The Strange Case of Donald Trump and Mr. Hyde
MR. UTTERSON the lawyer had gummy lips which pursed and smacked when rapt in deep and worried thought. His gray eyebrows shifted as he cogitated, moths ready to take flight. He walked along Madison Avenue weaving through the evening crowd in the company of his cousin, Richard Enfield. Soot begrimed the streets and buildings as though a dam had burst on all the smoke stoppered away since the creation of the EPA, the haze of an ancient fog having returned to choke the city.
"Donald Trump has always seemed such a pleasant buffoon," the lawyer said. "What does this Mr. Hyde hold over him to make him thus Twitter in the night?"
"I know not," Enfield said, his smile was broad but strained. "I have on Trump's word that Trump is an honourable man, forthright and never to set his tongue to a lie. Studious of the Bible. He has declared his true favourite among passages is, 'An eye for an eye.' [1]"
"Aye," Utterson said, wagging his head, "that is Trump and true. He has proclaimed many a deviled phrase. 'Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. [2]' He has declared, 'You can't be too greedy. [3]'"
"Yes, quite. You have quoted from The Art of the Deal, which Trump has sworn second in his heart only to the Bible [4]. But then, perhaps it is not the Christian Bible he studies.[5]"
They chuckled.
"Still, I believe him a good man," Utterson said.
"He is a child of Christ," Enfield asseverated. "In truth, his late grandmother was born of the name Elisabeth Christ, may her soul find peace. [6]"
Elizabeth Trump, nee Elisabeth Christ, Oct. 10, 1880 - June 6, 1966. RIP. |
Utterson grunted. He recognized that Enfield, even with his seemingly benign words, steered the conversation in a direction more sinister than he would like.
They stopped at the brink of a fountain. An old woman tossed crumbs to a pigeon. A feral cat leapt upon the bird and, with a horrid, rapacious rake of its claws, tore open its neck. Utterson shuddered and Enfield looked away in disgust.
"I saw this Mr. Hyde just this week past," Utterson said. "On Park Avenue. There was something abnormal and misbegotten in the very essence of the creature -- something seizing, surprising, and revolting [7]. A smallish man, half that of the stout Trump. He stalked among a crowd who parted for his passage and then ducked into a doorway leading to the lower chambers of Trump Tower. He smacked the doorkeeper with his cane as he passed inside."
"Surely, the malfeasant was bounced forthwith," Enfield said.
"Nay. The doorkeeper apologized for being struck. It seemed this Hyde was welcomed as a favored guest."
"Hmmpf." Enfield sniffled as he glanced about. "Still 't'is to be expected. Trump recalled that as a child in the second grade, he gave his teacher a black eye because he thought the man dumb [8]. What a prodigy! And he praised his own son for being vicious and violent. [9]
"Such praise of craven brutishness," Utterson said. "The pieces fit and surely they bespeak of the impish influence of Mr. Hyde, an agent of chaos if one ever has existed. How but through Hyde's actions could you explain so great an entrepreneur losing near a billion in one year on a casino? [10]"
"And yet the deduction appeared on Trump's taxes, not on Hyde's," Enright countered, "passing the burden on to all who do pay. A thousand men like that and we begin to explain the mass of deficit. Think of how much he will deduct once he bankrupts America!"
A greyness settled over Utterson's heart. He knew Enright was hardly a Tory, and yet it seemed clear that in this discourse and by saying the opposite of what he meant, his cousin took a wicked glee in casting a spell of persuasion.
"Trump is a pleasant buffoon," Utterson muttered, as though the words could stave back a heaviness he felt sapping his very corpuscles. "It must be the work of Mr. Hyde. I cannot reconcile this great entrepreneur with so crass a man."
"No, Trump is not crass," Enfield said. "It surely must be the constellation of haters who cling to his name." He whispered their name, "The white supremacists. [11]"
"White supremacists?" Utterson scoffed. "Trump would never associate with such a toxic brand of ignorance."
Trump passing along a message from WhiteGenocide (one of several) |
Trump passing along a statistic from a phony institute claiming 81% of whites are killed by blacks. |
"No," Enfield agreed, a hiss in his voice, "not Trump."
A homeless woman sat behind a sign, Destroyed by Trump. Utterson snorted. He then asked himself whether he laughed at such a pathetic figure or at her claim? Ashamed of himself, he dropped a coin in her cup.
"Trump only destroys the best," Enfield said. This left Utterson confused. Was his cousin dismissing this woman's statement? Surely he was not saying this woman was the best?
"Trump," Enfield continued, "or I betake it was that other, that foul fiend who prowls the night, assaults women and ogles naked youth. There was the time he humiliated Miss Universe."
"Miss Universe? That name rings of a true potency." And, in Utterson's mind, a touch of the unreal. He searched his memory as to whether Miss Universe was among the list of Marvel characters.
"There was Alicia Machado, Miss Universe 1996," Enfield said. "Trump lied and said she made pornographic movies. And then called upon people to watch the films. [12]"
"Ah, that was but a Twitter in the night," Utterson said. "Thus pointing again to Hyde. And Trump himself said no such comment ever existed. [13]"
"Perhaps." Enfield frowned, more of a squishing of the lips. "But what of that other incident. Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Universe 2004. That video where he called her to stand before a crowd and sexually humiliated her and declared he planned to lie to people and say she was dumb. [14]. Or that other pageant where he assaulted Temple Taggert [15]. Or those times he went backstage unannounced to ogle the women and underage contestants [16]. He declared it within his rights, 'I'm the owner of the pageant... You know, they're standing there with no clothes. [17]' Trump has professed that he had sex with three women at once, noting their weight, something very important to him, totaled 375 pounds. [18] But, ha! 'T'were not for his riches, the man would be a 70-year-old virgin."
Enfield was now a dog with a bone and he would not let go. "The man who, with Trump, co-wrote The Art of the Deal, who examined Trump as close as anybody, declared that if wrote the book today he would title it, 'The Sociopath.' I quote the author in saying 'Lying is second nature to him.' [19]"
"Stop!" Utterson vociferated. "Enough! I don't want to know. You have settled your mind on these matters and are but toying with me. If Trump be a liar, I need hear it from his own lips."
"Utterson, my dear cousin, there is the story of the two doors. One is guarded by a dragon who always speaks the truth, the other by a dragon who always lies. Would you trust the lying dragon to tell you which was honest?"
The pair stopped in their tracks. He and Enfield stood at the corner of 5th and 57th, outside of Trump's Tower. There, not far away, Donald Trump, the man himself, strode down the sidewalk. He ducked into a side door, a heavy metal portal which, upon his passage, failed to snap shut against its bolts.
Enfield must have read Utterson's mind, for he said, "I warn you, for the sake of your sanity and all that you deem holy. Do not follow."
But the temptation consumed the lawyer. Leaving Enfield behind with a bare whisper of "Godspeed," he slid his fingers into the door crack. So solid and of such heft, he feared it would jerk closed, lopping off his digits. He drew it open.
He hoped to happen upon a security guard, someone who would thrust him back in to the street, thereby halting this fearful obsession. No such fortune.
Laid out before him, a long tunnel. Plump bundles of wiring clung to the ceiling like a string of cocoons. A steam-pipe gurgled and sizzled, a pin-point leak. The boiling water condensed against the ceiling and a steady drip dove into the echo of emptiness.
At the end of the hall, an open doorway baited him with its light, its bright gaping maw seemingly inhaling the length of darkness. Utterson's mind told him, no, but his feet, no longer heeding his will, answered the summons, his footfalls tattooing a relentless path onward.
He entered a vast and yet strangely claustrophobic room where he encountered a raging furnace. The walls were awash in trembling yellows and reds. Nearby, draped over the arm of a battered E-Z-boy chair, there rested the scarecrow face of Donald Trump, the eye sockets empty, the orange hair spray-hardened into a swath of straw.
"If he only had a. . ."
Utterson sunk his finger through the eyes. It was a Latex mask.
A clacking sound. Sitting in front of a desk, tap-tapping away at a keyboard, was the small and twisted, ape-like creature, Hyde. The horrendous brute gazed at the screen with jaundiced frenzied eyes, stabbing the keyboard with thick yellowed nails as he Twittered. He still wore Trump's blue serge jacket, his stick-like appendages now wholly swallowed, his tiny frame lost as though set beneath a fallen circus tent.
This can't be, Utterson thought. It does not ring true: surely the law of conservation of mass. And yet, he considered, he hadn't accounted for the presence of dark matter.
The beast looked up at him, and in that instant, Utterson knew for certain. There never was a Trump, only Mr. Hyde.
Martin Hill Ortiz
Notes and Footnotes.
Perhaps I should have titled the piece, Doctor Trump and Mr. Hyde. In 1988, Trump received an honorary doctorate from LeHigh University, the year after they granted one to Bill Cosby.
http://thebrownandwhite.com/
Many of the links include audio and visual files in which Trump expresses his character.
[1] Trump's favorite Bible verse had a long and strained history.
Round one, August 2015.
When asked what his favorite verse was, he said, "I wouldn't want to get into it. Because to me, that's very personal. The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics." He declined to choose between the Old or New Testament, "Probably equal. I think it's just incredible." Link includes audio and visual. [August 2015]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
His second attempt, September 2015.
When Trump was asked for a favorite verse, he invented one, saying it was from Proverbs: "Never bend to envy." No such verse exists.
http://www.christiantoday.com/
"Never bend to envy?" What does Trump even mean by this? Maintain good posture while envying? Did Trump believe many people groveled while envying him and he was disgusted by them?
"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief." Proverbs 24:1-2.
His third attempt at a favorite verse, September 2016.
"Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life, sir?" asked host Bob Lonsberry on WHAM 1180 AM.
Trump: "Well, I think many. I mean, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people, look, an eye for an eye, you can almost say that." [link to audio]
https://www.buzzfeed.com/
[2] Screw people back ten times as hard. From the Jennifer Hawkins video, discussed more fully below.
Fuller quote: "Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that." [Video and Audio at link].
http://www.vox.com/identities/
[3] "The point is you can't be too greedy." The Art of the Deal, Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz. Random House. (1987).
[4] Trump declared the Bible his favorite book, beating out second place, Trump's own Art of the Deal.
Trump stated this on several occasions. One example here, as reported on a Christian news site.
http://www.charismanews.com/
Before his presidential run, Trump stated that his favorite book was Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking.
http://www.shortlist.com/
[5] Not the Christian Bible. Many of Trump's sayings are reflected in Anton LaVey's The Satanic bible.
Trump's favorite verse: Eye for an eye.
Note: This is one of the few sayings that Jesus specifically refuted.
And similar Trump quote: Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that.
Satanic bible: Eye for eye, tooth for tooth -aye, four-fold, a hundred-fold!
Trump: You can't be too greedy.
Satanic bible: A Satanist knows there is nothing wrong with being greedy.
Trump, as cited below brags of his orgies and praises violence.
From the Satanic bible:
Satanism is a blatantly selfish, brutal religion.
And,
The seven deadly sins of the Christian Church are: greed, pride, envy, anger, gluttony, lust, and sloth. Satanism advocates indulging in each of these "sins" as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.
I will not link to the text of the Satanic bible. It is available at archive.org, a safe site.
[6] From the genealogy site:
Elizabeth Christ. Oct. 10, 1880 - Jun. 6, 1966
Spouse:
Friedrich Trump (1869-1918)
Mother of:
Frederick Christ Trump (1905-1999)
Father of Donald John Trump (1946- )
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-
[7] I had to include, if only briefly, some of Stevenson's sharp prose. From: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, Longmans, Green & Co., 1886.
[8] Gave teacher black eye in the second grade.
From: The Art of the Deal. Donald Trump and Tony Schwartz. Random House. (1987).
"In the second grade I actually gave a teacher a black eye — I punched my music teacher because I didn't think he knew anything about music..."
[9] Praising his son's violent character.
From: Donald Trump gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. USA Today, 1/16/2007.
Speaking of his son, Barron. "He's strong, he's smart, he's tough, he's vicious, he's violent — all of the ingredients you need to be an entrepreneur."
http://usatoday30.usatoday.
[10] The casino bankruptcy and the tax deduction.
From: Donald Trump Got a Tax Break For Stiffing Contractors. October 8, 2016, Fortune Magazine.
http://fortune.com/2016/10/08/
[11] White supremacy notes.
Trump sending along a racist tweet from #whitegenocide.
http://www.politifact.com/
Trump sending along a racist tweet that says 81% of homicides where white people are the victim are committed by blacks. (The actual number is about 16%) The tweet, which made the rounds of white supremacy sites, cites a non-existent crime statistics research group.
More of the connection of Donald Trump, his social network, other tweets and white supremacy is discussed here.
http://fortune.com/donald-
[12, 13] The tweet advising America to watch a (non-existent) sex tape of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and then denying he ever said it. [for the latter, video in the link]
From:
http://www.politifact.com/
Text of tweet:
Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past) Alicia M become a U.S. citizen so she could use her in the debate?
From the second debate:
Anderson Cooper: In the days after the first debate, you sent out a series of tweets from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m., including one that told people to check out a sex tape.
Trump: No, it wasn’t saying, 'check out a sex tape.' It was just 'take a look at the person she built up to be this wonderful girl scout, who was no girl scout.'
[14] Jennifer Hawkins, Miss Australia, for Miss Universe.
One of the most disturbing videos that was uncovered was that of Trump humiliating Jennifer Hawkins, former Miss Universe in front of a crowd of thousands, including stating his plan to lie about her intelligence, making orgasm jokes at her expense, and forcing a kiss of her.
From: A newly surfaced video shows Donald Trump grabbing and kissing a former Miss Universe onstage. He sexually humiliates her in front of thousands. Vox.com, October 28, 2016.
http://www.vox.com/identities/
Excerpts:
Trump, after explaining how he believed Hawkins had refused to introduce him, brings Jennifer Hawkins up on stage and then describes how he planned to exact his revenge.
"Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard. I really believe that."
"I was actually going to get up and tell you that Jennifer is a beautiful girl on the outside, but she’s not very bright. That wouldn’t have been true, but I would have said it anyway."
"And you know what? She came tonight, she came — came, she came, she came. See, so they have the same filthy minds in Australia."
[15] Temple Taggert, 2007 Miss Utah complained that Trump forced a kiss.
From: Miss USA Contestant Details Unwanted Encounters With Trump. nbcnews.com
Excerpt:
Taggert: "I remember feeling kind of embarrassed, like wanting to turn and wipe my mouth, like, 'What just happened?'"
http://www.nbcnews.com/
[16] Backstage and ogling contestants.
From: Teen Beauty Queens Say Trump Walked In On Them Changing. "Don’t worry, ladies, I've seen it all before."
https://www.buzzfeed.com/
Excerpt: Four women who competed in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Donald Trump walked into the dressing room while contestants — some as young as 15 — were changing. [the story notes a fifth woman had come forward]
and, at the 2000 Miss USA Beauty Pageant:
"We Were All Naked" When Donald Trump Walked Through Beauty Queen Dressing Room. Trump: "I sort of get away with things like that."
https://www.buzzfeed.com/
Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona, describes the same event in the 2001 Miss America Pageant.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/
Other examples not mentioned.
[17] The right to go backstage when the beauty queen contestants were undressed.
From: Trump on Howard Stern. [radio show, audio files available at link] http://edition.cnn.com/2016/
Excerpts:
Trump speaking. "Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that before a show, I'll go backstage and everyone's getting dressed, and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere, and I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and therefore I'm inspecting it," Trump said. "You know, I'm inspecting because I want to make sure that everything is good."
"You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone okay?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody okay?'
But it's okay: "All of the women on The Apprentice flirted with me - consciously or unconsciously. That's to be expected." How to Get Rich. Donald Trump, Meredith McGiver. Ballantine Books. (2004)
[18] Trump having sex with three women at once, weighing 375 pounds between them.
From the same link as above: Trump on Howard Stern. [radio show, audio files available at link]
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/
Context:
After asking Trump about whether he ever had sex with a 300 pound woman— to which Trump replies, no—Artie Lang asked Trump if he ever had a threesome total 300 pounds.
Excerpt:
Trump: "I wouldn't say 300, I would say could be about 375. I figure 125 a piece as opposed to 100."
A different instance when he was asked about having threesomes in general [same link].
"Haven't we all," Trump added about men having threesomes, "are we babies?"
[19] Trump, The Sociopath.
From: Donald Trump's Ghost Writer Tells All. July 25, 2016, The New Yorker.
http://www.newyorker.com/
Excerpts and further quotes:
If he were writing "The Art of the Deal" today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, "The Sociopath."
"Lying is second nature to him," Schwartz said. "More than anyone else I have ever met, Trump has the ability to convince himself that whatever he is saying at any given moment is true, or sort of true, or at least ought to be true."
"I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization." Tony Schwartz, co-author.
---
Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.
Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press |
Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.
Hard cover: Amazon US
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