Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Newsom, Swift, and Parody’s Power

By Robin Bates | Published: August 27, 2025

Gavin Newsom’s parodies of Donald Trump tweets are reminiscent of Swift’s attack on an 18th century fortuneteller in “The Bickerstaff Papers.”

By Robin Bates | Published: August 26, 2025

Browning’s poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” captures the fatalism that can come upon countries facing rising fascism.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 24, 2025

Fascism experts are describing Trump’s politics as sadopopulism. The Marquis de Sade provides some insights into the dynamics at play.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 17, 2025

Trump’s vulgar tarting up of the White House brings to mind Mrs. Elton’s lack of class in “Emma.” And then there’s his resemblance to Ozymandias.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2025

William Krystol imagines J.D. Vance as Cassius to Trump’s Caesar, secretly stabbing the president in the back.

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2025

Trump has shot the messenger in firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Plutarch, Euripides and Shakespeare have scenes with this dynamic.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 29, 2025

Trump’s supporters believe he has the Midas touch. Have they read the story?

By Robin Bates | Published: July 24, 2025

Hammett’s “Red Harvest” is an autocratic fantasy that has little basis in reality—but it still guides some people who support Trump.

By Robin Bates | Published: July 21, 2025

In “Mysterious Stranger,” Twain calls upon us to laugh at autocrats—even when it gets us in trouble, as it did Late Night’s Stephen Colbert.