I very much agree with the comparison to Warhol. Trump understands what Warhol knew -- that for a public, the crisp distinction between the real and the fake is itself an illusion. Trump wields this magic contradiction masterfully. The nation is under his spell, forever unbreakable despite the election outcome.
I'm wowed by that Trump quote in the Post interview, the one about how usually you have to die to be the subject of a photograph like that. Because it's true!! The pose he took was an invitation - a demand, really - to be *shot*, in both senses of the word. I don't think it's a surprise in 2024 that Trump's instinct is to be a showman - a symbol - but it's still amazing to me that he would indulge that instinct even in a context where doing so was so obviously suicidal.
There’s also a lot of talk about the Project 2025 stuff. I don’t get it. The Heritage Foundation has been around for a while now, always publishing similar policy documents, like any conservative think tank. Maybe it’s a policy priority of Trump’s, but how is this any different or threatening than any other presumably incoming administration? What will another term bring? More conservative judges and another corporate tax cut? Sounds like pretty standard Republican stuff
Very interesting -- particularly the young male assassin figure - I thought about Gavrilo Princip being only 19 when his act overturned the world order. I wonder if that was the most important assassination - I also wonder what were the most important misses - like Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg? He was rather advanced in age though for the profile, 36...
This right here: "His genius is for the all-American, for publicity, for having the native foresight, buried deep in his viscous core, to understand what he had to do. He had to perform."
Beautifully written, Ross
thank you!
I very much agree with the comparison to Warhol. Trump understands what Warhol knew -- that for a public, the crisp distinction between the real and the fake is itself an illusion. Trump wields this magic contradiction masterfully. The nation is under his spell, forever unbreakable despite the election outcome.
This is an eloquent essay that goes deeper and is more poetic than much of what I have read about last Saturday.
thank you Robert!
Could be the basis of the next "Libra."
Well done, sir.
thank you, I appreciate it
I'm wowed by that Trump quote in the Post interview, the one about how usually you have to die to be the subject of a photograph like that. Because it's true!! The pose he took was an invitation - a demand, really - to be *shot*, in both senses of the word. I don't think it's a surprise in 2024 that Trump's instinct is to be a showman - a symbol - but it's still amazing to me that he would indulge that instinct even in a context where doing so was so obviously suicidal.
There’s also a lot of talk about the Project 2025 stuff. I don’t get it. The Heritage Foundation has been around for a while now, always publishing similar policy documents, like any conservative think tank. Maybe it’s a policy priority of Trump’s, but how is this any different or threatening than any other presumably incoming administration? What will another term bring? More conservative judges and another corporate tax cut? Sounds like pretty standard Republican stuff
You're surprised that after calling fore violence and meanness for years, that someone took it back to you. What a shock.
Very interesting -- particularly the young male assassin figure - I thought about Gavrilo Princip being only 19 when his act overturned the world order. I wonder if that was the most important assassination - I also wonder what were the most important misses - like Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg? He was rather advanced in age though for the profile, 36...
This is quite simply the most incisive commentary on Trump I’ve ever read. Excellent work Ross.
This right here: "His genius is for the all-American, for publicity, for having the native foresight, buried deep in his viscous core, to understand what he had to do. He had to perform."
trump and biden both have to die
As we all must - including and perhaps especially you - as well
That is a fact of the universe, yes.