Tag Archives: Donald Trump

America, Racist and Revolutionary Both

By Robin Bates | Published: January 15, 2018

In America, Jamaican immigrant Claude McKay reminds America what makes it great, even as he exposes its dark side.

By Robin Bates | Published: January 9, 2018

Book IV of Pope’s “Dunciad” captures the triumph of Trumpism. In Pope’s poem, the goddess dullness (stupidity) has conquered the world.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alexander Pope, Dunciad, GOP | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: January 8, 2018

No president has been so adverse to reading as Donald Trump, whose contempt for books conjures up images of “Fahrenheit 451.”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2017

This blog’s “post of the year” compared the GOP’s embrace of Trump to Faustus selling his soul to the devil.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 28, 2017

New York columnist Roger Cohen suggests two poems for resisting Trumpism: “if” and “Harlem.”

By Robin Bates | Published: December 22, 2017

“The Madwoman of Chaillot’s” caricature is only to apt of a political party that would pass such a regressive tax plan.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 18, 2017

Melville is famous for exploiting and then casting off advisors. Perhaps they resemble the pilot fish in Herman Melville’s “The Maldive Shark.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Herman Melville | Comments closed

By Robin Bates | Published: December 15, 2017

Trump and Sir Gawain respond in opposite ways to shame: Trump counterattacks by acting shamelessly while Gawain lets it tie him into knots.

By Robin Bates | Published: December 12, 2017

Trump’s disastrous Jerusalem decision may well trace back to the “Left Behind” series, which is popular with his diehard Christian base.