Donald Trump’s Glass Onion: Genius or Idiot?
“I keep returning in my mind to the “glass onion”. Something that seems densely layered, mysterious and inscrutable, but in fact the centre is in plain sight.”
Knives Out, Rian Johnson’s innovative, and transcending murder mystery, garnered undeniable commercial and critical acclaim upon its theatrical release in 2019. An Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, the shining diamond of its unprecedented success, proving surely to be an incentivising factor for streaming giant Netflix to drop an eye-watering lump sum of $450 million for the rights of its two future sequels. The first of those sequels, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, debuted with a hybrid release in 2022, with Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc returning to solve a new mystery with an equally star-studded ensemble. Following in its predecessor’s footsteps, Glass Onion, toed the line between cleverly crafted comedy, mystery, and politically charged satire. The need is never felt to hide behind an unnecessary wall of subtlety; Johnson never shying away from an opportunity to convey poignant messaging either through dialogue or imagery.
Miles Bron, the extravagant billionaire, and (spoiler alert) murderer at the centre of this story, can be ultimately characterised under a single word: underwhelming. Through him, a light is shone on our dangerous tendency to associate class and status with intelligence and knowledge, giving credit where it’s not due, bestowing brilliance so easily on the undeserving. Our assumptive nature adores the idea of a subtle genius, an almost blanket notion that excuses mediocrity or stupidity. This assumptive nature has grown increasingly prevalent through the appointment of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. As a nation looking on concerningly from across the Atlantic, we’re left wondering - hoping even that there has to be a method to his madness, there has to be a sense for his sadism, there has to be a rationale for his radicalism. But quite simply, what if there’s not? What if there’s no hidden genius behind visible idiocy? As Benoit Blanc decrees: what if, despite everything President Trump wants you to believe, it’s not so dumb it’s brilliant, it’s just dumb? Blanc’s concluding ‘tell-all’ monologue, acts as an invitation for the audience to look into the clear centre of a ‘glass onion’; an invitation I gladly accept, an endeavour I happily undertake, to find if at his centre - behind the facade he may hide behind - is Donald Trump a brilliant genius or is he quite frankly what he presents himself to be, an idiot?
January 20th, 2025, the date that marked the return of a convicted felon to the White House and an unprecedented indoor inauguration, for an undoubtedly unprecedented presidency. A frenzy of orders and appointments followed, Trump taking every opportunity to bolster his repossessed powers in front of a crowd, his cult of personality growing stronger every day. Attempting to keep up with the news of his varying proclamations proved to be a restless task, my RTÉ app was seemingly notifying me by the minute. Tariffs, the buzzword of his entire election campaign, (a word I’m frankly so sick of hearing at this point) have been the forefront of his foreign affair directives since assuming office. Used as an economic negotiating tool between the United States’ closest allies, Trump has yet to provide any believable evidence that he understands the gravitas the tariff he’s suggesting holds, a common thread with every action he wills into existence with the stroke of his pen.
Trump signed an order to end birthright citizenship, an action blocked and ridiculed as “blatantly unconstitutional.” Trump signed an order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, an action blatantly ignoring an undisputed, undeniable crisis. Trump signed an order to block federal grants and loans, an order which was blocked itself by a federal judge. Trump doesn’t know what he is doing. He fundamentally and categorically misinterprets and misunderstands almost every facet of his government, of his powers, of his country. The President has resoundingly failed through his words, or conduct, to even field the possibility of having acquired any amount of knowledge during his previous term. Superlatives fail to describe his incompetence. Yet, his supporters are hailing his genius, his right-hand men are bolstering his self-confidence, and this is all working to his advantage.
But he’s the leader of the free world? He must know what he’s doing? He must be a genius? He must be acting dumb on purpose? Right? No. We can’t thrust this undeserving mantle upon him, it doesn’t take a genius to manipulate a population. It takes a population desperate for something - someone, anyone really - to believe in. Couple that with an ego big enough for fifty football fields, and an unwavering need to be seen as a god, and you get the United States of America in 2025. Trump is an agent of chaos; this is exactly what he wants. He has been throwing proverbial mud at the wall and seeing what sticks, and every ounce of dirt which remains causes resounding horror and pain for the country he’s pledged to serve. I could write on and on calling Trump an idiot or a fool, however, while I am unwavering in my thoughts on the man, the joke isn’t on him at the end of the day. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, and he has fooled us all into thinking there’s something profoundly complex at his centre.
Together we must all, as Benoit Blanc has suggested, recognise that when we look into the clear centre of the glass onion that is Donald Trump there is no genius, there is merely a man with an odious character, and a deplorable lack of intelligence.
