Citizen Trump

You are not the only one. I came here esentially to write this. Trump's win has surpassed art and anything that could be expected out of reality. Before his win, the idea Trump winning the election would have made a bad movie, now it can be compared to classics and legendary character studies, like Citizen Kane.

A few others have picked up on it. I've seen some articles on Trump and his relationship with Citizen Kane. It's supposedly one of his favorite movies, though he apparently never got that Orson Welles didn't mean for people to want to emulate Charles Kane. Although I've heard some people call Kane a monster and I don't think he meant him to be that way either.

There's an interview with Welles that can be found on youtube. It's from 1960 I believe. Welles is asked about his motives behind the movie and says that he loathes having to give this type of answer, but he did consciously make Citizen Kane as a type of social commentary and specifically as an "attack on the acquisitive society" and on "acquisition in general." Donald Trump is pretty much the very embodiment of the acquisitive society that Welles was criticizing in the film.
So whether you love Trump or loathe him, I don't think one can argue that he did miss the point of the film. At least the point that Welles was trying to make. Unless you subscribe to the "Death of the author" theory or in this instance, the "Death of the writer/director". In that case you can place any meaning and motivation you want on the movie and it's characters and you wouldn't be wrong.

BTW, There is one scene that totally makes me think of Trump. Thatcher has written to Kane that he is due to inherit and become responsible for a massive fortune. Kane responds that he is interested in only one small part of this vast empire: "I think it would be fun to run a newspaper".
I imagine Trump mulling over his acquisitions,his many properties, homes,cars, businesses and realizing that none of them are interesting to him anymore. Suddenly a light bulb blinks on in his head and he says, "I think it would be fun to run a country."

The major difference being their backgrounds. A lot of people assume that Trump comes from a humble background even though he doesn't, whereas Kane did.

I knew this would come up sooner or later. The simple reason I don't see the comparison... Even a 21 year old JFC speaks with more intelligence and eloquence than Trump could comprehend in a lifetime. Trump's statement alone about "having the words", "great words" sums it up. Kane may have been an unethical gasbag but showed a sophistication and an understanding of life in general that a child like Trump can only marvel at.

Excellent comparison.

Thought the same thing but with a slight tweak - to me Kane felt like a mixture between trump and rupert murdoch.. i.e. rupert murdoch running the australian news paper at a loss year after year for the prestige and to manipulate the public.

I was gobsmacked by the special prosecutor line. Crazy.

Except for the fact that they are both materialistic tycoons, Trump and Kane are nothing alike.

Kane is a sympathetic figure who had a lot of potential.

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"I thought you were class,like a high note you hit once in a lifetime."- Young Man With a Horn(1950)

Yes, we watched this yesterday and the similarities were absolutely eerie! Bogus populism, false news (aka "alternative facts"), even Trump's trademark catchphrase "You're fired!". And both Trump and Kane got their start with a lucky inheritance to play with. Weird.