Only Shakespeare could do justice to the last four years in Washington, D.C.

I am a historian by trade and inclination. For over four years I have been thinking about the Trump administration as a historian. However, much like the Camelot milieu of John Kennedy and his short-lived administration, that of Donald Trump should really be seen as reflecting a Shakespearean play. It is long, drawn-out, wearisome.

I don’t know if it would be a tragedy or comedy, or a tragi-comedy. Perhaps the latter.

However, this play appears to go on and on, much beyond its allotted time in the time-honored Globe Theatre. We commoners are weary standing before the stage where there are no seats. Our betters sit in the prime seats counting their money.

First, we have a puffy overweight hero, or buffoon, as the case may be. He has come to the throne (presidency) because of his fame as a television star and sometime (possibly) multi-millionaire surrounded by beautiful women, handsome children, a current foreign-born spouse, many competing aides-de-camp, with possible consorts in the near past.

This must be a play because his makeup is overdone so that the stage lights will highlight his handsome visage, the seemingly abundant hair swept back in the pose of a warrior riding into battle with bone spurs. He sports not at jousting but at golf (imported from those savages in Scotland who wear short skirts and imbibe whiskey).

He is surrounded by lackeys, the usual lawyers and hangers-on looking for crumbs, in this case millions of dollars of taxpayer dollars. In the end a lawyer with no neck and who needed braces on his teeth as a youth (who was once a famous mayor) becomes his greatest defender against the masses.

In the background, off-stage, are wealthy entrepreneurs, who, many like their hero, have inherited wealth from their truly hard-working ancestors. The moneyed-class on the streets of London, in this case Wall Street, hang on his every word, hoping to see the light, a message from their Master’s thumbs which are ever active on a magic device that belches forth his words of wisdom.

Alas and alack, there are enemies at the gates. In the South are peasants who yearn for the safety and opportunities of his vibrant kingdom. They will do the hard gritty work that many of his domain find beneath them. To the East are hordes of enemies from ancient lands, their armies bring forth not bows and arrows but rockets of untold destructiveness. We keep them at bay by purchasing their cheap goods at large and small marketplaces.

But I digress.

There is a handsome son and son-in-law who will possibly joust in the fourth or fifth act of this melodrama which could go on for many years. Who will emerge as the heir-apparent to the glory, the riches, the golf courses, the personal aircraft? Who will exit Stage Left, Stage Right?

Ultimately, we viewers of this melodrama will have to sit down and breathlessly await the outcome.

(My apologies to my high school and college English and Drama Appreciation teachers who led me through some of The Bard’s greatest works. I should have paid better attention and taken up acting or politics.)

William Ellis is a retired Eastern Kentucky University history professor.

This story was originally published December 23, 2020 at 12:47 PM.