Tag Archives: greed

Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner

By Robin Bates | Published: July 31, 2024

Think of Trump as Chaucer’s Pardoner, a conman who thinks he can trick people he’s revealed his tricks to.

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Balzac’s Gobseck Understands Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: December 3, 2018

Balzac’s dazzling novella “Gobseck” finds the measure of the Trumps and other billionaires who sell out the nation.

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Implore His Aid, in His Decisions Rest

By Robin Bates | Published: July 30, 2016

The famous passage from Ecclesiastes–“All is vanity”–inspired a great poem by Samuel Johnson. Johnson’s final conclusion is that we can find happiness only in prayer.

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Dragon Billionaires Assaulting America

By Robin Bates | Published: September 19, 2012

Mitt Romney’s characterization of 47% of the American public as people who won’t take responsibility for their lives signals that he is a dragon in the Beowulf mode.

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