Returning home after 7 weeks abroad feels like Frodo returning home to a devastated Shire.
Tag Archives: Steve Bannon
Returning to a Desecrated Shire
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Election 2024, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Vladimir Putin Comments closed
Trump’s Lean and Hungry Plotters
There is a tide in the affairs of Trump supporters that, taken at the flood, will lead them to do anything to take power. “Julius Caesar” is warning us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged coup attempts, crossing the Rubicon, Donald Trump, January 6 insurrection, Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare Comments closed
Dryden on Charismatic Demagogues
In Dryden’s Absalom, we see a politician who has Donald Trump’s ability to sway a crowd.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Absalom and Architophel, coup attempt, Donald Trump, GOP, January 6 insurrection, John Dryden Comments closed
Is Bannon a Thomas Cromwell?
Steve Bannon may see himself as the protagonist of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, but there’s one lesson from Henry VIII’s advisor that he ignored.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Bring Out the Bodies, Hilary Mantel, Man for All Seasons, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas More, Wolf Hall Comments closed
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, Donald Trump, Fascism, German Freikorps soldiers, immigration policy, Jean Raspail Comments closed
Bannon: Deconstructionist or Con Man?
When Steve Bannon said that he plans to “deconstruct” the administrative state, it sounds vaguely impressive but maybe just be a pretentious way of saying that he’s planning on gumming up the works. A discussion of deconstruction is in order.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged deconstruction, Donald Trump, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Jane Austen, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Pride and Prejudice, Satan Comments closed
Hughes Dreams the Real American Dream
Langston Hughes’s “Let America Be America Again” is a powerful riposte to President Steven Bannon and Co.’s “Make America Great Again.” Poems like this one can play an important role in resistance against the Trump administration.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Let America Be America Again", Donald Trump, Langston Hughes, Make America Great Again, Michael Anton, racism, Trumpist, white nationalism Comments closed
Trump’s Crusoe Wall Goes Up in Airports
This past weekend so a flurry of illegal and unconstitutional executive orders that created chaos in airports and elsewhere as travelers from certain countries found themselves in detention. Defoe captures versions of such dramas in “Robinson Crusoe.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Daniel Defoe, Donald Trump, executive orders, immigrants, Robinson Crusoe Comments closed
All Must Love the Human Form
In “The Divine Image,” Blake gives us a poem for our time, a call to pray for mercy, pity, peace, and love and to recognize the human form in diversity. In “The Human Abstract” he adds that prayer is not enough. It must be accompanied by human justice.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Divine Image", "Human Abstract", Abortion, analysis, Christian Right, classism, homophobia, Islamophobia, Jeff Sessions, Michael Flynn, politics, racism, William Blake Comments closed
