Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Revisiting “It Can’t Happen Here”

By Robin Bates | Published: February 27, 2024

Mother Jones columnist David Corn finds increasing relevance in Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 novel “It Can’t Happen Here.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 1984, Fascism, George Orwell, It Can't Happen Here, MAGA, Sinclair Lewis | Comments closed

Conquering the Darkness Within

By Robin Bates | Published: February 22, 2024

Pratchett’s novel “Thud!” is a plea to find inner strength rather than yielding to blind rage.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Buch-Cheney administration, Islamic fundamentalism, Terrorism, Terry Pratchett, Thud!, Tom Nichols | Comments closed

Gandalf and Saruman, Biden and Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: February 19, 2024

The both-siderism that equates Trump with Biden would probably equate Saruman with Gandalf.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged both-siderism, Election 2024, J.R.R. Tolkien, Joe Biden, Lord of the Rings | Comments closed

Trump’s Love Test Resembles Lear’s

By Robin Bates | Published: February 8, 2024

Trump, like Lear, sets up love tests for followers. South Carolina Sen. Scott recently “passed” in the same way that Goneril and Regan pass.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged King Lear, love tests, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Taylor Swift as Snow White

By Robin Bates | Published: January 30, 2024

Trump’s jealousy of Taylor Swift resembles that of the evil queen in “Snow White.” Anne Sexton’s own Snow White poem explains how jealousy works.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", Anne Sexton, Grimm Brothers, Jealousy, Taylor Swift | Comments closed

Trump as Captain Queeg

By Robin Bates | Published: January 29, 2024

Donald Trump as Captain Queeg and the captain in Eggers’s novel “Captain and the Glory.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Andrew Cuomo, Caine Mutiny, Captain and the Glory, COVID-19, David Eggers, Herman Wouk, Maureen Dowd, Mutiny on the Bounty., New Hampshire primary | Comments closed

You, Governor Haley, Are No Beowulf

By Robin Bates | Published: January 28, 2024

Trump may be a Grendel but unfortunately Nikki Haley is no Beowulf.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Beowulf, bullies, New Hampshire primary, Nikki Haley | Comments closed

Will AI Be Used To Suppress Votes?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2024

In 1973, an Angela Carter predicted the power of unreality to take over our lives. In 2024, AI may be proving her right.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged AI, Angela Carter, elections, Fox News, Infernal Desire Machines of Dr. Hoffman, Trumpism, vote suppression | Comments closed

The Dream of Acting with Impunity

By Robin Bates | Published: January 18, 2024

In thinking he can act with total impunity, Trump echoes H.G. Wells’s Invisible Man.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged acting with impunity, H.G. Wells, Invisible Man, presidential immunity | Comments closed