A New York Times article argues that Trump is using rhetorical flourishes like those that Marc Antony uses to defeat Brutus in Shakespeare’s play. His key strategy is casting himself as authentic against the inauthenticity of politicians.
Tag Archives: 2016 presidential election
How Trump Echoes Marc Antony
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Julius Caesar, Marc Antony, Rhetoric, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Trump as Melville’s Confidence Man
Why, in the words of Nicholas Kristof, do we think of Hillary as “a slippery, compulsive liar” and Donald Trump as “a gutsy truth-teller.” Herman Melville gives us a compelling explanation in “The Confidence Man.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Confidence Man, Donald Trump, Herman Melville, Hillary Clinton Comments closed
Is Trump Running a Red Queen Race?
Turning to Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” political scientist Jonathan Bernstein says that Donald Trump is in a “Red Queen Race,” forced to be ever more outrageous just to keep the spotlight on himself.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Alice through the Looking Glass, Donald Trump, Lewis Carroll, red queen race Comments closed
Chelsea’s Books and Female Ambition
Chelsea Clinton revealed that she talked to her parents about Madeleine L’Engle’s “Wrinkle in Time” and watched the mini-series of “Pride and Prejudice” with her mother. Both feature strong heroines but also show these heroines to be confined to traditionally female roles.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jane Austen, Madeleine L'Engle, Pride and Prejudice, Wrinkle in Time Comments closed
Workers of the World, Read! (Then Unite)
A “Washington Post” article argues that the arts are key in counteracting economic injustice. While this is true, the arts must be accompanied by smart politics to achieve this end.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Age of Innocence, Defense of Poesy, Donald Trump, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Great Gatsby, politics, Sir Philip Sidney Comments closed
Trump’s Game of Thrones Invasion
Now that the Democrats have a presumptive nominee, the question is whether Bernie Sanders’s supporters will join Hillary. A “Game of Thrones” analogy points out what is at stake.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin, Hillary Clinton Comments closed
Trump Sees Garbage and Rocks in Foes
I’ve compared Donald Trump to Murakami’s villain in “Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” Today I dig deeper into the comparison.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Haruki Murakami, politics, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Trump as a Haruki Murakami Villain
Donald Trump has an uncanny resemblance to the villain Noboru Wataya in Haruki Murakami’s masterful novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” (1998). Both have a similar hollowness and both have the ability to separate people from the higher instincts and put them in thrall to their lower ones.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, GOP, Haruki Murakami, Jonathan Bernstein, politics, racism, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, xenophobia Comments closed
Pope Foresaw GOP Capitulation to Trump
Alexander Pope warned, in “Essay on Man” that vice loses its ugliness once it becomes familiar. This is the danger we face with the normalization of Donald Trump.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Old Whorehouse", Alexander Pope, Donald Trump, Essay on Man, Mary Oliver, politics Comments closed
