"O for a muse of fire": The modern appeal of Shakespeare, June 8, 2025

Mo Rocca , CBS News Sunday Morning; "O for a muse of fire": The modern appeal of Shakespeare

"Dowd says it's fitting that the Folger is located in the nation's capital: "Outside in the garden, there's a silvery statue of Puck from 'Midsummers Night's Dream,' and the line, 'Lord, what fools these mortals be,' and it faces the Capitol. And there's never been a more apt description of politics in Washington than that."

In fact, Dowd says, Shakespeare was a cultural father figure to America's earliest leaders. "The Founding Fathers were very steeped in Shakespeare," she said. "Thomas Jefferson advised people to read Shakespeare from the time it got dark 'til the time they went to bed."

John Adams read Shakespeare to better understand the dark side of power, and how to protect against it. "The Founding Fathers definitely used it to form the Republic," she said. 

Dowd herself cites the Bard in her new collection, "Notorious," just as she has in her column ever since 1995, when Bill Clinton was president. "Clinton just is such a classic Shakespeare character because he just had this tragic flaw of recklessness," Dowd said. 

She compared Vice President Dick Cheney to Iago, preying on the insecurities of George W. Bush's Othello … Barack Obama to Hamlet, for his hesitancy and indecisiveness … and as for Joe Biden? "If Joe Biden had read 'King Lear,' he would've realized the dangers of the gerontocracy, and you really should not cling to power and suffocate the younger people who are coming along," Dowd said.

And then there's the current commander-in-chief: "Donald Trump reminds me of several different plays. He's kind of like late Lear, howling at the moon. He's also like Julius Caesar in a republic, but trying to grab the crown and think of himself as an emperor," Dowd said."

Trump’s reckless call to ‘Second Amendment people’; Washington Post, 8/9/16

Editorial Board, Washington Post; Trump’s reckless call to ‘Second Amendment people’ :

"“You aren’t just responsible for what you say,” Gen. Michael Hayden, a former CIA director, said in response to Mr. Trump’s remark. “You’re responsible for what people hear.”...

As is often the case, Mr. Trump was incoherent enough to permit more than one plausible interpretation of his words. If he had not so often celebrated violence and wielded dark innuendo against political opponents, minority groups, journalists and others, it would be easier to give him the benefit of the doubt in this case.

Unfortunately, a spokesman’s after-the-fact explanation did not clear the bar of plausibility. “Donald Trump was obviously talking about American voters who are passionate about their Second Amendment rights and advocating they use that power at the ballot box,” the spokesman said. No; Mr. Trump was talking about what would happen if Ms. Clinton were elected."