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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 12, 2026

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Newt Gingrich, who has written several books about Trump now, concluded in an interview that Trump is aware that he’s playing a character, and that the character is Donald Trump. Newt said something like, Trump knows that he has to wake up every day and act like Donald Trump, or he doesn’t get to be Donald Trump. The image is the substance.

At this point, the book is older than me, to some extent didn't the interpretation of Trump through the book create or reify the Trumpian character. Trump may not have been the Trump of the book in the same way when the book was written, but he is now, in part because of the book.

Character is a very funny causal loop.