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Trump Has Fallen Like a Shakespearean Hero.
Only his fall is pathetic rather than heroic.
This article has been updated to reflect developments in the events since January 6.
I’m feeling a little clairvoyant right now. In October I wrote this article about Trump’s ultimate downfall:
But Shakespeare makes you clairvoyant; he wrote about things that never change: he wrote about power. He knew power, seeing it all around him while being a powerless playwright dependent on powerful, scheming aristocrats for patronage.
In the article, I talked about how Trump is like Macbeth, who once he realizes that the jig is up, that he will not longer be king, decides that the whole world can be destroyed for all he cares.
I think it is worth noting that Nancy Pelosi later warned Trump about the nuclear protocols. She didn’t want him pressing any buttons like the incompetent fictional administration depicted in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. Because he is possibly capable of literally blowing up the world if he can’t have his way.
