Trump versus Mohammed
October 11, 2026
by William P. Meyers

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Lives Parallel or Skewed?

President Donald Trump likes to boast. He is the best president ever, he is the smartest businessman, he [deleted on the advice of our lawyers]. Who, then, to compare him to? One person worthy of comparison is Mohammed [also sp. Muhammad], aka The Prophet, who lived from 570 to 632 AD.

Let's start with some trivia. Who had more wives? On the surface the answer is easy: Mohammed. The founder of Islam had thirteen (13) wives. He had just one wife, Khadija, until she died in 619, the rest came after. Donald Trump has only had 3 wives, though he may not be done yet. Yet the comparison is not quite fare. Mohammed could legally have as many wives as he wanted. Donald has been unfairly tethered to the U.S. system of legal monogamy. Perhaps we should instead compare how many women the two men had sexual relations with. We don't know if Mohammed fooled around outside his marriages, but Donald Trump claims he did. A lot. No specific number given, so it could be just a boast. Interesting, but let's move on.

Who went further in life? Again, that is a bit subjective, plus Trump is still alive. Mohammed was born when orthodox Christianity had come to dominate the Mediterranean area of the world. By tradition Mohammed's father died and mother both died in his childhood, leaving him an orphan cared for by various relatives. At a young age he began working for an uncle in caravans trading between Mecca and Syria. At the age of 25 he married a wealthy, 40 year old businesswoman, Khadija. When Mohammed was about 40 years old he began to have visions of the angel Gabriel, a transcendental presence rather than Jewish and Christian humanish versions.

Donald Trump was not an orphan. He was born shortly after World War II ended, on June 14, 1946. He was the fourth child of Fred Trump, who had started off at the bottom of the home construction industry, but by 1946 was one of the top real estate owners and builders in the nation. Donald was sent to elite schools, eventually attending Fordam University and graduating from U. of Pennsylvania in 1968. He continued to work in the family business, becoming President in 1971, when Fred became Chairman. In 1982 Forbes listed Fred as one of the 400 richest Americans. He died in 1999; Donald ended up controlling the business.

So which is greater, the orphan who marries a rich businesswoman, or the son who takes over a rich father's business. Of course the world was much poorer around 600, so in absolute terms Donald did better.

Just as Donald Trump would not be satisfied building apartments, hotels, office buildings, and casinos, Mohammed was not content to just share his new religious views, which included he was the true messenger of God, or Allah. After sharing his revelations with family and friends, he began preaching to the public around 613 AD. It took him quite a few years to convert the local Arabs, and he switched to leading armies of followers around 624. Only in 630 was he able to conquer Mecca. After he died in 632, his followers conquered the rest of Arabia and later defeated the Christian kingdoms to conquer the Near East, North Africa, and even most of Spain.

Donald Trump became a TV actor (in addition to running his real estate business) in 2004, playing a successful, competent executive who delighted in firing underlings until 2015. Then he announced he would run for the Republican Party nomination for President. To the surprise of most professional politicians who won the nomination and then beat Hillary Clinton to become President. Trump received less popular votes than Clinton, but because the Electoral College overweighs votes in states where few people can stand living, Trump won on the College by 304 to 227.

After a frustrating first term in office, in which sane Republicans pushed back against many Trump initiatives, Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020, to Joe Biden. Then after Joe proved he was senile during a national televised debate in 2024, Trump was able to defeat the Democrats' replacement candidate, Kamala Harris, by a significant margin.

Writing in 2026, the nation has turned into a mess as Trump has himself shown many symptoms of senility and dementia. His attempts to conquer the world, including Canada, Cuba, Iran, Greenland, and Iceland, have not gone well.

Yet it is too early to tell. Trump has a cult, usually referred to as MAGA (Make America Great Again). It is possible that after his presidency ends, perhaps after his life ends, his cult will mythologize him. They may repeat his words as if they were true, they may say he walked on water over the reflecting pond, that he saved America from invasion, that he rose up physically into heaven, or make up things I can't even imagine at this point.

So far, I would say Mohammed is greater than Trump.

But a hundred years from now, five hundred year from now, a millennia from now, who knows?

Perhaps Trump will have physically cleaned out a real swamp like Hercules cleaned out the Augean stables.