This coin commemorates a comparison between Trump and the ancient royal figure Belshazzar, described in the book of Daniel 5.
Belshazzar (in 539 B.C) threw a party, honoring false gods using the sacred articles which had been looted by his forefather Nebuchadnezzar from the temple in Jerusalem. During this party, under the Persian threat, a finger appeared to write on the wall the famous words, ‘You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting,’ forecasting Babylon’s fall (historians differ on the fate of Nabonidus.) Belshazzar, eldest son of Nabonidus, was done for; his reign was no more. The Persians took the city. Now to the comparison…
On June 1, 2020, the Whitehouse was also under siege. President Trump had walled up the ‘People’s House’ and hid in a bunker due to the protests inspired by continuing police brutality which had been exacerbated by incompetent leadership and an economically devastating shutdown over the virus. Perhaps in an attempt to show ‘strength,’ Trump decided to use federal, in large part, unidentified assets, to force protesters out of Lafayette Park, using tear gas and rubber bullets, so he could engage in a photo op, with Bible in hand, at St. John’s Episcopal Church, the ‘Church of the Presidents.’
We may debate the legality of the purge, but the photo op itself showed no reverence for the object displayed, the Bible. Trump read nothing, offered no prayer, just posed. Just like Belshazzar showed the articles from the Temple in Jerusalem, those ‘objects’ were just displays of what had been conquered, Trump waved a Bible about as symbol of what, supposedly, this fight is all about, the forces of chaos and rebellion against those of the Christian Right which represent order and rule of law, as something you would sell on a shopping channel. The cultural statement was clearly made, the Bible is just a symbol for something much larger—that ‘something much larger’ is political and involves force. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Budde, described this event as the ‘abuse of sacred symbols.’ Trump abused a Bible as an object for a perceived political benefit.
James Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary, inspired by the abuses displayed at Lafayette Park broke his silence concerning the Trump administration; many other military figures have come out since to speak out against the Commander in Chief who is demonstrably the worst human being to ever occupy that office. The incompetence, the arrogance, avarice, dishonesty, thievery, has become all too apparent; the ‘writing is on the wall.’ The Christian Right is still with him as they have sold themselves to power, but the military seems to have seen that Trump is definitely ‘wanting.’
The depravity displayed at the photo op at St John’s will, I firmly believe, be in tomorrow’s history books. It is far more appropriate to link Trump with Belshazzar than to link him with Cyrus. I made this investment in this coin to tell a story that needs to be told–to speak out against a man who is ripping this country apart. The coin serves as a scaffold to make an historical connection between all those who would use religion and its sacred symbols to forward their own interests regardless of the age. Today is no different. People are still people who are seduced by empty displays. This coin tells that story.