Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Republicans don’t trust women.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

This really is a full service blog.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

The willow is too close to the house.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

A consequence of cucumbers

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Ain’t Gonna Play Shitgibbon City

Ain’t Gonna Play Shitgibbon City

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I’m so old I remember the last time celebrity rockers and rappers banded together to deprive a shitty, racist regime of A-list entertainment:

Can’t remember who 80% of those people are, but good for them. Now a new generation is stepping up: Trump can’t attract top entertainers to his swearing-in shitshow. Via TPM:

My friend Stuart Stevens has the rare combined vantage point of being both a top Republican campaign professional and also someone who has built a successful career in Hollywood. He’s mentioned more than once the unique challenges of entertainment programming at the GOP’s quadrennial nominating conventions. But something unique or heretofore unprecedented is happening with the Trump inauguration. It’s no surprise there’d be a 85% or even 95% freeze out from Hollywood and the music industry. But it appears to be closer to 99% or 100%….

If Ted Cruz had been elected President you’d likely see something close to as total a shut out. But Cruz would strap on his Lee Greenwood and love the smell of Hollywood’s contempt in the morning. Not Trump. All reporting suggests that Trump is extremely unhappy about the situation. Which of course makes perfect sense. Depending on how you choose to inflect it – with sympathy or derision – Trump’s movement is based on a rejection of the condescension and arrogance of the cultural elite. And yet no one yearns more achingly for celebrity approval than Trump.

According to The Wrap, with Andrea Bocelli now dropping out, Trump’s partner and reality tv mogul Mark Burnett has shaken up the transition staff to try to find some entertainers willing to participate. Burnett has pulled in Suzanne Bender, a former booker for “Dancing With the Stars” and “American Idol.”

Here’s hoping entertainers continue to freeze Trump out, and he has to make do with vulgar has-beens like Nugent and reality show nobodies. It’s not at all important in the scheme of things, but to a brittle narcissist like Trump, slights like that sting like hell. Fell that burn, shitgibbon. Feel that burn.

Reader Interactions

149Comments

  2. 2.

    rikyrah

    I find it hilarious.

    I can’t believe that Country Stars aren’t doing it. They won’t suffer from their fan base if they do. They will cut themselves off from people like me, who occasionally by the Country Crossover Album.

    Any Black performer who agrees – it will be Sammy Davis Jr./Richard Nixon -type fallout times 10.

  4. 4.

    GregB

    It was conservative canon to support the South African Apartheid regime in the 80’s.

    Years later they were falling over themselves to honor the man they routinely derided as a terrorist, Nelson Mandela.

  7. 7.

    Damien

    May his presidency be nothing but ridicule, so as he will know there is no level he can attain that will get him the respect he so desperately craves.

  8. 8.

    Droppy

    Get some members of Congress to lip-synch Springsteen, Beatles, Motown stuff. The law suits will go nowhere in the Trump Courts of America. Those congresshumanoids who won’t cooperate can deal with the private security forces.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    @rikyrah: That surprises me too. I wonder if they’re even trying to get country stars? As a silver spoon princeling from NYC, Trump probably loathes country music. I heard they struck out with Garth Brooks, but plenty of country stars are raving wingnuts.

  10. 10.

    Garbo

    There is a suggestion making its way around on Facebook for a counter-programming Concert for Freedom to support all the causes under attack with ALL the talent Shitgibbon wishes he had at the inauguration. Can you imagine the split screen? I heartily endorse this massive ‘fuck you’ idea.

  13. 13.

    Trentrunner

    Anyone who didn’t recognize the voice of Darlene Love…

    …well, let’s just say you cannot please come home.

  15. 15.

    Shell

    I remember the “Aint Gonna Play Sun City” video, so I must be old too. Oy!
    How much music is played during the inauguration itself? Or are we talking about the balls afterwards?

  16. 16.

    Cacti

    @Betty Cracker:

    As a silver spoon princeling from NYC, Trump probably loathes country music.

    This.

    There’s plenty of A-list country talent who would gladly polish Trump’s wingtips with their tongues. But I’m sure the Donald considers them shit-kickers and beneath him.

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    I heard they struck out with Garth Brooks, but plenty of country stars are raving wingnuts.

    Garth is a crossover superstar with Country Roots. I own a number of Garth’s albums, even though I am clearly not County Music’s demographic. He’s on another level.

    But, yeah, your regular Country Star…I don’t get it.

  19. 19.

    Mike J

    @Betty Cracker: Getting country stars to preform doesn’t prove anything. He already has the votes of people that listen to Nashville pop. He wants the people who hate him. If Neko Case had to show up and celebrate him that would show everyone who’s boss now.

  21. 21.

    Thoroughly Pizzled

    I am highly embarrassed on behalf of the state of Michigan that Ted Nugent and Kid Rock are Trump supporters.

  22. 22.

    Roger Moore

    @Betty Cracker:

    I wonder if they’re even trying to get country stars? As a silver spoon princeling from NYC, Trump probably loathes country music.

    That’s my guess, too, but he doesn’t want to admit to that loathing because he knows it would cost him bigly with his followers. ETA: Perhaps Trump’s history of non-payment is also hurting his chances of hiring people who don’t have anything against him politically.

  25. 25.

    WereBear

    I have been following this story for a bit, and it makes me so happy. They know how to kick him where it hurts; and show business is generally liberal.

    Something about the conservative mind precludes creative activity. ‘Tis so.

  27. 27.

    James E Powell

    What I remember most is how nothing that entertainers did had any impact on the damage that the Reagan administration inflicted on the United States and the world. We are just completely fucked.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    @Cacti:

    I read somewhere that even the DC high school marching bands are skipping the Inaugural Parade

    The DC High School bands and the local HBCU Marching Bands. Howard U’s Band leader said it was ‘ budgetary concerns’.

  29. 29.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    I can’t believe that Country Stars aren’t doing it. They won’t suffer from their fan base if they do.

    Don’t forget, TRUMP DOES NOT PAY HIS PERFORMERS.

    His track record in that regard has likely burned a ton of bridges among the A-listers.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    You know what we must do, peoples. We must suggest more performers, who might turn him down.

    Pat Boone is pretty “patriotic.”

  32. 32.

    Kelly

    In my dreams lefty musicians signed up for trump inaugural celebrations and play only anti-war and civil rights anthems.

  33. 33.

    Cacti

    @PaulWartenberg2016:

    Don’t forget, TRUMP DOES NOT PAY HIS PERFORMERS.

    His track record in that regard has likely burned a ton of bridges among the A-listers.

    Hadn’t thought of that.

    Maybe country stars who would otherwise perform are demanding cash advances.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    Beau Davidson will be the headliner, according to the latest news.

    I guess this proves the point, but who is Beau Davidson?

  35. 35.

    Soprano2

    Our local state university’s premier choir is going to sing for the inaugural. I’m desperately hoping there will be video of it on a local newspaper or TV Web site, or the university’s Web site, so I can only hear them sing without having to watch anything else from the inaugural. I was really excited for them (I sing in Thursday evening choir with some of them) until the election. Then, not so excited – more like sad and horrified.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @Roger Moore:

    ETA: Perhaps Trump’s history of non-payment is also hurting his chances of hiring people who don’t have anything against him politically.

    It’s probably not helping. Any performers who did consider accepting probably demanded payment in full up front, and when Trump’s people said “no” …

    Frankly, I’m now wondering if they were offering ambassadorships in lieu of paying cash, which is all kinds of illegal right there.

  41. 41.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @Cacti:

    Don’t forget Meatloaf.

    That’s probably it on the non-C&W side of music. Some noted conservative rockers like Alice Cooper and Joe Perry were decidedly mum during the election irt who they were voting for. Normally they’re die hard Repubs.

  42. 42.

    Cacti

    @Mnemosyne:

    It’s probably not helping. Any performers who did consider accepting probably demanded payment in full up front, and when Trump’s people said “no” …

    Frankly, I’m now wondering if they were offering ambassadorships in lieu of paying cash, which is all kinds of illegal right there.

    Reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons where Homer and Marge go to Lionel Hutz for legal advice.

    They showed him his ad that said “Free Consultation No Cash Down”. He said to them, “They forgot the punctuation” and then used his pen to make it “Free Consultation? No, Cash Down!”.

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    Maybe country performers are more aware than we are that a lot of people they know voted for Trump as a lark, since he was so unlikely to win. Maybe they’re hearing all kinds of buyers remorse from their friends and families, and realize that it is just easier for their career to say NO. They don’t want to end up, glued to a buffoon** in the public memory.

    What has Trump ever done for anyone else’s career? As Kay points out, who still shines after being associated with Trump?

    ** first wrote “pig”, but pigs are intelligent little creatures

  46. 46.

    Brachiator

    @dmsilev:

    Can’t they get someone to just play a recording of John Ashcroft’s ‘Let the Eagle Soar’?

    Union workers refuse to flip the switch on the music player.

  47. 47.

    germy

    Tomi Lahren ‏@TomiLahren Dec 20

    Who cares if Trump’s inauguration has no A list performers? He didn’t campaign for the rich liberal Hollywood vote anyway. Their loss!

    Suck it, libtards!

  49. 49.

    smintheus

    @Kelly: Better yet, sign up to perform, take Trump’s money, then cancel at the last minute. Make him sue to get the money he’s owed. It’s the Trump MO.

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    @Cacti: That’s hilarious.

    Thank Dog the Simpsons are still around. The writers have to be alternately wailing and salivating.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    @randy khan: In further fairness, the military band members are very highly-qualified musicians. My daughter started the process of auditioning for one, but ended up not following through — but the process is rigorous. It’s not like they pull a guy out of motor pool and say “hey, I heard you used to play trumpet in college.” These are people who are musicians first and foremost, and bypass all the training-to-kill-people part of the military.

  56. 56.

    germy

    @Gin & Tonic: I remember when Elvis Costello performed a Paul McCartney tribute at the White House. He sang “Penny Lane” and when a military band member did the famous horn solo with precise perfection, the audience responded with loud applause.

  57. 57.

    Cacti

    I read that during Guns n Roses show in Mexico City, they brought out a giant Trump piñata.

    Maybe they could perform? :-)

  63. 63.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy: My daughter has a master’s degree in performance from a major university and wasn’t sure she could make it through the first audition, based on the material they required.

  65. 65.

    SgrAstar

    @Shell:

    How much music is played during the inauguration itself? Or are we talking about the balls afterwards?

    I think we’re talking about the inauguration and the pre-inauguration concert. I’m sure a lot of Juicers will recall the amazing concert at the Lincoln Memorial in 2008, featuring Pete Seeger, U2, Rene Fleming, Tim McGraw, Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce, Tom Hanks…and more. Freezing cold and outstanding. And of course Aretha sang at the inauguration itself. It’s all still on youtube. Sigh!

  67. 67.

    Elizabelle

    @? Martin: Hilarious story. Right down to the Freedom Kids’ merchandise getting stolen out of the parking lot, because they weren’t permitted to bring it into the arena, as previously agreed.

    Freedom Kids: consider yourselves lucky. ‘Nother word for nothing left to lose.

  70. 70.

    Betty Cracker

    @Gin & Tonic: Maybe things have changed, but my husband was in the USAF band back in the 80s, and he had to go through the training-to-kill-people part, even though his duties involved things like playing piano for NATO cocktail parties in the Rothschild mansion in Paris and such…

  71. 71.

    gvg

    I was amused by the story that Kiss turned them down, apparently Gene Simmons didn’t sound that anti Trump but his wife and daughter were very definite. I gather he tends rightward.

  75. 75.

    Weaselone

    @ Martin:

    Yeah. Pretty much this. Even if you were a conservative supporter of Trump, unless you were willing to play for free and foot the other costs associated with performing for him, why would you take the risk? That’s in addition to any principle that these performers might have regarding playing for people who have stiffed other performers.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    @? Martin:

    Once you show the world you’re willing to repeatedly fuck over 3 little girls in american flag costumes, pretty much nobody is going to take your credit any longer.

    But apparently plenty of them will still vote for you.

  77. 77.

    schrodingers_cat

    I only turned on my TV for the first time after the elections this Monday and all I have seen so far are cook shows on Create. Husband cat was trying to watch Whory Woodruff interview TNC on Snooze Hour yesterday, I just couldn’t watch. I had to leave. He changed the channel to something less rage inducing.

  78. 78.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    @Mnemosyne:

    There was an interview with him in Rolling Stone in August and he “joked” that he was gonna write in Tom Hanks. Oh, he’s a died-in-the-wool Republican just of what I like to call the “embarrassed” variety: can’t vote for Trump but would die first before voting for a Dem much less Clinton.

    The DVD-A release (surround) of ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ is sublime.

  84. 84.

    ? Martin

    Federal report: AI could threaten up to 47 percent of jobs in two decades

    Estimates vary for how quickly automation will disrupt the US job market. The report cites two different attempts to predict the rate of automation. Optimistically, researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that many occupations are likely to change as some of their associated tasks become automated but not go away entirely. They estimate that only 9 percent of jobs are at risk in the next decade or two. However a separate analysis by Carl Frey and Michael Osbourne, which asked a panel of experts on AI to classify occupations by how likely automation would be to replace them, found that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk.

    “If these estimates of threatened jobs translate into job displacement, millions of Americans will have their livelihoods significantly altered and potentially face considerable economic challenges in the short- and medium-term,” the report states.

    Both of these studies of jobs at risk due to automation, however, agreed that lower-paying jobs are at the highest risk. The study by Frey and Osbourne, for example, found that 83 percent of jobs paying $20 or less an hour would be pressured by AI, compared to just 4 percent of jobs paying $40 an hour or more. “If labor productivity increases do not translate into wage increases, then the large economic gains brought about by AI could accrue to a select few,” the report says. “Instead of broadly shared prosperity for workers and consumers, this might push towards reduced competition and increased wealth inequality.”

    Just as nobody today wants to walk behind an ox for 60 hours a week, at the time, lots of people were happy to have an ox to walk behind. Same will be true for a lot of these affected jobs. This speaks to a set of major issues policy makers will need to grapple with, and soon:

    1) Greater access to education so that people are qualified for those higher paying jobs
    2) Revisiting whether a 40 hour workweek should be a prerequisite to basic survival. In the same way that the industrial age allowed us the luxury of a 40 hour workweek, the AI revolution may give us the luxury of a 20 hour one, or of lower productivity in other ways (sick leave, vacation, early retirement, etc).
    3) How to handle the transition for affected workers.

    Inevitably, I don’t see how society escapes some form of minimum living wage, paid for by GDP produced by non-humans. The current rightward lurch isn’t going to work. We can’t wind the clock back. It’ll fail, badly, and eventually new ideas will become acceptable.

  87. 87.

    PPCLI

    I notice that Trump’s also hit up Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Elton John and David Foster to perform or (in Foster’s case) find talent. Canadian, Italian, British, Canadian…
    I suppose Deadbeat Donald figured “OK, just get cheap foreign workers when you can’t get Americans to do the job. Always worked in the past!”

  89. 89.

    mai naem mobile

    I would bet money Garth Brooks is a Democrat . He did that We Shall Be Free song when gay marriage was still a big deal.

  90. 90.

    jonas

    @gvg:

    I gather he tends rightward.

    IIRC, Simmons was born in Israel, so I think the pro-Israel stuff has a lot to do with it. I recall that Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Alice Cooper are also right-wingers. Don’t know if they’re Trump supporters, tho.

  94. 94.

    NeenerNeener

    @gvg: I wonder if Deadbeat Donnie ever dated Shannon Tweed, or at least hit on her. That could add a lot to her objections to Gene performing.

  96. 96.

    Captain C

    @zhena gogolia: They really do. My band of librarians got to open once for the Navy concert band, and we stuck around to see them play. They put on an incredible performance.

  98. 98.

    MuckJagger

    @Kelly: Once upon a time, I had a couple conservative friends who walked out of a Prine concert after he played that song.

  100. 100.

    Chris

    If Ted Cruz had been elected President you’d likely see something close to as total a shut out. But Cruz would strap on his Lee Greenwood and love the smell of Hollywood’s contempt in the morning. Not Trump. All reporting suggests that Trump is extremely unhappy about the situation. Which of course makes perfect sense. Depending on how you choose to inflect it – with sympathy or derision – Trump’s movement is based on a rejection of the condescension and arrogance of the cultural elite. And yet no one yearns more achingly for celebrity approval than Trump.

    The thing is, for all the stupid that’s been spilled in digital ink over the last month or two about how “coastal elites” are so disconnected from “flyover country,” Donald Trump is as coastal-elite-born-and-bred as it gets. WAY more so than Obama or either Clinton. It even came out in the primaries a few times, as when he told his more heartlandese peers to go fuck themselves with their perennial sneering at “New York values” (which is one time he’s getting no argument from me).

    Of course he doesn’t want to settle for some country music band. That’s not and never will be his scene. No matter how many country folk may be dumb enough to think so.

  101. 101.

    Major Major Major Major

    I remember when Gene Robinson gave the opening prayer at Obama’s. How we’ve fallen.

    O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

    Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

    Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

    Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

    Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

    Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

    Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

    Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

    And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

    Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

    Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

    Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

    Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

    Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

    Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

    And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

  102. 102.

    lollipopguild

    I cannot wait for Ted Nugent to tell a TV audience to “suck on my machine gun” while playing for Trump.

  104. 104.

    Chris

    @GregB:

    It was conservative canon to support the South African Apartheid regime in the 80’s.
    …
    Years later they were falling over themselves to honor the man they routinely derided as a terrorist, Nelson Mandela.

    Credit where it’s due: Mandela is the only political topic on which I’ve ever heard my wingnut uncle actually say “I was wrong” (that he thought he’d turn out to be a commie bastard but that’s totally not what happened and he was wrong to think it was) instead of trying to bullshit, gaslight, or blame-shift his way through as is his usual wont.

    (Not saying that this was the norm by any means, of course).

  106. 106.

    Feathers

    @rikyrah: In the linked article, Marshall points out that the audience for all entertainments skews very young and Trump support does not. I’m also guessing that the stars might be inclined to, but know they would have trouble finding good people to work for them later.

    That the news industry skews so much older than entertainment is a real problem for the US. I’m going to go with the rise of plastic surgery as one of the things that has doomed our public discourse. So many boomers have just stayed on, keeping the fantasies and values of the Reagan era alive. This is also an issue with the candidates. It means we really aren’t “seeing” how old they are. Europe elects leaders in their late forties to fifties. We should too. The whole slow launch into adulthood hurts as well.

  108. 108.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chris:

    Yep. The white “working class” that voted for Donnie thinks he’s one of them because he’s tacky and hates the same people they do, but he ain’t. He’s the (ahem) billionaire son of a millionaire who has lived in pampered luxury his entire life. I would be surprised if he even knows how to drive since he’s always had people to take him everywhere, so he ain’t gonna be wearing a t-shirt and driving a pickup truck no matter how much the rubes want him to.

  109. 109.

    Mnemosyne

    @schrodingers_cat:

    I’m going to Disneyland that day. No pesky inauguration coverage for me.

    (We had planned for that date even before the election, but it’s a relief to know I won’t have to deal with any of the bullshit inside my family-friendly bubble.)

  114. 114.

    NotMax

    Holograms of famous acts.

    Then a blanket presidential pardon to all involved in producing the show to allay lawsuits.

    Yeah, that’s the ticket.

  116. 116.

    Chip Daniels

    I bet he could get Chris Christie to lip sync Springsteen tunes.

    Hell, I would watch that.
    It’d be like some kind of cringe-inducing Ricky Gervais routine of humiliation.

  118. 118.

    Mike G

    @Gin & Tonic:

    In further fairness, the military band members are very highly-qualified musicians.

    A relative of mine was in the Marines band. He played in a college marching band then a recruiter approached him and he signed up. They do regular basic training; none have ever been killed in combat but they occasionally get posted for stuff like guard duty when needed. He said it was pretty tedious, practicing every day and playing a limited set of tunes, mostly the same stuff over and over at grad ceremonies. A lot of their public performances were cancelled during the sequester budget cutbacks.

  119. 119.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Mnemosyne:

    I would be surprised if he even knows how to drive since he’s always had people to take him everywhere

    Damn, I bet that’s true, and it would have been the basis for a funny ad.

  122. 122.

    glory b

    @ Martin: I fall inot the “old” category, and I remember seeing movies at school praising the idea of automation, and telling us that we could have the same wages while working 20 hours or less per week.

    The producers of those movies never envisioned how the wealthy would hijack the gains based on increased productivity. Of course, this was in the 60’s in Pittsburgh, and the idea that unions wouldn’t be as strong in the future as they were then. That ws unthinkable.

    Now that I think of it, what happened to the tradition of the labor priests in the Catholic Church? I never heard the word abortion ever mentioned, and my brothers went to Catholic Schools from K-12.

    Monsignor Charles Owen Rice was only interested in labor/union rights and civil rights and he was a force to be reckoned with in Pittsburgh.

  123. 123.

    James Powell

    @Feathers:

    Europe elects leaders in their late forties to fifties. We should too.

    Back in college I took a course on the People’s Republic of China, the professor explained how guys in their 60s were regarded as “young upstarts” by the ruling elites.

  124. 124.

    ? Martin

    @Chris:

    Donald Trump is as coastal-elite-born-and-bred as it gets.

    Nah. He’s from Queens, not Manhattan. Within the NY social caste system that puts him about on par with Des Moines or Omaha. (Staten Island would be Cleveland. And yes, I know Des Moines and Omaha have pretty nice liberal communities.) At the same time, he has the expected Wall Street lack of ethics and projection of faithlessness which I think is what a lot of people actually define liberal coastal elite to be, rather than cultural snobbishness.

    He’s what you get when a stereotypical Jiffy Lube manager hits the lotto – lots of projections of culture with no real sense of it. Bucket of KFC on the gold private jet.

    Clinton and Obama don’t fit coastal elite either, even if they do match a few more of the characteristics. Romney is closer than any of them. Kerry beats them all.

  126. 126.

    James Powell

    @Doug R:

    At least we’ve still got Marshall Mathers and Madonna Louise Ciccone.

    You’ve got Motown, which is more than almost anyone else has. But let’s not forget Iggy.

  127. 127.

    Mnemosyne

    @glory b:

    Now that I think of it, what happened to the tradition of the labor priests in the Catholic Church?

    They got chased out by JPII. Too communist.

  129. 129.

    Mnemosyne

    @? Martin:

    A lot of people have gotten into a financial bind where the only way they can pay their bills is by working overtime. That would easily be fixed by raising salaries, but the very idea would cause a panic for a fair number of working class and middle class workers.

  130. 130.

    ? Martin

    @glory b: Well, as has been said, “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.”

    Automation has improved a lot of things for a lot of people. But there’s also a lot of people really getting screwed over by it. It’s tempting to judge these things by who wins and ignore those who lose. What they didn’t seem to account for decades ago is that so much of how the US works is based on the idea that there is a direct correlation between labor and GDP. That any benefit to GDP must come with a corresponding benefit to labor – either more jobs or better wages. That correlation began to break in the 70s. That was pre-Reagan, and while his policies certainly made the problem worse, it was automation that allowed productivity to grow independently of wages. That giant triangle between the real wage line and the real GDP per capita in the graph under B is largely automation in one form or another – from spreadsheets and word processors and the internet to robots and AI. That’s potential taxation that didn’t go to social security, or to medicare, or to pensions, or college loans or anything else. That productivity was pocketed by investors and not only taxed at a lower rate but also taxed such that it doesn’t flow into the kinds of programs that benefit labor. Good for building the military, bad for meeting Medicare obligations. That triangle will need to be reckoned with eventually, and the solutions needed to do so ever more radical the longer we ignore it.

  131. 131.

    James Powell

    @? Martin:

    Staten Island would be Cleveland.

    Have to defend my beloved home town. Staten Island went like 57% for Trump. Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County voted 65% for Hillary. The two places are not at all alike.

  132. 132.

    Original Lee

    @Gin & Tonic: You do have to do Basic Training, and there are physical requirements you have to continue to meet, but otherwise you are correct that they don’t do much drill. (I know a fair number of current and former musicians in the military bands, including the President’s Own.)

  134. 134.

    Chris

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

    By sharp contrast, I remember watching the sermon of some African fundiegelical preacher who was invited to Sarah Palin’s church and led a prayer circle around her when she was still running for VP. It was just long litany of “I want”s. Dear Jesus, please give Sarah Palin the White House. Dear Jesus, please give Sarah Palin protection from the big meanies who don’t like her. Dear Jesus, please give Sarah Palin the legislation she’ll push for. Yak, yak, yak. Not once did they stop to go “dear Jesus, please give Sarah Palin some guidance and wisdom, so she knows whether she should be doing this or something in the first place,” etc.

    And I remember thinking it was just such a perfect embodiment of her branch of Christianity. Zero humility, zero self-awareness, and no deeper concept of religion than a child listing the things he wants for Christmas. They’re the Elect, gosh darn it, and they’re the best and the prettiest and the bigliest and God’s there to back them up because why wouldn’t he? They’re just so doggone wholesome.

  135. 135.

    Chris

    @? Martin:

    There’s someone who beats Romney?

    ETA: okay, @FlipYrWhig: yes. The Bush dynasty beats pretty much everyone when it comes to Coastal Elite status. Possibly even the Roosevelts and Rockefellers, being of actual English WASP heritage rather than being Dutch or German. Certainly beats the Irish-Catholic Kennedys.

  136. 136.

    randy khan

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Absolutely – they’re top notch.

    Interestingly, while the “President’s Own” Marine Band bypasses the usual Marine basic training, the other Marine bands do not (and the Marines’ FAQ is quite specific on this point). I don’t know about the other services.

  137. 137.

    glory b

    @mai naem mobile: Yes, I heard a long interesting interview with him on On Point on npr (yeah, I know, but I only listen to it, Fresh Air and the Commonwealth Club). He and his wife definitely lean left.

  138. 138.

    glory b

    @ Martin: Yep. Although I was in primary grades at the time, it seemed they were projecting the correlation between labor and GDP to continue as it had in the past. By now, we were going to have incredible amounts of leisure time to pursue our interests and talents and to perform good deeds around the world.

  139. 139.

    randy khan

    @James Powell:

    Yeah. My wife used to live in Staten Island (she moved there for a job). It’s not Cleveland – it’s more like, oh, the middle of Iowa, politically. It’s probably the one borough of New York that thought that Pope Benedict wasn’t strict enough (and it’s very Catholic).

  140. 140.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    If I was in a military band, and was ordered to appear at Donald’s Inaugural Ball, I would appear as ordered, and sound like I was drunk on moon-shine. If I was in a college choir, there would be high falsetto notes that would break glass.

    There is nothing anyone could do that would induce me to perform for Trump at any level that would please anyone listening.

    Must have been that flu/strep/food poisoning that caused that poor performance!

    And I doubt that there will be the kind of White House evening music programs that were on PBS during the Obama terms. Astounding creative music by every type of musician, gratefully and enthusiastically received by President and Ms Obama, and their guests.

    Perhaps Russian Army Chorus could be invited? They’re pretty good, but in Russian.

  141. 141.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    No training in how to kill! I’m shocked, but…

    This is true. From the web site of the “President’s Own” Marine Band”

    Following selection and successful completion of a physical examination, musicians enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps under a four-year contract “for duty with the U.S. Marine Band only,” guaranteeing exclusive assignment to “The President’s Own.” Members do not undergo recruit training but report directly to Marine Barracks Washington in Washington, D.C., to begin their duties. On-site training in necessary military subjects is provided in a structured program to help new members transition from civilian to active duty military life. Upon enlistment, members are immediately appointed to the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6), which allows the band to offer salaries commensurate with comparable civilian organizations.

    I thought ALL Marines were Marines first, but I guess not so anymore.

  142. 142.

    maurinsky

    @Damien:

    Your post reminded me that Trump is like the rotting pumpkin version of the cowardly Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride, a coward through and through. To the pain!

  145. 145.

    Raoul

    It’s not at all important in the scheme of things

    Actually, I’d argue that it is. The reason the right freaked out about Hamilton is that artists are part of elite life in D.C. Presidents host evenings of all sorts of musicians and performers in the W.H., and it’s part of what helps link folks like Obama (or even dorko Dubya) to mass culture consumers across the country.

    Having most of the arts community turn their backs on the Rump admin and family sends a message of resistance and refusal to normalize. That matters, certainly to me.

    If it also makes the fragile ferret-topped blowhard sad, that’s bonus points!

  147. 147.

    laura

    @Cacti: there’s no fucking way GnR would play a Trump event.
    My brothers are GnR roadies and the younger works for Axl.
    Little brother got to tell Trump to fuck off to his face twice, 10 years apart. The 1st time was in Branson at a miss world competition in which Cheeto Jesus and three goons insisted on entering the dressing room of a then underage Christina Aguilera. Tom said he remembers it as if it were yesterday. Threatened to call the cops if they didn’t get away from the trailer.
    2nd time at Madison Square Garden. Trump and Marla wanted to come meet Axl in his dressing room. After informing Axl who said fuck no, Tom relayed the message to his stupid face, and then grabbed Carol King who was Trump-ajacent and pulled her in and much love and affection ensued.
    The boys in the band and their crew ain’t gonna play Sun City.

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