How does one deal with the onslaught of Trump’s mix of inexperienced, unqualified, and often dangerous appointees like Robert Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, and Tulsi Gabbard who may be governing the country for the next four years? How does one bear four years of a president who has threatened 25 percent tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that will go into effect as I write, raising the prices of everyday essentials for Americans? Or one who attempted to violate the Constitution by revoking birthright citizenship and, in addition, firing government watchdogs? Or a president who most unconscionably gave unconditional pardons to the criminals and neofascists charged with violence during the January 6 attacks on the Capitol and even fired a group of prosecutors involved in criminal cases relating to the attack? That is just the tip of what he has in store for us in the future.
Trump took office and brought a regime set on revenge and retribution and committed to the destruction of institutional norms. It is an administration much more nihilistic than conservative—one that is enamored of chaos and reeks of corruption and a rank insensitivity and gratuitous cruelty towards human suffering. He leaves me obsessing over the odious, horrific game he is playing: a narcissist satisfying and elevating his own ego, dependent on the loyalty of people who are frightened of challenging him while undermining our country’s needs and ultimate wellbeing in the process. He is a man who can be amiable with his oligarch allies, and maybe he cares for his family, but his disdain for anyone else who doesn’t owe him fealty or offer him a good deal is obvious.
I try to escape from the political tumult by watching Knicks games; they are playing well, and one hopes they will have a long playoff run. But watching their star point guard Jalen Brunson playmake and drive brilliantly doesn’t stop me from thinking about Trump. Nor does watching films, but doing that at least allows for my entry into the mind and soul of their characters and, at times, moves me into alternate universes. Of course, that is if the films stir my emotions and make me think about more than turns of plot or physical action. I went twice to see Mike Leigh’s latest “Hard Truths”; he is a great director about whom I have extensively written and taught courses. So, I had a rooting interest that this would be a first-rate film. I was not disappointed because, as always, Leigh displays his preternatural gift for capturing with emotional honesty the complexity of human behavior. The film’s central figure, Pansy (an Oscar-worthy performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste), protects herself with bitter humor and angry tirades, but as the film develops, she begins to collapse into a state of immobility and desperation. It is an anguish that Jean-Baptiste conveys with powerful emotional effect.
The other film, “A Complete Unknown,” was more commercial and less personal, but it gave me great pleasure. I always listened to Pete Seeger and Joan Baez in the ’60s but foolishly didn’t connect to Dylan; however, his genius is clear to me now, and the film may not capture the essence of the enigmatic, difficult, and complex Dylan, but it is a knowing, intelligent portrait. It also brings back the ’60s when we could sing the basically apolitical Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” and “The Times, They Are a-Changin’” and feel hopeful about the future. Social and cultural change was in the air (President Lyndon B Johnson’s Great Society and major civil rights legislation), even if the political arena didn’t always show it (the Vietnam War). The actors do their own singing and always feel right for their roles. The film was a wonderful escape from the dark present. But one can’t see films around the clock—the ogre and his cohort are still with us.
