The Politics of Grievance
The Politics of Grievance David Roth, “Making Sense of Donald Trump’s Petulant Reign,” New Republic , June 12, 2019. There seem to be two aspects to Donald Trump’s personality. The first, and the one that connects him to the Evangelical communities, is the messianic. He believes himself to be, in effect, the chosen one sent to redeem and repair America. [1] The secular version of the messiah is, of course, the superhero, and Roth begins his piece recounting a (blessedly) failed animated series called Trump Takeover: The Ultimate Power Trip , in which “Trump was taking over everything and making it better.” One pitched episode has Trump and his team “’uncovering a global financial conspiracy’ and ends with them triumphantly taking control of the stock market ‘to save the world economy from total ruin.’” Another, more pertinent example, “’Politically Corrected,’ begins with ‘America … in a state of virtual collapse,’ which is...