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We Know What Trump Will Do — J.R.R. Tolkien Already Told Us

The inevitable fate of the unhappiest man on the planet

Glenn Rocess
6 min readNov 6, 2020
John Noble in his chilling rendition of Denethor, Steward of Gondor, in “The Return of the King”.

If there is one character in literature that should remind us of Donald Trump, it is Denethor from Tolkien’s “Return of the King”, if Denethor were much less literate and disturbingly ignorant of the world around him.

For those who may not be familiar with the reference, Denethor, Steward of Gondor, was being manipulated by Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor. To make a long story short, Denethor is old and bitter, and no longer trusts anyone around him, even those whose counsel he had valued in the past. He feels betrayed by all, even by his youngest son Faramir. As Gondor is being attacked, Denethor gives in to despair and attempts to immolate Faramir and himself as part of a personal Götterdämmerung.

No, Trump will not try to burn himself and his family down, but he does feel betrayed by almost everyone around him, with the probable exception of his three oldest children. One has to bear in mind that Trump is a malignant narcissist, and as such, it is simply inconceivable to him that he lost the election fair and square.

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Glenn Rocess
Glenn Rocess

Written by Glenn Rocess

Retired Navy. Inveterate contrarian. If I haven’t done it, I’ve usually done something close.

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