Holy Week is always a good excuse to revisit A Man for All Seasons.
The passion of Sir Thomas More (played by the great Paul Scofield) unfolds like a religious parable crossed with a legal thriller, told with a Shakespearean sense of tragic grandeur. Frequently described as a “conservative” movie — a label that has been used to both praise and denigrate it — the 1966 Oscar winner for best picture is resonating anew for conservatives following the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Is Trump our modern version of the martyred Sir Thomas More? Some pro-Trump influencers have made the connection. In the days leading to his arraignment in New York, they tweeted scenes from the movie, including More’s climactic trial in which he stands indicted for high treason after holding steadfast to his Catholic faith and refusing to acknowledge King Henry VIII’s divorce and role as head of the Church of England. In an earlier scene also making the social media rounds, More warns against abusing the law to persecute one’s political enemies.
“Yes, I give the devil benefit of the law — for my own safety’s sake,” he says, in what is the movie’s most-quoted line.
BREAKING: THE DIE HAS BEEN CAST THERE IS NO TURNING BACK
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— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) March 31, 2023
“William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”
Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”
William Roper: “Yes, I’d cut down every law in England to do that!”
Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law…
— Will Chamberlain (@willchamberlain) April 4, 2023
Or is Trump the movie’s vainglorious King Henry VIII? During the Trump administration, the left also claimed A Man for All Seasons as its own in an effort to paint the president as a capricious despot who revels in mistresses and gold and demands complete loyalty.
It’s hard to deny that superficially, Trump bears many resemblances to Robert Shaw’s deliciously hammy Henry VIII. Both are over-the-top alpha males who womanize and bellow at their subordinates. They can be scary and then hilarious at a moment’s notice. But this is true of a lot of powerful figures throughout history.
So which is Trump — the saint or the tyrant? In the spirit of the movie, it’s best to consider the evidence.
No one on the left projected his anti-Trump mania on A Man for All Seasons more than CBS’s late-night comedy host Stephen Colbert, who quoted from Robert Bolt’s original play at the height of the 2020 Trump impeachment. Not only did Colbert compare Trump to Henry VIII — “a bloated, golden child” — he equated Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) to Sir Thomas More for being the lone Republican senator to vote in favor of impeachment.
Let’s be real; Romney is no Sir Thomas More. If anything, Romney is the movie’s Richard Rich (John Hurt), an opportunist who climbs his way up the government ladder by betraying those close to him. Rich is the antithesis of More — he will do and say anything for career advancement. Consequently, Rich succeeds in life, eventually becoming Lord Chancellor to the king, while More, who once held that title, is executed.
And deep down, Trump is no Henry VIII. Trump was a democratically elected leader, not an absolute monarch. The former president was and continues to be the antagonist of the permanent, all-powerful state, not its embodiment. For all their surface similarities, Trump and Henry VIII are opposites. If anyone bears a resemblance to Henry VIII, it is the Washington deep state bureaucracy, whose thirst for power seemingly knows no limits.
But that doesn’t mean Trump is Sir Thomas More either, though their political persecutions bear remarkable resemblances.
In A Man for All Seasons, subjects loyal to the king try to take down More by any means necessary. They first accuse him of accepting a bribe in the form of a silver chalice, knowing full well that the accusation is false. When that inevitably fails, they concoct a host of other legal maneuvers designed to take him down, all with the help of turncoats once loyal to More.
Likewise Trump, whose presidency was marked by one deep-state kill shot after another — sometimes abetted by his own former confidants.
What makes More so revered by Christians today — he was made a saint by Pope John Paul II in 2000 — was his refusal to renounce his beliefs despite enormous political pressure. In another often-quoted line, he explains, “When statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.”
Trump’s supporters see that same spirit in the former president, whose personal mantra “Never give up” is being put to the test, like More’s, in a judicial system hostile to him.
Trump is no one’s idea of a saint. But each new political prosecution brings him closer to political martyrdom. And for his supporters, that may be close enough.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com