Did you know that Donald Trump’s favorite movie is Citizen Kane?
Did you know that the famed film director (and one-time Berkeley philosophy PhD candidate) Errol Morris interviewed him about it?
And did you know that LitHub’s Anthony Audi interviewed Errol Morris about that?
On Rosebud, Morris recalls:
It’s fun to hear Trump talk about how Rosebud somehow works, the metaphor works, “I don’t know why it works, but it works. After all, Steven Spielberg paid a lot of money for it, so it must work. Paid a lot of money, maybe seven figures, six figures.”
This comment is in reference to Spielberg’s having purchased the sled used in the film for $60,500 in 1982. (In fairness, that is six figures in 2008 dollars – about $135k.)
Humor aside, Trump seems to be suggesting an aesthetic theory on which money is evidence of – or perhaps constitutive of – quality. (Surprising, I know.)
Check out the video of Morris’ 2008 interview with Trump below:
The interview contains some intriguingly vulnerable moments. (“Wealth does in fact isolate you from other people. It’s a protective mechanism.”) But also some classic Trump.
Morris: “If you could give Charles Foster Kane advice, what would you say to him?”
Trump: “Get yourself a different woman.”
One last gem of Morris’ from the LitHub interview:
I have this concept based on possible revisions to the DSM V, the diagnostic manual for American psychiatry, and I was going to call it Irony Deficit Disorder: the absolute inability to appreciate irony on any level whatsoever, particularly when the irony involves oneself.
To find out more, follow the above links or check out these articles:
- “Donald Trump Modeled His Life On Cinematic Loser Charles Foster Kane”, LitHub
- “Errol Morris On The Time He Filmed Donald Trump Missing The Point”, LitHub
[This is the above-mentioned interview.] - “How Trump’s Favorite Movie Explains Him”, Politico
- “How Donald Trump Totally Missed the Point of Citizen Kane – and Won”, Buzzfeed