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The Conversation
The Conversation
Nicola Welsh-Burke, Sessional Academic in Literary and Cultural Studies, Western Sydney University

The Emperor’s New Clothes – a fairy tale for our times?

Hans Christian Andersen Donald Trump United States Vermont
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

In mid-March, an activist group in Rutland County, Vermont, held its usual weekly rally protesting the actions of US president Donald Trump. One protester, Marsha Cassel, led the crowd, dressed as a naked Trump wearing a crown and holding a staff. Cassel was followed by another protester holding a sign proclaiming “THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES!”.

This is not the first time Trump has been compared to Hans Christian Andersen’s bumbling emperor, who marched naked through the streets while claiming to be dressed in finery – a fiction many of his subjects willingly indulged.

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