The Strongman In the White House

We live in a world dominated by political strongmen. Global democracy is failing. US power was critical to the global rise and stability of democracy in the last half of the twentieth century. But, as America makes a shift to autocracy, it is abandoning those countries who counted on America to support their freedom

During the rise of democracy strongmen and dictators were the exception. But since 2000 the world scene has been changing dramatically. Authoritarian regimes are the new norm, especially for those countries with clout. Dictatorships, in the last 25 years are most likely to begin through democratic backsliding. Democratically elected leaders establish authoritarian regimes, while continuing to call themselves presidents.

America is no exception, much to the chagrin of our founding fathers. A majority of US-based political scientists agree that America is moving from a liberal democracy to a form of authoritarianism (Bright Line Watch survey, April 2025). President Trump recently quipped “A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we would like a dictator’”, although hastening to add that he isn’t one.

We need to understand our country’s future, and the future of geo-politics, in light of the rise of the “Strongmen System”. Leaders of the world’s most powerful nations have a stronghold on authority in their country, and they seek to aggressively reshape their country and the globe. These leaders are trying to transform the international system America once built, united in their hostility to a world in which Washington makes the rules. They share technology, pool military capabilities, and much to Trump’s displeasure they plot against the US.  Vladimir Putin in Russia and Xi Jinping in China are the strongest, but most of the second tier of strongman leaders are in collusion with them, not aligned with America – Kim Jong Un in North Korea, Modi in India, Erdogan in Turkey, and the BRICS countries. Netanyahu, in Israel, also operates as an uncontested strongman. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed bin Salman, is another authoritarian ruler with designs to reshape the world. 

What are the characteristics and dynamics of Strongmen. They are ambitious and charismatic. They promise to strip away the rot and return their country to its glory days, and the people become a receptive audience. They seek to exert military prowess. In a world of strong rulers and dictators history comes at you fast. Shedding the shackles of constraint, they make hasty and bold moves. Strong rulers make for weak rules. Rules and norms mostly just get in the way – human rights, court rulings, international law, due process, even the constitution. J.D. Vance once said of Trump, “He doesn’t give a shit about such trivialities”. For strongmen, institutions, alliances, and partners matter little, while personal power and aggrandizement matter more. Under strongmen, economics and political stability are a casualty, decisions are hasty, and the risk of disaster goes up. While strongmen profess to be a stable genius, they usually surround themselves with a very few “yes-men” and are prone to grievous errors (e.g., Hitler’s assault on the Soviet Union or Putin’s disastrous miscalculations in Ukraine). In their quest for immortality, strongmen dismiss the need and the plan to be replaced, so succession is usually chaotic.

What about the Strongman in the White House? This is important to understand in relation to the Biblical prophecies of the Last Days. Daniel 7 (v. 7, 11, 20-21, 25) and Revelation 13 (v.5-8) predict that America and its leader will be arrogant, boastful, and oppressive, as well as blasphemous toward God. That arrogance may be a huge factor leading to America’s downfall. Prophecy warns that America will be destroyed (Daniel 7:11-12). The Great Babylon will be destroyed by fire, likely referring to nuclear attack (Rev 18:8). Biblical prophecy and unfolding US history dovetail, for those who have ears to hear. 

Is Trump really a strong man bent upon authoritarian rule? His disregard for rules is obvious. He ignores due process in his deportation process and many other executive orders. He controls Congress. They are no longer representatives of the people, they are courtiers, conforming to a royal court, shamelessly cozying up to the President. Policy-making emanates from the White House alone, while Mike Johnson and Congress kowtow and cower to the will and the whims of Donald Trump. Trump seeks to limit free speech, especially those who oppose him, threatening regulation and lawsuits. He sends the National Guard into cities for policing. He is chaotic and disruptive of institutions and norms – dismantling agencies, firing and harassing officials who disagree with him, retaliating and taking revenge on political foes, installing yes-men in every key role (enabling his tyrannical ascendancy). His tariffs are not logical, they are exploitative, unreliable, and perhaps illegal (but what does that matter?). They create great distrust and cause friend and foe, alike, to look for ways to work around the US. Debt is continuing to increase, precariously, despite his claims of the Big Beautiful Bill (even Elon Musk bailed on him in disgust over his financial irresponsibility). His incessant name-calling comes across as cutesy to his followers while others view it as derisive.

While his admiring Maga followers praise him for taking the bull by the horns, his opponents fear for the loss of democracy, constitutionalism, and balance of power.  Most people do not expect his rule to end when his second term is completed. How he will pull that off is yet to be seen. But when it happens some will rejoice while others will feel helplessly subjugated to the whim of a tyrant.

The strongman in the White House will bring an end to America. Divisiveness, disunity, distrust, and dissolution of international relevance will lead to self-destruction. The strongmen of the world will step into the void and complete the destruction, fulfilling God’s judgment upon America. Then the greatest strongman of the end of the age will take the helm, unite the Arab-Islam nations into a great army, and invade Israel. The world, it is a-changing mighty fast.  The near future will bring turmoil upon America and the world – death, mourning, and famine (Rev 18:8). Praise God, we look forward to the return of Jesus, when He alone will restore peace and righteousness.

 

"Vengeance is Mine", Says the Lord

 

Paul wrote that we humans should refrain from taking revenge. Rather we should “leave room for God’s wrath”. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”, says the Lord. (Romans 12: 19; also Heb 10:30). 

God’s wrath and vengeance are not laden with the emotion of getting even, like we humans. No, His vengeance is just, it is deserved judgment upon evil. Furthermore, it is seldom meted out immediately, in the heat of the moment. Not that God believes that revenge is a dish best served cold. He simply is not in a rush to wrath.

Why doesn’t God deal with evil more swiftly, rather than waiting? There are likely many reasons, but let me suggest just a few. Sometimes evil serves his purposes, so He waits to mete out judgment. Egypt enslaved the Jews for 400 years, and God allowed it to continue. Though it was evil it prepared a fledgling bedouin tribe of Hebrews to grow in number and strength and perseverance, traits they would need to flee their persecutors, endure forty years in the wilderness, and then defeat the inhabitants of the promised land. When Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, he slaughtered many of the Jews and took captive thousands more. God designed the seventy-year captivity as judgment upon His own chosen people. God eventually meted out judgement upon the Babylonian empire, defeating them by the hand of the Medes and Persians.

Another reason God delays vengeance is to display His glory in the act of judgment. How memorable was the judgment upon Pharaoh and his oppressive army when they were destroyed in the Red Sea? The years of oppression and subjugation finally faced a climactic judgment, an event never to be forgotten.

Now consider the judgment of God upon the enemies of Israel in the battle of Armageddon. That great army will be an Arab-Islamic onslaught upon Israel and Jerusalem. The Arabs were the enemies of God’s people as early as the time of the patriarchs, then through repeated deliverances by judges raised up by God, continuing through the kingdom age. They were not an enemy at the time when John wrote the Apocalypse, but his vision predicted that they would once again become an enemy of the Jews (Rev 17:8,11). And that enmity is in full bloom, now, at the end of the age. When God finally judges the Arab nations, it will be just vengeance, and it will be an awesome display of his wrath and righteous judgment. His defeat of Gog and his armies (Ezekiel 38:22-23) are for one grand purpose, so that the “nations will know that I am the Lord”.

Before Armageddon, though, God will soon mete out His wrath and vengeance upon America -- the great empire of the end of the age, the little horn of Daniel 7, and the seventh best of Revelation 13 and 17.  America will be destroyed, utterly, not even allowed to limp along like other great empires that God judged (Daniel 7:11). 

Many are disgusted at bringing up the great sins and travesties of America’s past. They think such purveyors are Woke, or trying to degrade America’s history. But God says, “her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes” (Rev 18:5-8). God has withheld judgment until his perfect timing. There is no “statute of limitations”. America will be judged for its great evils – slavery, killing and corralling the native Americans, abortion, pride and arrogance, making itself rich off the nations of the world by means of cheap trade and cheap labor, and enforcing its will upon countless autonomous nations as it built an “empire”. 

Despite its evil God raised up America to serve His purpose. It brought about great gains in industry, medicine, electronics, and innovation. And it fostered an era of “pax Americana” following WW2. America was a leader in missionary outreach to unevangelized nations and indigenous peoples. But, in God’s perfect timing, America must be neutralized, by God’s judgment. 

America’s destruction will accomplish another milestone in God’s unfolding plan of the last days. It will allow the man of lawlessness and the great Arab-Islam army to rise up and invade Israel. The “restrainer”, America, will be removed (II Thes 2:6-7). 

One more thought to put into the mix. America will be destroyed before the rapture, while we as Christians will still be here, feeling smug and safe. The rapture will occur at the second coming of Christ, not seven years prior. We will suffer a great time of “death, mourning, and famine” (Rev 18:8). America, including Christians, will not escape God’s judgment, no more than the Jews escaped annihilation by Assyria, the captivity by Babylonia, or the slaughter by Titus in 70AD. “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord, I will repay.”