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Donald Trump: Man or Myth? That’s my alternative title for Kenaz Filan‘s article “The Rorschach President:
What Do You See When You Look at Donald Trump?” Since Trump is being criminally sentenced today, ten days before his scheduled inauguration, this is a good time to revisit the Trumpian mythos. I emailed Kenaz noting that his piece was “Well-observed and well-written. I would add that self-styled experts in ‘the creation and maintenance of public myth’ like Philip Zelikow (chief architect of the official 9/11 myth) know all this and are manufacturing and manipulating it, most obviously in the case of the blatantly fake ‘magic ear-nick.’” His reply:
“I’d be thrilled to be on your podcast and have marked the time off on my calendar.
It occurs to me that not only can the Left not Meme, they can’t do myths. The Kamala campaign was built around TikTok buzzwords (“Joy,” “Brat,” “Coconut”) and vapid speeches, while Trump was delivering fiery speeches and creating buzz with “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats” and “you have to go back.”
You can also see this in contemporary American filmmaking. Look at Rings of Power or the latest Star Wars slop for an example. They write by committee and focus group, and sprinkle in lots of nods to The Current Thing, but there’s no magic. That’s because Leftism fears the exceptional and privileges the mediocre.
Thanks for having me on and looking forward to speaking with you then!”
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