The lion, the mouse and the net-trap

One of the most memorable of the tales of Aesop, the great African storyteller whom the ancient Greeks celebrated (Aesop = Aethiop, The Ethiopian or The Black Man) is the story of the Lion, the Mouse, and the Net-trap. Lion, the arrogant self-styled King of the Jungle, feared no one, won every battle, and dominated the animal kingdom. He kept his distance from larger animals such as Buffalo and Elephant with whom he had no chance at all in a fair fight of single combat, only in an unfair fight when he could encircle them with a platoon of his fellow lions.

And so it was that one day, Lion crossed paths with a humble Mouse, grabbed him and considered eating him up. Naturally the Mouse pleaded for mercy, reminding Lion that he is not even large enough for a mouthful but could perhaps in future serve him a good turn. Good turn? What a laugh! Almighty Lion never needs help, least of all from a poor Mouse! But he let the Mouse loose all the same.

Time passes, and sure enough, one-day-one-day the Lion finds himself helplessly roped round in a hunter’s net. It would have been nunc dimitis for him—had not the Mouse showed up and in a labor of gratitude chewed through the net and freed the Lion.

These animal tales, whether originally by Aesop or merely attributed to him, provide us endless lessons in human behavior and ethical values. If we take the political drama currently playing out in America, we could call Donald Trump the Lion—pompous, arrogant, sharp-tongued, and beyond all control by his advisers and political party colleagues. The Media, whom he disdains and maligns and seeks to intimidate as “fake” and “witch hunting,” is the Hunter-and-Net in which he suddenly finds himself en-roped. Is there a little Mouse somewhere that might yet gnaw Trump out of the Net—or will he topple from the pinnacle of the presidency (falling “from grace to grass,” as we style it here at home) via resignation or impeachment?

The clincher is the email, published in the past couple of days, by which his son Donald Trump Jr. was invited to a meeting, also attended by Trump’s then-Campaign Manager and his son-in-law (his three closest advisers). The email explicitly states that the aim is to provide negative material from the Russian government to discredit Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and assist his father Donald Trump in getting elected.

This email is a bombshell of bombshells. The young man claims he never told his father about it; and his father claims he only heard of it when the news broke a day or two before. Totally beyond belief. In any case, they did use the material provided (Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails) to discredit her.

In short, Trump is only a half-step from where Richard Nixon was in August 1974 when “what he knew and when he knew it” showed everyone, himself included, that the game was up, and he packed his bags and took that long last flight to San Clemente, California.

You see, the US media is very difficult to intimidate. The media is protected by the powerful First Amendment of the Constitution adopted in 1791. In two centuries the media has won its laurels as a voice for the voiceless multitudes and a fearless “speaker of truth to power.” The US media relentlessly digs up dirt wherever it may be covered up—under the soil in the garden, under the carpet, under the bed or in the wardrobe closet. It uncovers everything that everyone, especially those in power, whether in government or in the private sector, seek to keep hidden for their own unfair advantage. No wonder the media came to style itself as the Fourth Estate of the Realm—after the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary. The US media has enormous prestige and commands as much respect as the other three originally named and established arms of governance.

That is why it was clear to all who knew anything about it that, from the outset, Trump in his badmouthing of the media was like a Don Quixote tilting at windmills and heading inevitably for a fall.

Those who rant and rave against “trial by media” ought to spend one afternoon and evening observing US television news, especially CNN or MSNBC. And they should assiduously read the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal several days at a stretch. You come to realize, each day, that each of these media organs have done their homework; that they have a great deal more information than they are letting out at any one time; that they in fact ration out the news in bits or chunks for maximum impact, and deliberately stretch it out so it will last and they won’t run out. For one thing, the viewing and reading public can only absorb so much on any one day, and news, good or bad, can be just too much.

So, whatever news you see today, know that more—or worse, especially if it’s a scandal—is coming tomorrow. And if you are the subject of their interest (like Trump and Co.)—if the media ever gets on your case—better find a hole to hide in, because they won’t let go until you’re quite finished.

So, “what did Trump know and when did he know it” regarding Russia’s offer to subvert the US presidential election of 2016? We shall find out soon enough.

Onwuchekwa Jemie            

ojemie@gmail.com

0703-946-0162