"We've got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar."
— Brooks, David (b. 1961)
Author
Date
May 15, 2017
Metaphor
"We've got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar."
Metaphor in Context
But Trump's statements don't necessarily come from anywhere, lead anywhere or have a permanent reality beyond his wish to be liked at any given instant.
We've got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar.
"We badly want to understand Trump, to grasp him," David Roberts writes in Vox. "It might give us some sense of control, or at least an ability to predict what he will do next. But what if there's nothing to understand? What if there is no there there?"
And out of that void comes a carelessness that quite possibly betrayed an intelligence source, and endangered a country.
We've got this perverse situation in which the vast analytic powers of the entire world are being spent trying to understand a guy whose thoughts are often just six fireflies beeping randomly in a jar.
"We badly want to understand Trump, to grasp him," David Roberts writes in Vox. "It might give us some sense of control, or at least an ability to predict what he will do next. But what if there's nothing to understand? What if there is no there there?"
And out of that void comes a carelessness that quite possibly betrayed an intelligence source, and endangered a country.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
David Brooks, "When the World Is Led by a Child," The New York Times (May 15, 2017). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
05/16/2017
