The Fake & Fraudulent Prophets Around the President
September 4, 2026 |
Daniel Henderson
Alonso Quijano, an aging gentleman, decides to become the knight Don Quixote and defends honor and justice in the world. He embarks on numerous adventures, mistaking windmills for giants, innkeepers for castle lords, and a group of prostitutes for noble ladies. His adventures are often absurd.
Don Quixote lives in a world of his own creation, challenging the established norms of his time and questioning the difference between what is real and what is imagined. Don Quixote is a fitting analogy to Donald Trump.
In Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes offers one of literature’s most enduring portraits of self-delusion. When Don Quixote sees windmills on the plain, he does not see mere machinery — he sees “hulking giants” threatening the world, and he charges them in battle despite Sancho Panza’s desperate pleas that they are only windmills. The scene is tragic and comic at once: a man so consumed by his fantasy that no evidence, no reasoning, no bruising defeat can shake his conviction that he is a heroic knight in a world of villains.
Donald Trump’s political life mirrors this madness of perception. Like Quixote, Trump constructs a universe where he is the central hero besieged by monstrous forces — “the Deep State,” “the fake news media,” “rigged elections,” “traitors,” and “witch hunts.” These enemies, often imaginary or exaggerated, serve the same psychological function as Quixote’s giants: they give meaning to his struggle, justify his anger, and preserve his self-image as a wronged crusader rather than a flawed man.
Recently, his imaginary foe has been the non-organization called Antifa. It is one of those big windmills that Trump is determined to take down. The Trump administration is focused on making up crises. Trump sees himself as a great leader who is fixing non-existent problems. It is a made-up reality where Trump believes he is the sole hero, protecting cities from crime, prosecuting his enemies with no evidence, and pitting the military against American citizens.
When Trump declares, “I am your retribution,” he is not far from Don Quixote’s cry, “Fortune is guiding our affairs better than we could have wished.” Both are statements of grand destiny — delusions of divine mission in a world that refuses to comply.
Even when Trump’s “giants” turn out to be mere windmills — when courts reject his election fraud claims, when investigations yield no conspiracies — he insists the fault lies not in the facts but in the world’s blindness or betrayal. Like Cervantes’ knight, he doubles down on the myth rather than confront the truth.
There is something so tragic in this comparison. Don Quixote’s madness is rooted in a longing for meaning and greatness in a disenchanted world. Trump’s delusions, though self-serving, tap into a similar hunger among his supporters — for a world in which good and evil are clear, and the hero’s victory feels inevitable. Both figures reshape reality to preserve a grand self-image, even when that reality pushes back hard.
No one can correct Trump’s delusions. Just like this scene in Cervantes’ tale, Trump sees what he wants to see:
In Don Quixote, his loyal squire, Sancho, tries to correct him:
“What giants?” said Sancho Panza.
“Those thou seest over there,” replied his master, “with their long arms; some of them have arms well nigh two leagues in length.”
“Look, your worship,” said Sancho, “what we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails that turned by the wind make the millstone go.”
“It is easy to see,” replied Don Quixote, “that thou art not used to this business of adventures; those are giants, and if thou art afraid, away with thee out of this and betake thyself to prayer while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat.”
For Don Quixote, his delusional world that he was battling contained few significant consequences for the people around him. He was essentially harmless. Deluded, but harmless.
Unfortunately for the American people, Donald Trump’s tilting at windmills comes with significant consequences that will harm real people. For example, while Trump tilts with Antifa, millions of people will either lose their health insurance coverage or see their rates skyrocket to a level they can’t afford.
As Trump goes to war with the American people, thousands of federal employees are on track to lose their jobs during the current government shutdown. Thousands are working without pay, and the safety and security of the American people are being put at risk.
While Trump continues to tilt with the “far-left” and “radicals,” his tariffs are killing the farm economy of the Midwest, especially soy-bean farmers whose crop is now sitting in storage waiting for a buyer.
As Trump chases his political enemies, such as James Comey and Letitia James, with invisible evidence and charges, innocent immigrants are being kidnapped on the streets of America, breaking up their families, threatening their livelihoods, and endangering their lives.
Yes, Donald Trump’s delusional windmills have real consequences that are wreaking havoc on American society. Sadly, real fraud and damage are being done by those who make up the base of Trump’s coalition: namely, Christian Nationalist ministries.
Here is the latest example:
For more than ten years, the Kingdom of God Global Church (formerly Joshua Media Ministries International) had engaged in financial fraud, forced labor of dozens of workers who were abused and kept in seclusion, and bilked donors for millions of dollars. The two leaders are David E. Taylor, the CEO of the organization. He refers to himself as “Apostle,” sometimes as “Jesus’ best friend.” And Michelle Brannon is the executive director. She is alleged by prosecutors to be Taylor’s second-in-command and to have enforced many of the rules and oversight.
The case spans multiple states, including Michigan, Florida, Texas, and Missouri. The so-called “ministry” used call centers on various church properties in several of those states to solicit donations and to house workers/victims.
With the skimmed funds, there are two key mansions in Florida tied to this case: A ten-bedroom mansion with a pool on 5.9 acres in Tampa, and a seven-bedroom mansion with a tennis court on 3.4 acres in Ocala, Florida.
The abuses by Taylor and Brannon are horrendous. Individuals subjected to forced labor were required to meet unattainable fundraising and donation goals on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. If goals were not met, punishments ensued.
They were made to call donors, solicit funds, etc., under pretenses: for example, victims allegedly told donors their money would go toward charitable projects like water wells or helping trafficking victims, but in fact, much of it went toward the leaders’ lifestyle.
Forced labor victims were not allowed to leave properties without permission and were separated from outside contact; their freedom of movement was restricted. Taylor and Brannon exerted control over many personal aspects of their lives, including when/where they slept (such as in call centers or “ministry houses”), what they ate, and what they wore, as well as when they could use the bathroom.
Punishments for noncompliance were severe and included: food or shelter restrictions, sleep deprivation, public humiliations, psychological abuse, threats of divine judgment (e.g., sickness, accidents, eternal damnation), and physical punishments in some reports. There were some particular alleged demands: transporting women from ministry houses/airports, etc, to Taylor’s location and ensuring women took Plan B contraceptives when transported. The purpose is obvious.
Taylor and Brannon have, fortunately, been arrested and charged with twenty counts of human trafficking and financial fraud. That they were able to engage in this activity as long as they did is an example of misdirected priorities. The truth is that forced labor, or slavery, is a prominent problem in the United States today. It isn’t just a windmill; it is a real problem.
Depending on which organization you rely on, it is estimated that worldwide there are approximately 50 million people who live in involuntary servitude, which can include sex workers, forced agricultural laborers, child sex trafficking, and other forms of slavery.
The Walk Free organization estimates that in the United States, 1.1 million people are being held against their will. There are many venues where enslaved people can be found in the United States, including state-sanctioned incarceration in the private prison system. It is no secret that the US incarcerates far more people than any other country in the world. Many are innocent victims of a profit-oriented system that exploits their labor.
Involuntary forced labor can be found in domestic work, agriculture and farming, construction, retail, hospitality, and many illicit activities. The forced sexual exploitation of both adults and children is prevalent in the US, along with forced marriages. Many of the victims are immigrants or are imported, and, within the Trump administration’s crackdown, are reluctant to report such abuses.
While Trump pretends to be a gallant knight, a million people within our country are being exploited, enslaved, and abused. It is nothing less than an egregious dereliction of duty not to launch a major initiative to end this abuse. It is much easier for Trump to blow up ships near Venezuela, another windmill, than to tackle real problems like modern slavery.
In the end, Cervantes gives his mad knight a moment of lucidity: on his deathbed, Don Quixote finally admits, “I was mad, but now I am sane.” Whether Trump will ever reach such a reckoning remains uncertain. But as long as he continues to tilt at windmills, many people will be swept into the turbulence of his imagined crusade, and real human beings are being abused and exploited.
Trump’s battle is not against giants, but against reality itself.
