The Great White Defendant
Trump getting lectured by an activist Episcopalian Bishop on Tuesday morning brings to mind the prophetic Tom Wolfe novel, Bonfire of the Vanities. When President Trump got indicted by Alvin Bragg back in 2023, I wrote that Trump had ended up living the book he didn't read:
Donald Trump as Sherman McCoy
Donald Trump has probably never read Tom Wolfe's classic novel Bonfire of the Vanities, which is too bad, because, in a way, he's living it. In the novel, a wealthy New Yorker named Sherman McCoy is unjustly prosecuted by a local district attorney for political reasons; the district attorney's staff members call him Captain Ahab, and McCoy is is "Great White Defendant".
I say Trump probably never read the novel for few reasons. First, Trump didn't note the obvious parallel in his remarks after his arrest Tuesday, comparing the case instead to something out of the Soviet Union.
Second, Trump doesn't seem to be much of a book reader. When asked on the campaign trail in 2016 what his favorite book was, he sometimes answered All Quiet on the Western Front, a fine book, but probably one of the few that came readily to Trump's mind because he remembered it from high school. Other times Trump offered The Bible as his favorite book, with his own Art of the Deal as his second favorite. And finally, Pat Buchanan actually asked Trump if he had read Bonfire of the Vanities during a Crossfire interview in 1987, when both Bonfire of the Vanities and Trump's Art of the Deal were published. Here's how that exchange went:
Pat Buchanan: Who are your favorite authors?
Donald Trump: Well, I have a number favorite authors. I think Tom Wolfe is excellent.
Pat Buchanan: Did you read Vanity of the Bonfires [Sic]?
Donald Trump: I did not.
Tom Braden: What book are you reading now? [Crosstalk]
Donald Trump: I reading my own book again because I think it's so fantastic Tom.
So, it's likely Trump hasn't read Bonfire. Here's what he missed that's relevant to his situation now.
The rest of that post talked about parallels between Trump and McCoy, and also about the impact of demographic change as predicted by Tom Wolfe in Bonfire of the Vanities. But Bonfire also contained a prescient warning about the Episcopalian Church.
Wolfe's Warning About The Episcopalian Church
In the novel, the Mayor of New York City is getting briefed by his assistant Sheldon about his next meeting, with an Episcopalian Bishop:
"So much for McCoy. Now, what's Bishop What's-his-name want?"
"Bottomley. It's about that Episcopal church, St. Timothy's. The bishop is black, incidentally."
"The Episcopalians have a black bishop?"
"Oh, they're very liberal," said Sheldon, rolling his eyes. "It coulda just as easy been a woman or a Sandinista [a Nicaraguan communist]. Or a lesbian. Or a lesbian Sandinista."
Tom Wolfe wasn't too far off in his prediction that the Episcopalians were on track to have lesbian leftist bishops. Though to be fair, the Episcopalians weren't alone in this. Other Mainline Protestant churches--and Reform Judaism, which was modeled on them--fell prey to the same trend.
Had Trump read the book, he might have skipped this prayer service, or insisted on having a different pastor leading it.
From Human Stupidity To Artificial Intelligence
The hectoring by the Episcopalian bishop aside, Tuesday's news was mostly good for Trump and investors, particularly the Stargate initiative, to be detailed by Trump next week. Stargate, a plan to expand America's artificial intelligence infrastructure, is expected to include commitments to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in AI by a number of leading tech firms.
One of the companies that should be positioned to benefit from Stargate is a chip stock that was one of our top ten names last week. We placed a longer term trade on it then...
We may follow that up with a shorter-term, more aggressive trade on Wednesday. If you'd like a heads up when we do, feel free to sign up for our trading Substack/occasional email list below.
And if you want to add some downside protection here, you can download the Portfolio Armor optimal hedging app by aiming your iPhone camera at the QR code below (or by tapping here, if you're reading this on your phone).
If you'd like to stay in touch
You can scan for optimal hedges for individual securities, find our current top ten names, and create hedged portfolios on our website. You can also follow Portfolio Armor on X here, or become a free subscriber to our trading Substack using the link below (we're using that for our occasional emails now).
