Trump to MAGA
Okay, so buckle your seat-belts ladies and gentlemen (as Bette Davis said in the movie All About Eve), because THIS one (unless you’re a TOTAL TV, drama AND movie freak) is DEFINITELY going to be a bumpy ride: because to use a similar analogy to Confessions and Father Knows Best (TV), they all, either by similarity or contrast, have a striking similarity to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (drama AND movie).
And how’s that you ask?
“Schadenfeude pour marriages miserables” (schadenfreude for miserable marriages) – a marriage made in the Pinterlands of Osborne and Albee (all famous playwrights of marital discord). Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Father Knows Best of course by contrast. While Donnie and MAGA, George and Martha, by delusion – now morph into Jim and Margaret Anderson (because they had real kids—Albee’s George and Martha only had a pretend one [why—we don’t have a clue], but George broke the rules and polished the little blighter off in the last act [which gave both of them a certain resolve (sort’ve like the child sacrifice in “Desire Under the Elms” [albeit, this time the real thing] because who got darker than O’Neill when it came to kids [not to mention his own (the old boozer), so what did you expect?])]). Now Homer’d be pushing it a little too far (the more recent one this time [TV] because we’ve been making references to a lot of Homers here and it can get a little confusing—and even though Homer Simpson would make a good analogy, Jim and Margaret’s boy didn’t have a head like the end of a Roman battering ram [which may raise all sorts of questions from Child Welfare as to how it got that way] and we’ve already made references to two infanticides –one real—one pretend [and he wasn’t really an infant] so why tempt America’s penchant for anymore violence when it already has more mass killings than it can handle which was the reason for the Flood in the first place, wasn’t it, Travis Bickle? [movie] “I am going to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of them.” [Bible – God to man]—“So don’t be gloomy. After all it’s not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love—they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.” [movie – Orson Welles to Joseph Cotton in The Third Man]).
Okay, since now that I’ve TOTALLY confused you with all these literary references – NOW let us venture into Trumplandia and connect the dots. Because it’s ALL Sort’ve like an inverted Disneyland Magical Kingdom – delusions and all – MAGA and the Monster Mash, TRUMPTY-DUMPTY and all the King’s men, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Festus and Carbuncle (remember Mad Magazine), Laurel and Hardy, and NOW we’ve got Donnie and MAGA (whom we have to view as one person since to differ is to depart with dire consequences).
So, if you’ve been following this Theater of the Absurd and want to throw in what has been considered the greatest play of the 20th Century, Waiting for Godot, according to many and Long Day’s Journey into Night, according to others – then you too can maybe see the futility of God-etc ever coming or the Long Day’s Journey into anything but night.
But I’m an atheist, remember? And even though Donnie and his ilk claim they aren’t, they act as though they were. All of which I get into in my Donnie Diaries and if you want to get the OTHER point of view, read Confessions. But the one thing we agree on is even though truth, if it ever can be determined (even if existentialist playwrights like Sartre and Beckett say it can’t), is still worth seeking.
For example, both our books are handled by the same person. And you wanna know what her moniker is? Lightfinder! Seriously. And she listens to BOTH OF US! Can ya imagine! Me, I’d drive anybody crazy and as for Augie? I’m STILL trying to figure out what he’s talking about when he gets into his really deep theological discussions.
But then again Confessions and Saint, let alone Augustine, should be a clue here. But in any event, we all agree on one thing:
Truth.
Oh, not necessarily the SAME truth. But that’s the whole point. We don’t. But we all agree it’s not only of the utmost importance, but unless we can all be truly free to engage in the market place of ideas WITHOUT oppression – THIS COUNTRY – WHICH AT ONE TIME STOOD FOR JUST THAT – TRUTH – hasn’t got a chance.
Dr. Phineas T. Redwell