President Donald Trump frequently loves to call news that is not favorable to him "fake news." He was, however, caught using a fake Time magazine cover in his golf courses. Soon, expect him to tweet about a "fake play" even if the writer is the playwright of a Tony Award-winning play and Trump is the subject of the upcoming play.
Vile is expected from the real estate billionaire if only because the playwright Tony Kushner – who shares the surname of Trump's son-in-law Jared – sees the president as a mentally ill person. The author of "Angels of America" said that he just started to write the play about Trump which may be ready after his term ends.
Borderline psychotic
A Pulitzer Prize awardee, Kushner said that, as a writer, Trump is the kind of person he tends to avoid. He explained that he views the former host of "The Apprentice" as a borderline psychotic. Kushner, however, admits that the incoherence of the president makes Trump a good material for drama, although his personality is really so boring, The New York Daily News reported.
While the colorful character of Trump makes a good material for a play, Kushner admitted that because of the president's alleged mental ailment, it frightens the writer that Trump is in the White House. It is a perception not limited to the U.S. In early July, Trump's mental illness was a hot topic in Australia.
It was triggered by his tweet rants against "Morning Joe" hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski who poked fun at his being caught by media with a fake Time magazine cover.
The Twitter meltdown of the president, which caused his approval rating to drastically drop, led the Democrats to propose the creation of a panel to judge the mental fitness of Trump to be the country's president.
Trump as a direct character
Kushner said the play will not focus on Trump's presidency. It will be set in 2014, two years before the election, The Daily Beast reported. Instead of a play in which the subject is symbolic or oblique, Kushner said that he will attempt to write Trump as a direct character. Because of the president's perceived mental ailment, the playwright said what Trump is capable of doing – including America possibly ending up in a nuclear war – should no longer surprise people.
"We know that he will never reveal a depth of humanity, because he's been around for decades and there has never been a sign of it," Kushner explained.
The playwright added that Trump is someone people would not want to be stuck with in a party because they cannot get away from his grotesque character. After voters gave so much power "to a madman and crazy person," it committed political suicide. "I don't think analogies to Hitler are misplaced in that regard," Kushner pointed out.
Other play about Trump
Kushner does not have yet a title for his upcoming play about Trump. He is not the first playwright to write an opus about the billionaire, according to The Guardian. In late July, another play about a fictionalized Trump will be staged on Broadway.
It is the reimagining of Shakespeare's classic "Julius Caesar" and "The Terms of My Surrender" Michael Moore.
The play, staged by Public Theater in another venue, had the main character in blond hair and long tie. It was controversial because Gregg Henry, who played Caesar – the fictionalized Trump – was stabbed to death by women and minorities.
