To the editor:
The President recently joked that he wants to be the next Pope. Remember, he also joked about being a dictator on “day one.” That turned out not to be a joke.
His joke about the papacy is not a joke either. A dictator cannot really be a full-fledged dictator without control of all the institutions and agencies of society. Trump sees the church, both Protestant and Catholic wings, as impediments to total power because of separation of church and state. Separation means separate powers and lines of authority.
Trump wants to erase the distance between church and state just like the tyrant king Henry VIII did in England. Henry declared himself above the church and established a precedent still alive today whereby the King of England appoints the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Trump has that in mind for America as well. He might first have to create an established church here like Henry did in England. Not a problem for this president, who is every bit as ambitious as Henry.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Utah
