Yes, I know, the average reader may be rising from their chair, crying aloud, “Donald Trump is NOTHING like President Jed Bartlett! Heretic!” And they’d be right – technically. No, he is nothing like the thoughtful, eloquent president on The West Wing. But think a moment and consider, especially after yesterday’s speech: How much does he remind you of Greg Stillson, the venal political candidate in Stephen King’s “The Dead Zone,” the man who would hold a baby in front of him to shield him from an assassin’s bullet?
As a side note, isn’t it interesting how the word “eloquent” has become a slur to those who grunt and whistle online, something they will never achieve in their own lives, so they automatically use it as an epithet?
But just think on it few moments – not my aside on eloquence, but on the similarities between Trump and Stillson. None other than Stephen King himself has made the connection, comparing Trump to both Stillson and Big Jim Rennie from Under the Dome.
And like Trump, Rennie despised Barack Obama.
King has also said that Trump voters wanted a “man on horseback” to lead them. A savior, if you will, as Trump promoted himself during the 2016 campaign.
And we all remember the vision that Johnny Smith had of Stillson, a man filled with messianic fever who launched missiles to begin a war. Oh, what chance that Trump, a man who, in addition to his own messianic qualities, but also enjoys the adoring the support of those who believe in the “End Times” would ever do such a thing?
And I’m not the only one; the Internet is full of such speculation. For one an interesting and creative look:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_snbagejb8s
And think on Stillson’s most infamous line from the film, in the coming days, “The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, Hallelujah!”
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Today’s Soundtrack
Ah, Shania Twain and her CD “Come on Over.” Who DOESN’T love Shania Twain?
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Now on YouTube: the late anti-war activist Jacob George
My interview with the inspiring anti-war activist Jacob George
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l84Y0pH77Tk
“On the Air with Richard S. Drake” celebrates 26 years years on the air in 2017
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Quote of the Day
No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest. – Octavia Butler
rsdrake@cox.net