The Trump administration on Sunday lifted sanctions on three companies, including the aluminum giant Rusal, linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Democrats had led a push in Congress to continue the restrictions.
Comments
19 responses to “Oh look, it’s a home down, I mean a touch run”
Rob
Apparently this also gives Deripaska the ability to personally disengage from the debts some of those companies have. Nice to be rich and have rich friends I guess.
What a Maroon
Picked the wrong Sunday. No one watches the Pro Bowl.
iknklast
No one watches the Pro Bowl
Well, I was at a production of Hamlet, but it was a bad production, so maybe I shouldn’t have watched that.
It just occurred to me that I have not seen a single good production of a Shakespeare play since Trump became president, though I continue to see as many Shakespeare plays as ever. I think I’ll blame it on Trump. He has ruined Shakespeare.
Catwhisperer
So many things we knew Trump would ruin, but I bet nobody thought he would ruin Shakespeare.
Trump is very like Lear before the storm. Trump will never ever be like Lear after the storm.
iknklast
Trump might be able to be compared with Iago, except Iago was clever.
Your Name’s not Bruce?
How about Trump as Polonius? (In a production of the Gilligan’s Island version of Hamlet).
Though if we’re going to ruin 60’s sitcoms along with Shakespeare, I really see Trump more as Mr. Haney from Green Acres…
What a Maroon
Ophelia,
Good point, though it may just be that the storm hasn’t hit him yet. It will be interesting to see how quickly his “friends” turn on him when he’s no longer president.
Nah, not Iago. Iago is far too controlled and disciplined. He doesn’t waste his energy on every trivial annoyance that comes along, while Trump and Lear both decidedly do.
And Polonius? Oh hell no. Nothing like him.
No, I meant Lear specifically. His ridiculous tantrums are very Trump-like, as is his narcissism, as is his cluelessness about both himself (he hath ever but slenderly known himself) and everyone else. It takes a real chump to believe Goneril and Regan and misunderstand what Cordelia is telling him.
What a Maroon
That’s what I was thinking, though much better said than I could have articulated. (And yeah, Polonius is a dunderhead, but far too well-meaning for Trump.)
iknklast
Yes, I think that is a good comparison, when you put it like that. I did say Iago was far too clever. It’s mostly that Iago does stuff mostly out of spite (his being passed over for promotion is a pretty petty reason to destroy so many lives), and so does Trump.
I’m a bit of an obsessive about Shakespeare, is all.
I guess the key to it is that both Polonius and Iago are subordinates. They have to control their impulses because they’re talking to their bosses. Lear, like Trump, is at the top of his particular heap: everybody has to truckle to him and he has to truckle to no one. The result is that he’s a complete pig, just like Trump. Shxpr sums it up nicely with that entrance in Act II where he comes onstage roaring WHERE’S MY DINNER.
What a Maroon
Now that I think about it, Trump’s tweetstorms parallel Lear’s ragings through the storm. Trump’s learned that he’s no longer in charge of events, and it’s driving him crazy.
Yes. They both have that outraged vanity thing going.
Lear is conspicuously stupid and reckless in the first half of the play, as well as violently vindictive and treacherous. He puts a terrible curse on Cordelia, which we tend to hear as metaphor but Lear meant literally. It’s hard to exaggerate how awful he is. But there’s a decent core in there, which is signaled by Kent’s and Cordelia’s refusal to stop loving him. Hence he gets the second half, while Trump won’t.
What a Maroon
That makes sense.
What originally struck me about the comparison was their need for over-the-top, obviously insincere flattery (obvious to others, at least) (which of course is a symptom of the narcissism you pointed out).
iknklast
Yeah, I’m a bit obsessive about Shakespeare, too. It’s an obsession I understand. Which is why I got so mad about yet another crappy production of Hamlet (with the single worse Polonius I had ever seen – honestly, I think Trump would do it better). Recent attempts to make Shakespeare about Trump have been largely bad (though I’m sure there are some that are done well, but I think if you do Shakespeare right, you don’t need to try to obviously make it about Trump…or Bush…or the Gulf War…or anything modern. I think it shines through the text that dictators will dictate, tyrants will tyrant, villains will villain).
If I had as much money as our lousy President, I would not cover everything with fake gold. I would probably give a lot of it to good causes, but I would save aside some to sponsor theatres who do Shakespeare (and many other things) well, and don’t go around messing up author’s works by “interpreting” them through some crappy lens that sees the world through the director’s narrow worldview.
Why, yes, I am a playwright who has had plays “interpreted” by directors. Why do you ask?
Yes the need for flattery no matter how obviously fake is a big flag, isn’t it. It occurs to me to wonder if it’s even possible to deliver Goneril and Regan’s flattery-speeches as if sincerely – to act them trying to act sincere so well that they do seem sincere. I suspect the way they’re worded makes that impossible.
And then even if they could manage it, Cordelia’s extreme brevity would shoot them down.
Comments
19 responses to “Oh look, it’s a home down, I mean a touch run”
Apparently this also gives Deripaska the ability to personally disengage from the debts some of those companies have. Nice to be rich and have rich friends I guess.
Picked the wrong Sunday. No one watches the Pro Bowl.
Well, I was at a production of Hamlet, but it was a bad production, so maybe I shouldn’t have watched that.
It just occurred to me that I have not seen a single good production of a Shakespeare play since Trump became president, though I continue to see as many Shakespeare plays as ever. I think I’ll blame it on Trump. He has ruined Shakespeare.
So many things we knew Trump would ruin, but I bet nobody thought he would ruin Shakespeare.
Trump certainly affected Shakespeare:
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/jun/12/donald-trump-shakespeare-play-julius-caesar-new-york
This sounds like an effective staging.
Trump reminds me more of Lear than Caesar.
Trump is very like Lear before the storm. Trump will never ever be like Lear after the storm.
Trump might be able to be compared with Iago, except Iago was clever.
How about Trump as Polonius? (In a production of the Gilligan’s Island version of Hamlet).
Though if we’re going to ruin 60’s sitcoms along with Shakespeare, I really see Trump more as Mr. Haney from Green Acres…
Ophelia,
Good point, though it may just be that the storm hasn’t hit him yet. It will be interesting to see how quickly his “friends” turn on him when he’s no longer president.
Nah, not Iago. Iago is far too controlled and disciplined. He doesn’t waste his energy on every trivial annoyance that comes along, while Trump and Lear both decidedly do.
And Polonius? Oh hell no. Nothing like him.
No, I meant Lear specifically. His ridiculous tantrums are very Trump-like, as is his narcissism, as is his cluelessness about both himself (he hath ever but slenderly known himself) and everyone else. It takes a real chump to believe Goneril and Regan and misunderstand what Cordelia is telling him.
That’s what I was thinking, though much better said than I could have articulated. (And yeah, Polonius is a dunderhead, but far too well-meaning for Trump.)
Yes, I think that is a good comparison, when you put it like that. I did say Iago was far too clever. It’s mostly that Iago does stuff mostly out of spite (his being passed over for promotion is a pretty petty reason to destroy so many lives), and so does Trump.
I’m a bit of an obsessive about Shakespeare, is all.
I guess the key to it is that both Polonius and Iago are subordinates. They have to control their impulses because they’re talking to their bosses. Lear, like Trump, is at the top of his particular heap: everybody has to truckle to him and he has to truckle to no one. The result is that he’s a complete pig, just like Trump. Shxpr sums it up nicely with that entrance in Act II where he comes onstage roaring WHERE’S MY DINNER.
Now that I think about it, Trump’s tweetstorms parallel Lear’s ragings through the storm. Trump’s learned that he’s no longer in charge of events, and it’s driving him crazy.
Yes. They both have that outraged vanity thing going.
Lear is conspicuously stupid and reckless in the first half of the play, as well as violently vindictive and treacherous. He puts a terrible curse on Cordelia, which we tend to hear as metaphor but Lear meant literally. It’s hard to exaggerate how awful he is. But there’s a decent core in there, which is signaled by Kent’s and Cordelia’s refusal to stop loving him. Hence he gets the second half, while Trump won’t.
That makes sense.
What originally struck me about the comparison was their need for over-the-top, obviously insincere flattery (obvious to others, at least) (which of course is a symptom of the narcissism you pointed out).
Yeah, I’m a bit obsessive about Shakespeare, too. It’s an obsession I understand. Which is why I got so mad about yet another crappy production of Hamlet (with the single worse Polonius I had ever seen – honestly, I think Trump would do it better). Recent attempts to make Shakespeare about Trump have been largely bad (though I’m sure there are some that are done well, but I think if you do Shakespeare right, you don’t need to try to obviously make it about Trump…or Bush…or the Gulf War…or anything modern. I think it shines through the text that dictators will dictate, tyrants will tyrant, villains will villain).
If I had as much money as our lousy President, I would not cover everything with fake gold. I would probably give a lot of it to good causes, but I would save aside some to sponsor theatres who do Shakespeare (and many other things) well, and don’t go around messing up author’s works by “interpreting” them through some crappy lens that sees the world through the director’s narrow worldview.
Why, yes, I am a playwright who has had plays “interpreted” by directors. Why do you ask?
Yes the need for flattery no matter how obviously fake is a big flag, isn’t it. It occurs to me to wonder if it’s even possible to deliver Goneril and Regan’s flattery-speeches as if sincerely – to act them trying to act sincere so well that they do seem sincere. I suspect the way they’re worded makes that impossible.
And then even if they could manage it, Cordelia’s extreme brevity would shoot them down.