Give Roger Cohen at the NY Times credit for digging up something from MAD Magazine that shows how far back Donald Trump’s character was known. Writing in A Difficult Independence Day, Cohen references a parody in MAD Magazine of “the Wizard of Oz” from 1991 drawn by Sam Viviano.
In its 300th issue of January 1991, Mad magazine published a feature called “The Wizard of Odds.” The wizard lives in the Palace of Glitz in an America where greed has become God. The wizard is the Donald.
He tosses dollar bills into the air with stubby hands, delighting in “a world full of schmucks” whom he loves because he needs them as he’s “piling up the bucks.” He eyes up young Dorothy, who believes the Trump-wizard can deliver her from materialistic hell back to her down-to-earth world of Kansas in 1939. He offers instead to put her up in a penthouse.
“In a couple of years, after you fill out, you could be my steady bimbo,” the Trump character says in the magazine.
Even three decades ago, we knew precisely who this man was.
There are two pages at the art auction site: Sam Viviano - The Wizard of Odds Pg 5 - Mad #300 January 1991, and Sam Viviano - The Wizard of Odds Pg 6 - Mad #300 January 1991.
About the only thing missing from the parody is Trump’s blatant racism and the Russian connections, but otherwise it has him dead to rights, including paying his bills with IOU’s. There’s also Tammy Faye, as the Tacky and Unindicted Witch of the South. As with most MAD Magazine stories, there are always extra goodies buried in the art work.
Enjoy — and have a happy and safe July Fourth.