Trump as a Greek tragedy
- By Thomas E. RicksThomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com.
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The more I watch the early moves of President-elect Donald Trump, the more I feel he is a Greek tragic figure, more for the country than for himself.
Yes, I expect him to fail, and hard. But I also think he is just an interim figure as the pendulum swings around. That is, he isn’t a Putin, he is a Kerensky or a Neville Chamberlain.
Who follows him? I have no idea, of course. But I have the gut feeling, for the first time in my life, that it is going to get ugly. This isn’t a matter of left or right. It is a matter of millions of Americans who are going to be unhappy as Trump fails to keep his promises, and politics lurching in reaction to a failed reactionary.
Image credits: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/Getty Images; LOUVRE/Wikimedia Commons
