Following on from my blog Electioneering and Chewing Gum in Faces of London, I am very pleased to welcome guest blogger Stephanie Sprague, Journalist, Economics Reporter and Editor from the USA. After Reuters and CNN, Stephanie ran the Need to Know News Agency in London for thirteen years before moving back to New York. Illustrated with her own art, Stephanie's blog looks deeper into Trump-ism: the incoherent sound of populist nationalism blaring forth from parts of America in the voice of billionaire property developer, Donald Trump.
When I did this collage back in July (which in today’s news cycle is practically ancient history), I did it with urgency. I truly thought that Trump’s candidacy would be a flash-in-the-pan; the fifteen minutes of political fame for this mogul/reality star possibly a little bored and looking for amusing ways to keep himself in the public eye in between TV shows and property deals.
But here we are, in September, and the Trumpster is still going strong. I had an inkling that I may have been off in my initial assessment when I travelled to the Midwest later in the summer and saw homemade, hand-painted signs of ‘Trump” scattered on lawns in Illinois and Michigan. I also got an earful from supporters, who are vehement in their belief that he is for the middle class. There really are a few people taking him seriously!
Needless to say, I don’t. Instead, he reminds me of a combination of a duck and a Roman Emperor -- everything from the swirly wanna-be ducktail on the top of his head, the sweeping arm gestures, and the saliva, foaming-at-the-mouth, quack-quack rhetoric that just doesn’t seem to shut up.
There was also a brutality in the Roman Empire born of strength without compassion. Strength without an ability to bend and empathize eventually turns coarse and brittle, and therefore breaks. There was a coarseness in Rome before it fell that I detect a little bit more on my return to America than when I left 16 years ago. When even Christians blame the less fortunate for their plight and God-fearing civilians show an I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-happens as long as I have my SUV, McMansion, and stainless steel appliances, well, you know society has swung to one brittle extreme.
This may explain his appeal. He is undoubtedly coarse in everything from his unrelenting quack-attacks on women to bragging about spending ‘his own money’ and thereby perpetuating the myth of the American dream. It’s so manipulative, too, this exaggerated show of strength, because the truth is that he inherited millions of money and a lucrative business from his dad (who made his fortune building low-income housing). And then you have all his talk about building a wall to prevent immigrants. Love it or hate it, the tide of ‘barbarians’ across national borders is here to stay. You see a parallel to this in Europe with Syrian refugees. It’s clearly a course our species is taking right now, a course that even Emperor Donald Duck is totally impotent to stop.
When I did this collage back in July (which in today’s news cycle is practically ancient history), I did it with urgency. I truly thought that Trump’s candidacy would be a flash-in-the-pan; the fifteen minutes of political fame for this mogul/reality star possibly a little bored and looking for amusing ways to keep himself in the public eye in between TV shows and property deals.
But here we are, in September, and the Trumpster is still going strong. I had an inkling that I may have been off in my initial assessment when I travelled to the Midwest later in the summer and saw homemade, hand-painted signs of ‘Trump” scattered on lawns in Illinois and Michigan. I also got an earful from supporters, who are vehement in their belief that he is for the middle class. There really are a few people taking him seriously!
Needless to say, I don’t. Instead, he reminds me of a combination of a duck and a Roman Emperor -- everything from the swirly wanna-be ducktail on the top of his head, the sweeping arm gestures, and the saliva, foaming-at-the-mouth, quack-quack rhetoric that just doesn’t seem to shut up.
There was also a brutality in the Roman Empire born of strength without compassion. Strength without an ability to bend and empathize eventually turns coarse and brittle, and therefore breaks. There was a coarseness in Rome before it fell that I detect a little bit more on my return to America than when I left 16 years ago. When even Christians blame the less fortunate for their plight and God-fearing civilians show an I-don’t-give-a-shit-what-happens as long as I have my SUV, McMansion, and stainless steel appliances, well, you know society has swung to one brittle extreme.
This may explain his appeal. He is undoubtedly coarse in everything from his unrelenting quack-attacks on women to bragging about spending ‘his own money’ and thereby perpetuating the myth of the American dream. It’s so manipulative, too, this exaggerated show of strength, because the truth is that he inherited millions of money and a lucrative business from his dad (who made his fortune building low-income housing). And then you have all his talk about building a wall to prevent immigrants. Love it or hate it, the tide of ‘barbarians’ across national borders is here to stay. You see a parallel to this in Europe with Syrian refugees. It’s clearly a course our species is taking right now, a course that even Emperor Donald Duck is totally impotent to stop.
Emperor Trump in Toga and Laurel Crown - Mixed Media
and Fabric Collage 2015 by the author and artist
www.up-comm.com www.movewithinyoga.com
Copyright Stephanie Sprague 2015 All Rights Reserved
and Fabric Collage 2015 by the author and artist
www.up-comm.com www.movewithinyoga.com
Copyright Stephanie Sprague 2015 All Rights Reserved