The real Trump mystery
The word “confederate” is synonymous with accomplice. Many accomplices make a confederacy. The 1980 best-selling novel “A Confederacy of Dunces” follows Ignatius Reilly, a “slob extraordinary, fat Don Quixote, perverse Thomas Aquinas rolled into one.” Like Trump, Reilly is an overweight grouch, perpetually wearing a floppy hat that seems to symbolize Trump’s garish hair style.
Both are slovenly, lazy, prideful, arrogant, easily wounded, with massive egos. They even share a New York best friend helping them to escape. Where the similarities end, Reilly is highly educated, with a fragile self-worth. Trump is the opposite. He eschews critical thinking, and truly believes he is the greatest gift to the world.
Another literary persona, “Gargantua” from 16th-century French author François Rabelais, also epitomizes Trump. A grotesque giant who leads a well-orchestrated brutal assault against an enemy for some bread. The book was initially rejected for the depictions of Gargantua being too offensive. Sounds about right.
Both characters evoke the venality of Trump. The best explanation I’ve come across for Trump skirting decades of crimes is that he is perhaps a confidential informant for U.S. Intelligence. That would explain his tendency to easily roll over on confederates for his own gain. Quid pro quo is his default. Last year, I speculated which crime would most likely bring Trump’s first indictment, all of which seem quaint now that Espionage looms. Shocking new evidence from the FBI raid of MAL has many experts now predicting an indictment any day.
For me, two things I hope to finally understand form the gargantuan cache of classified documents stolen by Trump: To whom was he offering to sell our most confidential secrets; and what compromising information has he been using to coerce the GOP to fall in line. Understanding the reason for the about-face of so many former Trump haters like Lindsey Graham into devout loyalists of such a monster would allow the puzzle pieces to fall into place.
Whether it is incriminating evidence of dark money from Russia, unifying to fill the SCOTUS with Federalists, or just a cynical power grab, Republicans are all cowards.
Chicago native Lorraine Evanoff earned her degree in French from DePaul University then became a Certified Financial Manager. She worked as a finance exec in film production for seven years in Paris, then in Silicon Valley during the dot-com era, and later for various Hollywood production companies, notably as CFO of National Lampoon. She is currently living in Los Angeles with her husband.