King Henry VIII after Hans Holbein’s Whitehall mural
Watching the last two episodes in Season 2 of “Wolf Hall” on PBS reminded me of the comparisons I have made between Henry VIII and Donald Trump. Back in 2017 I wrote a post comparing Steve Bannon with Thomas Cromwell and followed it up with several others because the parallels with Tudor England are truly amazing.
- Henry VIII and Contemporary Parallel
- Thomas Cromwell and Steve Bannon
- History and the Game of Thrones
Spoiler Alert: If you have not yet watched Season 2 of “Wolf Hall” and/or are unfamiliar with Tudor history, spoilers lurk ahead.
King, Man and Monster
Henry VIII was a monster — a psychopath — who imposed a reign of terror on 16th century England. Whether he was born that way or became warped through disappointments, pain, betrayals and opposition is a matter for discussion.
I fall on the side of the monster being present from birth, but fed and nourished until it consumed him. One can say the same of our current president. We know from his example that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Others sometimes make this King/President comparison for me without even knowing they’re doing it. Here, for example, is TellyVisions’ commentary on Episode 5 of “Wolf Hall, Season 2.”
“Henry is a man with many flaws — he’s childish, stubborn, greedy, easily bored, and often shockingly cruel. He will never admit to a mistake or a lapse in judgment. He has never faced a consequence for anything. He must always be right, blames others for his problems, and can be surprisingly petty. (That bit about how no matter how much Cromwell has done for him, he still misses the long-dead Wolsey is a blow on many levels.) That he would ultimately choose to abandon Cromwell was only ever a question of when.”
Sound familiar?
The Privy Council and the GOP
And then we have TellyVisions’ comments about Henry VIII’s Privy Council on which Thomas Cromwell sat but which he alienated and turned against him:
“It seems impossible that Cromwell should be deemed a traitor by men like these, grasping, self-interested, who believe in little but themselves. And yet.”
We can only hope that the grasping, self-interested men around our current president come to the same conclusion.
But the comment that really struck home for me also happened in Episode 5, when Thomas Cromwell is talking to Rafe Sadler, his ward and confidant:
“Do you remember what I taught you, Rafe? Did you not read the Book of Henry, which I wrote for you? Never say what the king will not do.”
Exactly.
The Wannabe King’s Cromwell
Donald Trump and Steve Bannon as Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell
When I first wrote about the Henry /Donald connections, I said that Steve Bannon was the president’s Cromwell. I was not the only one to make the comparison and Mr. Bannon even stated as much himself.
Mr. Bannon was driven from Trump’s inner circle during the Biden years and has established a new career for himself. So, who is the new Lord Cromwell in this administration? I suggest Stephen Miller, a man as cold and deadly as Cromwell if not more so.
On the other hand, Donald Moynihan says it’s Russell Vought. Others have settled on Elon Musk, although I think he lacks the cold, calculated cruelty. His comes from not understanding emotions or feeling empathy. In the New York Times, Thomas B. Edsall opined about Mr. Vought:
“Trump’s appointment of Russell Vought as head of O.M.B. is enormously consequential. Think of O.M.B. as the ‘central nerve system’ for the executive branch — developing the president’s budget, implementing and managing his policy priorities and existing government programs, and overseeing agency rule-making. That makes the O.M.B. director something like the orchestra conductor for the executive branch.”
As an earl of the realm, Lord of the Privy Seal, and Lord High Chamberlain Thomas Cromwell wielded this kind of power and influence for his king. But the Hand of the King is a dangerous job, especially when the king is paranoid and delusional.
The Cardinal Speaks to Cromwell
In another foreshadowing, Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce) says “The age of persuasion has ended, I think. We have entered an age of coercion.”
In today’s terms, coercion means, “Go along or we’ll primary you.” “Approve my appointments or I’ll use social media to alienate your constituents.” “Nod your head, bend your knee, kiss my ring or I’ll threaten you in public.”
Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII
In the end, Henry turned on and betrayed Cromwell, just as Donald Trump has already thrown so many of his own ardent supporters under the bus. Monsters demand total loyalty from their followers but give none themselves. Although they may give titles and money as rewards but then take it all back when it benefits them to do so.
Watching Thomas Cromwell in Wolf Hall
I suggest watching both seasons of “Wolf Hall” because it is superb television: wonderfully written, beautifully produced and marvelously acted by a superb cast. The costumes dazzle and the locations radiate history through their stones. (Those stones also radiated cold. Everyone in the cast froze in the unheated buildings except for Damian Lewis (King Henry), who wore a fat suit.)
Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis in Wolf Hall
Regardless of whether you know Henry VIII’s reign well or know nothing about it at all, you will find this series both gripping and tragic. It takes history’s great villain, the man who would do anything in service to his mad king, regardless of the cost, and turns him into a protagonist for whom we root despite ourselves.
Centuries Apart, So Much Alike
It may seem odd to compare 21st century American president with a 16thcentury English monarch but the parallels apply. And, as Lord Acton reminded us in 1887, “Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.”
We are repeating it now.
The current president wields prisons and a corrupted Justice Department the way Henry wielded the Tower and the headsman’s axe. Trump holds his party in the grip of a terror no less frightening, if somewhat less lethal, than Henry’s. Heads may not roll these days but he will send the MAGA mob after his enemies. The accusation is all: evidence is not required and due process depends on the king’s opinion.
Welcome to Henry VIII’s England here in America.
