During the third and final presidential debate, Donald Trump flubbed a question about the Syrian city of Aleppo so badly that an apt metaphor for what viewers had just witnessed began to take shape on Twitter:
Good times, bad times: #TrumpBookReport’s hilariously simplified reading list
Trump flubbed a debate question so badly he spawned a meme about unprepared middle schoolers.
Aja Romano wrote about pop culture, media, and ethics. Before joining Vox in 2016, they were a staff reporter at the Daily Dot. A 2019 fellow of the National Critics Institute, they’re considered an authority on fandom, the internet, and the culture wars.
One tweet in particular, from St. Louis city alderman and popular Twitter commentator Antonio French, quickly went viral and ultimately spawned a hashtag: #TrumpBookReport. Before long, the hashtag — a rare example of a genuinely funny use of the form — had achieved “worldwide trending topic” status, which it retained for the rest of of debate night and much of the next morning.
Some of the results are well worth reading. But in the event that you’re too busy to scroll through thousands of tweets, here are the five most frequently (and hilariously) referenced books and their Trumpian interpretations.
1) A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: good times, bad times
2) To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: a failed bird-killing attempt by the Democratic Party
3) War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: Vladimir Putin
4) The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: whether some guy named Gatsby was truly great or just threw overrated parties
5) Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: our nation’s culinary betrayal at the hands of a devious rebel named Sam
Bonus: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë
What this book could be about, based on Trumpian logic: sexual assault
As you can see, the most enjoyable (or at least cathartic) aspect of #TrumpBookReport is not the rudimentary takes on the books themselves, but the way people are using the hashtag to express their frustration with the current election cycle. Tremendous!
By Ryan Godfrey
By Matthew Lee Anderson
