AS Donald Trump becomes ever more unhinged, one possible explanation is that he’s secretly a big fan of nightmarish alternate realities. Could these be his inspiration?
V for Vendetta
A country, Britain in this case, turns into a fascist state in which the government deals only in propaganda and the police’s job is to ruthlessly keep the population down. The film even has a pandemic in the US. Surely a coincidence because Trump is far too thick to be into Alan Moore.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Trump’s record on women isn’t great, what with ‘grab them by the pussy’ and about a million other things. He’s also supported by Christian fundamentalists. If American women were enslaved by a religious regime it’s unlikely Trump would be that fussed, so long as a few of them were still allowed to be porn stars and beauty pageant contestants.
The Dead Zone
Not strictly a dystopia, but about a psychic who learns that a popular politician is in fact a megalomaniac who will start World War 3. Remember 2016 when loads of people said Trump would tone it down and be an okay president, but he turned out to be a total mentalist? Spooky.
The Man in the High Castle
Okay, this is full-on Nazis-rule-America stuff, but Trump has always equivocated about racists and neo-Nazis who support him. Also it’s easy to imagine the preening orange bastard enjoying being measured for his uniform, like Goering with a fake tan.
Idiocracy
Not exactly a subtle film but it predates Trump by a decade and features a terminally dumb population electing a government of utter morons. Definitely an influence on Trump, with his bleach cure for Covid. If he does catch it, the imbecile will probably brag “I got the virus and it is the best virus” before dropping dead.
