"Trump is not the first president to get into a pissing match with a celebrity. I will never forgive Obama for taunting Trump into running for president, with Obama's comedian act at the White House Correspondents dinner.""Ayla," an anonymous commenter to this blog
I had never watched more than a couple of minutes of "Celebrity Apprentice," but I knew the show had an audience. I had seen the movie "Home Alone 2" with the cameo by Donald Trump, and saw that he had a brand as a New York City tycoon. He entered my consciousness, mostly as a frequent guest on Fox News arguing that Barack Obama's birth paperwork in Hawaii was fraudulent.
Obama humiliated him at the White House Correspondents event. Trump was formidable and troublesome enough that Obama wanted to make seem ridiculous, and did so. Obama hit him with a sledgehammer of ridicule.
Trump didn't slink away. Trump continued to go onto Fox saying Obama was a fraud. I saw Trump's celebrity translate into direct electoral advantage on a late-September evening in Rochester, New Hampshire. I attended my first Trump rally.
Other Republicans got small crowds. Trump got several thousand people to his event.
"Ayla" makes a good point. Obama erred. He elevated Trump by validating his importance, and likely motivated him to extract payback. Trump had power: He commanded an audience. Being attacked by a president didn't diminish that power. Trump had a brand.
Jimmy Kimmel has that same power. Trump and FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr made the same mistake Obama made. They hit Kimmel with a sledgehammer, which made Kimmel bigger than before, and a sympathetic, even heroic, figure. Trump and Carr were showing off. See how powerful we are! The mob-boss "easy-way-or-hard-way" language framed the issue as illegitimate power targeting an abused hero. It was too much, too raw.
Democrats have been saddened -- indeed disgusted -- by Congress' failure to preserve its Constitutional power to make laws, determine taxes, and control spending. Democrats are powerless; Republicans are compliant. James Madison would weep.
The courts are slowing Trump at the district and appellate level, but those same lawsuits are heard by a Supreme Court that lets unconstitutional executive actions stand until, in the fullness of judicial slow-motion time, or until a Democrat is back in the White House, it will consider putting checks on presidential power.
The Constitution and laws turn out to be pieces of paper, having power only if people insist on exercising them. Trump says that he represents the true and legitimate will of the people, and institutions are consenting to this.
Kimmel's return to TV is a very positive event. It marks a boundary, a limit on Trump. The people said "no," so ABC/Disney said no. Kimmel commands an audience. A celebrity turns a confrontation into one between two competing entities, two competing brands. YouGov asked Americans if they approved of ABC/Disney pulling Kimmel off the air under pressure from Trump. Americans disapproved.
This is a democracy. It is OK for Democrats to reflect popular values and policies. The job of Democratic activists is to make their policy goals popular, not to work to elect politicians who win hard races despite advocating policies the public dislikes. That approach got Trump elected. The ultimate power is the public will. We see that institutions fail in the face of a strong-willed autocrat. But institutions do resist pressure when they see the people demand it. ABC/Disney isn't responding to a notion of right and wrong, or to the principle of "free speech." They responded to its sense of the public will.
Kimmel is a tiny victory, but we can learn from it.
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5 comments:
It is not a "tiny" victory. Strange
It’s weird, how many people like to blame Trump on everyone except those responsible: it was President Obama, it’s “wokeness,” it’s DEI, it’s CRT, it’s the “Great Replacement,” etc. The theme running through all those excuses is racism. In a way, they’re right. Obama was our first Black president, which drove White Nationalists berserk. So, they took over the GOP and here we are.
Trump was the biggest blowhard in the racist ‘’birther” movement who lied incessantly about Obama and deserved every joke at his expense. But if you want to blame someone for Trump, blame the whack jobs who voted for him. It was clear from the start that he was a clueless, racist pathological liar, and Republicans ate it up.
From President Obama poking the monkey at the Correspondents Dinner over a decade ago to the steaming pile of manure deposited at the United Nations this very morning, who could ever have imagined all this? What a long, strange trip it still is. All eyes will be on the Kimmel monologue tonight, including--especially--Trump's.
It's not over. Right wing stations are still cancelling the show. It was reported that Disney stock lost several $Billlion over the last few days, so maybe the real story is the speech of the public. Is Jimmy going to "tone it down?" I hope not. MEANWHILE SARAH FERGUSON IS THE LATEST EPSTEIN "FRIEND" TO SUFFER CONSEQUENCES WHILE SPECULATION IS GROWING ABOUT THE "EPSTEIN 20".
WHO ARE THEY? THE NAMES ARE IN THE FILES, BUT THE VICTIMS KNOW TOO.
As the saying goes: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."
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