Hmmm, did Shakespeare foresee the extreme hubris of Donald Trump?
When I was a child, one of my favourite books was titled Fortunately, Unfortunately. The concept it employed was: a good thing happens, undermined by a related bad thing, redeemed by another good thing, undermined by a related bad thing… and so on.
Example: Fortunately John won a new car, unfortunately the new car was stolen. Fortunately the thief was caught and the car returned, unfortunately the car was damaged. Fortunately John had insurance, unfortunately his insurance did not fully cover the costs of the damage…
I do not know why the book captured my interest so powerfully when I was a child. But looking back upon it now, I understand that there was a life lesson embedded in it. Life is a continuous rollercoaster. Good and bad things will happen in a recurring sequence but ultimately ending with something positive.
This lesson is a good one to apply to the current situation we face with Donald Trump although I need to reverse the pattern to unfortunately, fortunately.
Unfortunately Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, fortunately I live in Canada.
Unfortunately, Donald Trump wants to absorb Canada into the U.S. and make it the 51st state, fortunately our political leaders are determined not to let that happen.
Unfortunately, Trump is determined to use economic force (in the form of tariffs against Canadian exports) to achieve his objective, fortunately our political leaders are committed to apply counter tariffs against U.S. imports to fight back.
Unfortunately, the U.S. economy is ten times the size of the Canadian economy and therefore far more resilient, fortunately the threat has become the impetus to reduce interprovincial trade barriers in Canada to offset the losses.
Unfortunately, interprovincial trade will not fully offset the impact of the Trump tariffs, fortunately we have other trade partners who Trump has also alienated.
Unfortunately, Trump neither cares about nor understands the risks of making enemies of so many countries, fortunately his extreme hubris and delusions of grandeur are what will ultimately lead to his inevitable downfall.
Perhaps Shakespeare foresaw what was going to happen in this day and age when he coined the phrase hoisted on his own petard in his classic play Hamlet. Trump will ultimately be blown up by his own bomb of hubris as karma and poetic justice take their toll.
On a closing note, the broadcast news media needs to cease and desist in replaying every word that comes out of Trump’s mouth. Doing so is playing directly into Trump’s hand as what he craves more than anything else is the spotlight. Stop giving him a public platform for his tirades!
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~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel (now out of print) which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: Donald Trump · fortunately unfortunately · Hamlet · hoisted on his own petard · metaphor · ShakespeareNo Comments