Season of darkness: Biden, Trump in a life-and-death biblical brawl

One of the most memorable comments in Kenyan political history is that Patrick Renison, the colonial governor in 1959-62, had described Jomo Kenyatta as a leader unto “darkness and death”.

I do not remember much about what I read in secondary school but that imagery stuck with me, etched into my memory and, perhaps, that of every Kenyan of a certain age.

It was the first time I had heard of it. And that was long before I heard Peter Oloo Aringo describe President Daniel arap Moi as a “prince of peace in a sea of turbulence” and even before my pastor called Satan the “prince of darkness”.

On Thursday, at the Democratic National Convention, in his acceptance speech for the nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in the November 3 presidential elections, Joe R. Biden, Jr President Barack Obama’s vice-president, described an atmosphere of anxiety that engulfs the United States. He twice called for unity of purpose to overcome “a season of darkness”.

Cloaked America in darkness “The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long,” said Biden, painting a dystopian picture of life under Trump. “Too much anger, too much fear, too much division.” With a somewhat prophetic vision, he added, “Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us, not the worst. I will be an ally of the light, not the darkness.”

Fierce eternal war

Etymologically, this light-and-darkness imagery is a metaphor for a fierce eternal war — what Friedrich Nietzsche calls a dialectic struggle between good and evil. It hearkens back to the early church, when Origen of Alexandria, a Christian scholar, introduced the allegorical theme of demonic darkness engaged in a life-and-death struggle against spiritual light during the third century, according to Jan Nederveen Pieterse, a Dutch cultural scholar.

But the light-and-darkness metaphor came originally from medieval chemistry, or alchemy, astrology and Gnosticism. It only acquired its current religious connotation later.

In this politics of colour, light, or white, was angelic while black was demonic. This contrasting imagery spread widely when it was racially applied to North Africans during the 12th-century Christian crusades against Islam.

Medieval paintings show black Saracens torturing Christ during the Passion, beginning the tradition of the black bugaboo.

In cognitive psychology, this visualised schema of colour has been found to influence perception, understanding and memory. That’s because it’s not only based on generalisation, but also serves to deny the complexity of imaginary concepts key to human relations. In classical rhetoric, it tends to demonise and weaken opponents.

Demonic imagery

Biden was following in that tradition of tarring and feathering his opponent with demonic imagery to neutralise them. He said Trump “has failed in his most basic duty to the nation: He’s failed to protect us. He’s failed to protect America. And my fellow Americans, that is unforgivable.

 This president, if he’s re-elected, you know what will happen. Cases and deaths will remain far too high. More mom and pop businesses will close their doors — and this time for good. Working families will struggle to get by.”

Democrats cheered because Biden showed his mettle as a wily street fighter. For once, he had turned tables on Trump, who is skilled at branding and demonising his opponents.

The last time Trump got a taste of his own medicine was in 2014, when President Obama mocked his intelligence on public television, at the White House Correspondents Dinner. He never forgot that.

Years later, Trump would get his revenge. Omarosa Manigault, a former Trump aide, said Trump felt embarrassed by Obama, and that prompted his run for the presidency. It’s the reason Trump is determined to erase every one of Obama’s achievements. They are in a life-and-death struggle.