“I consider myself to be a Happy Warrior…”

As I wrote The Elegant Trump I began to see how much President Trump fit the proverbial definition of a “Happy Warrior” to a tee. I included the original poem by William Wordsworth which he wrote in 1806 entitled “Character of the Happy Warrior” in its entirety to underline my case. You can see a photo of the page below. (It is on page 143, Chapter 9-The Trump Brand, The Elegant Trump.)

The Trump Brand may seem like an odd place for a discussion on Trump’s ‘happy warrior’ traits, but it actually fits when you follow the progression of what Donald Trump has dedicated his life to all along.

Both former New York City Mayor and close friend of the president, Rudy Giuliani and Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State have been called happy warriors in the press and I thought surely Donald Trump would be too.

I searched high and low for any reference in the public record referring to Donald Trump as that Wordsworthian man at arms or the Happy Warrior and came up short.

That changed this week. In true Trumpian fashion, Trump referred to himself as a Happy Warrior. I thought — finally! Of course, this epithet had to come from him and not from someone in the public sphere. Still. I felt vindicated as I had written about Trump the Happy Warrior in great detail a year earlier. (This is not the only moniker I use to describe him in the book. I begin by defining him as Trump the Builder; later he is Trump the Super Hero.)

The moment arrived during his remarks which were videotaped at the White House on October 1st for The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, commonly called the Al Smith dinner which is a white tie event that has been held in New York City to raise funds for Catholic charities and hosted by the Archdiocese of New York since 1945. This year videotaped appearances were made and a full program was produced with Cardinal Timothy Dolan (and Archbishop of New York) hosting.

Here is Donald Trump referring to Al Smith as a Happy Warrior (he also gives the same compliment to other great Catholics of this country, namely Charles Carroll ‘who helped secure America’s independence,’ and Elizabeth Ann Seton, ‘who founded a movement that created thousands of schools and lifted children out of poverty’…) before the segue into referring to himself as one:-

“From the very beginning of our republic, Catholics have uplifted and enriched our nation beyond measure… And the great Al Smith, the original “Happy Warrior” that’s what he was; he was a happy warrior. I know it well. I consider myself to be a happy warrior, but it’s not so easy in these times. But he was a happy warrior of American politics… “

~President Donald j. trump, aL sMITH dINNER, 1 oCTOBER 2020

(Video source: C-SPAN, Oct. 1, 2020. For a full transcript of the remarks by President Trump released by the White House, click here.)

From the rhetorical question Wordsworth asks in the first lines of his poem, “Who is the happy Warrior, who is he that every man at arms should wish to be?” to the last “this is the happy Warrior; this is He that every Man in arms should wish to be” – we see how Donald Trump has, as Wordsworth says in the middle of this piece, ‘labours good on good to fix, and owes to every virtue that he knows…’ This is but one trait that Donald Trump possesses that allows us to commend him as that happy Warrior, that man at arms. In the book I analyze more stanzas that show us how Trump’s life eerily parallels that of Wordsworth’s epic character. One example (page 145) aligns with Trump’s Promises Made, Promises kept:-

“Who, if he rises to station of command,

Rises by open means; and there will stand

On honourable terms, or else retire,

And in himself possess his own desire;

Who comprehends his trust, and to the same

Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;

Ant therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait

For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state…”

Excerpt – Character of the Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth

President Trump is many different things to many different people. We know that these monikers are just beginning to accumulate in the minds of the American people. I have shared some of my observations here. The Elegant Trump, a moniker in itself, contains many more.