Has Hollywood Jumped The Shark Over Fears Of Trump’s Re-Election?
Some members of the cast of Parks and Recreation will reunite for a fundraiser for Wisconsin Democrats. If this sounds familiar, it should. The cast of Princess Bride is also reuniting for the same purpose – helping guarantee that Wisconsin turns out the vote for Joe Biden.
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Several of the show’s stars, including Amy Poehler, Adam Scott and Nick Offerman, will hold a virtual event raising money for the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Aubrey Plaza, Retta, Jim O’Heir and series co-creator Michael Schur will also join in on the fundraiser, in addition to some surprise guests. The event is titled “A Parks and Rec Town Hall” and will feature a Q&A with the cast members.
It’s not clear from the announcement if the town hall questions are to be about politics and the presidential election or just a chance for fans to interact with their favorites from the show. Are any of the actors known for astute political observations or clever opinionated discussions? Not that I’m aware of. I know Amy Poehler was a huge Hillary Clinton fangirl in 2016. This event sounds kind of sad, though, as participants are asked to make a donation to the virtual event, even if it is just $1.00. The event’s website says any donation at all will “ be used to ensure that Trump loses Wisconsin, and thereby the White House.” The pitch for just one dollar was also used in the announcement about the Princess Bride cast reunion.
The town hall will be live-streamed on Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. CT followed by the exclusive Q&A at 8:30 p.m. CT.
The cast of The West Wing was first to announce a reunion for fundraising purposes in support of Black Lives Matter, teaming up with Michelle Obama. Wisconsin Democrats took that idea and are using it to fundraise because of the importance of the state as a swing state in the presidential election. The entire cast of Parks and Recreation came together in April with a virtual scripted special. It raised more than $2.8 million and drew over 3.6 million viewers for COVID-19 relief. Not all cast members are doing this fundraiser for the Wisconsin Democrats.
This brings me to a question – Is the entertainment industry entering overkill territory in their desperation to oust President Trump from the White House? Sure, it’s normal for Hollywood to support whichever Democrat is running for president. They fundraise and make guest appearances at campaign rallies, bringing star power to draw a crowd to political events. But this cycle it’s different. There is a certain desperate viciousness to it all. There are the usual tell-all books from Trump’s opponents, including the hit jobs from James Comey, Bob Woodward, and Michael Cohen. But not everyone reads books. More people watch television or stream entertainment. So, there have been offerings to the Trump deranged Democrats to keep them riled up against him.
There was a reading of the Mueller Report by Hollywood celebrities. There is a movie coming out before the election based on Comey’s book. There is a behind the scenes style show of the presidential campaigns on Showtime, The Circus but it largely focuses on Biden and the hosts are all Biden voters. Last night’s show, for example, concentrated in promoting the Democrat talking points that Trump is working with the USPS to rig the election in his favor. But the one Hollywood production that made me think that the market is saturated and likely not providing the outcome hoped for was a new release on HBO that began airing Saturday night.
Coastal Elites is a one-time event that features five actors who deliver individual monologues. All are anti-Trump rants, some more dramatic than others. A colleague at NewsBusters covered it and wrote a good review of it. The most obnoxious was the monologue delivered by Bette Midler, as you can imagine. It was a full-on overwrought emotional breakdown over the bad Orange Man. She is so Trump deranged, she explains, that she was arrested for snatching a MAGA hat from a Trump supporter who had the nerve to wear it in New York City. The others were dramatic in varying degrees. The fifth actor – an actress who portrays a nurse working in NYC during the coronavirus – starts out just describing working in a hospital during the plague and one patient she becomes attached to. She calls herself an Independent but by the end of her monologue, she obviously has become a Biden voter.
The problem is that there has been a solid four years of liberal meltdowns over Trump. Hollywood actors are useful idiots for the Democrat Party. None of these productions will change a vote if you ask me. People are fatigued by the political divisions that demonize the president while offering no real alternative. None of these actors in the HBO production, for example, are enthusiastic Joe Biden voters – they are anyone-but-Trump voters. Exaggerated dramatic productions won’t move the needle with voters at this point.
Let the Wisconsin Democrats try to deliver that state for Biden, one dollar at a time. Are swing state voters and voters in flyover states paying attention to Hollywood’s antics? When regular people, not political junkies but regular voters look for entertainment to distract them from the plague and the economy and the stresses on life in general, I don’t think they are turning to pampered liberal actors who dwell in coastal bubbles for voting advice. I may be wrong, but it sure looks like Hollywood is jumping the shark during this election cycle.
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