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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump the Bully: I found the literary character the president resembles most
Writers have fracked the literary canon in search of a character who best resembles Donald Trump. Is he Richard III? Nah, Richard III was witty and Trump isnt. Is he Willie Stark, the protagonist from Robert Penn Warrens All the Kings Men? Theres a passing resemblance, but Willie was a drunk and a life-long pol; Trumps a teetotaler in office for the first time. Lonesome Rhodes from A Face in the Crowd? The TV demagoguery fits, but Rhodes was never a candidate. Bane from The Dark Knight Rises, whom Trump quoted in his inaugural speech? Or is Trump an amalgam of characters out of Mark Twain?
My explorations of the canon for Trumps literary antecedent sent me back to one of my favorite writers, novelist Stanley Elkin. Elkins short story A Poetics for Bullies from the April 1965 issue of Esquire, which also appeared in his Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers collection, anticipated the irritable mental gestures (to pinch a phrase) that define the 45th president of the United States. The storys protagonist is a high-schooler, perhaps an older middle-schooler, who goes by the name of Push the Bully, who introduces himself in the first paragraph thusly:
Im Push the bully, and what I hate are new kids and sissies, dumb kids and smart, rich kids, poor kids, kids who wear glasses, talk funny, show off, patrol boys and wise guys and kids who pass pencils and water the plantsand cripples, especially cripples. I love nobody loved.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/trump-the-bully-214698
My explorations of the canon for Trumps literary antecedent sent me back to one of my favorite writers, novelist Stanley Elkin. Elkins short story A Poetics for Bullies from the April 1965 issue of Esquire, which also appeared in his Criers and Kibitzers, Kibitzers and Criers collection, anticipated the irritable mental gestures (to pinch a phrase) that define the 45th president of the United States. The storys protagonist is a high-schooler, perhaps an older middle-schooler, who goes by the name of Push the Bully, who introduces himself in the first paragraph thusly:
Im Push the bully, and what I hate are new kids and sissies, dumb kids and smart, rich kids, poor kids, kids who wear glasses, talk funny, show off, patrol boys and wise guys and kids who pass pencils and water the plantsand cripples, especially cripples. I love nobody loved.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/trump-the-bully-214698
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Trump the Bully: I found the literary character the president resembles most (Original Post)
DemocratSinceBirth
Jan 2017
OP
eleny
(46,166 posts)1. I still want this to end with The Conald draped and weeping over an applause machine
But Push is our president now, for sure.
Dave Starsky
(5,914 posts)2. I think he reminds me of AM
The psychotic human-loathing computer from Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)3. Falstaff from Henry IV, Part I.
That's my pick:
"Thou art so fat-witted, with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldst truly know."
Hugin
(33,150 posts)6. This is one of those rare times that having a classical education pays off.
Good choice.
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)7. Oh, it always pays off, but usually not financially.
Money isn't everything.
BTW, Henry IV, Part 1 is my favorite Shakespeare play. Always has been The dialog between Hal and Falstaff is priceless and peeing-yourself funny.
Runningdawg
(4,517 posts)4. He is the real-life Cartman
Respect my authoriti!
Hugin
(33,150 posts)5. Old Yeller...
Last edited Sat Jan 28, 2017, 04:37 PM - Edit history (1)
Just after she was bitten by the rabid wolf and had to be put down by Travis.
Seems to be where we're at... Currently.
TrekLuver
(2,573 posts)8. Friggin Clockwork Orange....Pun Intended.