‘A Tiny Bit of a Man’: Evelyn Waugh’s Anticipation of Donald Trump

National Review ^ | March 14, 2016 | George Weigel

[C19fan]

More than 70 years ago, while on leave from the Royal Marines, Evelyn Waugh penned a portrait of a buccaneering moneyman with political ambitions and a hollow interior, a sketch that rings loud bells of familiarity in today’s presidential campaign. When Rex Mottram first appears in Brideshead Revisited, it’s not clear what the source of his wealth is. It certainly isn’t old money, like that of the aristocratic Flyte family to whose elder daughter, Julia, he pays court. Rex is very much the Modern Man: Having made his pile, he wants, and gets, the best cars, the best brandy, the best club memberships, the best available seat in Parliament, and the best women, all of which he’s prepared to buy, but only at the cheapest price on the market.

[odawg]

This article, where the writer spends the whole time describing a fictitious character and then says “This is Donald Trump” in the last paragraph, is undoubtedly the most stupid essay that has ever been trotted, possibly in world history, that pretends to accurately describe a candidate.

National Review has lost all claim to credibility, forever. Maybe George Soros will fund these idiots.

[TexasFreeper2009]

true.

I guess one could say Trump is new ultra rich money.

the gulf between 5-10 million and being worth 5-10 billion is so large it must seem they lived in poverty by comparison before.

[kiryandil]

Always post this when you post an article from the National e- Spew:

[Flick Lives]

An article from National Review comparing Trump to a fictional character in an Evelyn Waugh novel? This screams elite.

[Dr. Sivana]

Any family whose sons and daughters hold elected offuce could be called “ new money”

Old money understood that politicians are to be bought, not bred

So . . . Jay Rockefeller is "New Money"?

[silverleaf]

As long as being a senator or a governor of NY was like a charitable hobby where you could give away other people’s money to the poor , guess the old line had to swallow young people breaking with tradition

But never on the level of those grubbing lace curtain Irish grifters, the Kennedys, who were still living in cottages and growing potatoes and running rum a mere 4 -5 generations ago

[Dr. Sivana]

Where do you put the Roosevelts?

I presume the House of Lords in England is exempt from this rule.

[silverleaf]

Interesting question

I guess it raises the issue of, when did new money start becoming old money, and when did old money begin to find it socially acceptable for gentlemen much less women to actually enter professions such as “ elected office” ?

Shades of Downton Abbey!

Of course every family had its black sheep scallywags independent thinkers and adventurers ( like TR) ...

[Dr. Sivana]

I guess it raises the issue of, when did new money start becoming old money,

It could well be that true old money has more to do with "how" it was made, not "when". In Dickens' Bleak House, Sir Leicester Dedlock of Chesney Wold is most definitely "old money". It is never made clear where his original pile came from, only that lands are associated with it. He is concerned though, when a daughter of a beloved member of the household staff is courted by "new" money, and expert iron worker who is turning down an appointment as MP in order to grow his industry. This would be a serious upgrade for the daughter interms of financial wealth, but to Sir Leicester a downgrade in actual status, and a disruption of the right order of things.

For him, the Rockefellers and Carnegies will always be New Money. In Wodehouse, it seems that most of the money had to do with somebody's great-great-etc. grandfather doing soething glorious in battle. Enterpreneurs and actors were especially sneered at. Bertie's aunt's sneering portrait being placed in a humorous ad for cock-a-leekie (sp?) soup was especially humiliating.

[Defiant]

I don’t see how any article from NRO can add to the discourse here. They are all dishonest.

[Albion Wilde]

‘A Tiny Bit of a Man’

...describes George Weigel.

[patriot08]

Donald Trump

He's an American and he loves his country.

He's not 'owned' by anybody

He's not a Washington insider or an establishment politician

He's an astonishingly successful businessman, CEO- and charismatic.

His remarkable children are a testament to his character and abilities

Donald Trump was the ONLY one with guts enough to stand up to the corrupt in Washington, to say what we the people have been screaming about-but have been ignored.

We all say we need another revolution against the corrupt government. Well, it's here and Donald started it. He tells the RINOS and Libs what we cannot. HE IS OUR VOICE .

is a brilliant business man and he will surround himself with the most brilliant, talented America has to offer-per his cabinet and advisers. This is the kind of man we need to run the country.

He Will make America great again. He will make America RESPECTED again.

[patriot08]

Donald Trump

He's an American and he loves his country.

He's not 'owned' by anybody

He's not a Washington insider or an establishment politician

He's an astonishingly successful businessman, CEO- and charismatic.

His remarkable children are a testament to his character and abilities

Donald Trump was the ONLY one with guts enough to stand up to the corrupt in Washington, to say what we the people have been screaming about-but have been ignored.

We all say we need another revolution against the corrupt government. Well, it's here and Donald started it. He tells the RINOS and Libs what we cannot. HE IS OUR VOICE .

is a brilliant business man and he will surround himself with the most brilliant, talented America has to offer-per his cabinet and advisers. This is the kind of man we need to run the country.

He Will make America great again. He will make America RESPECTED again.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

The anti-Trump people are on a full court press looking for anything that they can use to discredit a Christian Nationalist running for president.

---

Christians typically believe in asking God for forgiveness. It says so in two Corinthians.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

That’s why Johnny Come Lately has changed his politic party 5 different times.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/16/donald-trump-changed-political-parties-at-least-fi/

[patriot08]

It’s permissible to change one’s mind.
When he says he’s settled on Conservative, I believe him.

I came from a long line of Democrats, and was one myself until about nine or ten years ago when I finally saw the truth.

We need someone who will build that wall and stop the flooding of Muslim ‘refugees’ (colonists) that Obama has initiated. I believe Donald will do this.

[EveningStar]

Alexander of Macedonia anticipated Trump 2,300 years ago when he slashed through that Gordian Knot!

Thank you! Alexander the Great has now been added to the list! :)

---

This is an ongoing list of historical, popular, and Biblical people, as well as fictional characters and animals, that Donald Trump has been compared to on FR:

• Alexander the Great
• Batman
• Battlefield surgeon
• The Blues Brothers ("We're on a mission from God!")
• Asa Buchanan (One Life To Live)
• Churchill
• Bill Clinton
• Rooster Cogburn (True Grit)
• Cyrus the Great
• Eisenhower
• J.R. Ewing (Dallas)
• The Founding Fathers
• Gideon
• Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead)
• Max Herschel (Just Tell Me What You Want)
• Andrew Jackson
• Jesus
• John F. Kennedy
• Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars)
• James T. Kirk (Star Trek)
• Leonidas I
• MacArthur
• Jim Malone (The Untouchables, portrayed by Sean Connery)
• Moses
• Nebuchadnezzar
• Saint Patrick
• Patton
• Reagan
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Teddy Roosevelt
• Babe Ruth
• Samson
• Secretariat
• Solomon
• Truman
• Darth Vader (Star Wars)
• Sir William Wallace (real life subject of Braveheart)
• Washington

[EveningStar]

Has NRO run out of anti-Trump material when a writer has to compare Trump to a fictional character?

Folks here have also made such comparisons. See post 37.

[Savage Beast]

Alexander should have been added long ago. This is not the first time I've made the comparison.

(BTW, note that I refer to him as Alexander of Macedonia.)