It’s the Friday afternoon before the election and I’m watching the pregame YouTube feed for Trump’s Friday evening rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The crowd, in t-shirts, and baseball caps, face an empty podium. The camera scans the crowd: most are in their early twenties, all are white, and from what I can gather via the YouTube feed from “Right Side Broadcasting,” there is one woman for about every thirty men. If Bill Clinton became known as the "first Black President" during his 1992 campaign, the look of this crowd could make one think that Donald Trump may be aiming to be the "last White President." I'm not trying to escalate racial tension in this observation, but the crowd does not appear to be in the least bit diverse. As Trump leveraged his celebrity into a Presidential bid, his campaign featured not just Duck Dynasty stars but a handful of conservative pundits and apologists. To what extent has the Trump campaign relied on the nefarious demographic "the silent majority"? Is this a central Pennsylvania fluke, or a larger, rural America Trump-supportin' trend?
I'm watching this through some network I've never heard of; they appear armed with at least a tripod and decent lens, and have sense enough to pump mp3 music over top of the crowd shots, instead of making their YouTube audience listen to the din of the pre-rally babble. When the dust settles as the country rolls on toward the holiday season, there won't be much media left standing. The extent to which the media pandered to the Trump campaign during the early season of this election-- in the name of ratings, as the candidate himself alleged from the stage of a GOP debate-- is its own national shame. Regardless of who wins, the extent of the collusion between the information and the information-getters in the coming years will be unfathomable, unknowable. Remember when Obama promised to be the most transparent administration ever-- and across eight years, we only saw the dwindling role of the White House press corps, the unanswered questions, in which information may or may not have been available-- then, or ever. Will Trump TV be launched while he’s President-elect? Is an American President allowed to operate their own (non-)cable news network? And who in that crowd of thousands, waiting to hear their candidate speak in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is ready for their own program on that network, and become at the very least the next Brett Baier?
The Trump campaign has not eased racial tensions in this country. I believe, through campaign rhetoric and vapid, repeated statements, the work of Donald Trump in his run for the Presidency has not only fanned the flames of existing fires of racial tension, but set ablaze conflicts new and old. A good friend emails two articles: a gut-wrenching tale of skinheads and Nazi salutes in Wal-Mart parking lots (‘My Time Inside the Alt-Right’), and the Newsweek story on Russia’s support for Trump-- including their offering of an explanation as to how the United States Presidential candidate and the foreign power have been playing on the same side. Regardless of who wins the election-- or if there was an election at all-- this country’s relationship with Russia will continue to teeter on the edge of madness.
Trump’s anti-immigration policies, if his contradictions and poorly-explained arguments do qualify as policies, could create the largest catastrophe in the history of the soverign United States-- not because of The Wall, but the hysteria that will come before The Wall. Pennsylvania-- Virginia-- Colorado-- these rural-with-urban-center states are now becoming recognized, if one is to believe the polling, as ‘swing’ states, in which Trump may actually carry a majority of the popular vote. A church in Mississippi burned this week; “Vote Trump” was spray-painted across the brick wall, below the now-burned-out windows. A local CBS affiliate reports on the Kickstarter campaign, having raised $170,000-- far more than the $10,000 the congregation sought. During this Presidential election, Trump has proven to be a bigot, a sexist, and to be resoundingly unfit for the office. He is a danger, but he is being identified as an individual danger. I think it is important to realize the momentum he has delivered to a variety of hate speech groups, and the extent to which he has challenged others to find the courage to ‘look aside’ his horrific treatment of women, let alone his complete lack of experience in government. I believe his election is a danger to this country and a threat to our domestic and international peace. I do not understand-- despite having followed events closely-- how Trump came to power, and took control of the party of Boehner, Cheney, Rove, Nordquist, Bush. Either the GOP is failing at its purpose-- to nominate a vetted and electable candidate-- or they are throwing the game for the other team, intentionally. Perhaps four years of continued obstructionism in a divided Congress would actually be the most profitable outcome for the military-industrial-intel complex: under President Clinton, the Obama legacy of selective and secretive foreign intervention may likely continue. Under President Trump-- an international businessman and maniacal sociopath-- all bets are off.
###
I woke up around dawn; the sun was an orange streak in the distant sky. I had been glad when the phone had rung the night before, giving me an easy way out of finishing the grim screed on race relations and the Presidential election. I watched the sunrise; I wanted to be more hopeful. Could Presidents Clinton or Trump invite a national calm, or is the bitterest fight yet to be had? I went outside. The air is getting noticeably colder. The wind howled. The sun rose. The steam from my first cup of coffee seemed to rise more quickly into the crisp air that it had on other mornings. After the day was lit I stood naked in the kitchen looking at the news on my phone: Melania Trump’s appearance in Main Line, Pennsylvania-- coverage provided by the Delaware County Daily Times, but appeared to be a wire story-- two police sargents were horrifically ambushed and attacked in the Bronx; some alleging that FoxNews appeared to have gone silent on the story, once the perpetrator was identified as an outspoken Trump supporter-- the continued standoff in North Dakota at Standing Rock-- the terrible aftermath of a pipeline explosion in Pennsylvania, and the continued debate about a similar pipeline, to be installed directly through my hometown. The wind whipped as the sun went higher; by mid-morning, the wind stayed strong but the day was warming. And then I found the news article that made my day.
Dave Chappelle, one of the 21st century’s first and greatest satirists, had used his Friday night as an opportunity to escalate his re-emergence from obscurity. His Comedy Central program, The Chappelle Show, had become legendary satire on race, gender, and class, but was now dated and out of print; he was, for a brief time, one of the foremost comedians of my generation (perhaps one of the Chappelle Show’s finest moments came in his mock-Nightline segment on a blind, black white supremacist leader and author). Chappelle’s ability to make people-- all segments-- laugh at themselves, and not at others, is the mark of a true comedian. It is a gift George Carlin had, and at times, Howard Stern, but Dave Chappelle may be the person to save us from ourselves during the next Presidential administration. Chappelle has remained principled: he took immense heat for his dropping out of comedy after his tussle with Comedy Central, and it is reassuring not only to know that he is again willing to satirize the political and social mess we face, but that he’s still welcome in the public eye (and not just mine). His falling out with Comedy Central is part of his legend, and might now stand as a credit to his name: in short, he walked away from a dump truck full of money, over control and autonomy of his program.
Chappelle has spent time in 2016 slowly easing back into performance and stand-up, through a series of small-room gigs in NYC. Last night, from the stage of the Cutting Room in New York City, Chappelle turned violently political, gaining the attention of Trump’s son-in-law’s publication, The Observer. While their coverage characterized Chappelle’s set as a tirade against Hillary Clinton, Dave’s keen context for Hillary’s behavior can’t be overlooked. “She’s going to be on a coin someday,” The Observer quoted Chappelle as saying. “And her behavior has not been coin-worthy. She’s not right and we all know she’s not right.” Chappelle also addressed Trump, and not harshly, but rather remarking on his tenacity in weathering the 'grab-her-by-the' interview, which he characterized as being wholly the work of the Clinton campaign. While I’m hesitant to trust The Observer’s contextualization for Chappelle’s onstage comments, given the publication’s obvious bias (while Chappelle made an obviously-funny sexual reference in talking about voting for Hillary, the article implies he did), I trust their quotes from the re-emerging comedian, to an extent that can recognize perhaps our greatest ‘new’ voice towards restoring the Peace and Calm in this country, one that has not been heard from in a very long time. I want to hear his best joke about Hillary's "server"; I want to hear his best joke about Trump (whatever that may be). The sketches on the scant few seasons of the Chappelle Show were incredibly volitile and usually brilliant, challenging any and all definitions of identity, class, and gender.
One example of Chappelle's modern wit came last night as he talked about Anderson Cooper and Martha Radditz’s questioning of Trump during one of the Presidential debates. This fragment was provided inside of the Observer's article, but I am left wishing I had been there, to hear Chappelle in full for myself:
I'm watching this through some network I've never heard of; they appear armed with at least a tripod and decent lens, and have sense enough to pump mp3 music over top of the crowd shots, instead of making their YouTube audience listen to the din of the pre-rally babble. When the dust settles as the country rolls on toward the holiday season, there won't be much media left standing. The extent to which the media pandered to the Trump campaign during the early season of this election-- in the name of ratings, as the candidate himself alleged from the stage of a GOP debate-- is its own national shame. Regardless of who wins, the extent of the collusion between the information and the information-getters in the coming years will be unfathomable, unknowable. Remember when Obama promised to be the most transparent administration ever-- and across eight years, we only saw the dwindling role of the White House press corps, the unanswered questions, in which information may or may not have been available-- then, or ever. Will Trump TV be launched while he’s President-elect? Is an American President allowed to operate their own (non-)cable news network? And who in that crowd of thousands, waiting to hear their candidate speak in Hershey, Pennsylvania, is ready for their own program on that network, and become at the very least the next Brett Baier?
The Trump campaign has not eased racial tensions in this country. I believe, through campaign rhetoric and vapid, repeated statements, the work of Donald Trump in his run for the Presidency has not only fanned the flames of existing fires of racial tension, but set ablaze conflicts new and old. A good friend emails two articles: a gut-wrenching tale of skinheads and Nazi salutes in Wal-Mart parking lots (‘My Time Inside the Alt-Right’), and the Newsweek story on Russia’s support for Trump-- including their offering of an explanation as to how the United States Presidential candidate and the foreign power have been playing on the same side. Regardless of who wins the election-- or if there was an election at all-- this country’s relationship with Russia will continue to teeter on the edge of madness.
Trump’s anti-immigration policies, if his contradictions and poorly-explained arguments do qualify as policies, could create the largest catastrophe in the history of the soverign United States-- not because of The Wall, but the hysteria that will come before The Wall. Pennsylvania-- Virginia-- Colorado-- these rural-with-urban-center states are now becoming recognized, if one is to believe the polling, as ‘swing’ states, in which Trump may actually carry a majority of the popular vote. A church in Mississippi burned this week; “Vote Trump” was spray-painted across the brick wall, below the now-burned-out windows. A local CBS affiliate reports on the Kickstarter campaign, having raised $170,000-- far more than the $10,000 the congregation sought. During this Presidential election, Trump has proven to be a bigot, a sexist, and to be resoundingly unfit for the office. He is a danger, but he is being identified as an individual danger. I think it is important to realize the momentum he has delivered to a variety of hate speech groups, and the extent to which he has challenged others to find the courage to ‘look aside’ his horrific treatment of women, let alone his complete lack of experience in government. I believe his election is a danger to this country and a threat to our domestic and international peace. I do not understand-- despite having followed events closely-- how Trump came to power, and took control of the party of Boehner, Cheney, Rove, Nordquist, Bush. Either the GOP is failing at its purpose-- to nominate a vetted and electable candidate-- or they are throwing the game for the other team, intentionally. Perhaps four years of continued obstructionism in a divided Congress would actually be the most profitable outcome for the military-industrial-intel complex: under President Clinton, the Obama legacy of selective and secretive foreign intervention may likely continue. Under President Trump-- an international businessman and maniacal sociopath-- all bets are off.
###
I woke up around dawn; the sun was an orange streak in the distant sky. I had been glad when the phone had rung the night before, giving me an easy way out of finishing the grim screed on race relations and the Presidential election. I watched the sunrise; I wanted to be more hopeful. Could Presidents Clinton or Trump invite a national calm, or is the bitterest fight yet to be had? I went outside. The air is getting noticeably colder. The wind howled. The sun rose. The steam from my first cup of coffee seemed to rise more quickly into the crisp air that it had on other mornings. After the day was lit I stood naked in the kitchen looking at the news on my phone: Melania Trump’s appearance in Main Line, Pennsylvania-- coverage provided by the Delaware County Daily Times, but appeared to be a wire story-- two police sargents were horrifically ambushed and attacked in the Bronx; some alleging that FoxNews appeared to have gone silent on the story, once the perpetrator was identified as an outspoken Trump supporter-- the continued standoff in North Dakota at Standing Rock-- the terrible aftermath of a pipeline explosion in Pennsylvania, and the continued debate about a similar pipeline, to be installed directly through my hometown. The wind whipped as the sun went higher; by mid-morning, the wind stayed strong but the day was warming. And then I found the news article that made my day.
Dave Chappelle, one of the 21st century’s first and greatest satirists, had used his Friday night as an opportunity to escalate his re-emergence from obscurity. His Comedy Central program, The Chappelle Show, had become legendary satire on race, gender, and class, but was now dated and out of print; he was, for a brief time, one of the foremost comedians of my generation (perhaps one of the Chappelle Show’s finest moments came in his mock-Nightline segment on a blind, black white supremacist leader and author). Chappelle’s ability to make people-- all segments-- laugh at themselves, and not at others, is the mark of a true comedian. It is a gift George Carlin had, and at times, Howard Stern, but Dave Chappelle may be the person to save us from ourselves during the next Presidential administration. Chappelle has remained principled: he took immense heat for his dropping out of comedy after his tussle with Comedy Central, and it is reassuring not only to know that he is again willing to satirize the political and social mess we face, but that he’s still welcome in the public eye (and not just mine). His falling out with Comedy Central is part of his legend, and might now stand as a credit to his name: in short, he walked away from a dump truck full of money, over control and autonomy of his program.
Chappelle has spent time in 2016 slowly easing back into performance and stand-up, through a series of small-room gigs in NYC. Last night, from the stage of the Cutting Room in New York City, Chappelle turned violently political, gaining the attention of Trump’s son-in-law’s publication, The Observer. While their coverage characterized Chappelle’s set as a tirade against Hillary Clinton, Dave’s keen context for Hillary’s behavior can’t be overlooked. “She’s going to be on a coin someday,” The Observer quoted Chappelle as saying. “And her behavior has not been coin-worthy. She’s not right and we all know she’s not right.” Chappelle also addressed Trump, and not harshly, but rather remarking on his tenacity in weathering the 'grab-her-by-the' interview, which he characterized as being wholly the work of the Clinton campaign. While I’m hesitant to trust The Observer’s contextualization for Chappelle’s onstage comments, given the publication’s obvious bias (while Chappelle made an obviously-funny sexual reference in talking about voting for Hillary, the article implies he did), I trust their quotes from the re-emerging comedian, to an extent that can recognize perhaps our greatest ‘new’ voice towards restoring the Peace and Calm in this country, one that has not been heard from in a very long time. I want to hear his best joke about Hillary's "server"; I want to hear his best joke about Trump (whatever that may be). The sketches on the scant few seasons of the Chappelle Show were incredibly volitile and usually brilliant, challenging any and all definitions of identity, class, and gender.
One example of Chappelle's modern wit came last night as he talked about Anderson Cooper and Martha Radditz’s questioning of Trump during one of the Presidential debates. This fragment was provided inside of the Observer's article, but I am left wishing I had been there, to hear Chappelle in full for myself:
Something about this was backward. A gay white man and a white woman asking a multi-billionaire how he knows the system is rigged and insisting it’s not. Does that sound right to you? It didn’t seem right to me. And here’s how you know Trump is the most gangsta candidate ever. They asked him how he knows the system is rigged and he said, ‘Because I take advantage of it.’ He may as well have flashed his membership card for the Illuminati right then.
Where ever Dave Chappelle has been during his absent years (with his family and children), he has not been living in a vacuum-- I don't think anyone as smart as Chappelle could ever keep away from the news, the culture, and his status as an important voice, no matter how much he chooses to say. Therefore he is more than relevant; in this age of celebrity, Chappelle appears poised to be as revolutionary as Stephen Colbert became when he graduated from being a mere Daily Show correspondent to hosting his own program. Chappelle mentioned at the Cutting Room that he attended a private gala to celebrate the close of the Obama years, alongside celebs like Usher, Sonia Sotomayor, Donna Brazile, and others. One can imagine Dave's conversations about the future with the elite DC crowd: he has always been an outsider, too parodical and punchy for the mainstream to have ever fully accepted him. But absence has made the heart grow fonder, especially as other comedians fail to provide much more than a solitary charactacture, let alone tackle issues of race, politics, and language, head on, Lenny Bruce style. But as Chappellle rubbed elbows in DC I'm sure he mentioned his upcoming appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live, on the pivotal weekend following the election. As a country, we will be seeking reunification, and no less than a few laughs, and I am glad Dave Chappelle is choosing this moment to re-enter the public sphere. If he does at all: according to the Observer, he told the crowd at the Cutting Room,"You know there’s a pool going on whether or not I show up. I got $100,000 that says I won’t."
Danicki, J. (5 Nov. 2016). "Dave Chappelle..." Observer Media. Retrieved from http://observer.com/2016/11/dave-chappelle-defends-trump-rips-clinton-shes-not-right-and-we-all-know-it/
Where ever Dave Chappelle has been during his absent years (with his family and children), he has not been living in a vacuum-- I don't think anyone as smart as Chappelle could ever keep away from the news, the culture, and his status as an important voice, no matter how much he chooses to say. Therefore he is more than relevant; in this age of celebrity, Chappelle appears poised to be as revolutionary as Stephen Colbert became when he graduated from being a mere Daily Show correspondent to hosting his own program. Chappelle mentioned at the Cutting Room that he attended a private gala to celebrate the close of the Obama years, alongside celebs like Usher, Sonia Sotomayor, Donna Brazile, and others. One can imagine Dave's conversations about the future with the elite DC crowd: he has always been an outsider, too parodical and punchy for the mainstream to have ever fully accepted him. But absence has made the heart grow fonder, especially as other comedians fail to provide much more than a solitary charactacture, let alone tackle issues of race, politics, and language, head on, Lenny Bruce style. But as Chappellle rubbed elbows in DC I'm sure he mentioned his upcoming appearance as the host of Saturday Night Live, on the pivotal weekend following the election. As a country, we will be seeking reunification, and no less than a few laughs, and I am glad Dave Chappelle is choosing this moment to re-enter the public sphere. If he does at all: according to the Observer, he told the crowd at the Cutting Room,"You know there’s a pool going on whether or not I show up. I got $100,000 that says I won’t."
Danicki, J. (5 Nov. 2016). "Dave Chappelle..." Observer Media. Retrieved from http://observer.com/2016/11/dave-chappelle-defends-trump-rips-clinton-shes-not-right-and-we-all-know-it/
