November 17, 2016

Source: Bigstock

The oafish and increasingly unfunny comedian Patton Oswalt went so far as to make Hillary a surrogate for his recently deceased wife. He declared Clinton a “€œsuperwoman”€ who could do no wrong (memo to Oswalt: Over-the-top fawning makes people laugh at you, not with you). The news of her defeat left him in such a devastated state, you”€™d think he”€™d lost his wife all over again.

A few days after Trump’s victory, an actress friend of mine received an angry email from a semi-famous filmmaker with whom she”€™d worked. The filmmaker told her that she was now dead to him; they”€™d never work together again. His reason? “€œYou liked a Facebook comment telling people to get over protesting the outcome of the election.”€ I emailed the filmmaker, curious to understand why he would ban an actress with whom he”€™d enjoyed a mutually profitable relationship, all because she “€œliked”€ a Facebook comment that wasn”€™t even really pro-Trump. His reply?

I”€™m really in a dark place right now. I actually feel like throwing up. I normally do not get affected by politics but this man, I think because his base represent the vilest people in the country, has gotten to me. Women and Gays rights are friends of mine, my heart goes out to them, I am actually crushed by their hurt and fear and it’s made it hard for me to even do my job. I am regrouping and have de-friended half the people I know.

Oh, get the fuck over yourself. No one cares. Stop making it all about you (a lesson I myself had to learn last week).

Indeed, one of the most satisfying things about the election’s outcome is the fact that the single most self-absorbed, self-important, and self-indulgent group of ninnies in American society”€”Hollywood celebrities”€”discovered that their endorsements were as ineffective as the Hitler slur. If you think I received a splash of cold water in the face on election night, imagine being Kanye, Beyoncé, Lena Dunham, Amy Schumer, and the rest of the preening dolts who learned that even with all their money and fame, they were completely impotent against Trump. These cretins are only as happy as their egos are satisfied, so the humiliating loss they encountered is probably hitting them harder than anyone else. And such misery couldn”€™t be visited upon a worse group of people.

Everyone who tried to make the election about themselves, be they leftists whose lives are centered around identity politics, Hollywood celebrities who somehow think they matter, or me and my self-righteous bitterness, ended up surprised by the outcome. And it’s obvious why. We were blindsided because we were blind to the larger issues, and to the concerns of Americans who don”€™t exist in our neat little echo chambers. Speaking of that, I”€™ll cop to one more thing: I really didn”€™t think the old girl still had it in her. I didn”€™t think America could surprise me like that. I couldn”€™t bring myself to believe that the electorate still had enough gumption to flip off the “€œlegitimate”€ press, the Dem and GOP party establishments, the actors, the singers, the comedians, the professional pundits, the pollsters, the race hustlers, the guilt-trippers, the labor unions, and the “€œinternational community.”€ I thought voters were no longer capable of demonstrating that level of independence.

I was surprised, and happily so. I wasn”€™t pleased to lose so much money in one night, but the overwhelming importance of the bigger picture softened the blow. There are times when it’s good to be proven wrong; humble pie never tasted so sweet.

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