Trump's stash of Israeli artifacts is the latest in a long tradition of cultural cluelessness. 

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Over the centuries, many countries in what history considers to be the "Cradle of Civilization" have not only been plundered of their civilized philosophies and bookish sciences, but also of their physical, historic relics. Modern-day countries like Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Lebanon—the birth mothers of our own civilization—are often left without the objects that helped them create their early attempts at civilized life.

Just two years ago, more than 17,000 ancient relics—some dating to Mesopotamian times (8000-2000 B.C.)—were returned to their rightful owners, the peoples of modern-day Baghdad and Iraq. Those artifacts came from all over the world, including 5,000 pieces from Cornell University in New York state. That's basically one piece of history for every six residents of Ithaca, New York, ironically named for the famous Greek island on which the fated Greek mythological traveler and hero Odysseus was born.

Even Odysseus would be surprised to learn that the Greek statues of Venus de Milo and the Winged Goddess of Nike are two of the three greatest treasures in the Louvre, with the "Mona Lisa" being the third. None are French. Or that the Parthenon Marbles—stolen in the early 1800s from the Acropolis in Athens—now reside in London's British Museum, renamed as the Elgin Marbles. Bastards!

Pray that such misfortune is never cast at our own Statue of Liberty and that it never graces some casino front in Macao or becomes the new symbol of the LIV Golf Association.

What is it about the Levant area in the eastern Mediterranean region, plus ancient Greece and Rome, that Western countries are so enamored of to the point of ripping items out of the ground, claiming new ownership and planting them in some shadowy showroom? I could almost understand it if I thought that persons who visited those museums actually found a value other than monetary upon viewing them. I don't think they do, however.

I trust that when it comes to the impacts and meanings of ancient history, most U.S. citizens treat it just like they do modern history: They bury it, rewrite it, re-shape it and ignore it when it suits them.

For example, in 2017 then-President Donald Trump visited Pearl Harbor, upon which the Japanese Imperial Navy delivered their surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, and which is currently a memorial commemorating the 2,400 Americans killed there that day. Soon after arriving, Trump reportedly turned to his chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly (who previously lost his own son to war in Afghanistan), and asked, "Hey, John. What's this all about? What's this a tour of?"

No one ever accused Trump (who was born just one year after the war that begat the Pearl Harbor attack had come to an end) of being at the front of the class. We all know people who were poor history students. He might also be forgiven for having few friends as a child, thus no one to play toy soldiers with.

But, how could Trump have missed films like Tora! Tora! Tora!, Midway or Pearl Harbor? Has he ever been to the movies? I kinda doubt it, which makes me all the more incredulous over the big Trump news as I write this column on Tuesday, July 18.

No, I'm not at all surprised that he will again be indicted by a grand jury, this time for crimes related to Jan. 6, 2021's, "peaceful gathering" at our nation's Capitol. Trump has already proclaimed that he is a target of that investigation. I wouldn't be the least surprised if seditious conspiracy charges are presented to him and that his core followers will follow him over the next cliff just as they have multiple times over these past few years. Nothing new there for now.

However, it was also revealed today that Israel—the same Israel of which Trump often boasts, "No president has done more for Israel than I have"—is asking that "national treasure"-caliber religious items be returned to their rightful home. Where were said religious items found? At Mar-a-Lago, naturally—the home of Donald Trump.

Those antiquities—principally among them ancient Hanukkah oil lamps that were to be temporarily on display at the White House during the Trump presidency—somehow managed to find their way to a bathroom or some other sauntering place at Mar-a-Lago.

This is not out of character for Mr. Trump, perpetually careless as he is with items and thoughts that belong to other people. Who knows why they ended up at his home and, to be sure, no crime has been attested to their discovery. Nor has any malintent. It simply underscores that it is not uncommon for a person in these United States to have little or no regard for what people outside of the U.S. consider heritage or value.

In Utah, and all over the Mountain West, there is great opportunity for criminals to traffic in Indigenous peoples' relics, often of a religious nature. It's not unheard of for locals to get into a knot when such artifacts are discovered in the hands of a nefarious artifacts dealer, thus igniting some minor effort to "bring them home."

Unfortunately, those same locals are less sympathetic to the OG locals who actually created those items. Heck, in Southern Utah, certain men are revered for making their livelihood from stealing from Native American cultures. You could teach about it, but then you'd be attacked for being "woke" or for promoting Utah-level Critical Race Theory and making white denizens feel bad. Who wants that on their conscience?

Not me. I sympathize with Israel for wanting their items returned—and any others that belong in their home cupboards and not hidden in a cardboard box in south Florida. Give 'em back, because, in the words of Paul Simon, we "don't know much about history."

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