Alright, Tolkien nerds, the beacons are lit.
What Josh is saying is that both Trump and Biden are old, but Biden is a good, wise wizard like Gandalf whereas Trump is a scheming, power-hungry traitor like Saruman.
What. A. Take.
(You lads know what to do)
First of all, this insulting to Saruman. Trump isn't Gandalf or Saruman in this scenario. He's not a wizard who pours over lore and has the mission of guiding the Middle Earth into wisdom against ancient evil constantly seeking to be reborn in the east.
No, I peg Trump more as a Bullroarer Took - and that's a compliment, folks. Bullroarer was a great leader of the Shire. He's the only hobbit who was big enough to ride a full-grown horse and he invented the game of golf by lobbing off the head of a goblin chieftain and sending it sailing into a rabbit hole!
Trump is shiny on the outside, but there's a reason all the farmers, welders, truckers, and normal churchgoing folk relate to him.
But yeah, he sounds like Saruman.
Why not skip the small fry and call him Morgoth himself??
Yeah, it's so hilarious that he hid that reply.
I think most comparisons to the wider events of LOTR are silly. Trump is not Aragorn (although he does cut a better meme)...
...but Biden does fit one comparison to Saruman nearly completely. Yes, Saruman appeared as a kindly old man who was an ally of the free peoples of Middle Earth (chocolate chocolate chip ice cream!), but he was actually a man who fancied himself a lord over the peasants (read accounts of Biden and his dad). He stirred up the prejudices of Wildmen of Dunland, used his forked Wormtongue to bewitch Theoden of Rohan, and built an orc army in an attempt to displace and defeat the people he was meant to serve (race wars, weapons for the Ukrainian black market, and open borders might apply here).
Like Saruman, Biden thinks he can wield great power without the actual skill to do so. As the movie adaptations said, "There is only one Lord of the Ring, and he does not share power."
But still, it's a bit silly to compare Biden to Saruman the White, keeper of Orthanc, leader of the Maiar who had come as the Heren Istarion to Middle Earth.
I see him more as Sharkey, the wrinkled, washed-up version of Saruman that took control of the Shire after Gandalf beat him.
Saruman set up a secret police force (our current FBI), encouraged ruffians to run wild across the Shire (look at our cities), imprisoned his enemies indefinitely (J6ers, Christians praying outside abortion clinics), spied on the people (Biden's collusion with Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter to censor Americans), created new categories of crimes to destroy his enemies and sow chaos (hate speech, domestic extremism charges, FACE Act prosecution), and repeated lies meant to assuage doubt (his son's death, his other son's drugs, his record in civil rights activism).
Like, bro, with Biden's multiple entry points to WW3 around the globe, you're gonna tell me the previous guy who got the Abraham Accords done is THIS GUY?
Oddly enough, the only place Saruman/Sharkey seemed to really differ from Biden was border protection!!
A few choice quotes from the second to last chapter of the books:
‘We shall wake him up in a way that will surprise him,' said Merry. ‘If you mean that your precious Chief has been hiring ruffians out of the wild, then we've not come back too soon.' He sprang from his pony, and seeing the notice in the light of the lanterns, he tore it down and threw it over the gate.
...
‘What's all this?' said Frodo, feeling inclined to laugh.
‘This is what it is, Mr. Baggins,' said the leader of the Shirriffs, a two-feather hobbit: ‘You're arrested for Gatebreaking, and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.'
‘And what else?' said Frodo.
‘That'll do to go on with,' said the Shirriff-leader.
‘I can add some more, if you'd like it,' said Sam. ‘Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools.'
...
To the discomfiture of the Shirriffs Frodo and his companions all roared with laughter. ‘Don't be absurd!' said Frodo. ‘I am going where I please, and in my own time. I happen to be going to Bag End on business, but if you insist on going too, well that is your affair.'
‘Very well, Mr. Baggins,' said the leader, pushing the barrier aside. ‘But don't forget I've arrested you.'
‘I won't,' said Frodo. ‘Never. But I may forgive you. Now I am not going any further today, so if you'll kindly escort me to The Floating Log, I'll be obliged.'
...
‘This country wants waking up and setting to rights,' said the ruffian, ‘and Sharkey's going to do it; and make it hard, if you drive him to it. You need a bigger Boss. And you'll get one before the year is out, if there's any more trouble. Then you'll learn a thing or two, you little rat-folk.'
There's even a comparison to Biden's violent dogs and their angry biting of Secret Service agents!
Saruman laughed. ‘You do what Sharkey says, always, don't you, Worm? Well, now he says: follow!' He kicked Wormtongue in the face as he grovelled, and turned and made off. But at that something snapped: suddenly Wormtongue rose up, drawing a hidden knife, and then with a snarl like a dog he sprang on Saruman's back, jerked his head back, cut his throat, and with a yell ran off down the lane.
Okay, okay, that one's a stretch, but still. 😂
Dudes like Josh above this can read truth packed into fictional form - what CS Lewis called "True Myth" - and come out with the exact opposite conclusions when they try to apply the models and lessons to real life. Biden isn't Saruman, but he reflects the ambition, smooth-talking, and wicked use of political power against his enemies that Saruman represents.
And Josh fails to see it cuz Orange Man Bad.
