Every day the papers are loaded with articles exposing the various examples of cruelty, incompetence, greed, uncouth behavior and incredible insensitivity of President Trump. A few days ago, the London Daily Mail website offered four in a row. Trump is internationally appalling:
And yet, ten million, twenty million, thirty million or more love the guy. Absolutely LOVE the guy, from his amusing Don Rickles insults on "Sleepy Joe" Biden to his nepotism, to his racial scapegoating and smug denial of climate change.
"It's good to be the king," Mel Brooks joked in a movie, but this is real life, and it's sad that so many find a vicarious thrill in thinking they'd be just like THIS guy...shooting off his mouth on Twitter all day, grabbing a mail order bride from Europe somewhere (as long as she'd posed naked and he could see what he was buying), and indulging in all the show-off luxury of golf course games, pompous rhetoric, and simply shouting "Fake News" when caught...time and time again. Porn stars? Daring workers to sue him for construction work on his Trump buildings? Fleecing fools with a fake college or "made in China" hats saying "Make America Great Again?" It's ALL good.
Anything BAD about this guy is dismissed, including for example, Mary Trump's very interesting book that attempted to analyze how her uncle Donald became such an unfeeling and crude person, how often he was a user, and how sadly hollow and at times sociopathic his personality could get.
The man practiced showmanship on David Letterman's show, and out of nowhere became a "reality star" via "The Apprentice." Somehow, perhaps because of his outlandish hair (covering up many botched transplant and bald-spot reduction surgeries) or his willingness to seemingly laugh at himself, his arrogance as a rich bully has been seen as lovable by a not-so-silent majority of rednecks, racists, and to be fair, religious lunatics and goofy accountants (the latter insisting that whatever his faults, the economy is good). Does he have charm? Hey, back when I was working with London Features and LGI, I photographed the man for magazines and newspapers. Look at that smile...charming indeed...
Every time Julie's mentioned Trump on FACEBOOK, the result has been predictably the same: a bunch of indignant narrow-minded fools insisting "I'll never watch your movies again," and "I'm no longer following you" and other huffery. The fact that Hillary Clinton beat Donald in the popular vote SHOULD mean that Julie is hardly alone in her views. And why should anyone have to agree with somebody else's politics?
The people walking away from Julie's page, think that 90% of Hollywood isn't on her side? What, never watch a movie or a TV show again because it's likely that the star is not a Trump fan? From vocal people on Twitter such as Bette Midler and Rob Reiner to late night comedians such as Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, one could end up with nothing to watch but Clint Eastwood and Jon Voight movies, and the selected genius TV shows of Scott Baio. Even then, probably most of the scripts written for the actors were done by people who don't like Trump. You can't win, Trumpers, so why the hypocrisy?
Because it feels SO good to do that Margaret Dumont impression and declare, "I've never been so insulted in my life!" To which there are many a Groucho quip for a response.
The sad thing are the out-and-out trolls who love Trump so much they have to emulate him, with thoroughly uncouth, sexist and obnoxious remarks. NONE of them get screen-capped or repeated here, but it IS disturbing that people who clearly love Julie or lust after her enough to friend her or constantly check her page for pix of her, would suddenly turn condescending, oafish and repulsive just because of...well, what was the latest remark she made? Pretty mild:
That line would probably not even make the cut for "Real Time with Bill Maher." And yet it led to over 600 comments, 200 shares, and a small but vile number of name-calling troll-calls. Of course, one can hang up on these calls, and BLOCK anyone who can't state an opinion without adding insults and catty (and stupid) Catwoman jokes. Or as Mort Sahl used to say when somebody would boo him in the audience: "It would be nice if you could articulate your position." And, if somebody tried to best him with a heckling quip that got zero audience response: "That's not the first time you've failed in the dark."
Julie of course was conciliatory:
And....
Several people actually did complete the sentence, with very sensible and sober remarks. Still, there's no question that people who don't like Biden express themselves with far more malice, insult, and depressingly irrational rhetoric than those who don't like Biden. The Trump fans are basically as inarticulate as their hero, so they figure a remark slightly below the belt of "Lying Hillary" or 'Sleepy Joe" would be in keeping with what their hero would write. Sadly, in that regard, the right-wing wingnuts are right.
Is the answer "leave politics out of it?" Many people are "politicians" about this, and indeed, choose NOT to say a word on hot topics such as religion, abortion, politics, or even animal rights and climate change.
Julie is a LEO (in addition to being known by most Facebookers as the Catwoman) so she will speak her mind. Thankfully, there's a BLOCK for anyone who can't control their heckles and Jeckyls, and insist on the pride of showing off their filthy Hyde. Special thanks to two posters who expressed the situation very well:
