Spitting Back

Over the weekend, I  saw a social media comment that some MAGOP made in response to angry criticism at Trump nominating Kash Patel to be FBI Director, writing in his defense "The establishment spent a decade going after the man. Now you’re upset it’s payback time."

I responded that "Putting aside for the moment if others had valid reason to criticize Kash Patel's autocratic positions -- it's one thing for him to personally 'go after' anyone he wants, whether doing so was justified or not.  But it's another for an FBI Director with a sworn duty to the U.S. Constitution to use his office for personal vendettas and payback.  Most especially when just for being criticized, no matter how harshly."

As it happens, the next day, a recent video of Kash Patel was posted of him on an extreme right channel, where he said out loud, seemingly unaware that cameras and microphones you're talking to will send you words out to others:  "We're going to come after the people who helped Joe Biden rig presidential election... This is why we're tyrannical. This is why we're dictators."

(Hopefully, there will be at the very least a handful of Republicans in the Senate who listen to the FBI nominee calling his and their party tyrannical dictators -- and disdain that enough to vote against his nomination.  I'm not holding my breath on that, mind you.  But I expect the quote will come up in the hearings process.)

Kash Patel, of course, is hardly the only full-on Fascist who Trump has nominated for his cabinet.  Indeed, in many cases, that seems to be a qualifying position.  After all, it's the core who who Trump has become, and he expects totally loyalty from those he surrounds himself with.

All of which brought to mind an extraordinary video I've previously posted here (on a couple of occasions, I believe), the first time 10 years ago, on September 5, 2014 when I was attending an international tech show in Berlin and writing from there about the event and the city.  But as pointed as this video was when posted previously, it's too prescient now not to repeat it, along with the story to set up the background. 

​The video is no longer available on YouTube, but happily I had the presence of mind to download it and keep a copy.

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                                     It's the Very Spitting Image

This is one of the most remarkable pieces of political satire I've ever seen, and one of the most brutal.  And it comes from...puppets.

The puppets in question are the brilliant Spitting Image, a British TV series that ran from 1984 to 1996.  Created by Peter Fluck and Roger Law with Martin Lambie-Nairn, the show used phenomenally accurate yet overdone caricatured puppets to take a scathing look at politics and society, with a special place in its heart for the Royal Family, and didn't spare Americans any either.

(An episode I once saw had Ronald Reagan at a dinner party.  As he was talking blather, a guest came by, lifted up the top part of he head on a hinge, dug a fork in and spun it around like trying to get spaghetti.  He then popped the top of the head back in place and wandered off.)

How does this relate to Berlin?  I'll get to that.  But first, a bit more about Spitting Image.

The show won 10 BAFTA Awards, and even won two Emmys in the U.S. (in 1985 and 1986) when they did a few specials, in hopes of building interest for a series.  I suspect the show was far too biting for American tastes, and perhaps still skewed a little too British.

But scathing is the word.  As much as Americans might think they're tolerant of political satire, I don't think I've seen much that compares to Spitting Image.  And this particular clip is easily the most scathing of all.  I can't even begin to imagine it making it on the air in the U.S., nor what the reaction would have been if it had.

I saw this at what was a Museum of Broadcasting event that was a tribute to Spitting Image.  The whole evening was wonderful, but when they showed this clip, the room was stunned.

It originally aired in England on June 11, 1987, as the last scene of an Election Special.  The show was broadcast right after the British polls closed, with the presumption that the Margaret Thatcher Government would win in a landslide.  As it did.

You won't recognize most of the British politicians, no doubt, but the point of the sketch is as clear as could be. There is no subtlety here.  Subtlety is thrown far out the window.  The song they sing is from Kander & Ebb's musical Cabaret -- which was based on the play, I Am a Camera by John Van Druten, which in turns was based on two short novels by Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories.

See!  I told you I'd get around to the Berlin connection!

Again, remember two things as you watch the video -- the first is that this was the end of the Election Special as the Thatcher Government won in a landslide...and second, I can't even begin to imagine this on American television. 

You can get away with more things when it's puppets, but...still.  This is remarkable.  And that's no hyperbole.