Show Biz

 A long time ago, Steve Martin suggested that the banjo could have saved Richard Nixon. He suggested that when he got off Air Force One, he could simply say, "I'd like to talk about politics, but first a little Foggy Mountain Breakdown!"

It could be that somewhere in the haze of The Orange One's delirium last weekend this was the seed that grew into the half-hour dance party where the convicted felon and blithering ninny hosted rally goers who were told they were attending a "town hall meeting." After a couple of softball questions, the host and former game show host suggested, “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?” The sound crew took their cue and played a forty minute playlist that included James Brown’s It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World, the Village People’s YMCA, Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O’Connor, and Luciano Pavarotti’s rendition of Ave Maria. 

Ostensibly, the change was made because two attendees at the Pennsylvania rally had fainted, causing concern. Of course, what better way to show concern for your fellow MAGAt than to crank up the tunes? 

This odd debacle took place just a couple of days after the twice-impeached former "president" had stranded hundreds of his followers in the desert near the Coachella concert site. He provided more than twenty buses to get his fans out to the Southern California rally, but when it was time to leave, reports from those left standing out in the dark without water, food or bathroom facilities were left with just one or two busses to ferry the crowd back to the parking lot. Six miles away. Suddenly, Woodstock seemed like a really well-planned event. That was three days of peace and love, after all, not the sort of experience for which MAGAts line up. 

Rumors swirl as to why all of this chaos was meted out to the fans of this "very stable genius": a man with a gun was arrested near Coachella, the bus company in California was not paid, the star of the show was ill-prepared for any sort of back and forth question and answer session, and people were fainting, and the guy is seventy-eight years old.

If only there was a banjo.