Donald Trump — aging, obese convicted felon with more criminal trials pending, serial liar, serial adulterer, business fraud, con man, tax cheat, rapist who boasted about his sexual assaults, misogynist who boasted about it and continually insults women, racist, bankrupted casino and hotel owner, scam artist, spray-painted sneaker and printed-in-China bible salesman, thief of classified documents, grifter who stole from a children’s cancer charity to line his own pockets, indicted four times, con artist who scammed students at his fake university, wannabe dictator in serious cognitive decline, helping destabilize democracy to further Putin’s agenda — reminds me of Paris.
No, not the city: the Trojan. You know: the guy who started the Trojan War because he was horny, selfish, narcissistic, irresponsible, immoral, and arrogant. Sound familiar? Yeah, that Paris.
I assume, dear reader, you are at least superficially familiar with the story of the Trojan War, an event that has played a part in our collective cultural consciousness for more than three millennia. Homer, and all that classical stuff. And maybe you know something about Greek mythology, assuming you are more educated than the average dimwit MAGA cultist or Talibangelist (like those triggered into frothing rage over the Paris Olympics opening ceremonies because they didn’t recognize cultural allusions outside their own myopic worldview).*
Just in case your memory of what you learned in school has dimmed with age as mine sometimes does, let me summarize the events that led up to that even and my admittedly eccentric reasoning.
Paris abducted Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta, and took her to his home city of Troy (Ilium). Paris was already married at the time, and had a son, so he was an adulterer with Helen. Just like Trump and several women he seduced, not least of all but possibly most recent was porn star Stormy Daniels whom Trump coerced into going into his hotel room where he coerced into sex then paid her $130,000 not to tell anyone and tried to cover it up (which got him 34 felony convictions for fraud).
Paris dumped his wife Oenone for his new mistress. Trump dumped wife number one for his then-mistress who became wife number two, who was subsequently dumped (but not divorced) before Trump was already screwing his next mistress (his now-current wife number three). Trump has continued to have adulterous affairs with other women since marrying Melania, including the aforementioned Stormy Daniels. The party of family values thinks this is proper behaviour for husbands, by the way, but thinks women’s sexuality must be rigidly controlled and legislated against.
In response to Helen’s abduction, the kings of various Greek cities raised armies and joined Agamemnon to attack Troy and get Helen back. That began a decade-long siege that finally ended with Troy’s destruction and the death of thousands of warriors and civilians, including seniors and children. Some of the final months are the focus of Homer’s epic, The Iliad. The whole thing could have ended if Troy had handed Helen over the the Greeks when they landed. But they stood by Paris and, of course, the city was destroyed.
The Repugnican Party could have held off its collapse into the pro-fascist MAGA cult of personality if they had repudiated Trump, had held onto some of their principles, had not agreed to believe his barefaced lies about the 2020 election, and not supported his attempt at violent insurrection on Jan. 6. The GOP is now a dumpster fire of ignorance, fake religion, racism, and misogyny burning like Troy at its end.
Paris was a son of Priam, king of Troy. Riches, affluence, arrogance, and a deep sense of entitlement. Just like Trump. Chroniclers described Paris as cowardly and a hedonist, just like Trump.
Paris judged a beauty competition between goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena, who are often shown nude in later art; according to the Robert Graves version of the story, they disrobed when Paris demanded it. Trump also ran beauty pageants and boasted about walking in on teenage contestants when they were dressing or naked.
Some of the legends say Paris raped Helen. Then there’s Trump’s close bromance with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein; Trump was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 1994 at Epstein’s home…King Priam defended adulterer Paris, Trump defended Epstein:
In 2002, the mogul [Trump] told New York, “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Paris avoided fighting the Greek besiegers outside Troy. When he was eventually embarrassed into a duel with Helen’s husband, he ran away because he was losing. In a second duel, Paris wounded Diomedes, a swordsman, from afar with an arrow so he could escape fighting him face to face. Trump claimed he had “bone spurs” so he could get out of the draft (during the Vietnam War). More recently, faced with the tough, savvy, intelligent, and witty Kamala Harris (all attributes in women Trump fears) as his opponent, Trump scurried away from debating her as fast as he could. Intellectual bone spurs.
During the ten-year siege, Paris refused to listen to anyone who suggested he should return Helen to her husband. He never accepted responsibility for the siege, for the hundreds and eventually thousands of deaths on both sides, for the destruction of the towns and villages around Troy, the suffering and starvation. Paris never apologized to anyone for what he did. As one site notes:
Like many other figures in Greek mythology, Paris could not escape his fate and he brought doom to his city. He remains one of the most well-known figures of Greek mythology, but he comes across as a selfish, impulsive, and reckless character, whose actions would cause the destruction of his people.
Trump’s inaction, his pseudoscience statements,his mishandling, and his refusal to take expert medical advice caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans during the COVID pandemic. Trump never took responsibility or apologized for that. And never will: mere humans are collateral damage. He blamed Dr. Fauci and everyone else around him, instead.
Nor will Trump take responsibility for the defeat of both his MAGA party and the election loss in November. He’ll likely blame it on his VP choice (the execrable misogynist JD Vance, aka James Bowman and James Hamel), on the GOP leadership, on the RNC leadership, on imaginary election fraud, on his handlers, on his loyalists, on the media, on his missing-in-action wife Melania, on the DOJ and the justice system, on Hunter Biden, on Obama, on the teleprompters, on immigrants, on the FBI, on his low-wattage children (Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka: the original DEI hires), on Dr. Fauci, on Antifa, on Kamala… on everyone and anyone he can rather than take responsibility for bring his party into ruin.
Paris brought Troy to ruin. Trump brought the Republican Party to ruin. Neither accepts responsibility. To me, the parallels seem obvious.
Notes:
* The 2024 Olympic opening ceremonies caused an uproar among the hard-of-thinking MAGA cultists who are so ill-educated that they could not imagine an allusion to anything outside their own myopic, pseudo-Christian ideology. The event was a broadly satirical show to express diversity, with a tableau that represented a Dionysian bacchanalia, but Talibangelists have low tolerance for anything diverse, equal, or inclusive, much less something they don’t comprehend, so they triggered violently over it. Besides, the event wasn’t all about America, which further offended them. And, as expected, MAGA cultists blamed it on Biden. Convicted felon Trump, who did not attend the event, took his lead from extremist rightwing Fox Newz bloviators and called the ceremonies “a disgrace” which further encourages the party crickets and dog whistlers to chime in with their own faux outrage.
Words: 1,363
From Facebook about the MAGA “sky is falling” fake outrage over the Olympic ceremonies:
This is Art in celebration of the artist’s eyes.
In my opinion, even if it was an interpretation of the Last Supper, it is a celebration of art and freedom to express art. Art is subjective, right? You’re going to piss off some people, sometimes.
Cut and pasted below are words that I’m sharing that makes a lot of sense to me as i have been reading all of the emotional overdrive that’s happening against the celebration.. ( yes, ART, I use that word a lot for expression)
“From the social media rounds 🤘🏽:
“Dearest Gentle Reader,
I’m about to step on some toes in regard to the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Olympics.
The headless woman was Marie Antoinette. She ruled over France and was found guilty of treason, conspiracy, and stealing from the country.
Sound familiar?
Also, it was not the Last Supper. It was a depiction of an ancient Greek Bacchanal… because, you know, the Olympics are ancient and Greek. Surprise!
And if you didn’t know, a Bacchanalia is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. The parties often spanned several days which honored the god of wine, Bacchus (the blue guy covered in grape vine). He is also known as Dionysus, the Greek god of fertility, later known as the god of wine and pleasure.
And finally, it was not Death on a pale horse. It was Sequana, Goddess of the Seine, the River in which the boat precession took place. She was meant to be the representation of the Olympic spirit and of Sequana.
If some of you weren’t so busy trying to end the Dept. of Education, you might know this.
Loosen the clutch on your pearls.
Yours truly,
Lady Francis
••••••
.
“Paris is back on its feet, jubilant, flamboyant, creative and open. Free.”
– Thomas Jolly, Artistic Director
••••••
When we spend our lives reacting to all that happens around us, we leave ourselves no space for peace and reflection … or to recognize there is a much, much bigger world out there than just the space between our ears. “
https://londondaily.com/british-writer-pens-the-best-description-of-trump-i-ve-read
British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read
Nate White
“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?” Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England wrote the following response:
A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.
There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.
And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.
So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.