Trump in Trickster's Masquerade
The Old Jester, Pablo Picasso, 1963. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York When it comes to the complexities of human nature, Oscar Wilde was rarely wrong. “Man is least himself,” he said, “when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell the truth.” Three years ago a dear friend and colleague died just as Donald Trump’s candidacy for president was beginning to gain momentum but before the reality of the election had roiled and thrashed its way into the foreground of our awareness. Before her death she asked me to finish a manuscript she’d been working on about the psychology of persona — the various attitudes, masks, and dramatis personae by which we adapt to the world and also shape it. Exhausted by grief and terrified by the prospect of the upcoming election this task weighed heavily on me, but as it carried the unquestionable myste