Celebrities in Politics

By ROB PATTERSON

When I first started writing this column somewhere around two decades ago, its general thrust was to write about entertainment from a political perspective. My how things have changed. Nowadays, politics is entertainment.

We have a reality TV star as president. His family, cabinet members and staff sometimes act like movie and rock stars. And not like statesmen or dignitaries; statecraft and dignity is indeed in short supply. Same can be said of too many members of Congress, plus state and local politicians, officeholders and officials.

It’s an infection with a disease called fame. Almost always, little if any good can come of it.

The flipside of politicians thinking of themselves as stars is entertainers thinking of themselves as politicians as stars. This part of the infection took root when Ronald Reagan became, first, governor of Calfornia, and then president. With the – as I like to put it – not election but “electoralization” of Trump to the presidency (Hillary Clinton did win the actual vote by a substantial margin), this has become a mania. One I would dearly love to see end.

Much as I may actually like what Sex and The City star Cynthia Nixon may seem to believe and has to say politically, to me it’s absurd that she ran to become governor of New York. I have a fondness for Oprah but don’t want her to run for president. And these are just a few examples of celebrities being touted as possible candidates.

If a Kardashian expresses political ambitions, it just might make me feel suicidal. (Not to worry, dear reader, I’m a survivor who keeps trudging on.)

The 24-hour televised news cycle on CNN and MSNBC and the Fox propaganda channel has been a contributing factor to this madness. Have always thought C-SPAN was a good idea that made legislative activities more open and accessible. But given how this disease has spread, I now wonder.

(Note that I avoid TV news not like it’s a plague but because of the plague. I try my damnedest to avoid seeing and even more so hearing Trump talk. The sound of his voice makes my skin crawl.)

Late night TV talk shows are ever more political. And then there’s such shows as Real Time, The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight that I enjoyed in the past I now studiously avoid. Much as I want and enjoy comic relief, things are so dire in the Trump era I just won’t risk how such shows, even with the laughs, may depress me.

But I will confess that in a way politics is my entertainment. Every morning I get up and surf through a number of news sites.

Among those I know on Facebook – largely left-leaners make up my 2200-plus friends – posts on the horrors of Trump and Trumpism are the most common by a long shot. In a way I’m gladdened that the people I know are so dismayed and disgusted. But I also recall how little response I got when I started posting about Trump’s derangement, corruption and dangers as soon as he announced his presidential run. Today I wish so much for a Facebook diet of the cute kitty pics and what people had for lunch that I used to decry while hoping for posts with more substance on the social media site.

Regular readers might have noticed that streaming TV frequently provides subjects for my columns and picks here. That’s in part a result of my need for escapism from the horrors of today’s politics.

I will keep wishing for politics to grow less entertaining if not downright mundane. We all could use a break right now.

Populist Picks

Music: Downey to Lubbock by Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore – The album title spotlights the seeming distance in respective origins between this two esteemed roots singer-songwiters: Sunny Southern California vs. the dusty West Texas Panhandle. But what may seem an unlikely pairing – especially in voices, Alvin’s is low and dusky like swampwater, Gilmore’s soars high on breezes like a hawk – works wonderfully on one of 2018’s finest Americana albums. They tackle material that ranges from the 1969 Youngbloods hit “Get Togther” (sounding ever more relevant) to classic roots and blues to more contemporary singer-songwriter material, but it all coheres wonderfully while the contrast between the two artists gives the disc a bracking kick.

TV special: Jim Jefferies: This Is Me Now – I’ve become quite fond of the Australian standup comic/actor/commentator’s hu-mor. Like me, he has little tolerance for stupidity and propriety, and calls ‘em quite bluntly as he sees ‘em. Over time he’s become a wee bit gentler and less obviously tipsy in his comedy specials, but in his latest he still gins up common sense outrage and nice laughs over life’s inanities.

Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email orca@prismnet.com.

From The Progressive Populist, December 1, 2018

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