Show Notes
AN EPITAPH ON 2 TYRANTS - VLADIMIR PUTIN & DONALD TRUMP
In his latest Lowdown podcast, Nick Cohen talks about what happens when power passes from autocrats, using Donald Trump as a primary example. The great British-American poet W.H Auden would have recognised the deeply sinister but darkly ridiculous figures of Trump and Putin in his 1939 poem Epitaph on a Tyrant [*see below] and the lines: "When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets."
Today, Trump trips the light fantastic, apparently all-powerful as he casually betrays allies, grifts billions of dollars for himself and his ghastly family and babbles incoherent nonsense before rallies and TV cameras. Nick concludes that as people now watch old movies reels of Adolf Hitler and wonder how such an obvious weirdo could achieve such power, so future generations will be baffled at how any American could possibly have taken Trump seriously enough to have considered voting for him.
Nick discusses how Trump's recent actions regarding Ukraine and Russia appear to be driven by personal grievances rather than strategic interests, comparing Trump's behaviour to the tyrant described in W.H. Auden's poetry. Nick argues that while American politicians and media continue to accommodate Trump's demands out of fear of retribution, his influence will likely diminish following the midterm elections on November 3rd, particularly if polls indicating Democratic gains prove accurate. Donald Trump is 80, morbidly obese and deteriorating rapidly both mentally and physically. He cannot long delay his appointment with the Grim Reaper! Nick concludes by suggesting that future generations will view Trump as a ridiculous figure rather than a threatening one, drawing a parallel to how young people today find historical footage of Hitler amusing rather than terrifying.
*W.H. Auden's Epitaph for a tyrant:
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after, And the poetry he invented was easy to understand; He knew human folly like the back of his hand, And was greatly interested in armies and fleets; When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter, And when he cried the little children died in the streets. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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