William Shakespeare’s Othello bookended my experience with the 2016 election results. It was the last book I started before I watched the election results come in on Tuesday night and it was the first book I finished after I knew Donald Trump had become the president elect of our country. When my class first began the play we were struck by how Iago’s speeches were strikingly similar to the rhetoric of Donald Trump. Both Trump and Iago appeal to sexism and racism as scapegoats for their insecurities. These men have also duped almost everyone around them and, in Iago’s case this has devastating consequences.
What struck me the most about Trump and Iago’s similarities was how untouchable they seemed. Iago is frequently characterized as a two-face who harbors sinister thoughts, but acts outwardly polite and loyal. This characterization ignores instances in the play where Iago reveals his true self to the other characters. In act two, scene one, Iago is both outwardly racist and sexist in front of Desdemona, Emilia, and Cassio. In this scene Desdemona charges him with being “profane,” but her accusation is laughed off. Cassio insists that Iago is speaking the truth when he spouts racist and sexist ideas. Iago’s crude language is attributed to his honesty, much in the same way Trump’s supporters credit him as being willing to speak his mind and say what nobody else will. Their antics are also laughed off by their rivals instead of being taken as serious threats. Laughing off Iago left Desdemona and Emilia dead and Cassio wounded. Laughing off Trump lead to his dominance in the Republican primary and ultimately his victory this past Tuesday. Trump’s ridiculous persona assured many on the left that no one with dignity would ever vote for him. This made Democrats, especially those with privilege, feel like they did not need to turn out on Tuesday to back a candidate they were less excited about. What the polls and media missed was that portraying Trump as an unqualified joke was underestimating him. It made Democrats feel safe and allowed them to ignore the reality of the situation. Just like at the end of Othello, no one is laughing now.
It is this supposed honesty that allows Iago to dupe Othello into believing that Desdemona is cheating, but Othello is not the only character whom Iago tricked. It is Roderigo, the man who dumps funds into Iago’s pockets, is also manipulated. Roderigo follows Iago’s plans because Iago promises him Desdemona. He promises to return to Roderigo, a white man, what Othello, a black man, has supposedly taken from him. He follows Iago’s plan despite how sinister it gets. In the end, however, Iago does not give Desdemona to Roderigo, nor did he ever intend to. Instead, he murders Roderigo in the dark. This reveals that Iago was never about helping anyone, but himself. In the upcoming months, I suspect Trump supporters will find themselves in a similar position. While it is too soon to know what a Trump presidency will bring for his supporters, he has already started rolling back on some of his campaign promises. According to Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post, after the election, Trump indicated that he may not entirely repeal Obamacare. His promise to appeal universal healthcare was one of the cornerstones of his campaign. In the upcoming weeks I suspect we will see Trump flounder on other policies. I am also nearly certain that this will anger his supporters, for Trump will not have murdered them. He cannot silence their angry voices that his campaign has legitimized. I hope that his supporters will realize that it is not immigrants, LGBT people, and people of color who failed them. It was a leader willing to use race as a scapegoat for problems he is not interested in fixing. Trump is not an “everyman;” he is one of the elites. Like Iago, he is only interested in advancing himself, and his trickery will leave everyone behind.
