Samuel Damren
One hundred fifty years ago, Lewis Carroll, the author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” included an Easter greeting in the preface to the book. This commentary begins by contrasting Carroll’s 1876 Easter greeting with Donald Trump’s April 5 Easter post on Truth Social and April 7, 2026 post.
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An Easter Greeting To Every Child Who Loves “Alice,”
Dear Child, Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.
Do you know that delicious dreamy feeling when one first wakes to a summer morning, with the twitter of birds in the air, and the fresh breeze coming in at the open window — one sees as in a dream green boughs waving or waters rippling in a golden light…
Are these strange words from a writer of such tales as “Alice”? And is this a strange letter to find in a book of nonsense? It may be so … But I think that some children will read this gently and lovingly, in the spirit in which I have written it…
This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling you “life in every limb,” and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air … when angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious day — and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!
—————
April 5, 2026@realDonaldTrump. Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it !!! Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you will be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.
April 7, 2026@realDonaldTrump. A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will …. WHO KNOWS? …
—————
Lewis Carroll, the pen name of the Rev. Charles Dodgson, was a professor of mathematics and logic at Oxford University. Better known to the public by his memorable books for children than his scholarly work, Dodgson was also held in high regard in academia.
One of Dodgson’s significant contributions to the field of logic was entitled “Symbolic Logic” published in 1896. It was designed as an introductory work to acquaint non-academics with concepts and methods in problem solving.
Many of the puzzles and riddles in Dodgson’s books for children formulate, in playful fashion, actual issues and approaches to the decision-making process. Applicable to today’s politics, this playful mischief, finds disturbing parallels between the Trump administration and the fictitious characters in the King of Heart’s entourage and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
There are persons and characters in both groups that maintain patently nonsensical beliefs. There are others who shudder in fear and slavishly do the bidding of the King of Hearts or the president without reservation.
No person or character in either group openly challenges the exercise of royal prerogatives. In Trump’s case, those prerogatives and addictions include nightly rage and vitriol on Truth Social, the Trump ballroom, vindictive tariffs and prosecutions, the disparagement of women and persons of color to list just a few.
Leading to the conclusion of Alice’s Adventures, the trial of the March Hare highlights further parallels with Trump’s “excursion” into Iran, his entourage and their decision-making process. Quotes and excerpts of the trial are set to verse below.
—————
The March Hare was accused of stealing “some tarts” from the Queen of Hearts. The King was the judge. The jury was “twelve creatures” so slight of mind they needed to write down their names “for fear they should forget them” in time.
Alice was a spectator, witness and player in part. As proceedings progressed; she started to grow. By conclusion, she alone was the adult in the court.
Immediately after the accusation was first read, the King directed the jury to “consider your verdict.” When cautioned “there’s a great deal to come before that,” the King reversed direction. But impatient as always, he would both direct and reverse again and again.
The Mad Hatter was the first witness to be called. “Give me your evidence,” said the King; “and don’t be nervous, or I’ll have you executed on the spot.” Shaking, the Mad Hatter claimed he could not “remember” anything except something the March Hare denied.
Since “he denies it,” the King ruled the unstated “something” must be excluded.
The next witness to be called was a cook. The King inquired “what are tarts made of?” The cook replied “Pepper, mostly,”
The third witness to be called was Alice. “What do you know about this business?” inquired the King. “Nothing,” replied Alice.
“Nothing whatever?” countered the King. “Nothing whatever,” said Alice. The King and advisors then debated whether such testimony was “important” or “unimportant.”
The fourth witness was an unsigned piece of paper containing eight verses of poetry, no names of persons or references to tarts.
The March Hare denied writing the poem. “That’s the most important piece of evidence we’ve heard yet,” ruled the King.
He then directed the jury to “consider their verdict” for the twentieth time. The Queen of Hearts, in turn, demanded “Sentence first — verdict afterward.” To this Alice exclaimed, “Stuff and
nonsense! The idea of having the sentence first.”
“Off with her head,” shouted the Queen to which Alice, now “grown to full size,” yelled back at the King’s entourage, “Who cares for you? You are nothing but a pack of cards.”
Then Alice awoke from her dark dream to glorious sunlight.
—————
Lawyers and judges spend their professional lives honing the decision-making process.
Clients who insist on a “verdict” or “sentence” at the earliest stage of that process invariably reap the consequences of faulty flawed judgment.
Presidents who view their office as comparable to the reign of a king are incompatible with government by and for a free people.
—————
Samuel Damren is a retired Detroit lawyer and the author of law reviews on the intersection of logic and law published in “Law and Philosophy” (1996) and the Detroit College of Law at MSU Law Review (1998).
—————
An Easter Greeting To Every Child Who Loves “Alice,”
Dear Child, Please to fancy, if you can, that you are reading a real letter, from a real friend whom you have seen, and whose voice you can seem to yourself to hear wishing you, as I do now with all my heart, a happy Easter.
Do you know that delicious dreamy feeling when one first wakes to a summer morning, with the twitter of birds in the air, and the fresh breeze coming in at the open window — one sees as in a dream green boughs waving or waters rippling in a golden light…
Are these strange words from a writer of such tales as “Alice”? And is this a strange letter to find in a book of nonsense? It may be so … But I think that some children will read this gently and lovingly, in the spirit in which I have written it…
This Easter sun will rise on you, dear child, feeling you “life in every limb,” and eager to rush out into the fresh morning air … when angel-hands shall undraw your curtains, and sweeter tones than ever loving Mother breathed shall wake you to a new and glorious day — and when all the sadness, and the sin, that darkened life on this little earth, shall be forgotten like the dreams of a night that is past!
—————
April 5, 2026@realDonaldTrump. Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it !!! Open the F****n’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you will be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.
April 7, 2026@realDonaldTrump. A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will …. WHO KNOWS? …
—————
Lewis Carroll, the pen name of the Rev. Charles Dodgson, was a professor of mathematics and logic at Oxford University. Better known to the public by his memorable books for children than his scholarly work, Dodgson was also held in high regard in academia.
One of Dodgson’s significant contributions to the field of logic was entitled “Symbolic Logic” published in 1896. It was designed as an introductory work to acquaint non-academics with concepts and methods in problem solving.
Many of the puzzles and riddles in Dodgson’s books for children formulate, in playful fashion, actual issues and approaches to the decision-making process. Applicable to today’s politics, this playful mischief, finds disturbing parallels between the Trump administration and the fictitious characters in the King of Heart’s entourage and the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
There are persons and characters in both groups that maintain patently nonsensical beliefs. There are others who shudder in fear and slavishly do the bidding of the King of Hearts or the president without reservation.
No person or character in either group openly challenges the exercise of royal prerogatives. In Trump’s case, those prerogatives and addictions include nightly rage and vitriol on Truth Social, the Trump ballroom, vindictive tariffs and prosecutions, the disparagement of women and persons of color to list just a few.
Leading to the conclusion of Alice’s Adventures, the trial of the March Hare highlights further parallels with Trump’s “excursion” into Iran, his entourage and their decision-making process. Quotes and excerpts of the trial are set to verse below.
—————
The March Hare was accused of stealing “some tarts” from the Queen of Hearts. The King was the judge. The jury was “twelve creatures” so slight of mind they needed to write down their names “for fear they should forget them” in time.
Alice was a spectator, witness and player in part. As proceedings progressed; she started to grow. By conclusion, she alone was the adult in the court.
Immediately after the accusation was first read, the King directed the jury to “consider your verdict.” When cautioned “there’s a great deal to come before that,” the King reversed direction. But impatient as always, he would both direct and reverse again and again.
The Mad Hatter was the first witness to be called. “Give me your evidence,” said the King; “and don’t be nervous, or I’ll have you executed on the spot.” Shaking, the Mad Hatter claimed he could not “remember” anything except something the March Hare denied.
Since “he denies it,” the King ruled the unstated “something” must be excluded.
The next witness to be called was a cook. The King inquired “what are tarts made of?” The cook replied “Pepper, mostly,”
The third witness to be called was Alice. “What do you know about this business?” inquired the King. “Nothing,” replied Alice.
“Nothing whatever?” countered the King. “Nothing whatever,” said Alice. The King and advisors then debated whether such testimony was “important” or “unimportant.”
The fourth witness was an unsigned piece of paper containing eight verses of poetry, no names of persons or references to tarts.
The March Hare denied writing the poem. “That’s the most important piece of evidence we’ve heard yet,” ruled the King.
He then directed the jury to “consider their verdict” for the twentieth time. The Queen of Hearts, in turn, demanded “Sentence first — verdict afterward.” To this Alice exclaimed, “Stuff and
nonsense! The idea of having the sentence first.”
“Off with her head,” shouted the Queen to which Alice, now “grown to full size,” yelled back at the King’s entourage, “Who cares for you? You are nothing but a pack of cards.”
Then Alice awoke from her dark dream to glorious sunlight.
—————
Lawyers and judges spend their professional lives honing the decision-making process.
Clients who insist on a “verdict” or “sentence” at the earliest stage of that process invariably reap the consequences of faulty flawed judgment.
Presidents who view their office as comparable to the reign of a king are incompatible with government by and for a free people.
—————
Samuel Damren is a retired Detroit lawyer and the author of law reviews on the intersection of logic and law published in “Law and Philosophy” (1996) and the Detroit College of Law at MSU Law Review (1998).
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