I’ve been thinking recently about the way that Andrew Jackson betrayed his friend Pushmataha, Chief of the Choctaws. What has brought this all to mind was a convergence of events. I’ve been reading The Barn by Wright Thompson. An excellent and well-researched book about little known history behind Emmett Till’s murder. In it, Thompson highlights the ways in which Andrew Jackson deceived his friend and fellow warrior. Jackson depended upon Pushmataha to help claim victories at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and at the Battle of New Orleans in in 1814. He was also critical in helping Jackson’s forces capture Pensacola. In a show of appreciation for Pushmatah’s allegiance Jackson had him promoted to Brigadier General. 

But as they say, no good deed goes unpunished. 

Jackson’s own selfish ambitions overruled any devotion to the brave warrior who had fought alongside him. Pushmataha’s biggest mistake was putting his trust in a man who proved to be wholly untrustworthy. 

I fear for Zelenskyy and any other ally, or should I say former ally, who might do the same. 

Trump’s insatiable thirst for allegiance comes from the underlying knowledge that he isn’t deserving of anything but our greatest contempt. He’s driven to do the most contemptuous things because exacting loyalty no matter how vile his behaviors or his policies, making others forgo all their own integrity, reassures him that he is deserving of devotion even when he knows he’s deserving of none of it. 

If Trump was truly a confident man, he wouldn’t need others to prove their loyalty over and over again. If Trump trusted his own integrity, he wouldn’t need to test the integrity of others. If Trump were sure of his own intellect, he wouldn’t need to degrade the intellect of others. 

He’s a man in desperate search of validation because he above all others recognizes what a wretched individual he truly is and that terrifies him, especially as he approaches his own demise. He fears the dark abyss that is inevitably his future. Trump bullies out of fear of his own insignificance.

It did not surprise me to see the headlines declaring that Trump and Vance resorted to yelling at Zelenskyy during negotiations regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Andrew Jackson did the same to Pushmataha and other Choctaw leaders during negotiations for the Treaty of Doak’s Stand, in which Pushmataha was forced to sign over nearly 5 million acres of Choctaw territory in verdant Mississippi in exchange for property in less valuable territory of Arkansas. 

Pushmataha argued rightly that Jackson was trying to scam the Choctaw, offering them land that was nowhere near as fertile as that which Jackson was demanding they cede to the government. 

“I know the country well,” Pushmataha argued. “There are but few beavers and the honey and fruit are rare.” 

Shouting in response, Jackson threatened that if Pushmataha refused, the Choctaw nation would be wiped out. 

Slaughtered. 

Sound familiar? 

History warns men like Zelenskyy to not make deals with men like Trump. One doesn’t need to do a deep dive to understand that Jackson’s betrayal of Pushmataha did not serve the Choctaw Nation at all, not in any way.

Everything Trump does is for theatrics. He wanted the viral video of him yelling at Zelenskyy because he thinks it makes him look like Andrew Jackson forcing the leaders of the Choctaw nation to do his bidding. Zelenskyy would do well to study what became of the Choctaws following the Indian Removal Act, another one of Jackson’s betrayals. 

My sincere hope is that Zelenskyy will not negotiate with Trump at all. I hope that the isolation that MAGA seeks, MAGA gets. Trump has for all practical purposes aligned his party with the Axis of Evil. That Republicans go along with it is to the detriment of this nation.  

Trump will continue to rant, to bully, to pitch a hissy fit.

Meanwhile, my earnest hope is that our allies will unite in force against Trump, and deny every single deal he offers them because any deal Trump offers will be to their detriment. This country will survive the failures of every man and woman betraying our allies, but tragically, as we are witnessing, there will be untold suffering in the process. 

History will remember and hold them to account. 

Hopefully, God will too. 

Karen Spears Zacharias is the author of The Devil’s Pulpit (Mercer University Press).