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Peter Stork's avatar

Trump would be a half forgotten foot note if the republican leadership had honored their oath to the constitution and acted in the nation's interest by impeaching him after Jan 6.

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Jessica's avatar

You can't lay hands on Faust until it's time for the Devil himself to claim him (or, if you're being nice, for Faust's Gretchen to plead for his soul). And as bad as the Republican representatives may be, they're minor demons at most!

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Henry Allsebrook's avatar

After watching this film I thought of Macbeth, but Faust is even

better- perceptive analysis

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Thea Zimmer's avatar

This is powerful! I hope it gets around.

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Brandon North's avatar

Brilliant essay. I think you're right to figure Trump as an other worldly figure, since that seems to be how he views himself and acts accordingly. I tried to get at this myself by describing him as a black hole in something I published here:

https://open.substack.com/pub/brandonenorth/p/to-donald-trump?r=7wc7&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false

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Jim Slaven's avatar

Great article. To add to the poem’s echoes, one of the lessons of Goethe’s Faust Part Two is that every development is simultaneously a destruction. With Trump- the developer turned politician-that has certainly been true for many. If not yet for Trump and his family.

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Suburban VA Dad's avatar

Well done!

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Peter James's avatar

What’s interesting about this movie is that Trump supporters have really taken to it, or at least parts of it. There are edits and fancam videos of that final scene in his office floating around out there. It’s taking on another life as a meme, sort of like American Psycho.

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Chip Parkhurst's avatar

I liked reading this article! Thank you for it. Mephisto as a lawyer is very American.

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David A. Westbrook's avatar

Bravo!

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Caroline Rothstein's avatar

Brilliant, as always, @Brian Pascus!

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MSG's avatar

A wonderful piece of writing. I can't stop thinking about this film - this review isn't helping

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Paul Clayton's avatar

This 'article' appears to be just another huge steaming pile of Trump-hate horseshit. I'm sure the 50501 organization and the DNC love this. This seems to be part of the Left's strategy, to heap thousands of words into Trump-hate articles, filled with sketchy connections, lies and innuendo. I'll have to put on a pair of rubber gloves and a face mask and go through this later. But I have to say, if The Metropolitan Review becomes (or is) just a stealthy affiliated branch of the New York Times, I'm going to have to cancel my subscription. I'm sure they won't care. After all, they seem to be growing an audience of angry Tesla-scratchers.

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Wayward Science's avatar

The parallel is an interesting one, but it’s gets overplayed. Once the writer begins using Faust as Trump’s name, it becomes silly. I kept waiting for a deeper insight into Trump and his epochal importance as a political figure but it never came. I was able to predict most of the piece after the first few paragraphs.

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Sandberg Features's avatar

Trump as Faust! and Roy Cohn as Mephistopheles, the Devil's agent. That is brilliant. Brian Pascus offers a key to Donald's warped mind. He quotes Cohn as he is portrayed in the 2024 movie The Apprentice: “There is no right or wrong,” Cohn tells Donald. “There is no morality, there is no Truth, with a capital T. It’s a fiction, a construct. It is man made. Nothing matters except winning — that’s it.” Our new Faust takes the bait and runs with it, helping him all the way to Trump II.

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Sumana Harrison's avatar

Wonderful writing. Thank you. This is why I read Substack.

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