I don't write about Trump anymore, because it doesn't move the needle.
A couple of weeks back, I went to an insider lecture featuring Michael Isikoff and David Corn talking about their book "Russian Roulette," supposedly the definitive statement, at least as of its writing, on Russian interference in the 2016 election. I couldn't listen, it was a self-congratulatory circle jerk amongst the intelligentsia, all I wanted to know was how and when Trump would be gone.
There are no answers to that.
But David Corn interrupted the affair to take a call from MSNBC, he told us Rachel Maddow wanted him to appear on her show.
WHO CARES?
As the cliche goes, politics is show business for ugly people. And that goes not only for elected officials, but the penumbra.
Or, as Michelle Wolf put it, the media LOVES Trump, their ratings have never been so high!
And Fox spins, and one can argue MSNBC does too, but they're each preaching to the converted, and not the other side, which isn't even listening.
And we can denigrate Fox News, saying they emphasize the wrong stories, but the point is, this effort does not move the needle.
I'm reading "I Am Charlotte Simmons," the castigated 2004 novel by Tom Wolfe. I'm reserving judgment, but there's a lot of resonance contained therein. Charlotte's from the hill country of western North Carolina. She gets into Dupont, an elite institution of higher learning, on full scholarship, and when she meets her new roommate...
Charlotte's father asks the roommate's parents how they got from Boston to Pennsylvania, where Dupont is located.
And they say THEY FLEW!
And Charlotte's parents state they were unaware there was an airport nearby, they were too uninformed to know, never mind conceive, that the roommate's family flew private.
Never mind the prep school.
Never mind the cell phone and stacks of electronics.
Never mind the sex.
The point is, Charlotte is nonplussed and horrified. She's an earnest student, not getting drunk and having sex with one partner after another. WHY IS SHE THE OUTCAST?
Ask yourself that, as you scramble to get into Yale and work in finance. How about those who never had this opportunity? How about those who are unaware this opportunity even exists? Almost all elite institutions are need blind, meaning if you can get in on academics, they pay the freight if you cannot afford it.
But seemingly no one knows this. Not even westside elites in Los Angeles, because I've had to inform them.
So the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
And most of the rich don't want to sacrifice. Forget the holier-than-thou who believe they've earned their success, those who consider themselves liberals don't want to lose a single thing they've achieved, it's NIMBYISM on steroids.
But all these left-wingers are doing is bitching about Trump.
Well, let's see. Stunningly, there's a chance that Democrats will take over the House.
But the Senate is an incredible long shot.
So Trump stays in office.
Trump stays in office unless his cronies, the Republicans themselves, tell him he has to go, like they did with Nixon, but the Republicans are rallying around Trump, not decrying him.
So the pardoning of Dinesh D'Souza got my blood boiling. Forget that he's a perpetrator of unfounded conspiracy theories. Trump didn't observe protocol, there was no Justice Department procedure, the Donald just pardoned him willy-nilly, as he did Arpaio and now...
This is scary, this isn't democracy.
But I didn't write about it, because it wouldn't make a difference. The left-wingers would cheer and the right-wingers would hate and here we are, same as it ever was.
And I turn on Bill Maher's "Real Time" and there's aged Bernie, who says the Democrats must have an agenda, THEY MUST STAND FOR SOMETHING!
Forget the NYT and WaPo, they're just reporting the news. They haven't gotten Trump yet and odds are they never will. We need activists, with an opinion, WITH AN AGENDA!
That was Bernie's point. You've got to reach out to the Trump voters, those who were screwed in the new economy. By saying how you're gonna help them, as opposed to the usual Democratic elite running for their donors. How'd that work in 2016? IT DIDN'T!
And this same Democratic elite is excoriating Tom Steyer for his impeachment campaign, talking about how it's gonna piss people off.
No, to win today first and foremost you must be HONEST!
That's what Trump proved. I know, he's a paragon of dishonesty, but he told his minions that they'd been screwed, and left behind, AND THIS RESONATED WITH THEM! What are the Democrats saying that resonates, other than they hate Trump?
You can't run to the center, you can't triangulate. That's what killed Taylor Swift and Katy Perry's records. Instead of being pure pop, they mixed their tracks with beats, they were phony and failed in the marketplace.
And music itself is so whored out to money there's little truth left. The only people speaking truth have no traction, because they've got nothing to lose.
And I think it's great that Kanye broke the color barrier in Jackson Hole, where there are no African-Americans to speak of, but by flying everybody in and having a party...is this inclusive or exclusive?
THE LATTER!
That's the ethos of entertainment. You've got to know someone to get a good ticket. You've got to be able to afford bottle service. There's always someone with more money than you, and you're screwed!
So what the left behinds did was throw a monkey wrench into the system, to mess with the liberal elite, who left them behind. And they may be worse off under Trump, but where are the ideas to convince them otherwise?
Oh, you could get on your get out the vote soapbox, and it is true, if enough Democrats do vote, chances are they'll triumph, but we'll still have a divided country, the problems will remain.
Bernie's talking about the underpaid workers at Disneyland while Robert Iger, the CEO of the company, gets a stratospheric bonus.
It's kind of like the music business. Michael Rapino gets a $70 million bonus and the enemy is supposed to be Spotify?
That's right, working for a public company, unlike the artists themselves, Michael Rapino nets more than almost any of the acts Live Nation promotes. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. Screw being an artist, be an EXECUTIVE!
And that's why Ivy League graduates go to work for the bank. They don't want to make a difference, they just don't want to be left behind.
And they want the rock star lifestyle.
That's right, the only people no longer living the rock star lifestyle are ROCK STARS!
So take a stand, and be honest.
In the information society people know the truth. They might be affected by spin, but they know if they can't get ahead, they know if the deck is stacked against them.
Which is how Bernie Sanders got so much traction to begin with, by speaking the truth. And the public responded. If he'd started a year earlier, he would have gotten the nomination and be President right now.
That's how far the truth will get you.
So begin there, especially if you're an artist, it's your number one weapon.
And when it comes to politics...
No one resonates with the negative, as stated by the ultimately victorious right wing candidate to Harvey in "Milk," you've got to give the people HOPE!
Start there.
This might be down by the time you read this, but start at 7:30 and watch Bernie Sanders here:
bit.ly/2HdrBaw--
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