Trump’s Snake Poem

Back in 2016, Donald Trump began to do something very strange for most politicians: he would pull a piece of paper from his pocket on which he had written the lyrics to a song more than 50 years old. He would then read those lyrics with glee, but interpret them in a new and darker light.

Trump usually referred to the words he read as a poem, which he still does to this day. In fact, they are the lyrics to a song called “The Snake”, which was written and first recorded by civil-rights activist Oscar Brown in 1963. A few years later, the song became a hit single for Al Wilson in 1968.

Here are a few seconds from the 1968 version of the song by Al Wilson, which might sound vaguely familiar to a few of us who have been around for a while. If you don’t hear anything it means that I was forced to edit out this part of the video for copyright reasons.

NOTE: There are two copyright claims on the video; first, the Al Wilson song, and second, for Trump reciting “The Snake.” I decided to keep the video as it is, since I had already spent about four hours making it. 🙂

In the song, a “tenderhearted woman” finds a half-frozen snake on a path and rescues it, only to be bitten after she takes it home. Asking the snake why he tricked her, the reptile replies that she was a “silly woman” who knew “damn well” what it was when she took it in.

In Trump’s reinterpretation of the lyrics, the tale is actually about the potential dangers posed by illegal immigrants. And of course, he had the perfect solution for that danger: he was going to build a wall to keep them out.

However, according to the family of Oscar Brown, the man who actually wrote the song, it was written as a celebration of black culture and a repudiation of racism. They asked Trump to stop using the song, but despite a cease and desist letter, Trump has continued reciting the lyrics at his rallies.

Here’s the full version of Trump reading “The Snake” and although a couple people sitting behind him are enjoying it, pay special attention to how many others are clearly uncomfortable. It’s almost as if they can sense that something is wrong.

The strangest part about Trump reading the lyrics is how much pleasure he seems to get out of it, especially when he gets to the ending which says “shut up, silly woman.” One can’t help but be left with the feeling that “The Snake” is really about Donald J. Trump. ♦