Pop Culture Recoils As Trumps Take Over
The First Family flexes its Hollywood-friendly muscles. Outrage ensues
President Barack Obama owned pop culture, sometimes literally.
Remember how many stars pledged their allegiance to Obama during his first term?
In return, President Obama acted like all of pop culture had his back, and he had a point.
He slow jammed the news, shared his March Madness polls on every available TV outlet and even hawked his deeply flawed health care overhaul on “Between Two Ferns.” When he left office Obama signed up with Netflix to continue his pop culture mastery.
Enter the Trumps.
Not only is President Donald Trump a TV and film veteran, he’s adept at working pop culture to his advantage. Consider his use of social media memes, leveraging Twitter to get his messages across and his 2015 “Saturday Night Light” hosting gig.
Hollywood officially cast him out once he took the oath of office, but he continues to find ways around the usual gatekeepers.
And it makes them furious.
Just ask Lilly Wachowski. The co-director of “The Matrix,” a hibernating franchise set to rise again in 2021, slammed both Ivanka Trump and Elon Musk on Twitter over the weekend.
Their crimes? Musk continues to pummel California for its extreme lockdown measures and anti-business bent. The billionaire sent out the mysterious tweet, “Take the red pill,” tied to “The Matrix.” The phrase refers to people who see beyond the reality posed by the film’s nefarious power brokers.
In recent years, conservatives have rallied behind the phrase to indicate the moment when a liberal finally sees the light. They even made an entire podcast about it.
Naturally, the First Daughter chimed in on social media, Tweeting back to Musk that she’s already taken said pill. Wachowski’s reaction? Pure profanity.
“F*** both of you,” she tweeted.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s tongue and cheek tweak on a classic moment from “Independence Day” drew the ire of the film’s key actor. Bill Pullman played the feisty Commander in Chief from that 1996 blockbuster. Pullman’s president led the earth’s resistance against the alien invasion.
For what it’s worth, the president’s Tweet earned nearly 82K retweets and close to 260 “hearts,” as of May 18. Pullman kept his response to Trump’s video clean, but it’s clear he wasn’t happy about.
“My voice belongs to no one but me, and I’m not running for president — this year,” Pullman told The Hollywood Reporter.
Pullman’s response generated news stories from The Hill, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly and more. The reporters bandied about provocative terms like “heavily altered” and “doctored” in the process, as if some were duped into thinking the clip was real.
CNET.com dubbed the clip a “deepfake,” referring to a sophisticated process that tricks viewers into thinking the clip is genuine. Imagine anyone seeing the Trump speech and thinking it’s real.
Why give the throwaway video such extensive coverage, not to mention the sober descriptions? Those outlets, much like Wachowski and Pullman, don’t want the Trumps to encroach on pop culture turf.
Too late.
It’s similar to how many musicians shriek like vampires chomping garlic when a Republican embraces their music. Conservatives aren’t allowed to usurp pop culture moments. That’s not their land, their property. It’s meant for Democrats to till over and again.
The days of Richard Nixon croaking, “sock it to me!” on “Laugh-In” are long gone.
It’s why Late Night TV features a non-stop parade of Democratic politicians, feted and thrown softballs from start to finish.
When was the last time Sen. Ted Cruz, a smart, pop culture savvy pol, graced a late night stage? He’d be a great guest, no doubt. He’s self-effacing, intellectually quick and surprisingly funny.
Imagine Cruz reading some of the incredibly mean Tweets he receives on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
That’s all you can do, since Team Kimmel would never imagine inviting him back on the show now.
“He tweeted.”
??
The culture war, like every other war, is all about controlling territory. Hollywood ideologues don’t care that Terminator Dark Fate, Charlie’s Angels, Ghostbusters 2016 etc. bombed or that Star Wars is driving fans away in droves, because turning those franchises woke was their real objective. They don’t care about making money, they care about occupying that cultural territory. Trump comes from the culture and understands the importance of not letting the left dominate it. That’s why it drives them apoplectic when he uses it against them.
Who cares what the Leftist clowns say? Bat guano is literally more useful to society than Pullman…De iro…or any other “Hollywood” celebrity!
Hollyweird….yawn…are they still around ???
Hollywierd is sooo yesterday. I haven’t watched a movie in years, and don’t miss that garbage in the least.
If not for lying, cheating, and hypocrisy, Democrats wouldn’t have an agenda!
Remember to never vote for a Democrat, NEVER! Your freedom and opportunity for prosperity depends on that pledge!
Wachowski is a man. Maybe a surgically mutilated man, but a man.
Pullman? Really?! Feisty?!?! His lines and acting in that movie were just short of ridiculous and not even noteworthy. He played a brooding, limp-wristed simp of a President who had to constantly remind people that he was a fighter pilot. Sorry, dude. ALL the fighter pilots I know are ice-cold, balls-to-the-wall, hyper-masculine Chads that know they’re flying a multi-million dollar instrument of death into areas where angels fear to tread. I laughed out loud every time someone asked him for a decision or looked to him for leadership, trying to look like he was palpably weighed down by the gravity of the situation. Then, somehow, he gets his poop in a group, pulls a 180 and becomes the inspiration for an attack to save humanity from extinction… Bruh. Soooo many other actors could have pulled that off, yet you brought in Pullman… His response to Trump’s parody of him alone shows that even the least talented among Hollywood Deadites feel they’re entitled to respect that they didn’t earn. And don’t even get me started on the Watchowski Bros. Just STFU and be glad that we even reference any of your ideas. The Matrix Trilogy was hardcore mind-blow, but that doesn’t elevate you to God Mode. Pull the panties out of the crack of your @$$ and go back to sleep! I hope the conservatives in Hollywood get a warning from God before He sends The Big One. ‘Nuff said.
And tell Vivica to stay out of politics and on that pole… Idiot.
Hollywood is an active enemy of the United States. Of course they loathe anyone who loves the country.
I used to like Pullman. I didn’t know he was a creep SOB liberal communist socialist weirdo Hollywood pussy.
poor pu$$y hollyweirdos boo fking hoo
Give Pullman’s president credit–he overcame his extreme reluctance to push back against the aliens when he realized he had no choice.
cuomo is a socialist piece of scht. he forced homes for the elderly to take covid pationts and is responsible for the deaths of thousands…..he needs to be arrested, tried and executed. NOW.
Our morally depraved pop culture does not deserve any respect!!! Not a coincidence their idols (Clinton & Obummer) are are of the same ilk!!
Follywood and Demwit party are like moron twins. Demwits have no platform except hate Trump, AGAIN. Sure worked last time, right? It’s like sitting in a corner and slapping their own faces over and over; banging their heads against the wall year after year. It’s all they’ve got.
Hollywood has made themselves irreverent by their own hand. the studio’s should be raised and rebuilt as low income housing.