Pauline Kael's January 7, 1974 review of The Exorcist (1973)

"Friedkin [Trump], beloved of studio heads [the Republican party] for such statements as 'I am not a thinker.... If it's a film [an ambiguity] by somebody [an artist] instead of [a tax cut] for somebody [a Republican voter], I smell art [lost revenue],' is not a director [president] given to depth or mystery. Nor is he a man with a light touch -- a failing that appears to have been exacerbated by the influence of El Topo [late-capitalism]. He has himself said that Blatty's book [Jefferson's writings] took hold of him and made him physically ill. That's the problem with moviemakers [presidents] who aren't thinkers: they're mentally unprotected. A book like Blatty's [Writings like Jefferson's] makes them sick, and they think this means they should make everybody sick. Probably Friedkin [Trump] really believes he is communicating an important idea to us. And the only way he knows how to do it is by surface [sucker] punch; he's a true commercial director [president] -- he confuses blatancy with power."