Philip Roth passed away last week at the age of 85.
Arguably one of America’s more prolific and respected writers, Roth had a way with words. So when he was asked to talk about the Trump presidency, he did not disappoint.
Beginning with his own political odyssey, Roth observed:
I was born in 1933, the year that F.D.R was inaugurated. He was president until I was 12 years old. I’ve been a Roosevelt Democrat ever since. I found much that was alarming about being a citizen during the tenures of Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. But, whatever I may have seen as their limitations of character or intellect, neither was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.
The prize-winning writer had some serious advice for today’s writers and journalists. He admonished them to continue to use their right to freedom of speech and press as much as possible to combat Trump’s lies and threats to these rights.
Referring to his 2004 book “The Plot Against America,” in which he eerily describes a scheme by a foreign government to destabilize American democracy, Roth said:
As for how Trump threatens us, I would say that, like the anxious and fear-ridden families in my book, what is most terrifying is that he makes any and everything possible, including, of course, the nuclear catastrophe.
Yes, Trump has so lowered the bar for what it takes to be elected to the highest office in the land that the old adage any American can become president is, regrettably, no longer wistful hyperbole.
Photo | erienewsnow.com
