These days it is impossible to read newspapers, listen to
the radio, or watch television news without being bombarded to the latest about
the American election. Certainly Trump’s
misogynistic, racist, and xenophobic comments can’t be avoided.
The British newspaper, The Guardian, recently featured an
article in which a dozen writers recommend books which might help people
understand the U. S. Election. The
article has some wonderful commentary on the Republican candidate:
“Trump is not charismatic. He is artless and politically
clumsy, and wears his egotism on his sleeve. Nor is Trump mesmerising, except
in the sense that a train wreck is mesmerising. . . . Trump can’t string a
single grammatical sentence together, and at the podium he is lumpen and
awkward.” (Lionel Shriver)
“There is something called historical truth. Trump is not post-factual. He’s non-factual.”
(David Hare)
“A property developer who made a fortune from luxury condos
and golf courses, Trump now presents himself as the voice of the silenced white
masses.” (Rich Benjamin)
“The idea that someone in service to the American worship of
wealth could through sheer force of will drive himself near to the top is at
the heart of Fitzgerald’s morality play [The Great Gatsby]. The world that he
envisioned was one in which character was increasingly sacrificed for wealth –
and that is the world that Trump embodies, and which he would like to
rule.” (Sarah Churchill)
Like the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, Trump “blinds voters
with sham opulence, terrifies them into submission, and promises to make their
wishes come true.” (Maya Jasanoff)
Read the entire article:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-understanding-american-phenomenon.
And then I came across an article from Poets & Writers
magazine in which 50 American poets and writers offer advice to the next
American president:
http://www.pw.org/content/dear_president_a_message_for_the_next_commander_in_chief_from_fifty_american_poets_and_write. Interestingly, over a dozen of those writers
address a female president! That's probably just as well because Trump doesn't read; he has been quoted as saying he has no time to read. "I never have," he has said.
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