MLK, all of them laying on hands, blessing our POTUS as he sits reverently at his desk, in prayer, the Declaration of Independence before him, along with that same Bible ("a Bible" not his) he toted across the street to the church for a photo op. And keys. I suppose to the nation itself. 

It's almost impossible not to care about the image at the top of the page. You love it or hate it. It moves you to tears or wrath. It's either a sermon for the nation or sheer idiocy. 

What the American electorate has never seen is that Donald Trump, a man humble enough to beg for divine help, a man with his hands folded to keep them from reaching, bowed head, eyes closed. I can't imagine he doesn't pray when his spiritual leaders are around, but he actually seems another person altogether than the man who just yesterday told newsmen he'd declined the invitation to throw out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, something he'd never been asked to do, a man who fabricates so much to twist reality into something self-serving. Next thing you know, one of his disciples will publish "The Piety of Donald Trump."

And yet, if you're a believer, you can't really not wish for something like this, dedicated prayer to make the POTUS a compassionate leader of this nation. Lincoln may well stand around the oval office himself these days, hoping--urging--Trump to be a better human being. If you love this amazing McLaughlin painting--one of several similar--what's here is exactly what you pray for. If this image moves you, you're in the painting yourself.

Art, some say, is allusive, suggestive--it requires our participation. Frederick Manfred used to say stories--like art itself--are C's, not O's. Art is never a closed circle; there's always a gap because great art requires our participation. We fill in the open space. 

There's an open space in this McNaughton painting all right. The painting is like the President himself: you either love him or hate him. There just ain't no middle ground.