Many wonder whether spite drives many of Donald Trump’s policy decisions. If so, he has good company in Milton’s Satan, who is defined by spite.
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Tag Archives: Donald Trump
Masters of Spite: Satan and Trump
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged John Milton, Paradise Lost, politics, revenge, spite Comments closed
Sleeping Bears?! What Would Papa Say?
The GOP’s decision to allow the hunting of hibernating bears and denned wolf cubs raises issues of wannabe machismo that one can find in Ernest Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Ernest Hemingway, hunting, machismo, Short HappyLife of Francis Macomber, wildlife protection laws Comments closed
On Toddlers, Terrorists, and Loaded Guns
Among the ways that Donald Trump is repaying the NRA for its support is reversing an Obama executive decision designed to keep guns out of the hands of mentally handicapped persons. Hilaire Belloc would have something to say about America’s casual acceptance of guns.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Algernon Who Played with a Loaded Gun", gun control, gun deaths, Hilaire Belloc, NRA Comments closed
A Literary History of the Insult “Cuck”
“Cuck” has become a favorite insult amongst alt-right types. In today’s post I trace literary references to cuckolds going back to Chaucer.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged alt-right, As You Like It, Canterbury Tales, Christopher Marlowe, Country Wife, cuckold jokes, cuckolds, cuckservatives, Doctor Faustus, Geoffrey Chaucer, Miller's Tale, Othello, William Shakespeare, William Wycherley Comments closed
Calling Out Trump’s Assault on Nature
Look to Euripides’s “The Bacchae” if you want to know how a divine seer would call out Donald Trump for his assault on the environment. Teiresias says that Pentheus is “possessed by madness so perverse, no drug can cure.”
A Fascist Novel & Immigration Policy
Raspail’s “Camp of Saints” is currently influencing White House policy in ways similar to how “Atlas Shrugged” has guided Speaker Paul Ryan. The novel needs to be taken seriously.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand, Camp of Saints, Fascism, German Freikorps soldiers, immigration policy, Jean Raspail, Steve Bannon Comments closed
Swift’s April Fools Broomstick Joke
The all time master of the April Fools joke was Jonathan Swift. Here’s one of his lesser ones where he draws deep philosophical by meditating on a broomstick.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged April Fools, fake news, Jonathan Swift, Meditation on a Broomstick Comments closed
Milton Understood Ambitious Con Men
A recent “Atlantic” article argues that Milton’s Satan is quintessentially American, with the archangel as both rugged individualist and honey-tongued con man. Sounds a lot like our current president.