"Rebecca Solnit, the nimble and adventurous public intellectual who has written some of the most thought-provoking books of our times, has made no secret of her disdain for Donald Trump. And one of the things that really troubles her is that he has little inclination toward reading, let alone respect for the books that might provoke deeper thinking on the part of the most powerful man in the world."
"King George's reincarnation reads the Declaration! That document has been used against Trump, including by me and a friend right after the 2016 election, because he fits the description of [the monarch] who is imposing all the insults and injuries-taxation without representation, all of it. And listening to you makes me think that, with Trump, it's almost as though television became an Antichrist and appeared on the earth."
Donald Trump shows little inclination toward reading and little respect for books that might provoke deeper thinking. Contemporary culture permits people to choose their own facts, making history feel infinitely revisable and eroding accountability. The Library of Congress posted a version of the Constitution missing crucial parts and attributed the error to coding. The Declaration has been used to criticize Trump by likening him to a monarch imposing taxation without representation. Television and social media amplified and simplified his persona, fostering a performative, shallow style and an accelerated world too fast for thoughtfulness and depth.
Read at The Nation
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