Why Donald Trump and Claudine Gay are two peas in a pod

Both display a malady that afflicts millions of Americans

Whatever did or didn’t happen in the brief freehold of Claudine Gay at the pinnacle of academia, her resignation letter is an epitome of contemporary self-pity – so much so that it made me think of someone else.

Gay did not apologize for harming the institution she was supposed to protect. Gay took no responsibility for her choices, shifting blame to others. Malevolent outside forces, not her own failing, brought her undoing.

The failing was not extemporaneous comments to Congress under political pressure, rather, was plagiarism: which she knew was wrong, had a long time to think about and correct.

So self-absorbed she had to write about herself twice in two days, Gay in the New York Times once again blamed others -- a “coordinated” intrigue against her by conveniently unnamed shadowy figures. (Bad people did bad things? Name them!) Gay did not own up to plagiarism: in her articles “material duplicated other scholars’ language without proper attribution,” weirdly passive phrasing that suggests “material,” not stolen work, magically appeared.

Photo by Catia Climovich on Unsplash

And despite the American system conferring on her wealth and success, she’s a victim. A victim!

Sounds exactly like Donald Trump.

There are remarkable parallels between the self-pity in Gay’s two statements and Trump’s blather: between Trump’s and Gay’s twinned fake-it-till-you-make backgrounds of cheating while denouncing others.

Trump has never apologized for harming a democracy he was supposed to protect. Born into wealth, granted a purchased type of status by Penn, placed into the Oval Office despite failing to win the popular vote, Trump nonetheless depicts himself as horribly mistreated by society.

Gay willingly accepted racial favoritism, yet complains of racial motives of others: much like Trump benefitting from enforcement of Electoral College rules, yet complaining when states and judges enforce ballot rules.

(Gay now departs from this essay, which is about Trump.)

Trump took an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, then tried to overturn the Constitution. But he calls himself a victim!

Trump has received more media spotlight than anyone else alive on Earth, and claims he is wronged by the media. As president Trump was expected to set a good example, instead showed low character and lied constantly, blaming others for his own faults. Trump insults everyone around him, including good and decent people such as Liz Cheney, yet lashes out bitterly when anyone criticizes him.

This accounting could go on and on, and raises the question – why is Donald Trump so popular?