With his mendacity and increasingly virulent attacks on immigrants, Muslims, women, the press, the judiciary, the intelligence services, the F.B.I. - any group or institution that he finds threatening or useful as a scapegoat - Mr. Trump is attempting the Orwellian trick of redefining American reality on his own terms.
Interpretation
This quote critiques Donald Trump's strategy of manipulating reality to suit his narrative by attacking various groups.
In this quote, Michiko Kakutani highlights how Donald Trump's dishonest and aggressive rhetoric serves to distort the perception of reality in America. By targeting marginalized groups and institutions, he is seen as attempting to create a new version of truth, similar to the themes found in George Orwell's works, where language and meaning are manipulated for power.
In practice
During a political discourse, you might reference this quote to illustrate the dangers of spreading misinformation.
If a novelist had concocted a villain like Trump - a larger-than-life, over-the-top avatar of narcissism, mendacity, ignorance, prejudice, boorishness, demagoguery, and tyrannical impulses, she or he would likely be accused of extreme contrivance and implausibility.
I'm pretty omnivorous - in fact, I don't think of books in terms of genres. J. K. Rowling's 'Harry Potter' books are no more Y.A. reading, to me, than John le Carre's 'Smiley' novels are spy stories.
For most of us, art is supposed to do something more than simply mirror the confusions of the world.
On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.
I am making a collection of the things my opponents have found me to be and, when this election is over, I am going to open a museum and put them on display.
There is no excitement anywhere in the world, short of war, to match the excitement of the American presidential campaign.
China's republican politics is like a child who just started schooling. He must have a good teacher and be surrounded by good friends. By the same token, the Chinese people, new to the republican politics, must be educated properly. The revolutionary government should be the people's tutor to impart advanced awareness and experience.
I was surprised by the response of young people because there is a perception that those younger than the 1988 generation are not interested in politics.
The chief internal enemies of any state are not spies nor saboteurs nor the paid agents of foreign governments. They are, on the contrary, those myriads of public officials who betray the trust imposed upon them by the people.
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