Sunday, January 13, 2019

Donald Drains the Swamp, by Eric Metaxas and Tim Raglin

Eric Metaxas has built a reputation as a thoughtful public Christian thinker.  His "Socrates in the City" events, his best-selling books on Bonhoeffer and Luther, and, of course, his work on "Veggie Tales" show his prolific and diverse talents and insights.  Against the grain of many evangelicals, Metaxas has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump.  In Donald Drains the Swamp!, Metaxas, along with illustrator Tim Raglin, tell a little tale of a caveman named Donald.

Donald is a well-respected builder of caves.  When the king of the cavemen, who lives in a white castle in a swamp, became unresponsive to the people, they asked Donald to journey to the swamp to confront the king.  Donald found the swamp infested with creatures who care little about the people in the kingdom: "They're uneducated! They're uncultured! They're DEPLORABLE!"  Donald sees what he needs to do--drain the swamp!  So he declares that he will dig the "BEST, BIGGEST trench you've ever seen!"  Once the swamp was drained, the people asked Donald to be president, so he went to live in the white castle.  "And the people lived happily ever after.  Bigly."

Donald Drains the Swamp is silly and decidedly partisan, but a lot of fun, whatever you think of the real Donald.  Metaxas doesn't try to get deep into symbolism or specific policies, and only the most imaginative reader will see the swamp creatures as caricatures of actual politicians.  The result is a relatively inoffensive story of a populist uprising with a happy ending.  Take off your cynical, partisan hat and enjoy a good laugh!

No comments:

Post a Comment