Trump' Tale of Two Cities

Image credit Vice News

Op-ed: Unlike Charles Dickens, Donald Trump does not need centuries to change his narrative, only several hours and a jet flight across the border.

But then in the Dickens’ novel, A Tale of Two Cities, poverty and wealth are changed by battles in the streets of Paris and London.

Trump switched Mexico City for Phoenix, and showed no sign that he cares one whit for the poor. Why should he? He never worked in a factory as a child.

It doesn’t take a huge imagination to see a guillotine falling on Trump’s neck.

Indeed, he once again showed he has no regard for the truth, claiming he had avoided discussing who would pay for the wall he would build to separate the U.S. from Mexico.

Usually, Trump can count on shooting someone in the street and not losing any popularity, and not get much criticism in the media either.

Many in the media were not willing this time to allow Trump to get away with the lie when the Mexican president stated strongly that he had ruled out paying for the wall in their brief meeting.

Trump said, “Who pays for the wall? We didn't discuss," Trump had said when asked by a reporter during a news conference following their meeting in Mexico City. "We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That'll be for a later date,” CNN reported.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said in a Tweet, “At the beginning of the conversation with Donald Trump I made it clear that Mexico will not pay for the wall.”

Trump replied: “Mexico will pay for the wall, believe me — 100 percent — they don’t know it yet, but they will pay for the wall,” Mr. Trump said. “They’re great people, and great leaders, but they will pay for the wall,” according to the New York Times.

He said he might even deport one American, his opponent Hillary Clinton, along with millions of illegal workers.

Trump lacks the eloquence of Dickens.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

Centuries from now Trump will be lucky to be an asterisk.