Posters
Morning in Antenora
In Dante’s Inferno, Antenora is the frozen ring of the ninth circle, reserved for traitors to their country. I remember being promised morning, but it turns out it is always night.
Every con has an overture and a finale.
Ronald Reagan played the overture. Trickle-down economics, union busting, deregulation… a tale he sold to his marks as freedom, delivered with a Hollywood smile.
The take: unchecked corporate power.
Donald Trump is the finale. Every lie Reagan sold, recycled non-stop and at full volume by a grimacing simpleton even Hollywood rejected.
The touch: a country ruined.
So I wondered, when they finally meet in Hell, which of them will be the shittiest soul in the place?
I. The Eighth Circle
In the last ditch of the Malebolge, among the falsifiers, Reagan lands the first blow. An actor among impersonators, a counterfeit populist mauling a counterfeit billionaire. Dante and Virgil watch, unimpressed. A demon overhead just enjoys the show.
II. The Ninth Circle
Deeper still, frozen into Cocytus with the other traitors to country, the tables have turned. Trump gnaws on the skull of the man who made him possible. For all eternity. Satan looks on from the ice, possibly in disgust.
Still no sign of morning…
Inspired by “Dante and Virgil ↗️” (1850) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau and “Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri ↗️” (1861) by Gustave Doré.
and of course “Morning in America ↗️” (1984)
