Donald Trump wants to be the villain
What his new photo tells us.
Donald Trump has unveiled his new official photo, the image you’ll see when walking into post offices and embassies for the next three years1:
It replaces the old official photo:
Both of which stand in fairly stark contrast to the photos of his immediate predecessors:
I always thought that when authoritarianism came to the United States it would come in a smiling package — the avuncular Hollywood grampa of Ronald Reagan or the too-jokey “turd blossom” comedy stylings of George W. Bush, the aw-shucks grin being the American right-wing version of the velvet glove that only gradually reveals the iron fist underneath.
I have also spent much of my adult life trying not to see my opponents as comic book villains, as caricatures.
Guess I was wrong on both counts.
Trump’s latest photo — emerging from darkness, glaring, no American flag in sight — tells us in visual form what he has been telling us since the campaign:
Vengeance is his mission.
He’s wearing a flag pin I suppose, but note that in all the other presidential pics the flag looms over and even dwarfs the president. There’s a metaphorical significance there. As is the fact that in Trump’s new pic, the only flag is tiny compared to Trump. It’s the darkness that looms.
Trump wants to be the villain. To be the heel.
And he wants us all to know it.
At least.
This is gold: "...the too-jokey “turd blossom” comedy stylings of George W. Bush..."
But, to your broader point, this is clearly a picture that signals where we're headed. I think your points are well taken. Glad you brought this to our attention.
Holding out for a hero over here. A Face, so-to-speak. Even if it's supposed to be us. I can't stop thinking about this speech about writing good guys. I have been thinking about it for months now.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGSDUX9RweT/?hl=en