"His mind is not what it was, and at its peak it was more of a Magic 8 Ball than a supercomputer."
— Roth, David
Author
Work Title
Date
January 26, 2019
Metaphor
"His mind is not what it was, and at its peak it was more of a Magic 8 Ball than a supercomputer."
Metaphor in Context
This is also true, and maybe even especially true, when Trump is obviously lying. Even before he banged his own personal left turn and began his full-tilt drive into the desert of cognitive decline, Trump was not an especially nuanced or strategic person. His mind is not what it was, and at its peak it was more of a Magic 8 Ball than a supercomputer. He can’t learn anything because he can’t listen to other people if they aren’t speaking from inside a television; he can’t remember what he hears there because he can’t really care unless it’s about him. These deficits are clear when Trump is extemporizing on furloughed workers cutting deals with the milkman or imagining cartoon coyotes piloting sedans full of duct-taped women across the Rio Grande, but they are even clearer when he tells knowing lies. The former tend to be about other people, and so tend to be both lurid and half-assed; he only really ever applies himself when the lies involve himself.
Provenance
Reading
Citation
David Roth, "You Can't Get There From Here," Deadspin (January 26, 2019). <Link to deadspin.com>
Date of Entry
02/01/2019
