Presidents & Politics | The New Luthor/Trump Team-Up

Life imitates art imitates life....   

In the mid-1980s, comic book artist/writer John Byrne re-booted DC's Superman titles.  Gone was the mad scientist super villain Lex Luthor of the Silver Age.  In was Lex Luthor, billionaire businessman. I was not the first to make the comparison between this Lex Luthor and Donald Trump.  It can be seen in the cover art for Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987) and Lex Luthor: The Unauthorized Biography #1 (1989).



Perhaps inspired by Trump's presidential aspirations as a Reform Party candidate, the writers at DC had Lex Luthor run for president in the 2000 election as the "Tomorrow Party" candidate.  Luthor won.  His Vice-president was Smallville native and classmate of Clark Kent's Pete Ross.  General Frank Rock (better known as Sgt. Rock of Easy Company) served as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Luthor's Secretary of Defense was Sam Lane, father of Lois Lane.  Secretary of Education--Jefferson Pierce, also known as the super hero Black Lightning.  Amanda Waller of Suicide Squad fame was the Secretary of Meta-human Affairs.  Former Daily Planet columnist Cat Grant was the White House Press Secretary.

"The Why," a story in Secret Files President Luthor, suggested that Luthor decided to run for president as a way of besting Superman.      

Donald Trump ran for president and won the 2016 election.  Some have said his decision to pursue the presidency again was in part because he was roasted at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2011 by President Obama and Seth Meyers.     

In a re-working of "The Why" story titled "Suprema Est Lex," the story is told that Luthor was at the White House Correspondents dinner, being roasted by Clark Kent, when he made the decision to run for president (Action Comics Special #1, 2018).

Life imitates art imitates life....   

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