Tag Archives: 2016 presidential election

How Trump Echoes Marc Antony

By Robin Bates | Published: August 29, 2016

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.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Trump as Melville’s Confidence Man

By Robin Bates | Published: August 15, 2016

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 , , , | Comments closed

Is Trump Running a Red Queen Race?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 2, 2016

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 , , , | Comments closed

Chelsea’s Books and Female Ambition

By Robin Bates | Published: July 31, 2016

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 , , , , , | Comments closed

Workers of the World, Read! (Then Unite)

By Robin Bates | Published: June 29, 2016

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 , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Trump’s Game of Thrones Invasion

By Robin Bates | Published: June 9, 2016

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 , , , , | Comments closed

Trump Sees Garbage and Rocks in Foes

By Robin Bates | Published: May 31, 2016

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 , , , | Comments closed

Trump as a Haruki Murakami Villain

By Robin Bates | Published: May 30, 2016

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 , , , , , , , | Comments closed

Pope Foresaw GOP Capitulation to Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: May 24, 2016

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 , , , , , | Comments closed