Trump Meets Shakespeare
Could a Little Big Man thunder to “Make America Great Again”?
William Shakespeare in “Measure for Measure” spoke of the allure and corruption of power in the innocent and virtuous character of Isabella:
“Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ne’er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder;
Nothing but thunder! Merciful Heaven,
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle: but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.”
Donald Trump has been thundering in his splendiferous ignorance before the American public for months, making some weep and others laugh till they bust their spleens.
He has thundered his xenophobia, thundered his sexism and chauvinism, thundered his racism, thundered his egotism and jingoism and thundered his intolerance and prejudice, all in the name of rebellion against “political correctness”, “straight talk”, and telling “what the people are really thinking”.
Merciful Heaven! Nothing but cacophonous thunder!
Basking in the media sun, Trump has played such fantastic tricks before the American public, many in America and throughout the world are wondering if he is just a buffoon or an insufferable media jester.
Most assured of his own ignorance, Trump has played out his role on the stage of American politics like an angry ape, insulting this individual and heaping scorn on that group.
Bombastic Trump’s “sharp and sulphurous” words have “Split’st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak” of party politics and made a travesty of American democracy.
Drest in a little brief publicity, Trump, the man, the proud (arrogant) man, trumpeted, “I am very rich. I have total net worth of $8.73bn. I’m not doing that to brag. I’m doing that to show that’s the kind of thinking our country needs.”
In other words, our country needs a plutocracy, not a democracy.
Here is Trumpology 2016
Trumplomacy:
When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems… [They are sending us] rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
The U.S. will invite El Chapo, the Mexican drug lord who just escaped prison, to become a U.S. citizen because our “leaders” can’t say no!
When was the last time anybody saw us beating, let’s say, China in a trade deal? They kill us. I beat China all the time. All the time.
I’m not saying they’re stupid. I like China. I just sold an apartment for $15 million. Am I supposed to dislike ‘em?
[On exporting goods to China] Listen you m—–f——, we’re going to tax you 25 percent!
I will stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons. And we won’t be using a man like Secretary Kerry that has absolutely no concept of negotiation, who’s making a horrible and laughable deal.
Trumponomics:
I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created.
I don’t need anybody’s money. I’m really rich… [T]hat’s the kind of thinking you need for this country.
[Americans] can’t get jobs, because there are no jobs, because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs… I’ll bring back our jobs from China, from Mexico, from Japan, from so many places . . . and I’ll bring back our money.
[On U.S. Government’s unemployment statistics]: Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don’t believe the 5.6. Don’t believe it.
If you start adding it up, our real unemployment rate is 42%. We have a lot of room. We have a lot of people who want to work. And I also want people of great talent to come to this country, to Silicon Valley for engineers. If you go to Harvard and you graduate number one in your class, and you’re from China, they send you home, you can’t get back into the country.
Trumpsexism (I did not say misogyny):
While @BetteMidler is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.
[Angelina Jolie’s] been with so many guys she makes me look like a baby… And, I just don’t even find her attractive.
Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting — both inside and out. If you take a look at her, she’s a slob. If I were running The View, I’d fire Rosie. I’d look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, ‘Rosie, you’re fired.’… Rosie is a very unattractive person, both inside and out.
[Slamming Megyn Kelly for questioning him at the first Republican debates]: You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.
[On Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina] Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!
I don’t think Ivanka would do that [pose for Playboy], although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.
Trump-spiracy:
[Obama’s] grandmother in Kenya said, ‘Oh no, he was born in Kenya and I was there and I witnessed the birth.’ Now, she’s on tape and I think that tape’s going to be produced fairly soon …The grandmother in Kenya is on record saying he was born in Kenya.
Islamic terrorism is eating large portions of the Mideast. They’ve become rich. I’m in competition with them.
TrumpCare [replacing Obamacare]:
We have a 5 billion dollar website. I have so many websites … I hire people. They do a website. It costs me three dollars.
Trump-the-antihero:
[Sen. John McCain] is not a war hero. He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured, OK, I hate to tell you.
Trump the Plumber (Watch out Joe the Plumber!):
Some of the candidates, they went in and didn’t know the air conditioner didn’t work and sweated like dogs, and they didn’t know the room was too big because they didn’t have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?
Name is Trump, Not Chump:
“People say, Mr. Trump, you’re not a nice person. But actually I am.”
[Responding to NBA’s all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jababar]:
Dear Kareem,
Now I know why the press always treated you so badly — they couldn’t stand you. The fact is that you don’t have a clue about life and what has to be done to make America great again!
Best wishes,
Donald Trump
Trump-twit-tery:
My twitter has become so powerful that I can actually make my enemies tell the truth.
Trump I-am-not-a-plagiarist:
“I think I’d match up great. I’m a job producer. I’ve had a great record. I haven’t been involved in plagiarism. I think I would match up very well against Biden.”
“Let’s Make America Great Again.”
In Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”, the melancholy traveler Jaques protests:
A fool, a fool, I met a fool i’ th’ forest,
A motley fool. A miserable world!
As I do live by food, I met a fool,|
Who laid him down and basked him in the sun
And railed on Lady Fortune in good terms,
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
“Good morrow, fool,” quoth I. “No, sir,” quoth he,
“Call me not ‘fool’ till heaven hath sent me fortune.
We have met a fool, a motley fool, a fool basking in media sun of American politics.
But Pogo spoke the truth (with a slight paraphrasing), “We have met the fool, the motley fool and he is us.”
“Good morrow, fool!” Expect not heaven to send you fortune or learned statesmen.
Prepare to receive more motley fools dressed up as elephants and donkeys.
Then Jaques realizes:
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances…
Well, the media, or as Spiro Agnew might have called them, the “nattering nabobs of negativism” have offered Donald Trump a stage to act out his antics like an angry ape. (I did not say rogue elephant.)
So the question for Trump is not to play or not to play his role as the Republican presidential candidate.
The question is whether a little big man can thunder, blunder and trumpet his way to Make America Great Again.
Or, will he quietly exit the stage and ensconce himself in the dustbin of American history to the relief of all the motley fools?
