Rather than me ham-handedly trying to summarize Stephen Metcalf's Slate cover story, "Donald Trump, Baby Boomer," read his thesis below.
Little in Trump's biography suggested he would grow up to lead a mass protest movement rooted in anti-establishment rage. How can a person who was handed such a plushy life speak so naturally to working-class resentments? How is it a man who inherited a fortune can so confidently reassure the Last -- men and women who only a year or so ago he would have cheerfully called out as "losers" -- that they, under President Trump, shall be First? Avoiding a lot of Rosebud doublespeak, I think we can trace Trump’s political instinct to a less personal, more sociological source. In this we need only look to his birth certificate. There we see that Donald John Trump was born on June 14, 1946. Is it possible Trumpismo, in its disdain for norms of speech and conduct, in its underlying craving for apocalyptic violence, is traceable to one simple fact? In almost plain sight, beneath the worldly swagger and breathtaking arrogance, lies Donald Trump the baby boomer.
Metcalf joins us to unpack his argument.
And then: Radiohead's ninth studio album, A Moon Shaped Pool, dropped on Sunday. WNPR's own Steve Metcalf joins us to dissect it across genre boundaries, from the point of view of a classical musician.
Plus: Your calls.
GUESTS:
- Stephen Metcalf - Slate's critic at large; he wrote their cover story last week, "Donald Trump, Baby Boomer"
- Steve Metcalf - Curator of the Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series at the Hartt School; he writes WNPR's Metcalf on Music column
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Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
