In Cold Blood [View all]

[H2O Man]

“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
― D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature


"He laid back on the soft feather bed. His eyes were closed as he reached to unbutton his trousers, listening to the sound of his young new lover ...." Okay, okay, that's not a line from Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover," it's just a way of mentioning Rudy Giuliani and Matt Gaetz in the manner the nation will long remember them by. Rudy in his role as himself in Borat 2, and Matt as witnesses testify against him in an upcoming thriller soon to be released on live television.

It's almost tragic in a comical sense -- or perhaps comical in a tragic sense -- that these two lads were too busy being hard, stoic lady-killers commiting crimes, rather than reading some of the novels of the past. Both were attracted to the gravitational force of Donald Trump, just as those with anti-social personality disorders become moths to the flame of a sociopath.

"But my client can only be charged with being a dreamer, no not the type that inhabit our wonderful and just nation illegally," a lawyer shall say forcefully in both opening- and closing statements of partial truth. For Rudy and Matt are Perry, the Dreamer from the classic "In Cold Blood." And Perry had dreamed of a big yellow bird since childhood, a bird that protected him when he was faced with danger. More, the big yellow bird renders a savage revenge upon all those even seeking to harm Perry.

Historians might argue that Perry was color-blind, and that the actual big bird of his dreams was actually orange. But no matter. Perry was the very definition of an anti-social personality disordered man. Brutal in nature, but yet living by his own criminal code of conduct, until he meets and teams up with Dick, a sociopath. Dick plays a father-figure to Perry, for follows him with a cult-like devotion. To Dick, Perry represents a physically strong, mentally weak man he kind of likes, and finds useful.

But when the shit hits the fan -- like it is for Rudy and Matt today, at this very hour -- and Dick and Perry are arrested for vicious murders at the Clutter farm, only one of the two remains loyal to the other. In one of the most pathetic parts of the book/movie, he actually believes his friend shares that same sense of loyalty. But the friend doesn't. Can you guess who is who?

Although it was Perry who murdered the four family members in brutal fashion, his criminal code of conduct had had him prevent Dick from raping the teenaged daughter before Perry killed her. In that sense, he may be distinct from a Rudy or a Matt. But they are going to end up coming to a similar recognition: there ain't no yellow bird going to come from the sky to save you. Instead, Perry recognizes that he has lived the hopeless dream of his abusive father.

Had Rudy and/or Matt taken the time, they might have understood the concept of metaphor. But nay! They were too busy committing crimes. When it was published, the Capote book's title was recognized as a metaphor for the lack of emotion that sociopaths have when torturing, even killing, their victims. Today, their cold-blooded behaviors are understood in a manner that should prevent anyone from expecting Donald Trump to be loyal to any person but himself.