The morning after Donald Trump called for the banning of Muslims worldwide from entering the United States — originally seeming to include American Muslims currently overseas — major media were unsurprisingly in a furor over his statement.
Joe Scarborough cut Trump’s Morning Joe interview off when the Donald refused his pleas to stop talking. CNN’s Chris Cuomo seemed utterly bewildered as he sat in his studio interviewing Trump over the phone — it almost seemed as if he were questioning every professional career choice he had ever made that led him to that moment. Still others pitched in on social media, most notably Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling, who stated in a tweet that “Voldemort was nowhere near” as bad as Trump. That’s a bold statement that’s worth examining in greater depth. Does Trump really come out looking worse than He Who Shall Not Be Named?
Upbringing
Donald Trump and Tom Riddle (Voldemort’s name as a young man) had similar upbringings. While Trump attended the Wharton School of Business, Voldemort attended the eerily similar sounding Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Young Voldemort upon leaving Hogwarts held several positions in the Ministry of Magic before working at Borgin and Burkes, an antique shop where it became his job to persuade people to “to part with their wizardly artifacts.”
Donald Trump channeled his lust for dark power at the start of his post-Wharton career while working for his father’s influential real-estate company. His job, like Voldemort’s, was to persuade people to part with their property, specifically in New York City. Trump managed to parlay these skills of persuasion into the billion-dollar empire from which he still draws most of his power to this day.
Advantage: Trump
Manipulation
Both Trump and Voldemort are master manipulators. Trump primarily uses his deft abilities to manipulate those in media and journalism. Through an undeniable combination of wealth and charisma, Trump manages to convince even the most stalwart and intellectual minds to listen to him, even to the point of letting him prattle on uninterrupted. It’s a powerful tool in Trump’s arsenal which he has developed through years of practice.
While not as visibly charismatic as Trump, Voldemort’s skills at manipulation stem from a mastery of the dark arts, in particular, Legilimency, which, according to the Harry Potter wiki, is “the act of magically navigating through the many layers of a person’s mind and correctly interpreting one’s findings.” Voldemort can enter even the strongest mind through possessing its subject and discover his intentions and weaknesses. Voldemort was also able to use his dark powers to manipulate animals and “make bad things happen to people who annoy” him. While Trump is not as attuned to these powers of dark wizardry, he has mastered the equally shadowy dark craft of Twitter.
Advantage: Tie
#share#
Nemeses
Both Trump and Voldemort have nemeses who belong to the establishment. Voldemort’s primary nemesis was not originally the young upstart Harry Potter, but the aged wizard and Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore, who, after sustaining a hand injury in his later years became a somewhat weakened wizard, also belonged to a cabal of establishment figures known as The Order of the Phoenix. Sound familiar? Trump’s nemesis Jeb Bush shares some similarities with that low-energy wizard Alb!
Both Trump and Voldemort dispatched their establishment rivals with relative ease, but just as Voldemort was bested by a young protégé of the older professor, so Trump runs the risk of being defeated by Senator Marco Rubio, Jeb’s one-time Florida protégé. That’s not to say the young Rubio will be as successful as Harry Potter, especially with Ted “Malfoy” Cruz in the mix.
Advantage: Voldemort (But Trump can overcome.)
Murder
Voldemort murdered and maimed several people, killing both of young Harry Potter’s parents and leaving him with a distinguished scar. To this day, there is no record of Donald Trump’s having actually murdered anyone. That’s not to say that, given a magical and classy golden leaf wand of his own, Trump would hesitate to strike down the families of radical Islamic terrorists, as he suggested last week that we should.
Advantage: Voldemort
#related#
Goals/Ambition
Rowling’s Voldemort comparison came after Trump advocated banning entry of all Muslims into the United States, which he has defended as a temporary measure. Once again there are striking similarities between Trump’s wanting to rid the United States of Muslims and Voldemort’s desire to rid his world of muggles. Voldemort believes muggles (ordinary humans without magical abilities) to be inferior to pureblood wizards untainted by humans in their lineage.
But unlike Voldemort, Trump has never explicitly stated a desire to rid the planet of Muslims; preferring to alter the legal process by which they can enter the United States.
Advantage: Voldemort
Conclusion
Both Trump and Voldemort wield loyal, mysterious armies of minions who believe their leader’s vision will purify the world. But as of now, Donald Trump’s position toward Muslims remains softer than that of Voldemort’s toward muggles. And when you think about it, Voldemort’s desire to ultimately do away with universities like Hogwarts and take over financial institutions such as Gringotts Wizarding Bank put his ideology more in line with Occupy Wall St. and Bernie Sanders than Donald Trump.
While their personalities, upbringing, and rise to power may show some striking similarities, with apologies to Ms. Rowling, that is where the comparison ends.