Trump’s presidency is what evil looks like: absurd, frightening, cruel | Nesrine Malik
Apr 19, 2026
Commentators have said that the US president’s clownishness and lack of ideology somehow make him less dangerous. They’re wrongOver the past few weeks, a random kaleidoscope of images has been flashing through my head. Some are characters from movies not seen since childhood. Others are snippets
from literature or iconic art. What joins them all is an exaggerated, almost kitschy evil.These images seem to be standing in for the real carnage my brain is trying to process: the bodies pulled from the rubble in Gaza, a school full of young pupils blown apart in Iran. The more than 1 million people in southern Lebanon expelled en masse from their homes. (Alex in the film of A Clockwork Orange appears, eyes clamped open as liquid is dripped into them, unable to blink away what is scorching his vision.)Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
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