Over thirty years ago a movie was being made in our small town. I was working the afternoon shift at the time and after returning home had talked my wife into going upstreet to watch the filming. The small park was crowded. We just mingled in with all the people that were just standing around.....waiting to see where the action was. Well we found out all of a sudden as the director's voice was heard over a bullhorn..."OK everyone.....Action!" The people started moving. It was like one of those old electric football games for boys....turn the power on and the tiny figures start vibrating. We heard an actor shout something from the back....the character played by Michael Keaton somewhat pushed his way through the crowd...and through me and my wife! We knew that maybe we shouldn't be there. After some more dialogue that director's voice shouted...."Cut.....let's do it again!" We mingled our way out of the crowd of extras....fast....and never made it in the movie.
We....all of us....are right in the middle of the making of what could be a cult film classic that would make Quentin Tarantino or David Lynch or Ron Howard proud....a surreal American political film....part pulp fiction and part comedy about a rabble-rousing, firebrand of a candidate in the midst of chaos leading to a dystopian outcome. We had a variation of The Manchurian Candidate with Barack Obama....and we are today in a variation of 1968's Wild In The Streets.
Donald Trump said it again yesterday....this time to young millennials in our nation's capital....."There's never been a better time to be young and American." My Christian friends.....you know that this is crazy talk. You know your Bible.....you know what the world is like....and you should know what America is like. So what do you do.....just fluff it off as political talk? He's talking to young people and giving them about the worst advice that they could get.....and we are to just overlook it?
Tonight I watched about forty minutes of the lead-up to President Trump's rally in North Dakota. I heard the Star-Spangled Banner five times! I stood up alone in my dining room each time! Whether this was played in the arena or just for the televised production I don't know...but do they even know what they're playing? I heard the Battle Hymn of the Republic three times....long renditions of it....once as a jumbotron showed Air Force One taxiing in and President Trump exiting first...."His truth is marching on"....I wondered just who are we talking about here? There were three flags draped behind the podium upon which President Trump would speak....I tried to gauge how big they were. The one in the middle might have been 100 ft long and high. How much money does it cost to fly a President in along with his huge entourage.....and this to endorse a congressional and senatorial candidate? None of Hollywood's wildest directors could have done a better job of presenting a surreal picture of American politics. This is what we have become....a cult film in the making.
We....all of us....are right in the middle of the making of what could be a cult film classic that would make Quentin Tarantino or David Lynch or Ron Howard proud....a surreal American political film....part pulp fiction and part comedy about a rabble-rousing, firebrand of a candidate in the midst of chaos leading to a dystopian outcome. We had a variation of The Manchurian Candidate with Barack Obama....and we are today in a variation of 1968's Wild In The Streets.
Donald Trump said it again yesterday....this time to young millennials in our nation's capital....."There's never been a better time to be young and American." My Christian friends.....you know that this is crazy talk. You know your Bible.....you know what the world is like....and you should know what America is like. So what do you do.....just fluff it off as political talk? He's talking to young people and giving them about the worst advice that they could get.....and we are to just overlook it?
