Last week, Trump released a bizarre, dystopian campaign video about his vision of America. It turns out that he’s released a few others that haven’t gotten as much attention, but John Oliver played a clip of one addressed to farmers. (I guess because of Iowa.) It’s really weird. It’s not just weird as a campaign video (but watching it, it’s easy to lose track that that’s what it is – trying to convince people to vote for him), but also for the field day psychologists would have for what it says about his own relationships, which are clearly ad-libbed because no one would write this in a script. Now, to be clear, this video about farmers and the estate tax isn’t the craziest thing Trump has said – that list is too deep and darkly twisted. But it’s on the list and among the most weird. Not only because – again, remember -- it’s a campaign video, but also for what it speaks about him and his relationship with his children psychologically – and then, to top it off, just totally weird for ending it with a sign-off that seems clueless for being totally unrelated to what he was just saying. One thing to note, too, as that there are two cameras recording this, which we see when they cut away from talking right at the potential viewers and then go to the second one, where he is staring off into the netherworld. Oliver made the smart observation that they must have cut away when Trump got so lunatic, and one can only imagine – given what loony things they actually used -- how far down the rabbit hole he went into that material that they had to cut. (But what’s also hilarious is realizing that they even had a camera already set up, knowing that it was likely that Trump would go off on some insane tangent and so needed another angle they could cut to when they made their edit.) Now, there are two possibilities about what set Trump off on his tangent. The starting point might be reports about how Ivanka is trying to distance herself from her dad’s problems. And Jared has already gotten his two billion, so he can be more a free agent now. The question (without giving away is how upfront and direct he’s being. One friend believes that and thinks Trump is talking directly as a warning, of sorts. I’m more of the mind that it’s less self-aware (since self-awareness is not a Trump strong suit) and is more him doing what he so often does (perhaps brought to the surface by Ivanka and Jared, or it’s just Trump being Trump) and him projecting his own, long-held deep feelings about his family. Whatever it is, it’s still nuts. It’s only a minute and half, and is sort of semi-normal (consider that “normal” for Trump is monumental egotistic self-aggrandizement) until he starts talking about the estate tax.
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Well, I think we have to finish this out with a finale. Yesterday, I wrote about having written the lyrics for a song, "Just One of the Girls" that was used in the 1995 Showtime TV movie, The Wharf Rat. The article was a follow-up to my piece about in the indefensible laws being passed in Red states against drag performers reading books to school children and against drag shows where children were present. The song seemed to fit the spirit of it all, since it was performed in the movie by drag performers in a drag club. (Actually, the singing used in the film was done by Lynn Mills and Shelly Goldstein, which is what I posted yesterday, and was lip-synced by the actors.) I mention this because I have the receipts. Proof that, no, I was not lying about this all. I actually was able to track down the movie online and have edited out the two sequences where the song, with music by Andy Marx, is performed. To be clear, it's not much. The first sequence only lasts 20 seconds at most, while the second time is just about eight seconds. But hey, that's the magic of movies. The basic premise of the film -- written and directed by Jimmy Huston -- is that Lou Diamond Phillip's character, named Petey, works at the Los Angeles Harbor and is involved in low-level crime. His brother was a policeman who's killed by dirty cops, and he decides to go after them, and his efforts overlap with the work of an investigative reporter. In the Big Scene (tm), one of Petey's ex-con partners go undercover as the maitre d' at a drag club. The bad cop (played by Judge Reinhold) arrives, as a performance is going on. Don't get up to get any popcorn, it'll be over pretty quickly. And this is the reprise. It comes near the very end of the film, as Petey's plan comes to fruition at the dockyards, and with the investigative reporter (played by Rachel Ticotin) on the scene, the bad guys are set up. We then cut to the partner (that ex-con who had been undercover as the maitre' d), driving off into the sunset. There was supposed to be another scene after this, but Jimmy liked ending the movie here and going out on the song... Okay, no, it's not much, all that writing a full song and it ends up about 28 seconds on film, but it was nice to go into the end credits with the song. And as a bonus, for those interested in seeing the movie, I figured that I would embed the full thing. It's pretty enjoyable. As I said yesterday, Jimmy wrote the movie Running Scared that starred Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines, and this film (while emphasizing the drama more than the comedy) has some of that combination of police drama and humor. Political consultant Stuart Stevens was on MSNBC a couple days ago. Back in 2020, Stevens wrote a book, It Was All a Lie, about his time as a major Republican political consultant in the past. The subtitle was, “How the Republican Party became Trump,” and the book laid out in detail how the Republican Party machinery had a foundation of lying, which has brought it to being the cult of Trump today. As the New York Times review of the book stated, “In his bare-knuckles account, Stevens confesses to the reader that the entire apparatus of his Republican Party is built on a pack of lies... This reckoning inspired Stevens to publish this blistering, tell-all history... Although this book will be a hard read for any committed conservatives, they would do well to ponder it."
Ever since then, when left the party, and has been an analyst I've liked what Stevens has to say about today's GOP, openly and brutally. What I don't like is when he blames today's GOP, as he did again in his MSNBC appearance, on starting when they accepted Trump and says, too, how before, when he was a consultant for the party, the GOP was based on the principle that "character counts" -- all of which conveniently ignores the whole point of what he wrote in It Was All A Lie," because a party whose foundation was “all a lie” – let me repeat, in case that’s not clear, ALL a lie -- is not the definition of character. And further, given that it came immediately right before Trump ran to lead the party, that is where today's GOP started. Trump may have taken control of the party, which subsequently “became” him, but that foundation of lying is what opened the door for Trump, allowing him to walk right through and be accepted. When you are a party whose “entire apparatus” is “built on a pack of lies, you’ve helped create a party whose base is willing to believe what is literally a totally anonymous “Q” voice as its main (or even sole) source of information. A party whose base is literally insane – something I mean clinically, not hyperbolically – because it’s able to believe that a dead JFK, Jr. will not only come back to life, but will then run with Trump on a presidential ticket. And believe that news host Anderson Cooper eats babies. And believe that Joe Biden now is a clone. That actual craziness doesn’t suddenly pop out of the blue. That requires being weened on getting told all lies for years. And accepting lies as truth, to the degree that they can’t tell the difference. And will accept an anonymous QAnon source and will accept a Trump, who made over 30,000 documented lies during his time in office. And will believe, despite losing 60 court cases and despite all 50 states certifying the results, and despite a total lack of admissible evidence to the contrary, that the presidential election was stolen, just because they were told the Big Lie over and over and over that it was. That’s what’s really weird about Stuart Stevens – in many way, he’s incredibly admirable in his total openness about the past when he consulted for the GOP being based on lying, to the extent that he wrote a book about it and even titled it that way. It Was All a Lie. But when he's interviewed about today's politics and has to deal with it in person, face-to-face, he oddly gets very reticent about it. Here's an even better example of what I mean. A few years back, when the book had just been published, he was a guest on Al Franken's podcast. It was an excellent interview about today's GOP, and Stevens was outspoken in his blunt assessment of the Republican Party. But I remember Franken very politely nailing him on this same point of Stevens' own part in setting it all up.. And when Stevens tried to dance around it, not taking any responsibility, Franken put his politeness off to the side ever-so-slightly, and he said something in a light-hearted but pointed voice along the lines of, "But wait, just look at the first lines of your own book!!!" And then he read them: "I have no one to blame but myself. I believed. That's where it all started to go wrong." And then, as I recall, an incredulous Franken added -- "You wrote that!" Stevens mumbled something, and Franken politely let him off the hook, but his point was made. My friend Michael Shoob is an astute observer of politics. Needless-to-day, that means I usually agree with him. Though not always, but even when I don't, his reasoning and insight is sharp. Among many other things, he made a terrific documentary in 2004, Bush’s Brain, about Karl Rove, based on the New York Times bestselling book by James C. Moore and Wayne Slater. (It's available here on DVD at Netflix.) And he took my point about Stevens and brought it to another level, writing to me that – “Every time I see or hear Stevens interviewed, I find myself admiring the fact that he has the guts to speak out against the current GOP when so many do not. But, then I can't help remembering (as I do with Nicole Wallace and others) that he was part of the legacy of lies, deception and cruelty perpetrated by Rove and Lee Atwater and others long before Donald Trump came along. Did they light the match? I think so.” Not shockingly, I agree with everything Michael said -- including about Nicole Wallace and Steve Schmidt and some others, being GOP operatives when the fire was burning. I've written about that here in the past, as well. In their favor, they absolutely deserve great praise for being outspoken in their blunt criticism of today's GOP. And no, they weren't at the dark end of the worst GOP operatives when they were there, nor do they always have to beat their breasts and regularly add that they were a part of what got us here. But -- I do think that just mentioning their part in the lie-machinery and then moving on is unacceptable. Saying on occasion, as they do, that “when I was in that Administration,” isn’t the same thing – they’re weren’t just in the Administration (the secretaries, doorman and guy who brought coffee were in the Administration) they were important parts of the apparatus, they were spokespeople and top consultants pushing the agenda that Stuart Stevens writes “was all a lie.” And they should periodically address it to put their current efforts in context. Wallace comes closest, but she always stops short of acknowledging how it helped lead to Trump. Doing so doesn’t detract what an admirable job they’re doing now, it gives it strong perspective and substance. Otherwise, it's just whitewashing their part enabling it all. There's a balance where it managed properly. After all, Robert Byrd had a horrible past in the Ku Klux Klan, as a local leader, but later become a strong advocate for Civil Rights – and what Byrd said about his past was, "I apologized a thousand times...and I don't mind apologizing over and over again. I can't erase what happened." I want to be very clear: I love what Stuart Stevens, Nicole Wallace, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson and others say about today’s Republican Party. They are strong, impressive, important, almost noble voices in their outrage, and I have great respect for them. But they shouldn’t try to bury their part in the past’s “It was all a lie” apparatus that enabled the worst operatives in the GOP and prepared the base to accept a Trump. Saying offhandedly, periodically, "I was there," isn't enough. They should follow the Byrd Rule and not mind apologizing over and over again. Because it’s not just part of the GOP’s horrific past, but a past which has bled to the present. After posting my article yesterday here about the indefensible insanity of Red states creating laws to criminalize what people wear when reading stories to children, I had a revelation that made me laugh. I remembered that I myself actually once wrote the lyrics for a song in a Showtime TV movie that, in the film, was sung by performers at a drag show. I posted the song, “Just One of the Girls,” here before, but that was 11 years ago. So, it seemed a very appropriate time to bring it back to life again. But first, some background. A friend of mine, Jimmy Huston (who wrote the wonderful film Running Scared with Billy Crystal and Gregory Hines as New York City cops), wrote and directed the Showtime movie, which was also a police drama, called The Wharf Rat” that starred Lou Diamond Phillips (and featured Judge Reinhold and Rita Moreno). There was a scene in the film that took place in a drag club, and he needed a song sung by the drag performers there. He knew I wrote parody lyrics and sometimes collaborated on songs, and asked if I could come up for one for the scene. Happily, Jimmy not only liked the song that composer Andy Marx and I came up with, but he also had a minor character sing it again later while driving his car down the open highway. And he liked that scene so much that he cut the scene which followed -- that was supposed to close the movie with the major characters -- and instead ended the movie on that minor character singing a reprise of our song, as he drove off into the sunset! The assignment was to "write something like 'Hello, Dolly!' but dirty" – something that most definitely not in my wheelhouse. (To this days, friends are shocked that "er, you wrote that??" But that was the job. And I was able to placate myself by coming up with something that at least is totally clean on the surface, although is filled with fairly crass double-entendres underneath. (At least by my standards. Perhaps "risqué" to others.) When my parents wanted to hear it, I reeeeeally didn’t want to play the recording for them, and when I was pretty much compelled to, I was hoping that my mother at least wouldn’t get all the suggestive "puns" -- but alas she did. I was sort of mortified when I played it and could see their taken-aback reaction. The only thing that I wish were different about the version used in the film is that it’s much too fast. It’s supposed to be performed at the pace of – as was the assignment – "Hello, Dolly!", which is a strutting cakewalk. But after hearing the recording we sent Jimmy while the movie was in production, he said he needed it faster to move the scene along quicker. And so, I’ve embedded the song below. But a couple of additional words first. The two singers are Lynn Mills (the wife of Jimmy Huston, and a terrific vocalist) and “the Lady Shellington,” Shelly Goldstein (a good Northwestern friend whose wonderful cabaret career I’ve written about here often). They were both very good sports for putting up with this. Also, just think of it being sung one-third slower. Hopefully you'll be able to understand the words. (Or, actually, maybe, hopefully not...) But I’ve included the lyrics for those who feel compelled to follow along… And this, with an apology to the G-rated folks out there (like me) – following up as a proper, though odd and unexpected bookend to on my article yesterday – is "One of the Girls." If you want to sing along, here are the lyrics -- "Just One of the Girls" Sometimes ladies want to be Petite and demure. But sometimes we are wild and free, And far less than pure. A lady is a sister, Whether quaint or lewd. We know that when a man has kissed her Ohh, someone gets screwed. (Oh, yes! Oh, yes! It's true.) I want to sing out loud about it Covered in ermine and pearls, Tell the world I'm proud about it As every flag unfurls. When all is finally said and done, I could not have had more fun. And I'm so glad that I'm just one Of the girls. Life's meant to be filled with play. Come one and come all. You can simply have your way; We'll sure have a ball. Life is grand, astound me. Let down your guard, Wrap your arms around me, Ooo, it isn't that hard. (Oh, yes! Oh, yes! Please do.) I'll float up to a cloud about it Covered in ermine and pearls, Tell the world I'm proud about it As every flag unfurls. When all is finally said and done, I could not have had more fun. And I'm so glad that I'm just one Of the girls. Women speak with many voices, I'm thrilled for each of mine. We're better the more the choices: Thank god that I have sixty-nine. Everyday I'm so excited. Life is the best. What I do is undecided. I'll keep you abreast. Here I am, the new me. Pleasure's mine to keep. Put your life into me. Oooo, I want it more deep. (Oh, yes! Oh, yes! It grew.) I'm glad I'm well-endowed about it Covered in ermine and pearls, Tell the world I'm proud about it As every flag unfurls. When all is finally said and done, I could not have had more fun. My life is the best, bar none. And I'm so glad that I'm just one... Oh, I'm so glad that I'm just one... Yes, I'm so glad that I'm just one Of the girls. Yesterday, I sent the following tweet to Kevin McCarthy. I know this will shock many people, but I don't expect him to answer. However, a guy can dream. (More to the point, it was really just to get the issue out in the fullness of light.) I wrote -- If Barack Obama committed a crime, do you think he should be investigated and indicted? I do. While, again, no, I of course don't even remotely expect McCarthy to answer, let alone just read it, I won't be surprised if a Trump supporter or a few do reply. And yes, I'm ready with a response... Depending on what they say and the level of vitriol, my reply will be along the lines of -- "To clarify, the question was only about a hypothetical situation where Trump actually, truly did commit a crime. Whether you personally believe Trump is not guilty in any of the six cases where he's currently under federal, state, city and civil investigation, it's of course up to a jury to determine that. But it's very good to know that you do support the rule of law, if and when Trump is convicted by a jury." Either that or -- "I'm sorry you don't believe in the rule of law. But thanks for making that clear." Okay, I suppose that it's always possible that an eternally-devoted Trump acolyte might reply that they don't believe it's possible for Trump to ever commit a crime. If so, I have a reply prepared for that, as well. "I believe you have it in you to at least pretend that Trump could commit a crime, since you clearly are so good at pretending already. So, here's another chance to try again. If you pretended that Trump committed a crime, should he be investigated and indicted? I suspect it's at that point I would be blocked by the person or receive some blunt observation about my religious beliefs, so it's likely I wouldn't get an answer, but at least I tried. And I do have a response ready, even if it never reaches the person. "I'll take that for a no. Thanks for making your views on the rule of law and reality clear." And no, I won't be debating any respondent further. It's just a simple three-question questionnaire. I have my limits. As I wrote back here a couple years ago, I’m a big fan of the TV series Ghosts. I first discovered the British version, and was very pleased with what an excellent adaptation was done of it for U.S. television. While I ever-so-slightly prefer the British show, there are things about each that I favor. One especially-good thing about the American adaptation is that there are currently new episodes to watch. The British version (which streams on HBO Max) hasn’t had anything new for a while – although the show is still being made. Its new episodes began airing last September. However, though there aren’t any new British episodes available here in the U.S. yet, this is the best next thing. England, you see, has a “Red Nose Day” Comic Relief telethon every year to raise money for children poverty. In fact, I’ve posted clips from it over the years. And this, happily, is one more. It’s a short film where the cast of the British Ghosts got together and did a 7-1/2 minute sketch. It’s wonderful for American fans of the British original to finally see something new, but also a nice introduction for people over here who haven’t ever seen the British show. While this sketch isn’t the show at its height, it's still a lot of fun. (And features a guest appearance by singer Kylie Minogue.) And you’ll get to see how close the American adaptation comes to the original. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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