Zee Jaipur Literature Festival: Donald Trump is like a car salesman, says Man Booker Prize winner Paul Beatty

Jaipur: Man Booker-winning writer Paul Beatty today likened the new US President Donald Trump to a "car salesman" for his tendency to make promises, and said he had "zero optimism" in how the Presidency would pan out.

"I haven't really watched the inauguration, I just read some snippets and transcripts. It is just that the tone is so scary. I have zero optimism. That is how I feel," he said at a press conference at the ongoing Jaipur Literature festival here.

The writer, who is the first American to have won the Booker, said Trump's election was like a reflection of how people do things that are against their own self-interest and admitted that he was "scared".

"My wife jokes about it, that Trump's memoir is going to be called 'My Tweet'. I am just as lost as everyone else. I am just scared.

"He says these blatantly racist, and misogynist and fascist things, but still women, latinos and blacks voted for him... Listening to his speech, it is like he is guaranteeing you all these stuff. He is like a car salesman," the 54-year-old author said.

The writer is apprehensive about the future under the new regime, attributing his scepticism to the Trump's "incompetence" of holding the highest position in the country.

"You wouldn't think he could be President, he is so incompetent. He stumbled into this, riding the flume and he got off where he got off...I have no idea what he is going to be able to do.

"The very first thing that he did was take down the LGBT and climate change issues from the White House website. It is small but it is quite telling. There are supposed to be checks and balances in the system but are ignored when whoever is in charge needs it that way. So, I am deeply apprehensive," he said.

Talking about using art as a form of protest, Beatty, a self-proclaimed "pessimist" said he was not a "reactionary" and that Trump assuming power would not change his "perspective".

"I heard somebody say a long time ago that all art is propaganda. Mao used poetry as a propaganda tool. It is not to say that art does not serve a function in terms of protest.

"Speaking for myself as a writer, I don't view myself as a reactionary. I don't think Trump assuming power is going to change my perspective. I was pessimistic before and I am a pessimist now," he said. 

He went on to share an anecdote when he was asked to write an article about the future of New York, after the World Trade Centre was attacked.

"I wrote a short story about the Taliban winning the war and what New York would be like if they took over. With people like Giuliani (one of Trump's close advisors) and others, it would just be the same persons, but with turbans on their heads," he said.
Beatty, who had said he "hated" writing during the Booker ceremony, also touched upon those now-famous remarks.

"I just hate writing...I don't know why...It is hard... I like how solitary it is, but it comes with its own set of expectations. When I was writing poetry, I was not comfortable with the public aspect of being a poet. But writing fiction is a bit more insular. But I hate it. It is one of those things that I don't know why I want to do it. But, I find myself sitting in front of the computer and doing it again," he said.

The writer said he feels uncomfortable at gatherings like the one he was addressing here, and hoped that being a "slow writer" would make the audience forget him and help divert all the attention received by any award winning writer.

"By the time I get started on my next, people will already forget, I hope. The thing I am good at is I am not really aware of my audience," he said.

Beatty's Booker-winning 'The Sellout' is a biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court. The book established him as one of the funniest writers in America.