The Glinda Conspiracy Revisited : Putin / Trump

Years ago, I put forward a theory – similar theories had been proposed by Pepperpot, and also discussed by JohnT – that Glinda the Good used Dorothy as a stalking horse to attain absolute power in Oz (Movie version only). I recently realized that this has a parallel in recent events.

First, the Oz conspiracy:
1- Before Dorothy arrives in Oz, there are presumed to be 5 major magical players: Glinda, Wicked Witch of the East, Wicked Witch of the West, Wizard and presumably a Good Witch of the North to correspond to Glinda (Locasta, but not mentioned in the movie ).
2- When Dorothy arrives she snuffs the WWE, Glinda , thinking fast, puts the ruby slippers on Dorothy’s feet. AT THIS POINT Dorothy could go home, but Glinda withholds this information.
3- Instead, Glinda sends her off to interact with the Wizard, who redirects her at the WWW. Glinda has no particular plan, she has simply identified Dorothy as an agent of chaos, and has to choose between killing her on the spot, or winding her up and pointing her at her enemies. She doesn’t really care how it shakes out, as long as it weakens her enemies and doesn’t threaten herself. Glinda’s investment is very small, and who knows, it might pay off.
4- Dorothy kills the WWE
5- Wizard gets frightened and leaves Oz.
6- At this point, there are 3 powerful magical players : Glinda, Good witch of the North, of whom we know nothing, possibly Glinda has already nuked her, and Dorothy, the Killer of Witches. At this point, Glinda gets no further benefit from Dorothy wandering around Oz armed with a powerful magical item, so she tells Dorothy how to go home. Note that the slippers don’t show up in Kansas, one assumes Glinda is now wearing them.
7- Sequel should be titled: Glinda, Ruby-Shoed Magical Dictator of Oz.

BUT! What does this have to do with Putin? I suggest that the arc we see in the film is being acted out in front of us in the political sphere. Putin, like Glinda, is a powerful political player and keen opportunist. Perhaps he has dropped an investment into Trump previously when he bailed him out of bankruptcy with “loans” from Russian sources, or maybe he has kompromat – difficult to say. Regardless, he identifies Trump as an agent of chaos early on, and directs him at his enemies: Obama, Clinton, American Democracy and the western coalition. He doesn’t know exactly what is going to happen, but he suspects it will be chaotic and damaging to his enemies. And again, his investment is miniscule, and the payoff could be great.

As happened in Oz, Putin supports Trump from afar, with hacked emails and a social media offensive, but doesn’t get his hands dirty – much the way that Glinda was willing to dump some snow on a poppy field, but not willing to send in any troops.

We could extend this parallel to a ridiculous degree – Is Bannon the Cowardly Lion? Gorka? Who’s the annoying ass at the gates of Oz? Conway? Saunders? But rather than go there now, let us focus on the endgame.

What prompts Glinda to get rid of Dorothy? Very simply, Dorothy has done all that she can do, and now has become a liability. At the end of the Oz arc, here are no further magical powers to take down, and the only person who could conceivably challenge Glinda, is Dorothy, Killer of Witches, Wearer of the Ruby Slippers. So Glinda cuts her loose and sends her back to Kansas. How would this manifest itself in our world? When Trump is no further use to Putin, when the Democrats are preparing to take him down, when his haphazard approach to foreign policy runs the risk of blowback to Russia, or when he worries about American retribution. At that point, he can cut Trump loose, perhaps by identifying “rogue” FSB agents who helped Trump and releasing the evidence his “investigation” found, and then poof Trump is back in Kansas.

Ok, but how well does it sync with Dark Side of the Moon?
In all seriousness, considering that outline, you could probably do a convincing re-write of TWoO using the characters in the present administration. Cast the congress as the Lolipop Guild, etc.

[Moderating]

You’re not really here for the movie, are you?

Moved to GD.

Well, I find putting the post in the right forum surprisingly difficult.

I love the theory. However, moving the thread to GD won’t let me write the answer I wanted to…

Tell me your theory Ike!

Mods, should we be in Elections?

On a related note, Maria Butina has made a deal. My question now is: Would she have made a deal without Putin’s OK? Is this the beginning of the banishment back to Kansas for Trump?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/russian-maria-butina-pleads-guilty-in-effort-to-forge-kremlin-bond-with-us-conservatives/2018/12/13/c27f2d26-fe4f-11e8-ad40-cdfd0e0dd65a_story.html?

You know, my wife, Pepper Mill, expounded this theory many years ago in the now long-defunct e-zine written by Dopers, Teemings.

From 1993 in the Washington Post

It concludes with:

“Our final view of the Land of Oz is of an adoring crowd bowing before the resplendent witch in white, the most powerful force in the land. With her most significant rival a bag of straw with a bogus doctor of thinkology degree, she was destined to rule all she surveyed – just as she had planned from the beginning. It is a further tribute to her Machiavellian brilliance that she arranged for her story to be named after her least challenging competitor.”

(I do note the annoying error in the article. Glinda is referred to as “Glenda” every time. Arghh.

I mentioned her contribution-which preceded mine- in the first line, but then screwed up by calling her “pepper pot”. Please give her my regards, and apologize for my error, and let her know that I continue the struggle to liberate our Quadling homelands.

So can we get Pepper Mill’s input on the main question? Is Kushner the Scarecrow, and Miller the heartless Tin Man? Is Butina making a deal a “back to Kansas” indicator?

Sorry, I didn’t catch that you were referring to her. Many thanks.

I’ll ask her, but I suspect that she’ll cast a diplomatic cloak of silence over it.

Saith AndyL:

It’s the classic question, almost first asked by Ed Wood – “Glinda or Glenda?”

I had a rant along the same lines (about Glinda and the film, not Putin/Trump) ages ago and someone pointed out there was a Cracked article likewise setting it all out. Note that Glinda also deliberately sets up Dorothy: she puts the slippers on Dorothy just as the WWW is trying to take them, then she tells the WWW the only way that she can get the slippers is to kill Dorothy but she can’t do that while Dorothy is in Munchkinland, then she immediately gets Dorothy to leave Munchkinland. What a Machiavellian bitch.

Anyhoo. Putin. Also a Machiavellian bitch.

Beware the Pink Bubble.

To go along with this:

Glinda: Putin
Dorothy: Trump
Cowardly Lion: Steve Bannon
Tin Man: Jeff Sessions
Scarecrow: Steve Miller
Wicked Witch: Hillary (sorry)
Wizard of Oz: The American People (fumbling idiots who were lucky for a long time, then played themselves out of a good thing when they sided with Dorothy against the Witch of the West. Who, again, only wanted a pair of shoes she worked her whole life for.)
Munchkins: MAGAts (cheering their immolation)
Oz Doorkeeper: Chris Christie
Horse of a Different Color: Sean Spicer/Sarah Suckabee
Ms. Gulch: Kelly Anne Conway
Auntie Em: Ivanka
Toto: <none>

Now there’s an image that will never die.

And Toto=?

All I want to know: who are the winged monkeys in this analogy?

Well, since the MAGAts are the protagonists in this version, the winged-monkeys are obviously Democrats, right?

Individual-1 hates dogs. No dogs!

Wasn’t Toto’s most significant act to go against the Wizard (the American people)? If so,
Cowardly Lion = Pence
Toto = Bannon
Alternatively,
Toto = Manafort

Toto:

  1. Took a nip at the Wicked Witch (Hillary)
  2. Did a lot of barking
  3. Looked a little weird

Toto is obviously Roger Stone, the nip is the release of the Panetta emails.