Donald Trump: A presidency of metaphors

Trump is the most metaphorical of Presidents. Dr Kim Sawyer writes that Trump has things he shouldn’t have, makes deals he shouldn’t be making, is a master builder who does too much.

THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY is a presidency of metaphors.

The word metaphor originally meant the transfer of ownership of words; referring to one thing while referring to another. Trump, more than most, has conveyed more sense of wrong being right and right being wrong than most. The real metaphor lies not in his words but in his actions.

Trump transferred the property to himself in the name of the people, the people, and the people. The White House is his house, the reflecting pool is his pool, the Department of Justice (Ministry of Justice) his law firm, Supreme Court his court, Kennedy Center center for the performing arts and the wealth of the nation being its own wealth. Transfer of ownership is Trump’s metaphor.

Trump exaggerated the artistry of the deal. Most people don’t understand that agreement is its metaphor; they are too focused on his dealings to bother asking who is on the other side of the transaction.

The metaphor is an old metaphor and its most famous version is Doctor Faustus. Faust was real, but the metaphor of dealing with the devil is so ingrained in the legend that few people know about it. Faust is the story of the deal made with the devil.

One of the first versions was the story of Theophilus. Theophilus lived in the sixth century. He was a bishop’s assistant. He was very respected. He was expected to be appointed bishop when the bishop died, but he humbly refused. Theophilus paid the price.

The new bishop deprived him of his former position in the church. To regain his position, Theophilus made a deal with the devil and sold his soul.

After seven years of chaotic existence, Theophilus repented, but his salvation was not easy. However, Theophilus was more successful than Faust.

The metaphor of a deal with the devil has been repeated many times; perhaps because it is the agreement that we all must choose to negotiate or not to negotiate. Abraham Lincoln he knew. On a winter evening in 1860 at Cooper Union in New York, Lincoln launched into a speech that foreshadowed his presidency.

Lincoln’s The Right Creates Might speech That February night was summed up in his first words:

“Let us believe that right creates power.”

It’s a metaphor that Trump chooses to ignore.

Inside Master Builder, Henrik Ibsen wrote about the builder who built too much of a tower; A builder who lost his balance when he reached the top of his tallest tower and then fell to his death. The wealth the builder had accumulated and the misfortune he had imposed on others were destroyed by his fall. Trump should have read Ibsen.

William Shakespeare He specializes in metaphors. Wild goose chase, better days seen and good redemption were some of his notable metaphors. He may have observed someone like Trump; It seems so. Shakespeare wrote As You Like Four hundred years before Trump, but he seemed to know.

monologue inside Act II The text of As You Like It is a testament to Trump:

All the world’s a stage,

And all men and women are merely players;

It has exits and entrances,

And one man in his time plays many roles.

His actions are seven years old. At first the baby

She meows and vomits in the nurse’s arms.

Then the whining schoolboy with his bag

And the morning face that crawls like a snail shines

Reluctantly going to school. Then in love,

I sigh like a furnace with a mournful ballad

It was done on the eyebrow of his mistress. Then a soldier

Full of strange oaths and bearded like a pard,

Jealous in honor, sudden and swift in fight,

We are looking for balloon fame.

The monologue ends with what may be the most prescient words. What brings this strangely eventful history to an end is a second childhood and mere forgetfulness. No teeth, no eyes, no taste, no everything.

Trump is the most metaphorical of Presidents. Trump has things he shouldn’t have, made deals he shouldn’t have made, is a master builder who builds too much.

Wild goose chase, seen better days and good redemption; Trump’s metaphors.