{"id":31719,"date":"2025-03-05T12:12:27","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T17:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=31719"},"modified":"2025-03-05T12:18:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T17:18:36","slug":"trump-of-toad-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/trump-of-toad-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump of Toad Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"My mother read Kenneth Grahame\u2019s Wind in the Willows<\/em> to me when I was a small child. As soon as I could read for myself, I reread it. I\u2019ve reread it numerous times as an adult; it is a wonderful book.<\/p>\n

The animals in it all have human characteristics.\u00a0 Badger is a crotchety secluded introvert, Mole and Rat are unlikely friends, Otter is a worried parent, Toad is a wealthy braggart \u2013 sorry, we should show some respect and call him Mr. Toad<\/em>. If you haven\u2019t read Wind in the Willows<\/em>, you should. It has wit, charm, pathos, humour, mysticism and a final battle between good and evil.<\/p>\n

In a previous article I compared Trump to Rex Mottram in Brideshead Revisited<\/em>, someone with a fluorescent shell, empty inside but able to dazzle the unwary. I hesitate to compare Trump to Mr. Toad because Toad, in addition to being an egotistical braggart, has charm; Trump doesn\u2019t. And I don\u2019t want to insult the lovable Mr. Toad.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the comparison is illuminating. If you can\u2019t be bothered to listen to Trump\u2019s address to Congress yesterday, here is a panegyric of Toad to himself which nicely summarizes the Trump speech:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world has held great Heroes,
\nAs history-books have showed;
\nBut never a name to go down to fame
\nCompared with that of Toad!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clever men at Oxford
\nKnow all that there is to be knowed.
\nBut they none of them know one half as much
\nAs intelligent Mr. Toad!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe animals sat in the Ark and cried,
\nTheir tears in torrents flowed.
\nWho was it said, \u2018There\u2019s land ahead?\u2019
\nEncouraging Mr. Toad!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe army all saluted
\nAs they marched along the road.
\nWas it the King? Or Kitchener?
\nNo. It was Mr. Toad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting
\nSat at the window and sewed.
\nShe cried, \u2018Look! who\u2019s that\u00a0handsome<\/em>\u00a0man?\u2019
\nThey answered, \u2018Mr. Toad.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And here is Toad\u2019s Homecoming Song having defeated the evil weasels with the help of Mole, Badger, Rat and Otter. To be recited upon re-entering the White House as Leader of the Free World:<\/p>\n

The Toad\u2014came\u2014home!
\nThere was panic in the parlours and howling in the halls,
\nThere was crying in the cow-sheds and shrieking in the stalls,
\nWhen the Toad\u2014came\u2014home!<\/p>\n

When the Toad\u2014came\u2014home!
\nThere was smashing in of window and crashing in of door,
\nThere was chivvying of weasels that fainted on the floor,
\nWhen the Toad\u2014came\u2014home!<\/p>\n

Bang! go the drums!
\nThe trumpeters are tooting and the soldiers are saluting,
\nAnd the cannon they are shooting and the motor-cars are hooting,
\nAs the\u2014Hero\u2014comes!<\/p>\n

Shout\u2014Hoo-ray!
\nAnd let each one of the crowd try and shout it very loud,
\nIn honour of an animal of whom you\u2019re justly proud,
\nFor it\u2019s Toad\u2019s\u2014great\u2014day!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mother read Kenneth Grahame\u2019s Wind in the Willows to me when I was a small child. As soon as I could read for myself, I reread it. I\u2019ve reread it numerous times as an adult; it is a wonderful … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":51,"footnotes":""},"categories":[256],"tags":[2631,2721],"class_list":["post-31719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-trump","tag-wind-in-the-willows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}