Fielding’s jabs at quack doctors in “Tom Jones” are suddenly relevant again given Trump’s approach to the pandemic.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter
Tag Archives: Donald Trump
Scott Atlas, a Fieldingesque Quack
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Center for Disease Control, COVID-19, Deborah Birx, Henry Fielding, quack doctors, Robert Redfield, Scott Atlas, Tom Jones Comments closed
Trump as a Gibbering Ice Giant
For those expecting a coherent debate out of Trump tonight, check out the ice giant Nimrod in Dante’s “Inferno.” We can expect the same incoherence from the president.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2020 election, Dante, Inferno, Nimrod, Tower of Babel Comments closed
Scott Atlas’s Miracle Covid Cure
Radiologist Scott Atlas has Trump’s ear about Covid, with disastrous implications. Perhaps he thinks he’s Charles Atlas or the Atlas in “Atlas Shrugged.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Bull", "Elegy Charles Atlas", Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, COVID-19, Jack Driscoll, Ralph Hodgson, Scott Atlas Comments closed
Biden-Trump Invites Dickens Comparisons
If one thinks of the 2020 election in Dickensian terms, several novels come to mind.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 2020 election, Charles Dickens, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Hard Times, Joe Biden, Martin Chuzzlewit, Oliver Twist Comments closed
Berryman Predicted Trump’s America
Berryman’s “Dream Song 46” is an unsettling description of today’s America.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Dream Song 46", Gretchen Whitmer, Jesus, John Berryman Comments closed
Viewing Trump from Afar
Trump has been diminished by his run-in with Covid, reminding me of various characters who suddenly become small: Carroll’s Red Queen, Baum’s Wizard, and the usurper in Craik’s “Little Lame Prince.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Covid, Lewis Carroll, Little Lame Prince, Maria Mulock Craik, Through the Looking Glass Comments closed
Trump & Covid: Tragedy or Farce?
Was the Rose Garden event for Trump’s new SCOTUS pick–which became a Covid superspreader event–a Shakespearean tragedy? How about a farce?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged COVID-19, Game of Thrones, George Martin, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Masque of the Red Death, Richard III, Sophocles, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Pratchett’s Solution to Police Violence
Wednesday That Breonna Taylor’s family is receiving a $12 million settlement and the promise of police reform following her wrongful shooting by Louisville police is in part a testimony to Black Lives Matters protests and other instances of public pressure. Without them, we might not even know her name. With that in mind, I return […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged police brutality, Terry Pratchett, Thud!, violence Comments closed
How to Overlook 200,000 Deaths
Donne’s “Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” captures why America might be overlooking 200,000 deaths at the moment.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", climate change, Covid deaths, COVID-19, John Donne Comments closed