With his return to political punditry, Keith Olbermann has shown himself up to the task of going after Donald Trump. Getting his new web cast off the ground with a scathing list of Trump’s lies, Olbermann has settled into shorter, sharper diatribes. The latest looks at the parallels between Trump’s campaign and Hollywood imagery.
Referencing Trump’s holding up a baby, Olbermann draws a parallel to the movie, “The Dead Zone.” Stephen King wrote the book, which deals with Johnny Smith who can “read” people by touching them. One of those people is Greg Stillson, a self-serving politician who is set on the presidency. Johnny “sees” nuclear war in Stillson. At the end, in the crosshairs, Stillson picks up a baby to use as a human shield. Though it might not be the same situation, the image is there. As a moderator on King’s message board, I can say that this isn’t the first time the comparison between Stillson and Trump has been drawn.
Olbermann notes that this election (and Trump’s campaign in particular) manages to create a “cinematic call-back” almost weekly. Like “The Manchurian Candidate” and its point of “it’s not that they are talking about communists but that they’re talking about how many communists.”
“Which I pointed out the other day is what Hillary Clinton has people doing. Not ‘are there any deplorables among Trump supporters?’ But ‘how many deplorables are there among Trump supporters?'”
Some think that Trump is like Andy Griffith’s character ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes in “A Face In The Crowd.” Or Chance the Gardner in “Being There.” Trump has aspects of both characters.
The closest comparison to Trump, Olbermann notes, is in the novel, “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis. Trump’s similarity to Sen. Buzz Windrip is scary, even to being nominated in Cleveland. His populist platform of attacking the media and warning about shadowy threats sounds awfully familiar. It would behoove all of us to read that book or, at least, a summation of it.
Trump’s favorite film, he says, is “Citizen Kane.” Olbermann notes that, if he did watch it, Trump didn’t pay much attention to what actually happens to Charles Foster Kane. If he did, he’d know that Kane lost everything including the election. I wonder if Trump ever had a sled named Rosebud?
Here’s the video:
On Saturday night, when a bomb rocked Manhattan, Trump almost immediately started using it as a political prop. That didn’t sit well with Olbermann (or, indeed, most New Yorkers) who, like Trump, lives there. The difference being that Trump was not there Saturday night. Olbermann, who is just as apt to use Twitter to disseminate his message as Trump is, sent out this Tweet:
Dear @RealDonaldTrump: I'm sorry the explosion in Chelsea scared you so much when everybody IN Chelsea seems fine#YouExploitativeScumbag
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 18, 2016
Others picked up on the hashtag and sent their own messages:
@realDonaldTrump cheered the housing crash of 08, and sees #ChelseaExplosion as cheaper real estate #YouExploitativeScumbag
— IggieDaddy (@IggieDoxieDaddy) September 18, 2016
#YouExploitativeScumbag. Trump is probably only person in USA hoping for terrorist attacks. He thinks it helps in the polls.
— Ron G. (@RonG731) September 18, 2016
These never get old 😂#YouExploitativeScumbag #TrumpTrain #DumpTrump #WeShallOverCombTrump pic.twitter.com/wgljWVNW0L
— Tangerine Nightmare (@DumpOrangeTrump) September 18, 2016
DE BLASIO: No evidence of terrorism
TRUMP: ISIS has captured Times Square
D: Be careful of speculation
T: The Disney Store is now a mosque— Daniel Lin (@DLin71) September 18, 2016
@KeithOlbermann The blast was so strong it almost moved @realDonaldTrump hair a millimeter & ALMOST knocked some sense into him. #NEVERTRUMP
— Erik Schuman (@erikschuman) September 18, 2016
Olbermann gets the last word:
'But 1st' @realDonaldTrump continued 'I'll exploit them for political gain, leak the story, hamper police'#Scumbag https://t.co/ncTKuEknbJ
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 18, 2016
Donald Trump is known to exploit tragic events for political gain. He’s done it with everything from 9/11 to the Pulse nightclub shooting. People are not human beings to Trump; they are a means to an end. Unfortunately, his minions followers don’t get that. As Trump would say: sad.
Featured Image via Screen Capture
