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They want to make DUNE real
Description
By now it’s a pretty old joke to note Donald Trump’s resemblance to Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in David Lynch’s 1984 DUNE movie.
Replace the oil spray with spray-tan and they become identical.
Kenneth McMilan who played the Baron is of Scottish descent, as is Trump through his mother Mary Anne Macleod.
As an English person it’s a relief that for once we aren’t the bad guys.
And, like the Baron, Trump is also basically a comic book baddie.
Watch the full video essay on YouTube
In reality powerful people have always understood that it’s much more intelligent to at least pretend to not be evil.
Consider Tony Blair, Bill Gates or Taylor Swift.
On the surface, all smiles.
But Trump isn’t even bothering to pretend.
Which is why so many Americans are furious with Trump. Since World War 2 the American empire has done a great job of at least pretending to not be evil.
Resource wars for oil were sold as toppling dictators and “expanding democracy”. Covert operations against democratic leaders to secure corporate interests were excused as “fighting communism”.
On one hand you have the largest military industrial complex in human history, on the other ordinary working people who want weekends and healthcare.
The MAGA movement is made of people who look at that and think the baddies are the “commies”.
People who not only believe America when it pretends to not be evil, but think that makes America a wimp! People who cheer when America just goes full on, no excuses, old school Imperialist.
So now Trump also resembles the Baron Harkkonen of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, soaking in oil while moaning “my Caracas”.
And this is all because Frank Herbert, in his science fiction masterpiece Dune, didn’t just build a universe of Medieval power struggles projected into the far future.
He also wrote a sharp critique of very real world power dynamics, from which we can learn important lessons about our reality here in 2026.
Lessons I have ordered into a convenient 7 point listicle.
1 : A Win For House Trump is Not a Win for You
Trump –probably– understands he will never live to be a Baron, but that’s why he literally called his son Barron.
Barron Trump. Fake it until you make it
Forget nations. Forget ideologies. The game from here on in is who will be the Great House of Planet Earth.
Trump isn’t playing to make America great, he’s playing to make House Trump all powerful. As are the House of Saud, House of Putin and, probably, House of Musk.
There’s a reason Elon keeps spurting out kids with weird names.
Whichever house you live under remember thi