The Blatant Faustian Overtones of the Current Dealmaking Obsession

Present-day politics strikes me as a nauseating rendition of Let’s Make a Deal, the droll American game show hosted by Monty Hall in the sixties and seventies.

The few headlines I do encounter tend to center on pushing for endless deals, courtesy of the Dealmaker President, who even wrote a book about the deal as an art form.

Deal this. Deal that. We’re close to a deal. I’m going to bomb them into a deal. They want a deal. They need a deal. One way or another, they’re going to make a deal, or else it’s no deal. Either way, it’s a big deal.

Dealmaking has become a supreme virtue.

So much so that barely any have noticed or commented on the sinister aspects behind the motivations to make pacts.

No mention of trading moral or spiritual values—such as souls, integrity, or core principles—for temporary, this-worldly benefits like increased wealth and power.

That’s the real deal. The only deal. And I suppose it helps explain why the dealmaking mantra has enraptured and enthused so many.
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Our world echoes a quote by Lawrence Hill: 'Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all.'